Apartments, Condos, or a house

You might want to spend at least a weekend in any tower you are considering,  to gauge the neighbors and the noise.

@mugteck Good point, thank you.

There have been some threads on this, you can do a search. Some are not maintained well, some have onerous rules about what you can do with it. But Mugtecks point is very important. You never know who you will get for neighbors.

@pnwcyclist

Copy that. And by renting you can bail out at relatively short notice. Think of ownership as a ball and chain anchored around your neck especially where condos are concerned.

You can choose your neighbors by how much you're willing to spend on rent, there is a correlation.

@Lotus Eater this very important.

Rent.

Always have an exit strategy and an emergency fund.

goldken51, we leased a 3 bed 2 bath condo in Manila 12 years ago and while convenient for transport and a big mall and other services within walking distance? The constant noise, the stinks and the black sooty grime coming into the condo every day put me off and we were in the 7nth floor.

1 year living there and never met a neighbour and if I did run into one in the hallway or foyer and said hello they would ignore me, Ben a Filipino had the same problem. If family came to visit and wanted to swim in the pool with us we had to pay 100 pesos per person,,,,, go figure that one out.

Only for me, never again and as others have said try before you buy or you could end up stuck if you hate it.

Leasing is another kettle of fish and if you search here and other expat sites on leasing in the Philippines you will find the answers, I lease here for 25 + 25 and put all the safe guards in place, do some research as we all do.

Cheers, Steve.

On my last visit to the Philippines I stayed in a two bed condo in Cagayan De Oro (One Oasis). I booked it for 19 days through Air B&B so if you want to try a condo out for a month or so check on Air B&B to see what is available and then your not stuck with a rental for 6 months or so.

Yep, good call Cherryann, done that a few times through Air B&B here in San Juan, a month each booking and cheaper than daily/weekly rates big time.

Back to the OP if you have been here you would know the ins and outs, if not? come visit and taste the flavours, not every ones cup of tea here.

Cheers, Steve.

@bigpearl as Long as I gat some peace now and then I will be fine. Now my GF would like to move down to Bukidnon. and I think it would be better also. She is not a young lady, she is closer to my age, and that is my preference.

I have heard lots of positive comments about the Bukidnon area. Like Tagatay elevated with cooler temps which has earned it the moniker 'the fruit and vegetable basket of Mindanao.' Certainly on my bucket list of places to visit in the Philippines. Presumably you would fly into CDO and hire a car from there.

@Lotus Eater I was in Tagaytay but it was in cavite south luzon, its a beautyfull place i got shown and droven around by a woman in her car i met on tinder in manila. We had dinner in a beautyfull romantic restaurant with ocean view. Later that week we had an other appointment, she never showed up. A pitty cause i liked her, she was kind of wild the type of woman like myself, i favor most. After asking around, it turned out she was shot over a verry big drugdeal she made. But i am still thankfull for the tour she gave me.

Ivo, perhaps introduce your self to the forum members.

Cheers, Steve.

@Lotus Eater I was in Tagaytay but it was in cavite south luzon, its a beautyfull place i got shown and droven around by a woman in her car i met on tinder in manila. We had dinner in a beautyfull romantic restaurant with ocean view. Later that week we had an other appointment, she never showed up. A pitty cause i liked her, she was kind of wild the type of woman like myself, i favor most. After asking around, it turned out she was shot over a verry big drugdeal she made. But i am still thankfull for the tour she gave me.
-@Ivo sonnenberg

****************************************************

Hopefully you won't get a message requesting money for the hospital.

@Enzyte Bob One day in Cebu i walked alongside a cementery, there was a coffin outside standing with a dead guy in it surrounded by crying people, his family asking me for money for the burrial. I gave all i had i felt sorry for those poor people. After 3 weeks i took the same route walking, again their was a coffin outside with a man in it and a crying family, i looked in the coffin and undo he looked verry verry worse, it was the same dead man as 3 weeks ago. I kept my money that day.

@Enzyte Bob One day in Cebu i walked alongside a cementery, there was a coffin outside standing with a dead guy in it surrounded by crying people, his family asking me for money for the burrial. I gave all i had i felt sorry for those poor people. After 3 weeks i took the same route walking, again their was a coffin outside with a man in it and a crying family, i looked in the coffin and undo he looked verry verry worse, it was the same dead man as 3 weeks ago. I kept my money that day.
-@Ivo sonnenberg

Maybe the cemetery are trying to make some money on the side and are running a rent a stiff for the day  scam.

@Enzyte Bob One day in Cebu i walked alongside a cementery, there was a coffin outside standing with a dead guy in it surrounded by crying people, his family asking me for money for the burrial. I gave all i had i felt sorry for those poor people. After 3 weeks i took the same route walking, again their was a coffin outside with a man in it and a crying family, i looked in the coffin and undo he looked verry verry worse, it was the same dead man as 3 weeks ago. I kept my money that day.
-@Ivo sonnenberg

******************************************************

I was eating at a fast food place near BI and a poor kid on crutches and his sister were looking very sad and hungry came in.  When the manager saw them he came out and the kid grab his crutches and ran out.

