aussie moving to eastwood manila with family

I lived there for 3 years. Check out the Eastwood Excelsior condo. It is a little bit newer than Olympic Heights and in better shape. The only downside to Eastwood was the nearest grocery store (Shopwise on C5 about 500m down the road). There is also an international school about 1-1.5km from Eastwood on the C5.  Eastwood is a relatively safe and convenient environment. If you have enough transition time, check in with the admin offices and get a listing of licensed brokers when you start shopping for your place. I can send you the info on the broker that I used (very honest specializing in executive housing).

Regards..

thanks Jon - just sent you a pm regarding the details for your broker.

thanks

Mabuhay! We moved here two years ago in Alabang and have been to Eastwood several times. That's a good place with all the fun stuff around. I home schooled my 10 year old daughter from California till last year here. I will hook you up with the homeschooler's group here near your area.

Pinaymentor

thanks Pinaymentor - that would be fantastic to connect with other home schoolers.

How has your daughter gone settling into the area? Does she now go to a school in PH?

A new school was introduced this year, 360 studio school which was  put together by two homeschooler moms. One homeschooled all of her kids and are now in college. She was trained in Singapore on Mind Mapping (one of the reasons why Singapore is a first world country), and Critical Thinking with NLP. The other mom had her Master's Degree in Boston.

They are using International Standards for the basic subjects, but integrated Critical Thinking, Mind Mapping, Entrepreneurship, Video/Photography, Blogging, Arts, Music, PE )Triathlon this year ( they will start with running, then, swimming, then biking) will compete towards the end of school year. They use IPAD and don't require books I might be sharing some Entrepreneurship Strategies with this class. There are only six students that's why my daughter is enjoying it! Right now, it's only based here in Alabang. We are living in the 21st century and it's a delight to have our kids experience a different new world of learning!

I sent you a PM~

Pinaymentor

Thanks Pinaymentor - the schooling style looks impressive - I am interested in finding different ways to educate my kids while we are over there.

thanks for all your help - I really appreciate it.

eastwood city is a very beautiful place ...

@tlc73 I sent you a PM. I live in Eastwood as well and just moved here form Utah, USA with my almost 1yr old and husband. He also works in the BPO industry and I work from home

We saw many apartments and although Olympic Heights doesn’t have all the amenities (just a swimming pool not a gym or clubhouse for parties) as the other apartment complexes it is more affordable. My husbands company housing budget is very low and we didn't want to pay out of pocket unless we found the right place. Here is my realtors info Manny Villanueva
rentcribs@yahoo.com 09175637555, let him know I sent you and he will take good care of you.

For a large family like yours, depending on how long you will be here it would be a lot cheaper to get something unfurnished and furnish it yourself. Local crafted wood furniture and ratan is super inexpensive, everything else is more expensive than in the US! (we are going to be here for 2 yrs but maybe move to Cebu the second year, dont know yet) You can rent an unfurnished 3 BR penthouse (plus maids room) for as low 45,000pk a month and up. Plan on paying a lot for electricity, especially if you have big windows

Linens and towels are expensive and cheaper quality so we shipped several balikbayan boxes with linens, kitchen stuff (most furnished places that are rentals and where not owner occupied only have very few things, and cheap quality pots and pans) i shipped my good pots and knives (but we aware that shipping back to your country will be expensive unless you can take them on the plane with you). We brought our LED TV, all electronics are 50% more here if not more. A good can opener is a must, a good razor for the hubby. I also shipped my storage of tooth paste, shavers for me, sun block, first aid kit, insect repellent, pepto bysmol, tylenol, nyquil, tooth brushes, aveno lotion (although its so humid here that you wont need lotion) and a TON of tampons (tampons are hard to fine). If you like Dove soap I would ship it too.

I recently had my sister ship me a box of food items that are hard to find or way expensive here. for example soy baby formula is very hard to find, US cereal like Cheerios is super expensive here, you will pretty much pay double or more for US brands. Keep in mind that food that is not in cans or the fridge cannot keep well for more than 3 months or it will grow some bugs (haven’t experienced it, my frienf is the one that told me about this ).

Make up is another thing that is expensive here, so you might want to bring your supply. Theres no need to have a car if you live in Eastwood, you can take a taxi to the grocery store or your company might provide a driver. Yayas (Nannies) and household help is super inexpensive and its a must I have a referral for you when you get here.

I hope this helps email me when you get here I can help you get established and give you ideas of how much to pay for things, where to shop, etc!

Also, local health insurance is super inexpensive (not sure how much) and is decent. Most people like to keep their own insurance abroad in case of emergencies. But there are some US grade hospitals here. I had to take my son to the ER and it wasn't bad at all. Except for the linnens had blood or iodine stains...but other than that doctors were great, machines where new, very clean and it smelled good.

Thanks for all the help everyone

so it seems we are close to setting a date now. Things worked out with my employer and hopefully we will be in Manila in August this year.

We will be looking for a short term rental (just 2 bedrooms) to start so we can take our time searching for a good apartment with 3 bedrooms.

very excited now!

Hi all,

Well we have finally arrived - got here late Thursday night. We are searching for a 3 bedroom place now, while temporarily staying in a 2 bedroom one.

Thanks to everyone on here who gave us advice to help with this huge move. We are really excited to be here in Eastwood and look forward to exploring the Philippines!

