Cost of Living in the Philippines in 2020

pnwcyclist wrote:

LOL!! That one's for me..

Seriously though, you need not pay more than a million for a good car. In 2014 I bought  from a departing expat a 3 month old Kia Rio Hatchback which is a fully equipped car, not a stripper - bluetooth, rain sensing wipers, back up sensors, etc.  It's slightly smaller than a Sportage and I paid 720K for it..

Good for you!

Last year, 2019, my dad's neighbor told us that she wanted to sell her 2-year old low-mileage Sportage. But she kept changing her mind.  After months of waiting for her to sell her car, I decided to just buy a brand new Mitsubishi Xpander. 

Paid for it in full for around 970k. So far, the best non-SUV family car I've ever had. 7- seater (but I usually keep the last row folded down for bigger cargo space.) Fuel efficient. It has nice hi-tech features / display with touch screen navigation stuff and key less entry thingy. (Sorry, I'm not a tech person.) Rear view camera is nice, but for me it's more of a distraction. I trust more the old school way of backing / reversing.

1800$--2000 ....i would agree with you,, normal budget for normal life

pnwcyclist wrote:

I did a detailed review last year so not going to repeat. We (family of 5) live in Cebu City and spend about 90-100K/mo. ($1800-2000/mo USD). Thats living a pleasant urban lifestyle.

We spend 25-30K for groceries for 5 people, including two boys that eat a lot. We do not eat a lot of processed foods at home but I do like to eat out, especially lunch, so another 10-15K for restaurant meals. There are many fantastic restaurants in Cebu.

We rent a home in the foothills for 24K plus 5-6K utilities. Tuition and school costs including vanpool add 10K/mo. Another 10-15K for misc expenses like gas for the car, clothing, weekend trips, doctor/dental visits, family assistance, etc. We own a 2014 Kia that has been extremely reliable and costs very little to maintain and insure - about (25-30K/yr). It has had a hard life here in the congested city, lol.

i would agree with you,, normal budget for normal life

My monthly budget, not including any flight's back to Australia or any holiday's is about 158,000 php per month.

That includes medical money for emergencies, phone and computer depreciation, clothe's, school fee's and expenses for 1 child at a private high school, 1 dog, birthday parties and presents and Christmas presents and parties, rent at 40,000php per month,  electricity, water, food, cable TV, NetFlix, WIFI for house and load with WIFI for 2 hand phones, hair cuts for 2 people, my VISA fees and ACR renewal and 3k php for dinner or movies once a week.

If i was to own a house, i would also need to add rate's and property maintenance.

We don't own a car.

Footnote, this is only my budget, not my actual cost's and it is my first year living with my wife and her daughter, so my budget may be a bit higher than needed  (I hope so LOL)

Pej1111 they have rates in philippines ...massive buget 158k a month that would see me ok for 6 months in province

Jackdn wrote:

Pej1111 they have rates in philippines ...massive buget 158k a month that would see me ok for 6 months in province

Yep the city is more expensive, plus the private school, and depreciation costs of computers and cell phones, and spare money for medical stuff.

pej1111 wrote:

Jackdn wrote:

Pej1111 they have rates in philippines ...massive buget 158k a month that would see me ok for 6 months in province

Yep the city is more expensive, plus the private school, and depreciation costs of computers and cell phones, and spare money for medical stuff.

