3 Horror Stories Pinoys Abroad Encounter when Buying Philippines Real Estate Property

One of the best customers of developers in the Philippines Real Estate industry are Overseas Filipino buyers. They go to such extents to attract them (concert, trade shows, international contact numbers). And who wouldn’t go to lengths to get their attention when they have the money, the greens & the power of the dollar (assuming US based) to purchase a house or two.

However, despite the success of some Pinoys in buying Real Estate in their homeland, there are still the sob stories that reach our shores about purchases gone wrong. Here are three of them:

1. Kaloy works hard for the money in the sandy deserts of Saudi Arabia. After years of working, he decided to settle in Baguio and through a friend of a friend of a friend, was attracted to buy a townhouse in Baguio from a relatively unknown developer. Trusting his friend’s reference, he bought the townhouse in its pre-selling stage, and paid in installment for 4 years. After paying his last installment in 2004, he was notified by the developer’s representative that they won’t be able to turn over the unit since it’s only 70% built, and the company is currently bankrupt. Up to this moment, the case is in court, pending a decision from the judge. Kaloy still doesn’t have a title, a townhouse, and has to work double because most of his savings went to paying the mortgage of the townhouse. Kaloy’s story is precisely one of the reasons we stress to Pinoys everywhere to buy from reputable developers to avoid experiencing delays in turn overs despite what is written in the contract.

2. Daria is also a Pinoy OFW who bought a house from what seemed to be a good village in the South. Unknown to her though, and because she did not make prior research, the village had no stable water supply! When buying a property, shouldn’t this be on your checklist? It should, but Daria was dazzled by the beauty of the house she bought. Yes it is a pretty house, but if your water comes in trickles, where’s the beauty in that?

3. Wrong advertising – we should have real estate guardians who warn potential buyers of developers who promise or advertise such lush, beautiful homes only to be surprised that the property you bought is beside an informal settler’s area (squatter’s area) or that the facilities are in dismal condition, or what’s worse, the equipment used for your house are inferior to the ones listed in the brochure. That’s what happened to Paolo, who could only scratch his head when he finally saw the fruits of his labor. Oh what a rotten fruit. His house turned out to be very very close to the squatter’s area, and his neighbor who had been there earlier had complained of cases of robbery in the area. Can he return the property? No, but he can probably file a case against the developer. But will it go forward? Who knows, maybe?

These are just some of the horror stories of Pinoys who’ve bought properties who haven’t done their homework. Buying real estate property is a huge investment – requiring diligent research, questioning and doing your homework right.

If not, you just might be included in this list (and this list is long – just didn’t include all),

Actually come to think of it, do other nationalities in their respective countries experience the same thing? Share your thoughts!