@Cherryann01 Yes later i asked around and thats exacly it, you could rent a stiff there. But if you dont know those things, you will fall for it. It never crossed my mind that people would do things like that. Well in the Phillipines you learn. I think that that dead man made more money being dead as he had ever made wenn he was alive.

@Enzyte Bob If i go to the Philippins i always upfront count in my budget an amount of money that i will certainly lose by being scammed. Those people are so verry verry good in that, that always some way or the other you lose money. It has no use to get angry about it or exited, it just is part of life being a foreigner there. And what is realy funny about it, if you trick them it works verry well to, they never expect a foreigner to use the same weapon against them. Its like taking candy from a baby.

@Ivo sonnenberg That's funny! In these parts we have rental units available at P5K for 5 years. That's less than 20 bucks a year! I took this photo at a day of the dead thing they do here. There are plenty of vacancies because of the evictions from failure to renew the lease. They should offer a layaway plan or maybe pay as you go for those short on cash?

@Cherryann01 Yes later i asked around and thats exacly it, you could rent a stiff there. But if you dont know those things, you will fall for it. It never crossed my mind that people would do things like that. Well in the Phillipines you learn. I think that that dead man made more money being dead as he had ever made wenn he was alive.
-@Ivo sonnenberg

Kinda reminds me of my childhood. I had a friend and a week or so before Guy Fawkes kids used to make a guy out of old clothes and straw to make an effigy of Guy Fawkes and stick it in a wheel barrow to make some cash. One year my friend and I could not be bothered making the Guy so we just got his younger brother, dressed him up like a tramp, stuck straw down his jumper and under an old hat and wheeled him around in the wheel barrow.

@Lotus Eater I was in Tagaytay but it was in cavite south luzon, its a beautyfull place i got shown and droven around by a woman in her car i met on tinder in manila. We had dinner in a beautyfull romantic restaurant with ocean view. Later that week we had an other appointment, she never showed up. A pitty cause i liked her, she was kind of wild the type of woman like myself, i favor most. After asking around, it turned out she was shot over a verry big drugdeal she made. But i am still thankfull for the tour she gave me.
-@Ivo sonnenberg

Yeah the wild ones are often, how shall I say, more expressive in bed, but you're never quite sure if your gonna wake up in the morning. Without doubt a certain danger adds to the sexual enjoyment.

Maybe its best in future to use a dating site like Cherry Blossoms. The women there are apparently 100% legit. No sex until marriage and happy ever after: 'Honey I'm home'

@Enzyte Bob One day in Cebu i walked alongside a cementery, there was a coffin outside standing with a dead guy in it surrounded by crying people, his family asking me for money for the burrial. I gave all i had i felt sorry for those poor people. After 3 weeks i took the same route walking, again their was a coffin outside with a man in it and a crying family, i looked in the coffin and undo he looked verry verry worse, it was the same dead man as 3 weeks ago. I kept my money that day.
-@Ivo sonnenberg
Maybe the cemetery are trying to make some money on the side and are running a rent a stiff for the day scam.
-@Cherryann01

Would that be pre or post Rigor Mortis Cherryann?

@Enzyte Bob One day in Cebu i walked alongside a cementery, there was a coffin outside standing with a dead guy in it surrounded by crying people, his family asking me for money for the burrial. I gave all i had i felt sorry for those poor people. After 3 weeks i took the same route walking, again their was a coffin outside with a man in it and a crying family, i looked in the coffin and undo he looked verry verry worse, it was the same dead man as 3 weeks ago. I kept my money that day.
-@Ivo sonnenberg
Maybe the cemetery are trying to make some money on the side and are running a rent a stiff for the day scam.
-@Cherryann01
Would that be pre or post Rigor Mortis Cherryann?
-@Lotus Eater

Sounds like both to me

@Lotus Eater That was ten years ago. I go now to the Philippines in the near future to retire, not chasing woman anymore. The change you find a good one is verry small. Undo a verry small number of guys do. I go for other things, enjoy myself doing some good for the people and the country, and thats it. My wild days, i call them over. But i sure had good times up to 7 woman a night. Untill i runned out of clean towels. That i even survided it, its a miracle. Indeed a portion of danger keeps you wild at heart. Police and gangsters after me, one day i looked true a verry small hole in my backdoor, all guys with guns!! If i would have opened that door i would not have been able to wright this. What all men dream off, i did it all. They call eachother and also me kuja and ate, brother and sister. That you find nowere in the world. But you will always stay a foreigner, you will never arrive realy. I lived on more as one island and took my belongings with me in a container to every next island, ive seen and came to know the country verry well. I have a light tanned skin like filipino people i can pass for one of them. The woman there love me, and look like them and being a foreigner. They find that great. Its my country so to speak, i have adopted it.

@Moon Dog No i dont go for anyboddy short on cash. But if you live there years and get wacked all the time you learn to wack back, and once you do, they stop trying to pull your legg, they will accept you a little bit as one of their own. You must stand your ground so to speak. You can rent out one of those rooms to me, you never know it can get usefull. But realy you dont need it, murders in the phillipines verry seldom get solved. Noboddy is gonna bother with another dead foreigner. Noboddy gives a shit.