Nice to see a realistic budget pej. While I have no idea of the private school fees, 10K per month? Less or more matters little, rent for us no, we own the property and as said in another debacle our rates are about PHP 4K per year. We own our car and motorbike, rego, insurance, depreciation and maintenance including the house is accounted for. We live well, both smoke like a burning tyre and drink like fish, eat in 70% and out 30% of the time. My initial budget 4 to 5 years ago was AU $2,500 per month but a year ago when we moved there we allowed AU 3K per month, to date there is usually 10 to 20K (PHP) left over.
We are in a province so different costs but for us AU 3K per month is plenty. 6 or 7 years ago we lived in a condo in Manila with the same budget including rent. One has to also consider the downturn of the Aussie dollar to the Peso now, while I was getting 38 to 40 PHP 6 or 7 years ago to the dollar is now 33 to 34 PHP. and sliding down to 26/28 in the next few years.

https://audtoday.com/aud-to-php-forecast

"who let the dogs out Woof Woof"

Back to barking dogs? Different post because I'm lazy. Once we get the fences built we too will get mans best friend and he/she will be a member of the family and only voice an opinion when necessary and will add to the cost of living in PH.
Hope I didn't wander too far.

Cheers, Steve.

Jackdn wrote:

Pej1111 they have rates in philippines ...massive buget 158k a month that would see me ok for 6 months in province

Hi Jack, welcome to the forum if I have not already said that. How can you live on 26,333 pesos per month? I would love to hear your take on this, perhaps you can help save many of us expats Pesos.

Cheers, Steve.

Cheers, Steve.

yep we are looking at moving back to Australia, i had always budgeted on 34 php to 1 AUD, at less than 30 php to AUD it will be beyond my savings.

The other thing is the PHP CPI (Cost of living) i have budgeted 3%, this may be seen has high, but as we have seen over the last couple of years it has been high.  Of course no country can live with a 3% CPI for ever, it may be OK in the short term if you have a big business and making income here, as that gives you inflation protection, but i do not.  Many of the poorer Filipino's will see there standard of living decrease, it's ok for the business men and the government workers here who have seen wage growth (no doubt done as an economic stimulus project by the government).  Personally i think it is a big risk for the PHP government to do this, as they still have to be able to pay the government workers wages, and if international investments don't come to the Philippines they will be in a bit of trouble.  Of course when the Philippines has a new president things may all drop back to the bad old days for the Filipino's (the good old day for the expat's).

Cheers

PJ

Agreed wif pej1111 on :
"Many of the poorer Filipino's will see there standard of living decrease"

This itself will cause another set of social problems that we need to be aware of!

bigpearl wrote:

Jackdn wrote:

Pej1111 they have rates in philippines ...massive buget 158k a month that would see me ok for 6 months in province

Hi Jack, welcome to the forum if I have not already said that. How can you live on 26,333 pesos per month? I would love to hear your take on this, perhaps you can help save many of us expats Pesos.

Cheers, Steve.

My family of three lives on 40-50,000PHP per month. We do own our house, but every other expense is figured in. Private school here is about 2,000PHP per month, but we home school.

I know others that are on their own and live on considerably less than we do.

Jackdn's number is totally in the ball park, especially in the province and especially if no kids.

City living can be a lot higher, but also when you are in the city you tend to have many more activities that tempt you to spend. I know that we would be shopping and eating at restaurants a lot more. Luckily, those options are a day trip away form us.

realistic is relative

the realistic cost of living in the Philippines is a very wide "range"

Steve if i had more money i go spend it but 200 aud is the budget a week and hoping save 2k from that ... do have a 2 year old and my little Jazelene just turned 6 months ...the bahay and land 900 sqm all paid for couple kubo ...just started there building hollow block garage ....yeah i agree you want aircon private schools a car fuel not real cheap  or power like we kill a pig stock the meat in up right freezer power goes up 700 piso ...like my awasa made you know them plastic bags of ice really the cost to run the freezer at 5 piso a bag got sell 140 baggies pay for the power ...gotta laugh one time she making all this ice candy think it was 230 these little plastic bags she putting the mixture in im like now ya paid for the product mybe another 100 for power then the rest is proffit she looked dissapointed

Jackdn wrote:

