🇵🇭 🇬🇧 Buying Land in the Philippines as a Foreigner: The COMPLETE Guide
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🌴 Buying Land in the Philippines as a Foreigner: The COMPLETE Guide 🌴
Are you a foreigner looking to invest in land in the beautiful Philippines? In this comprehensive breakdown of our experience, we’ll walk you through every step of the process that we went through to-date, ensuring you have all the information you need to make a successful purchase for yourself! Hopefully it helps, as we're aware there isn't much information on other channels relating to this topic and the things that happen behind-the-scenes!
🔍 What You’ll Learn:
How to find the perfect property on Facebook and other platforms
Tips for verifying the legitimacy of your potential land purchase
The importance of legal assistance and how to choose the right attorney
Understanding the deed of sale and title signatures
Navigating the payment process and what to expect
Settling utility bills and reconnecting services like electricity and water
Whether you're dreaming of a vacation home, an investment property, or a permanent residence, this video is your perfect resource for buying land in the Philippines as a foreigner, even though the law states that foreignes CAN'T own land!
👉 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell to stay updated on all our latest content about real estate and living in the Philippines!
💬 Join the Conversation:
Have questions or experiences to share? Drop them in the comments below! We’d love to hear from you.
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#renovationproject #philippines #foreignerinthephilippines
good job mate for making it to the philippines 👏👏👏 well done 100 subscribers lets gooo!
Woop woop! Thanks so much 😁 you're hear for the first 100
We are in the process of buying raw land in the Phils. WAY more complicated than the US, and a lot of bs is stated because you REALLY have to put in time to hunt down the actual facts.
I very much appreciated the step by step process as there are very few videos detailing the process step and pitfalls.
You now have a new subscriber!
Hey Richard - sorry I thought I replied to this already! Glad to hear that you're buying a plot out here yourself, if you have any questions about anything then I'll do my best to help out! Thanks so much, welcome to the channel
I'm happy you're showing more of the process in this video because last time you were just talking a lot and we didn't see any remodeling but did you just finish the walls with colored Overcoat right onto the cement or are you putting something over top of the cement like cement board or anything
Yeah, make sure you check out the other vids that are labled "Home Renovation Walkthrough", this will give you a better understanding of everything so far. For the walls, they built up the walls that had large gaps missing with cement, as well as the support beams. Then they went over everything with a skim-coat. No cement boarding was used at all. The finish is not perfect, but it is a LOT better than having it still as a layer of cement, haha.
Subscriber #343, thanks for the information.
Thanks! Welcome 🙏
Great information, thank you for sharing
Hey Rich, no problem! Thanks for stopping by
God bless
As a land surveyor here in the US it is legit shocking to here how jokingly insane the price is the survey & draft (sketch as you say or draw) the property.
Do you know if they had to come from another island & travel by ferry & possibly stay 1 night in a room? I know having a quality service can sometimes lead to hiring from other cities or companies on entirely different islands.
That price is bananas to me. There are people who pay less for a full ILC on their property with a full draft reported to the county & such that pay less that that factoring in conversion. I'm just shocked because it seems all other service related jobs are all supposedly cheap. I say supposed because I only visited once & the food was "usually" cheaper depending the place, haircut was way cheaper even after someone said I got scammed for twice what a haircut should be I paid 120p. At the time that was $2.09, but I guess it used to be 60p at some places.
25000 for a survey with equipment I can guarantee isn't even remotely close to as accurate as the gps systems we use that can get shots with the biggest error can be 4 hundredths. Or .04 (half of 1 inch).
I'm ranting now, & when moved I will just need to shop around & May also have only one option or service, but one thing is for sure, that price is pathetically high compared to other service & construction work. The owner I can guarantee is happy to rip everyone off & continue buying up everything. To be fair it's similar in the US with elite rich owning everything, but I was actually shocked to here it literally costs more in the Philippines to get your survey done lol. There must be several big things I'm not thinking of, cheers bro
How much does it cost for surveying in USA?? It's something that's entirely new to me, and when I first found out that the potential buyer (me, at the time) had to pay for the survey, I was rather defensive about it as I figured that if it got defined as something completely different to what I believed I was gonna buy... then it's 25,000 php wasted. Took a while for me to be brought round to going ahead with that, after speaking to a few people and realising that it is common in the UK to do it that way as well. As you say, it's quite an expensive service compared to tradesman here, as trades can be on only 500php per day, and they're really hard working, whereas the surveying took only 1hour(ish) on-site. They did have GPS markers that they were holding on the corner points, which automatically loaded into their laptop, don't know if that's similar to what you do? Also, searching for other surveyors for the best price wasn't really what I wanted to do, because often you get what you pay for... so I want for the person that got recommended by the most people, and turns out he's a VERY well-known person in the community for various other businesses too, including ownership in a cock-fighting ring, so we went for him. There was one person mentioned for 8000php, but only one person recommended them and that's important to me. Ahh yes, lots of things here will shock you. Daily. Hahaha! Good luck on your journey
@@LifeAsWestwood I wanna make sure I know what they did before I say a price. There was no house correct? & it was a small lot?