Hello tlc73.

You should post an advert in the Housing in Manila section. It can help.

Thank you,
Aurélie

Glad you made it! Enjoy and explore. Reedley INternational school is a good school.

Hi,

I am also from Australia with a son and husband considering moving to Philippines for work.  No decision has been made as yet.

Can you tell me some of your experiences good and bad.  My son will be starting school in 2013 and both my husband and I will be working.

What areas for housing would you recommend?  Any assistance and advise would be good.

Sorry I cannot help with your questions.

thanks in advance

I sent you a PM. Depending where your work (traffic can get so bad that I wouldnt consider a long commute personally)I would recommend the Fort or Makati to live in. The fort is a lot cleaner from pollution. Eastwood is nice because you have shops and now a grocery store all at walking distance but the other areas are much better in my opinion now that I have been here 4 months. Eastwood is cheaper but the places are smaller and when there's concerts it can get really loud.

enjoy your stay in the ph, eastwood is great esp. during night. i love the dancing fountain.

If you have time maybe you could try out one of the Sunday services which holds Sunday schools for kids too at CCF Eastwood. They do Bible movies sometimes for the children. The services starts on 3 different times and those are 8am, 10am and 5pm. I hope that you do try it out one Sunday. It is a great, fun and meaningful Sunday service.

Bri-yen wrote:

If you have time maybe you could try out one of the Sunday services which holds Sunday schools for kids too at CCF Eastwood. They do Bible movies sometimes for the children. The services starts on 3 different times and those are 8am, 10am and 5pm. I hope that you do try it out one Sunday. It is a great, fun and meaningful Sunday service.

Good suggestion . kasamahan mo siguro si heero taga ccf eastwood din sya ata.

Good suggestion . kasamahan mo siguro si heero taga ccf eastwood din sya ata.  -rojanbee

Hero ano? Wala pa akong Hero na kilala. Anong group siya sumasali. Ang dami din kasing attendees doon. Dati ka ba doon?

@rojanbee & Bri-yen - In english please on this Anglophone forum!

Thank you,
Aurélie

Hehe. That made me laugh. On the other hand I understand what you mean, Aurelie. Thanks too for reminding us. We got carried away. There are no bad words mentioned that is for sure. Just encouraging, asking who he is and if she used to go there.

@aurelie wahhhhhhh..im so so so so soorrrrrrrrry.... LOL for myself.Im just carried away too.

@Bri-yen, no i never been to ccf eastwood. before coming here to ksa, last november i attended a service at ccf st.francis. Mic Nara is a friend of mine(heero)

I've asked people about the nickname Hero and I'm not getting helpful responses. Mic Nara is a better name to ask people around. Mind if I ask your real name too? So I can tell Mic that we met here at expat-blog. If you rather like to send it in private then I don't mind and completely understand. Even I want to keep my real name in secret. Anyway, - wait a minute. . . Am I right that this is your nick name, rojanbee? I just want to be sure.

My Filipino wife and I will be moving to Eastwood City soon......Hope we can meet up with some of you folks that already live in Eastwood hehe.

Thanks
Allan

Good choice. There are also a few subdivisions just outside Eastwood if you want to go the house route, but they are more expensive.

Thanks for the welcome and reply.... We hope to rent in Le Grand 3 or 2...

What are the closest sub divisions to Eastwood good to live in?

I think I will prefer being in Eastwood City as we like the nice atmosphere, security etc.

Cheers

Hi Allan,

I'm a filipina who now lives in Aus. If you decide to buy a property near eastwood. My husband and I are selling our condo near eastwood.

Cheers

How much for the condo?

Hello Fortune,

We are selling it for 5.8m pesos and the condo comes with a parking space. Are you looking to buy a condo?

Cheers

meyah wrote:

Hi Allan,

I'm a filipina who now lives in Aus. If you decide to buy a property near eastwood. My husband and I are selling our condo near eastwood.

Cheers

Hi,
We have no plans to buy.....Thanks anyway.....

Eastwood is a relatively safe environment for your kids and home schooling can be better than the most expensive private schools here.

Hi Ray,

Thanks for the info....but we have no plans to buy, just renting........Cheers

Ray3131 wrote:

Hi,
I'm a Filipino-American New York based broker.  If you're interested, my family there is selling an Eastwood City Condo with 2 bedroom + 2 full bathroom and parking space included.

Since this is our own family property, we're selling it as a 'direct seller'.  The price is Php 5,990,000 and it's advertised in this website.  If your not familiar with Eastwood City, Quezon City (I think I'm not allowed to put a website link here), please Google it.

It's like a City within a City where you can work, live, play and not even have to go out of the Complex for everyday life's needs.  Almost everything are in the Complex like a shopping mall, supermarket, gym, 7Eleven, restaurants, banks, repair shops (except for cars) and lots more.

Thanks. Ray

hi if you are interested in meeting another Australian/ Filipino family I would be interested I can even help you where to find vegemite and Aussie cheese and many other things my partner has 4 kids all Pinoy 1 speaks fluent English where the other speaks exceptional English and all very friendly and respectful

wow just saw I dug up an old thread here anyway if you are still around that be cool still

Eastwood is a great full service community.  It has nearly everything.
Perfect for the stepford wives of Manila, but it is a long walk to the nearest bar with dancing ladies....