Steve if i had more money i go spend it but 200 aud is the budget a week and hoping save 2k from that ... do have a 2 year old and my little Jazelene just turned 6 months ...the bahay and land 900 sqm all paid for couple kubo ...just started there building hollow block garage ....yeah i agree you want aircon private schools a car fuel not real cheap  or power like we kill a pig stock the meat in up right freezer power goes up 700 piso ...like my awasa made you know them plastic bags of ice really the cost to run the freezer at 5 piso a bag got sell 140 baggies pay for the power ...gotta laugh one time she making all this ice candy think it was 230 these little plastic bags she putting the mixture in im like now ya paid for the product mybe another 100 for power then the rest is proffit she looked dissapointed

In a nutshell :
*similar to what you say : Unlock that 'SUBSTANTIAL' fund chest & use it to purchase the Land & Housing +Car + Emergency Fund if all goes wrong +
SRRV fund if you intend to stay here long term.
Then your base monthly costs go down!
(Way Way down here in the provinces!!)

manwonder wrote:

Jackdn wrote:

Steve if i had more money i go spend it but 200 aud is the budget a week and hoping save 2k from that ... do have a 2 year old and my little Jazelene just turned 6 months ...the bahay and land 900 sqm all paid for couple kubo ...just started there building hollow block garage ....yeah i agree you want aircon private schools a car fuel not real cheap  or power like we kill a pig stock the meat in up right freezer power goes up 700 piso ...like my awasa made you know them plastic bags of ice really the cost to run the freezer at 5 piso a bag got sell 140 baggies pay for the power ...gotta laugh one time she making all this ice candy think it was 230 these little plastic bags she putting the mixture in im like now ya paid for the product mybe another 100 for power then the rest is proffit she looked dissapointed

In a nutshell :
*similar to what you say : Unlock that 'SUBSTANTIAL' fund chest & use it to purchase the Land & Housing +Car + Emergency Fund if all goes wrong +
SRRV fund if you intend to stay here long term.
Then your base monthly costs go down!
(Way Way down here in the provinces!!)

It all depends. It makes more sense to rent sometimes. Away from the big cities a nice place can be had for very good monthly price. I am planning to go out and hunt for a 1-2 bedroom place in a nearby 1st class municipality with a population of just under 90k. Last I looked a few year back a 2 br condo newly built was 7k per month (yeah that is very low). I am curious to see where the prices have gone.

But let's say you want to lay down 3 million for house and lot, which is low. That same 3 million in cds (in US or elsewhere) at 2% annual is 60k PHP per year.

Plus you can just walk away from the rental. Not so much with land you own.

Thing about cost of living in the Philippines is that Philippines is a highly varied place. Maybe some expats have not lived in a bunch of different places in Philippines and they think all Philippines is like the place where they live. It's not. There is a wide range of economic conditions here. but generally speaking, prices on land and houses and rent goes down as you get out of the bigger "independent cities," but the price of consumer goods goes up due to transport costs. Produce can go either way due to wide and varied distribution of growers. Likewise, in some places you really need a car, but in others a personal vehicle is just a wasted expense.

Philippine Destiny wrote:

manwonder wrote:

Jackdn wrote:

Steve if i had more money i go spend it but 200 aud is the budget a week and hoping save 2k from that ... do have a 2 year old and my little Jazelene just turned 6 months ...the bahay and land 900 sqm all paid for couple kubo ...just started there building hollow block garage ....yeah i agree you want aircon private schools a car fuel not real cheap  or power like we kill a pig stock the meat in up right freezer power goes up 700 piso ...like my awasa made you know them plastic bags of ice really the cost to run the freezer at 5 piso a bag got sell 140 baggies pay for the power ...gotta laugh one time she making all this ice candy think it was 230 these little plastic bags she putting the mixture in im like now ya paid for the product mybe another 100 for power then the rest is proffit she looked dissapointed

In a nutshell :
*similar to what you say : Unlock that 'SUBSTANTIAL' fund chest & use it to purchase the Land & Housing +Car + Emergency Fund if all goes wrong +
SRRV fund if you intend to stay here long term.
Then your base monthly costs go down!
(Way Way down here in the provinces!!)

