Real Estate business in the Philippines is totally unregulated

The real estate business in the Philippines is totally unregulated. Commissions of 100% are not uncommon, and the agents are usually unskilled in handling all the details of the transaction. They take their commission and run. The buyer can be left with many issues.

For instance, my friend bought a nice beach front property for about Php 4.5 million. There were two agents, neither of whom did much to earn their outrageous commission. It turned out there were five owners, the heirs of the original owner. Buyer had to find them and get them to sign. Then buyer found out the lot was only about half the size claimed, after a survey. Then his neighbor moved the survey marker on his side to steal a bit of land, but my friend knew the original location by some landmarks and replaced it. The neighbor said nothing. My friend got half the land he thought he bought, and he had to run around himself to clear the title. Oh, and after he bought two squatters built shacks on the foreshore, wrecking the view. He had to pay them off. Get the foreshore permit if you buy beach property, and make sure you don’t inherit tenants.

My second peeve is that foreigners seem to get charged much more for property than Filipinos. In my case, I looked at a mango farm. Owner had a pending sale at Php 1,000,000, but the buyer could not perform and the seller needed money. Tried to sell it to me at Php 2,000,000. I walked. Another time I looked at lots near my home. Seller wanted P1000 per sqm from a Filipino, but p1500 per sqm from me. I was interested but the seller died and the property is now being fought over by ex wives, distant relatives and who knows who else. Will now take years. Things are in disarray in real estate here in the Philippines.

 

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