Subdivisions or not

[Lee2]

From all I have seen and heard of expats homes being burglarized and other problems including roosters crowing and dogs running wild, I would say definitely if we were to move to the Philippines full time and ended up living in a home instead of our condo (not likely but anything is possible) then we would only wish to live in a gated and guarded subdivision that had some rules.

While rules can be a pain at times, we now live in a gated subdivision in the US and in a condo in Cebu and the rules have been more of a plus that a negative in both places where people tend to always want to push the envelope. People in the Philippines and even in the US often have no regard for their neighbors and therefore do many things which would make my life miserable if there were no rules and therefore no one to complain to, so reasonably controlled would be my choice.

In our former house in the states there was no rules and people painted their houses crazy colors, had jungles growing in front of their homes, did not take care of their homes, had dogs and cats running wild all over the neighborhood and parked junk vehicles in their driveways and our home was in an upscale community.

The only way for me to ever consider living in a non gated community would be if we lived among family homes all around us and always had family and friends who would be home at all times.

[BingColin]

There was a review in another forum asking members if they had been burgled, none had nor did any of them know anyone that had. Obviously it does happen but not as much as some people like to think. If you choose the right area and take reasonable precautions then there should be no problems. This is a poor country and some people will resort the burglary simply to put food on the table, but these will be opportunists. We have rented in a gated community, Ayala Alabang, and there were still crimes committed there, it is difficult to stop a determined professional burglar. Roosters are hard to avoid unless you live near the centre a a large gated community, and I have never found dogs to be a problem.

Where we live now, there are no neighbours in sight on three sides and just a few on the other side of the road. Our house is at the back of the lot, well sheltered with trees, with a very unimposing front wall and gate. At the moment we just have concrete post with barbed wire and bamboo fencing around the property, it will be replaced with a concrete wall when we can afford it, about P500k, but we don\'t consider security a problem. We have a nipa hut at the back and a nice wooden hut at the front as part of the temporary car port; we try to have at least one helper living on the site.

A lot of gated communities have postage stamp sized lots where you can almost reach out of the window and touch the neighbours wall. There may be rules, but people will break them. There is a saying, “you can choose your friends, but not your neighbours”.

I know it is a matter of personal taste, but I have found some gated communities to be almost sterile. In Ayala Alabang, the only time we ever saw our neighbours was on New Year when they went out in the street to let off their fireworks. I used to take long walks every day and only ever saw drivers washing cars and maids sweeping the road.

A condo may be OK if you are a town person and only want a place to sleep and have the occasional meal. Again you cannot chose your neighbours, and you could have them on three sides and above and below

I agree that building here is a real hassle, but it is worth it in the end. The pain soon fades when you look at your nice new home

[Lee2]

Like you Colin I have read crime statistics on some forums but with different results. On one forum they had an anonymous poll and in it there were 17 burgled where they thought it might be an inside job, so they did not even bother to make a police report and 16 burgled where they made a police report. The interesting part was that only 53 people said they had not been a victim of any crime, so using the 53 who obviously never were victims of any crime yet some might have only been tourists so the number might be much lower for real expats and then totaling those burgled came to 33, it seems there is a pretty good chance an expat might get their house burglarized and that forum more or less concentrates on one area of the Philippines but does have members from other areas as well.

I personally have heard of quite a few expats whose homes were burglarized and one guy I know personally sold his house because his wife woke up in the middle of the night to find a couple of burglars in the house and they basically got away with most of their electronics and personal items but it could have been much worse had she confronted them.

No place even a gated community is 100 percent safe, so we feel it is better to make it as hard as possible for criminals such as in our condo a person needs a permission form with them to carry out personal goods past the guards and cannot even get their vehicle into the development without a permit. I would imagine that while some burglars might steal small items and hop over a wall or fence, it would be pretty hard to carry electronics and home furnishing out of a gated community yet I heard of one guy who came home to his home which was not in a gated community only to find it totally empty.

BTW I am glad you have never had any issues and hope you never have any.

[LUTENIST]

I am new, so parden me for giving a reply to this topic without reading all of it first....I was land developer in the US for many years, but also did the Engineering for many subdivisions, including the surveying and construction work, so if anyone needs some help, like a survey of the land and a plot plan, topo or site plan showing the grading, drainage, septic, i can try tot help. Although soliciting these things may be illegal since i possess no license, so it would be on a gratus basis of course officially. But more importantly is the navagation thru the local code and policies that i am not up to speed on here at all, still learning. My new wife here is professional woman with years of experience in accounting and banking practices, taxes, import/export law, etc, so her and I intend to look into subdividing land here. Any suggestions are welcomed.

