MANILA, Philippines—The competition has become fierce. So much so that some “overly aggressive” entities promise the sun and the moon just to snatch that sweet, sweet deal from overseas buyers. Philippine property advocates are now sounding the alarm that complaints from “helpless property buyers from overseas are on the rise.”

Philippine Voyager website in its recent issue “Should you buy properties in the Philippines or rent first?” has observed that many expatriates and foreigners have been lured into buying properties in the Philippines by aggressive real estate companies, and that most of these investors would readily believe the words of the agents. It explained that these agents are believable “mainly because they’re either relatives or close friends who are armed with the information.”

Complaints

Soon after investors put their money in, the complaints follow. Some common complaints Philippine Voyager has taken note of are the poor quality of construction; the property is situated too far from other establishments like schools, hospitals and malls; unreasonable home association and maintenance fees; and a number of other pertinent information that were either withheld or not explained properly during the selling process. These complaints have many times led to investors moving back to their respective countries.

“There are also numerous occasions where the bank had already foreclosed on the property and would have many liens against it. Buying these foreclosed properties could be a nightmare to would-be investors because it could tie them up in legal proceedings for a long time.”

Eric Soriano, who has been in the property sector for 21 years, has likewise observed that the number of complaints has swelled. “Close to a hundred high rises and easily 50 horizontal developments are slated for completion anytime between now and 2010, so we see a dire situation for potentially thousands of hopeless primary users.”

He also observed the numerous complaints of poor build quality and near-zero customer service. “And they (agents) use our laws and their influence as their shield against grieving homebuyers.”

Soriano is advocating for best practices and educating consumers and players on the need to raise the bar insofar as service and quality is concerned. He also said that “it is also the best time to be unkind to developers and agents that have completely abandoned the concept of value for money.”

Prince Christian R. Cruz, senior economist, Global Property Guide (www.globalpropertyguide.com), “it is not only expats and overseas buyers who buy without researching, a lot of buyers—even in the Philippines—tend to buy (almost like they were) blindfolded.”

Cruz cited several reasons for this: some buyers were too busy to bother about the details, while others were intimidated by the legal gobbledygook in the sales contract.

Online tools

“The problem is exacerbated for overseas buyers. However, there are online tools that can help the buyer in checking the different aspects of the property investment.”

1 The buyer must check with the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (http://www.hlurb.gov.ph/) if the seller or developer has a License to Sell and/or Development Permit. The license must be current and for the specific condominium or subdivision that they are selling. It also has a list of registered real estate brokers, companies and salesmen.

2 The buyer can use Google Earth (http://earth.google.com/) to check the location of the condominium or subdivision. Most location maps provided by developers are disproportionately inaccurate. They highlight key locations to create an impression that they are much closer to the subdivision or condominium. In Google Earth, the buyer can check the actual distance and accessibility of the development.

3 The buyer can also check websites of other real estate firms to check the prices of nearby properties. For instance, www.condo.com.ph has listings of condominiums for sale and for rent. The information is useful especially if the buyer intends to rent out theproperty.

4 The buyer can also ask banks regarding foreclosed properties. Banks tend to provide more accurate descriptions of the status of property and prices are typically lower. They also provide information on how to get a housing loan.

5 The buyer can check the websites of various government agencies and local government units for projects and plans that may affect the property value. A good example is the website of Makati City government (http://www.makati.gov. ph/portal/index.jsp), it has information on schools, hospitals and churches in each and every barangay (town). It also provide information on services provided by the city government.

reference: 

• Philippine Voyage 
• Global Property Guide

Source:

• Inquirer.net
• Tessa Salazar

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Your Source of Info...
written by Administrator, August 01, 2008

At the bottom of your article titled: 'Source'. You should recorded Philippinevoyager.com Online Magazine as well...

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Administrator

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written by Eugene, August 01, 2008

The original article is by Tessa Salazar of Inquirer.net, and the article does mention "Philippine Voyager website" as well as globalpropertyguide.com ....

We are more than happy to place your site as one of the references, but the original source of the article "Problem with overzealous property agents?....." We believe is Inquirer.net

We did however tried to link to the article "Should You Buy Properties In The Philippines Or Rent First?" in the mentioned site, unfortunately it wasn't there. and was found in philippinevoyager.wordpress.com/2007/05/18/should-you-buy-properties-in-the-philippines-or-rent-first/

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