For simply confirming &/or setting property corners, filing them with the county & state so there are records for people in the future to find easily, & drawing the boundary, with a basic small lot you can have that done for about $350 where I live in Grand Junction CO. Its more in say New York City, slightly less in say rural Kentucky or Alabama for example, but it takes about the same amount of time on site. 1 hour absolute max, most likely a little bit less. I've completed what is known as just boundary surveys in neighborhoods & other small lots in 20 minutes for the field work, then someone in the office gets those points from our equipment which is basically like a fancy tablet & they can draft up the lot for record & they send it off for record. It's 1 day unless they finish drafting it the following morning.
For big sites or land with cliffs & rocky ^ steep terrain then it goes into more hourly time charged.
But it really looks like all you got was a boundary survey & we do that for $350. 25,000php with current conversion I am using 55, that is $455.00 basically. I honeslty think its more about the owner making more profit but that is just my opinion. Perhaps that extra $105.00 is just because they don't do survey work all the time so maybe it spreads out their pay. I am only assuming based on it being Philippines that they don't always have work all day every day like I do here. We turn down so much work people get mad at us, but we can only do so many surverys per day & some other projects are very very large & take years like building a hospital for example. But that is totally different pricing & work.
Sorry my omment is so long, but I wanted to try giving a more context as I tried to answer & think about why is was more expensive. With our work we basically take boundary surveys & other similar small jobs as filler jobs in between our long projects. We can still get maybe 2 per day per field crew of 2 employees. Because we visit our big sites & longterm projects, then to fill out the work day we find & accept other small jobs that we think we have time for.
After thinking about the volume of work we get offered I think that may play a role. Every single house built must have proper surveys, every road, street light, fire station, all the utilities under the ground so we always have tons of work going so overall the company still makes a lot more per day. Your survey is most likely their only survey for that work day & maybe the next day nothing is scheduled. Im just thinking about other possible reasons. $100 dollars more in US isn't massive, but it is technically still 23% higher price. I just found it surprising because as you know all other working jobs that I know of are much less expensive when you factor in the currency exchange rate. A laborer working a full day can make what is $10.00 (500php) maybe even a little bit less if they are not the foreman or a lead, but here even the lowest paid guys make $140.00 per day or more. Im comparing where I live & what I literally make which is low by the way. I make $18 per hour & other trades have literally called me a liar cuz most make more lol.
Hello, please share the applicable laws that apply to your "counter signature" protection as a foreigner.
@2132waiola counter signature was just a term that I used to explain that both of our signatures are on all paperwork. However, the laws that apply to myself, as a Foreigner married to a Filipina, is that of the family code. Article 1 and 116 highlight the conjugal aspect of this, property owner by both parties through marriage. Hope that helps. An attorney/lawyer will help you through this, as I don't claim to be one of those
@@LifeAsWestwood Many thanks, it does help a lot!!!
@2132waiola no problem at all, if there's anything else I can help with, let me know
did you ensure you have right of access to your land if there is only one other owner of the properties around you?
@Grimberian72 hey, fortunately the access to our portion of land is on the edge of their mother title, it sits right on the access road, so they couldn't technically block us out lol 😆
If you're going to buy land and a house in the Philippines it better be with money you can afford to lose. As a foreigner you can not own property other than a condominium. It is hers and it is subject to her whim that you stay in that house. A very risky investment to say the least.
@markhammer1902 there is a lot more to it than that though, and it is possible to own land/property. Our marriage is strong anyway, so I'm not worried about that. It's the same in the UK, you lose stuff in divorce, but I can't see divorce happening. If it ever happened, then I'd be more down about losing my marriage than some money on a house, to be honest 😆
@LifeAsWestwood our marriage is so strong. Famous last words. Good luck anyway.
