Gats has been helping his parents rent out their condo in Fort Bonifacio but since renters are hard to find of late he thought of using the net as a means to advertise. He chanced upon a site promoting Denver apartments and was fascinated by the amount of information it gave him. He’d consider replicating the site if he were still in the real estate business but will settle on finding one with Fort Boni or Makati real estate info, that way we can advertise the condo unit properly and effectively.

Real Estate Developers are still “if-fy” when it comes to the future of the industry after 2010. Of course its all due to the changing of the guard (the administration) but its also the current market condition suffered by the US which eventually trickles down to the Philippines. Bank and mortgage lenders are currently having a field day with all the loans being approved left and right (condos are really rolling off the assembly line the last couple years and its bound to continue on, at least for 2 more years. How much more can this last? Who’s to say? But developers are already being hit by the increase in construction cost. Another factor or two and it’ll probably spiral down. We’ll just have to see where this goes in a year or two.

The Makati Skyline is once again set to be changed in the coming years as the new wave of residential buildings are about to be marketed within the coming months. I heard from my husband that a couple of branded hotel operators are establishing new buildings in Makati (and Ft Bonifacio) and are even selling some of units. This got me a little curious as I never heard of Raffles hotel units being “sold” before. These new developments are call condo hotel, or condotel for short. So they’re selling the “condo” part of the building and keeping the “hotel” parts exclusive. This is going to be a nice investment if you can afford one as it comes with a hefty price tag. Let’s just wait and see how this turns out – and how much!

Gats works in the real estate industry and sometimes he brings me along when he goes looking into the different condos in Makati and Fort Bonifacio. Just three (3) years ago when we brought our own condo there weren’t that much “options” to choose from – just a basic unit and an interior designed option of which you had to discuss the design with the developer’s designer of choice. These days, there’s already a furnished unit where all you need to do is move in. No need to fuss above the appliance and the type of “look” you want for your unit. Everything from the light switch to the type of faucets are planned in detail – and mind you they even offer high grade European or American Delta faucets and sinks with these options. With these types of end products all you need to do is bring your wardrobe and you’re set.

We’ve been paying amortization (mortgage) for our condo for the past three years now and we can honestly say that its not so harsh on our wallets as we initially imagine it would. Three years ago, rates were a high 12%. Now its somewhere between 7% to 8% — there are lower rates as 5% but those come with shorter terms which we aren’t really interested in getting.  It wasn’t hard to apply since we only had to show documents which we already had in the first place (billings, proof of income, etc.).  And, it should be easier now since there’s an influx of development from good developers that it really has become a buyers market in a span of 3 years. We’re really quite envious of opportunities today, as the same investment we put up a few years ago could have gotten us a Makati or Fort Bonifacio condo today.

Of late the term resort has been loosely used, especially among local development here in the Philippines. My husband pointed out a certain development in the US which is a “true” resort in the sense that it is actually a getaway place within large planned area. The place is called“Hilton Head rental” and is in-fact a mix of several resort areas and plantations, wherein “Plantations” are planned or gated communities. Family-oriented and is activity packed unlike our single-themed developments here (ie swimming, picnic, etc.). Hilton Head rental homes are plentiful and a family need to only choose where and what to do. Now that’s the type of vacation I would be looking forward to.

Good thing that we’re really not feeling the real estate crash in the US. Just imagine loosing the roof over our head ( though we won’t be as worried because we have our family, especially our parents, to count on during such times). The latest statistics show that 2.9 million homes have been foreclosed in the US – now how bad is that? We aren’t in the same state as the US market but we can very well learn from them. I saw a site with various topics on the matter, which might be of interest to some:

• avoid foreclosure
• foreclosure assistance
• foreclosure prevention

There are other readings out there which talk about the same issue. You’ll never know, the stuff you read might very well save your home some day.

Coming from a trip to Tagaytay, we recently passed by a certain development in Dasmarinas Cavite offering (would you believe?) American-inspired homes. It seems that the days of seeing Mediterranean-inspired homes have come and gone. If you’ve seen episodes of Smallville (you know, the younger, pre-Uberman Clark Kent series), the houses in this future community are reminiscent of the house where Clark lived on. It’s really quite nice. Shingle-looking roof, pastel paints, vinyl shutters, and a porch to complete the look. Worth looking into if you’d to call Cavite home.

River-side development? Where? Here in the Philippines?! Not really something we hear about everyday. It could happen. One day. When we’ve cleaned enough of our active rivers to make it all beautiful for development. See, in other countries, river-side developments are really prime locations, which is why there are premiums for locations near the riverbanks. In Singapore alone, its hard to come by a vacant lot beside the river-side because it truly is very beautiful and well-kept. River-side or Outer Banks rentals is big business. Something we might be able to capitalize on once we’ve rehabilitated enough portions of our water-ways (like Pasig River?!?). Hopefully developers will catch on and we’ll see this happening in a few year’s time.

We went to see a development in Dasmarinas, Cavite recently, just out of curiousity. We got toured to around three model houses, which I liked so much that it got me thinking of our next home investment. We really want to settle into a house and lot unit within the next three years. It was a really nice development with very nice houses – which got my imagination rolling. It will be nice to settle in my “dream” home with rooms for all the members of the family. Well, time to start checking out all the available mortgage lenders