It all depends. It makes more sense to rent sometimes. Away from the big cities a nice place can be had for very good monthly price. I am planning to go out and hunt for a 1-2 bedroom place in a nearby 1st class municipality with a population of just under 90k. Last I looked a few year back a 2 br condo newly built was 7k per month (yeah that is very low). I am curious to see where the prices have gone.

But let's say you want to lay down 3 million for house and lot, which is low. That same 3 million in cds (in US or elsewhere) at 2% annual is 60k PHP per year.

Plus you can just walk away from the rental. Not so much with land you own.

Thing about cost of living in the Philippines is that Philippines is a highly varied place. Maybe some expats have not lived in a bunch of different places in Philippines and they think all Philippines is like the place where they live. It's not. There is a wide range of economic conditions here. but generally speaking, prices on land and houses and rent goes down as you get out of the bigger "independent cities," but the price of consumer goods goes up due to transport costs. Produce can go either way due to wide and varied distribution of growers. Likewise, in some places you really need a car, but in others a personal vehicle is just a wasted expense.

Exactly....as for this current land/landfill/& building of 2br house/approx 500m2/full perimeter fenced (in partners/my name) was done in early 2013...prices have appreciated nearly 2.5x  since then, so it was a calculated risk...all the rest you mentioned is spot on!

Went to Cardenas Enterprises in downtown Santa to buy a Sunday newspaper yesterday.   They told me no more newspapers delivered anymore.  Used to be 20 pesos every Sunday plus 2 pesos delivery charge.  Evidently 2 pesos per paper does not pay to deliver the Sunday papers from Manila, about 400 kilometers from here.  Plan to check the provincial capital, Vigan, this Sunday.  Sunday newspaper in Allentown, PA, costs 150 pesos, does have much Philippines news unless there is a current typhoon or volcanic eruption.

mugtech wrote:

Went to Cardenas Enterprises in downtown Santa to buy a Sunday newspaper yesterday.   They told me no more newspapers delivered anymore.  Used to be 20 pesos every Sunday plus 2 pesos delivery charge.  Evidently 2 pesos per paper does not pay to deliver the Sunday papers from Manila, about 400 kilometers from here.  Plan to check the provincial capital, Vigan, this Sunday.  Sunday newspaper in Allentown, PA, costs 150 pesos, does have much Philippines news unless there is a current typhoon or volcanic eruption.

I don't subscribe for any kind of newspaper...can't afford that cost build up into my monthly budget.

I live ON southern Leyte. And either you are rich or not Going to last long here. Buying American products is more expensive here than in USA.
Adapt to most of Philippine culture and cuisine and your money will go twice as far my friend.

If you buy and build you have equity. Rent is wasted money. 60k a year in interest? Your house and land will appreciate more than that if you have right location and buildout.
No rent for the rest of your life sounds better to me.
I’m about to buy a beach lot here. 800 square meters for 1.5m. 2000 a square meter. Beach property even in the province with white sand is 2 to 3k per square meter.
Just make sure you know exactly what your buying like titled land and check the lot plan against the title to make sure they match or it’s a scam! 
So anyway 1.5m then another 1.5 for the buildout. All in for 3m. Damn good buy. As soon as it’s done it will be worth more than that. Like 5m instantly. Food is cheap as long as you eat like a local. 
You can live on less than 45000 pesos a month and that’s living nicely. Whatever you do ....  good luck.

I was just curious as to why you are renting? If you are living there 365 days/year, you’re just throwing away money. Not including having to deal with a landlord. ( which I heard that a lot of them are corrupt). For the money you’re spending on rent, you could eventually purchase a home or build your own. My wife and I rented one time in Florida when we sold our home, while our home was being built in Cebu, that was the worst experience ever! ..... just saying.

