Buying land in the Philippines
Buyer Beware
Buying land in the Philippines at the right price is not as easy as it seems.In all likely-hood you will be severely over-charged for a worthless piece of dirt while making someone a small fortune. Is it possible to avoid all the pitfalls when buying your dream lot? Yes it is and I will show you how.
Firstly, if you want the perfect piece of land on a beach surrounded by swaying palms, remember this-- Filipinos don't want to live at the beach, they want to live in a town or the city. But they know you want to so they are going to come at you hard and heavy. Really they are trying to sell you something they don't really want to build on so don't be afraid to knock their intial price by at least 50%.
Secondly the land behind the beach is usually farmland and about 80% cheaper. So by forgoing the view and for the sake of a five minute walk you can save a fortune. The walk wont kill you or your wallet. My wife and I took this option and still cant believe how cheap we bought our lot. Initially we looked at a 2000 sq metre lot with ocean views in southern Cebu for 5 million pesos. We ended up with a 3600 sq metre lot 5 minutes away for 70,000 pesos.
Mind you it took about one year and a lot of patience but we saved an absolute fortune. Our secret was that my wife and her family looked at every piece of land for sale and let it be known that we were in the market but also that we weren't prepared to pay a lot for it. About eleven months after our search began we were approached by a man who was in financial troubles and desperate for cash. He needed 70,000 pesos and 2 days later the land was ours.
Today our land is a small product farm providing a good income for my in-laws and after we finish building them a new house we will begin on our dream home. We are 10 minutes from town and 5 minutes from the beach.
I hope this foray into Phiippines real estate will give you some insight and if i can help you just drop me a line.