@@markhammer1902 👍
many forigners do this u cannot say this happen all the time filipinas are different stuff own a condo there crap cost millions peso no backyard no front yard just security pool gym traffic u wrong u heard a forigner can own land because he married his name on the title u own a condo u can lose it also if someone moves in with u hehe omg not a risky investment its a best investment he done very well I admit my mate sold his house with his wife went to australia now coming back to buy another house stay in the philippines as misses it
One question? What do you have for Wi-Fi and cell phone
We just paid for Globe to setup their cable for 500MBPS it cost 35k setup cause we are pretty remote, that includes 6 months WiFi too. After the 6 months, it'll cost 1.7k per month. We couldn't use Globe directly, a reseller and cable service had to do it cause of being so remote. I'm gonna do another vid on this
How did u do reasearch of whos the real owner and the tax is paid ect. Did u do it urself or normally the attorney does it?
@ItsIslandLife always get the lawyer/attorney to do those checks. They give through the title and everything directly with the current owner, you all have to gather in the office together. Well, at least that's what we did! Then the attorney checks through the owners, backdated for hundreds of years, checks for mortgages etc
What . island are you guys on
..im in Southern layte,, BATO,,
We are Mindanao - North Cotabato region 😁
So you did 421 sqm and 89 sqm?
@markeuringer8106 Hey Mark, no we got 441sqm which includes the 89 portion. Long story short, the original owner declared 15 x 38 for 800k, it came out considerably less. We whined and was about to walk away from the deal lol, and then the rice field owner (mother title owner) agreed to extend the land into his field a bit, adding 89 to the total. Hope that helps
Thanks very much it helps me a lot!
@@LifeAsWestwood you got a fair deal 1500 peso thats ok because u own it and land tax only 1000 peso a year even u in a dangerous place and u feel safe then ok there enjoy fresh air and with u asawa and anak and enjoy freedom away from the big city uk, we have friends there living as nurses want to leave as cost expensive me school mate lives there now 40 years like it married to
348 👌which area are you in? Im maybe a year behind you.
We are in North Cotabato! Awesome fairplay man, what's your plans?
@@LifeAsWestwood currently living in Dubai with my filapina girlfriend but we have bought some land maybe an hour south of Valencia, where see is from. Not sure if I could live in the province so thinking long and hard before building.
@@AndyS536 Aw yeah man you gotta make sure that it's right for you! You don't wanna get stuck out doing things in a very Filipino manner if you're style of living is still quite Western, you'll be unintentionally making your life miserable. Have a good long think! Keep us posted :)
So remote place. Beware cause anything happen it's hard to sell your property and appreciation is not in progress. If you buy property consider location, government services and school is one thing to consider
We've considered all of those things already 😊
everything money buying a house knock a tree down now u need barangay permission if u want to build the house and u get the drawing done u have to build that house u cannot make changes unless u pay now new rues have to follow we lucky have family architect and builders and electricians but everything u buy will cost money thats philippines life its cheaper then western world yes but also western world comfort zone if u can live seem a lot want to live a easy life now but u need a income and a car or motor bike or get bored make sure u put some fence up as u have a son lots cobra snakes there also good luck
Everything here seems pretty relaxed when it comes to rules/regulations, I'm sure we will find things that are a little more tricky in the future, but up until now everything has gone very smoothly! Western life is certainly not a comfort zone anymore, well, atleast not in the UK, talk to any UK citizen and ask their thoughts on the country, government and financial situation lol. As for snakes... they're my worst fear but I've not seen one that's alive yet... only 1 dead one in the road! Maybe I've been lucky!
How do u get so much cash in the Philippines without a filipino bank account?
@ItsIslandLife I did a series of Western Union bank transfers. Don't try to do too much at the same time, do like 200k, 100k, 100k. 50k, 50k etc over the course of a week or 2. Western Union can put blocks on you if you seem like you're doing dodgy transactions, so take as much time as you can to avoid that. I'll cover this in a future vid
How much do you pay for property tax? It's about a thousand dollars a month here in Long Island NY for an average house, total insanity
@shawns0762 hey! Property tax isn't something that we've sorted yet actually, I think it's going to be due soon so we will either be pleasantly surprised, or doomed for eternity 😂😅 I'll let you know in a future vid
Property tax in the Philippines is very low. A house like that is about P500 pesos or less a year.