It depends on where you buy and build. Some places in the Philippines you cannot sell a property to save your life. Like where we are. We chose to live here due to family, but the market for selling a house does not exist. I will end up giving it away if we leave. This has happened to others who built here in the province.

There are a lot of different situations and that is what people miss. They think their situation is all there is and it simply is not true. Sometimes renting makes more sense.

Even in some cities you get get stuck with a property or take a screwing if you need to get out in a hurry.

And as for prices appreciating, again some places they do on paper, but good luck finding an actual buyer.

I have friends who rented in several places around the country while they were deciding on where to build permanently.

That is another situation.

Other people do not trust the geopolitical and other factors. And the good thing about corrupt landlords in you can walk away from them. Not so much a multi million peso peso investment in concrete and steel .

And for those who are here based on marriage, there is the possibility of a break up in which case you will likely get nothing out of the house you paid for. In fact this applies to most foreigners living in the Philippines. Most will never be citizens with a right to stay in the Philippines. They will be here on a visa of some type. Some people are not comfortable with laying down a huge chunk of cash  when they could possibly lose the right to live in it some day. This has happened and will happen again. It is just one risk that people need to calculate and decide for themselves if they can live with it.

True words PD. I hope this is not off topic. We rented a condo in Manila for a year which worked well then we moved back to Oz, we both worked and watched the property market for 5 years in our chosen destination both land and house and lot. in some areas the prices doubled over that time but other areas the prices were stagnant even falling. We saw a beachfront property 15 minutes north driving but only 8 kilometres away and from memory was 13 or 14M, we shoved that one to the back of the pile, a year or so later it was 11M and a year further on was 9M so we went and had a look. Absolute beachfront, 1700M2 titled lot, 800M2 tax declared lot to the high tide mark, an 8 year old 3 bed 2 bath home, very quiet area, we purchased it for well under 6M, not a lot of money for what we got, that was 3 years ago. The vacant block next came on the market a year ago and she is asking 13M, I think that will take some time to sell unless a foreigner comes along without doing research and watching the market.

Renting is the best option if you are unsure or waiting to find the right property that's for sure.

Cheers, Steve.

We have put maybe 4 million PHP into our place over the ten years we have lived here. The lot is 1800sq and is on the beach. House is appr. 180sqmm. It might go for a half million $ in the US, but here in the middle of no where it may not sell at all.

A person on a visa in the Philippines should never bring money into the country that you cannot afford to lose. Your visa status can change in a heart beat due to unforeseen events. This has happened to others and they lost their investments.

Philippines is also subject to natural disasters of all kinds. Most do not have home insurance, but even if you did there can still be problems. And then there are the terrorism and geopolitical issues. 200,000 people in Marawi lost their property. How many saw it coming?

never bring money into the country that you cannot afford to kiss good bye

Philippine Destiny wrote:

It depends on where you buy and build. Some places in the Philippines you cannot sell a property to save your life. Like where we are. We chose to live here due to family, but the market for selling a house does not exist. I will end up giving it away if we leave. This has happened to others who built here in the province.

There are a lot of different situations and that is what people miss. They think their situation is all there is and it simply is not true. Sometimes renting makes more sense.

Even in some cities you get get stuck with a property or take a screwing if you need to get out in a hurry.

And as for prices appreciating, again some places they do on paper, but good luck finding an actual buyer.

I have friends who rented in several places around the country while they were deciding on where to build permanently.

That is another situation.

Other people do not trust the geopolitical and other factors. And the good thing about corrupt landlords in you can walk away from them. Not so much a multi million peso peso investment in concrete and steel .

And for those who are here based on marriage, there is the possibility of a break up in which case you will likely get nothing out of the house you paid for. In fact this applies to most foreigners living in the Philippines. Most will never be citizens with a right to stay in the Philippines. They will be here on a visa of some type. Some people are not comfortable with laying down a huge chunk of cash  when they could possibly lose the right to live in it some day. This has happened and will happen again. It is just one risk that people need to calculate and decide for themselves if they can live with it.