[Art, just a re(tired) Fil-Am]

We have rented in a gated community, Ayala Alabang, and there were still crimes committed there, it is difficult to stop a determined professional burglar. Roosters are hard to avoid unless you live near the centre a a large gated community, and I have never found dogs to be a problem.

A lot of gated communities have postage stamp sized lots where you can almost reach out of the window and touch the neighbours wall. There may be rules, but people will break them. There is a saying, “you can choose your friends, but not your neighbours”.

I know it is a matter of personal taste, but I have found some gated communities to be almost sterile. In Ayala Alabang, the only time we ever saw our neighbours was on New Year when they went out in the street to let off their fireworks. I used to take long walks every day and only ever saw drivers washing cars and maids sweeping the road.

I agree that building here is a real hassle, but it is worth it in the end. The pain soon fades when you look at your nice new home

Colin,

We\'re familiar with Alabang and your comments above is pretty much the truth! Our subdivision is pretty much similar, except for that we don\'t live in postage stamp size lots and we don\'t have any roosters crowing, cats or dog running around free in our neighborhood! I like the peace and quiet here, I sleep good at night and or during the day when I take my short naps!
Your new huge home there in Palawan looks beautiful!  Yup! The pain does fade when you look at your nice new home after it\'s completion, but home improvements are never ending like your P500k cement retaining wall and whatever else that will come next! I guess that\'s just part of the fun of home ownership and as long as we can afford it!  :blink:  :whistle:    

Art
from
Sta, Rosa,
Laguna

[Art, just a re(tired) Fil-Am]

I am new, so parden me for giving a reply to this topic without reading all of it first....I was land developer in the US for many years, but also did the Engineering for many subdivisions, including the surveying and construction work, so if anyone needs some help, like a survey of the land and a plot plan, topo or site plan showing the grading, drainage, septic, i can try tot help. Although soliciting these things may be illegal since i possess no license, so it would be on a gratus basis of course officially. But more importantly is the navagation thru the local code and policies that i am not up to speed on here at all, still learning. My new wife here is professional woman with years of experience in accounting and banking practices, taxes, import/export law, etc, so her and I intend to look into subdividing land here. Any suggestions are welcomed.

Welcome James,

You may have plenty to learn of the Filipino ways of doing things! It just may bewilder or frustrate you over time! Good luck!  

Art

[LUTENIST]

oh IMHO I would rather rent than buy a place....I am living in a huge swiss Chalet built like a tank (iron wood tongue and groove, post and beam construction) with all the amenities imaginable with the best view in the area, safest place in town for 30k a month, I know sounds impossible, specially if you see this place and the location. i can\'t hear a cock or a trike, just a distant train horn and lots of bullfrogs! I guess i was lucky, signed one year lease, house next store is same constuction only 6 million, 4000 sq feet!, can see the volcano and all of the area from any windo and lots of jungle and gardens. i am 5 minutes from the highway, that toll highway to manila in 40 minute depending on traffic, 30 to the airport.

ASnyway tis frees up cash for land investment since gtheir financing here is very conservative and buying a house to live is always too emotional, better to subdivide and sell, make it a business venture, then you are more cautious.
seems buying is ok, but if you need cash or have to move, you have to sell and i noticed lots of guys discounting in order to liquidate.

just a thought, even in the USA its proven now you are better off to rent in this economy, unless you can steal a house and flip it or have instant equity, but all the taxes, maintence and the gfact you can\'t always move when a better opportunity comes along...again just shite to fill the time and space....

[RinaldiMan]

Just a suggestion its better not in a subdivision because its good if your planning to retire, but if your that kind of person that driven and success hungry? then the Metro manila is the best place for you. With all the developments in the city its a good time to invest already.

[spin]

Interesting read,  my wife's family mostly lives in Bataan in the south side and she wants to retire there.  Looking online for a hector or two is giving me sticker shock. The prices are so high per sq meter.  Started looking on the east side of manila  sound Silang and it gets higher.  It's crazy.  Don't think I'll be happy in a subdivision in my older age. I'd like to have fruit trees and a nice garden to keep me healthy.  Sucks!