@LumieSoucek-r2t well that would be very nice haha! Soon to find out 🙏
1000 peso a year tax
exactly u can own the house even as a forigner as u married to a filipina im in the same race as u my name on our pace also where a lot dont know about lots red flags yes specially dont go barangay office as u a forigner let u wife do all the dealings as they call u Joe also haha wow u paid 25000 peso wow we paid 5000 peso 3 years ago u paid $660 our money they need a engineer sign it off normally can take a week wow u be a month omg but the family a architect also so 441 Sqm for 650k thats 1492 peso each square metre its ok thats some prices now u bought cotabato bugger that place is very dangerous province get a termite inspection done also or buy hand pump mix water termidor spray around u house but dig the hold u self and any concrete drill it and spray I know im a pest controller by trade do this in case u get them as philippines I bad as u have wood u home no idea u money in pound or quid
Yeah the 25k was an engineer carrying out the survey, he will produce the documents/sketches too within that price. There were some cheaper alternatives, but that man was highly recommended by lots of people, and being a foreigner... I wanted to go with someone that's legitimate. Only 1492 per sqm for HOUSE & LOT is a crazy price lol, normally it's somewhere between 800-1200 for LOT ONLY. It was all originally for sale for over 1.5million total, so for 650k, I think we got a good deal. Lots of people say Cotabato is dangerous but if I'm honest I've not come across any trouble. The only issues I've heard of is to do with personal problems, for example, someone upsets a family member and then the family retaliates, rather than just random dangers. Thank you for the termite advice, I'll bear that in mind!
if you want more viewers the best thing is learn tagalog …. the more you are bulol but trying to learn our language you will be getting more attention for Pinoy viewers … use also your pinay wife to make translate it in tagalog …. trust it many vlogger using tagalog or visayan (more on cebuanos etc …) draw more viewers from pinoys …. because pinoys is being amazed for foreigners who loved to learn our own language 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤
by the way good job googluck
Thank you! Great idea, maybe I'll do double releases, a Tagalog voice over or at least Subtitles haha 🤔 all things to think about! Thanks
@@LifeAsWestwood try to learn simple tagalog words 😅😅🤙🏽🤙🏽 so
salamat- thank you
magandang umaga - good morning
magandang tanghali - good afternoon
magandang gabi- good evening
mahal ko kayo - i love you all … 😅😅😅ask your wife
@demsenjonas9348 it sounds hilarious when I try to say stuff, but I'll give it a go 😆
650k. Thats cheep cheep man
Super cheap
@@Jimmy-mx4cc 😂😂 sure issssss
Tell that to the Chinese.
@@Channel-b1k lol 😆
They should not allow forigners to buy land period and I'm not a Filipino 🤷🏾♂️
@snow-uq4gx So, you're saying that foreigners that go into any country, for example... British that go to Spain, or Indians that go to UK, should also not be allowed to buy land? Just because it's not their country of origin? Hmm... not with you on that one, just because we are born in one country doesn't mean we have to live and die within that country without ever having an opportunity to move and settle.
Hi Snow,
In the Philippines, foreign nationals married to a Filipino citizen can have property titled under their spouse’s name, but they cannot directly co-own the land. The land will be registered solely under the Filipino spouse's name, allowing the foreigner to enjoy its use and benefits as part of the marital estate. However, if the Filipino spouse passes away, the foreigner may not inherit the land, as it is reserved for Filipino citizens.
If you are a foreign national looking to purchase land, this is not allowed. However, you are permitted to own condominium units.
@PotatoofFries however in this case, we'd have it land in the hands of our little dual citizenship son
@@LifeAsWestwood Sounds good!
@LifeAsWestwood nope don't get it twisted don't put word's in my mouth..I'll elaborate...3rd world countries should not allow foreigners with big money to buy land..u know the obvious reason...just like u can't go into ccp land or Thailand or Indonesia and do the same thing..usa and all other 1st world countries are a completely different circumstance
Foreigners are not legally permitted to own land in the Philippines.
@edwardflorence5460 my name is on everything through marriage to a Filipina
yes they are where u get this info u seen his land title been like this now 5 years because im a forigner has land also my name it who u know nope its the rules if married a filipina if u dont know the rules then u dont know u country well