Agreed with both PD's & Bigpearl on this matter :
(Both whom "Have" land/title) & if its of any help I would add my own 2 cents worth :
Don't dump any *significant sum of pesos into homebuilding here especially in the provinces....I had "mine" built fm ground zero in early 2013...approx 500m2/mangrove land from which free water was drained, followed with a massive land fill with both gravel and soil and finally a 2br single house erected which was then fully perimeter fenced (All built using local materials/masons) ....I've had this place for some 7yrs (locals claim that prices have increased some 2.5x since then...but thats simply on PAPER!). I am willing to just walk away if things go south. In the end especially here "nothing" really belongs to you!
Rent was a cheaper possibility back in 2013 thats if you like claustrophobic living which I don't!
Thanks

Yes, for some of us renting here provides significant advantages. I have done reasonably well with US real estate (west coast) over the past two decades with steady appreciation, great tenants who pay on time and properties sold in 30-45 days when necessary. No need to tie up my capital in an unpredictable situation here where I might lose it due to any number of possibilities.

This month I moved from a condotel (basically a full-service hotel with a fully furnished apartment) into a villa with basic furniture and not much else.  I'll have cost details next year when I have purchased all the little things that you don't remember you need until you need them. The condotel had poor facilities for cooking, so upgrading what little came in the villa will be included.

Re car: Back in Los Angeles before I retired here last August, I was making a lot of money (of which I saved preciousl little) and drove a high-end Lexus SUV, leased every 3 years. I figure it would cost about 7 million here if you could get it.

Thanks to a referral from a friend, I bought a 2016 Nissan Juke with about 35,000 km. According to the dealer (if you can believe anyone), it had been owned by a friend of his and well maintained since new. Cost was 670,000, down from 690,000 asked. Insurance was 17,000 although I am not sure what it covers exactly (I asked for comprehensive liability).

The car has been a delight. Driving around town (Angeles City) I'm spending 1,800-2,000 a month on gas, and it won't need an oil change. So far it's mostly local, around 200 km/month or less, but most everything I need is pretty nearby.

So far I'm spending 5,000-6,000/month on food; a substantial portion of that is fruit (mangos are expensive). I buy prepared meals from a local carendaria, almost all vegetable dishes at 40 pesos; they put it in a plastic bag. I make black rice at home to eat with it (healthier than white rice!). Occasionally I'll buy shrimp or cooked chicken to add. But I'm eating healthy and loosing weight! (I put on a few extra pounds in my last months in Los Angeles eating things I knew I wouldn't be able to get here.)

I eat out occasionally, probably ~10x/month, around 3,000-5,000 pesos depending on whether I am paying for a dinner date.

Medical costs have varied, since I had side effects from a TURP (prostate reduction) just before I moved here and spent a lot on urologists and tests; I resolved it. with a trip back to my doctors in Los Angeles last month. I have kept up my US insurance ($196/mo. plus Medicare Parts A & B); we'll see how long I want to keep paying the supplemental. I'm healthy for my age (74) so fingers crossed on that one. My budget includes nursing care, but a ways off.

I have not included what I spend on women including the orange pills

Best, George

***

Kent&Liza wrote:

Solution to that is put the land and house in wife’s relative name. Any relative will do. Before that have a document draw up by an attorney stating you lent say 5 million pesos to that relative to buy and build the house. Have them sign the document and notarize it with your attorney. If anything happens like a break up unless they pay you 5 million pesos. You now own it.

Good luck getting paid. It will be the first time in history.

Philippine Destiny wrote:

Kent&Liza wrote:

Solution to that is put the land and house in wife’s relative name. Any relative will do. Before that have a document draw up by an attorney stating you lent say 5 million pesos to that relative to buy and build the house. Have them sign the document and notarize it with your attorney. If anything happens like a break up unless they pay you 5 million pesos. You now own it.

Good luck getting paid. It will be the first time in history.

I'd agree wif PD on this!

manwonder wrote:

Philippine Destiny wrote:

Kent&Liza wrote:

Solution to that is put the land and house in wife’s relative name. Any relative will do. Before that have a document draw up by an attorney stating you lent say 5 million pesos to that relative to buy and build the house. Have them sign the document and notarize it with your attorney. If anything happens like a break up unless they pay you 5 million pesos. You now own it.

Good luck getting paid. It will be the first time in history.

I'd agree wif PD on this!

Unless those thousands of stories we all know of are all untrue. Never heard even one going in the foreigner's favor notarized docs notwithstanding. Good luck holding on to your house with ten relatives in it and your visa gone.

I agree with you. BUT...... you really have to be careful and do your homework on any land you want to purchase. If the title is in a dead persons name be aware. If you buy it you are then on the hook for all taxes of ALL property in that’ll dead’s person name. So if he owns multiple properties you now become responsible for taxes on all with you only having interest in the one property you actually paid for. I just ran into this and he owned 4 other properties one of the heirs was trying to sell me knowing I would be on the hook for the other properties taxes leaving him clear to sell those also. Also if you are buying a piece of a parcel of land make sure it has already been sub-divided or you will be in trouble with who ever purchased the other parts. It’s very confusing and I have spent 2 days dealing with tax accessory dept and several other government offices to find out the bad news of if I bought this property I would be in a legal battle for a long time. The people I have dealt with at these offices have me all the information I needed to make a decision to NOT buy this particular piece of land. They said beat way is clear title for entire square meter it states in the title and the owner still alive who is selling it to you. (Well your wife).
I have lots of experience here in southern Leyte if anyone wants any help. I have been coming here for 6 years and lives here now for 7 months.

That’s the point. No pay you get the land.

Kent&Liza wrote:

That’s the point. No pay you get the land.

No you don't. Someone has mislead you. I have been coming to the Philippines for 20 years, live here full time for ten and have purchased several plots of land. You are simply incorrect. There is only one case in Philippine law where a foreigner MIGHT be able to own land.

https://www.philippinedestiny.com/2019/ … ssion.htmlhttps://www.philippinedestiny.com/2019/ … pines.html

You say that you have a lot of experience buying land, but you also say talk about all of this trouble you are having. If you had experience, then you would know that you should go to LMB to get a copy of the approved map/subdivision map and LRA to get a copy of the title. That would preclude the problems that you are having. Experienced people do not make those mistakes.

Yeah when your wife dies. I know that but you have control over the land and may operate a business or live there until
The debt is paid. I know a guy who is doing just that. Unless he lied to me.

I said I have a lot of experience in Philippines. Not buying land. I’m not here to argue with you. Your right. Your smarter than me you know it all.
Good luck to you my friend

Kent&Liza wrote:

I said I have a lot of experience in Philippines. Not buying land. I’m not here to argue with you. Your right. Your smarter than me you know it all.
Good luck to you my friend

When they approve the links I provided I suggest that you read them. They will help you.

I am not arguing with you either. I Correcting your mistaken facts that are misleading to others.

I am not smarter than you, but I do have more experience than you do and I have completed the land buying process many times. Successfully.

You cannot come into a forum like this, make erroneous statements and expect no one to respond. Some of the things you are saying are classic mistakes made by expats in the Philippines. I know because long ago I made some of them. I learned from them.

well , this tread have flip out

living cost is not what you guys talking about , you talk about who own and what and all kind of issues beside ,,,,thats not "living cost "

mc81 wrote:

well , this tread have flip out

living cost is not what you guys talking about , you talk about who own and what and all kind of issues beside ,,,,thats not "living cost "

In a way it does!!....Housing/rental costs DO form a 'MAJOR' part of your overall cost of living so I don't see why not!