In this week's Project of the Week, Cribs and Rides shifts its eyes to the central Philippine city of Cebu, where a renewed interest in real estate is fueling a boom in condominiums and villas. Fuente Triangle Realty Development's Ultima Residences, a 28-story condominium dotted with dramatic foyers, closed circuit cameras for optimum security, and high-speed elevators, is one such project, and it's currently making waves among those interested in settling down permanently in the Philippines' Queen City of the South.

Check out why Ultima Residences is hot:

Discover the ultimate in condominium living at the newest high-rise residential tower located at Fuente Osmeña Boulevard in downtown Cebu City. The Ultima Residences Fuente Tower has 28 innovative floors of quality at every dimension. Homeowners will enjoy the convenience of loft-style living. Unhampered by a permanent floor plan, loft-style residential units afford on substantial open space for flexibility and fluidity of designs. Loft style increases the rooms' capabilities, transforming them into a home or an office.

Here are some fast facts about the project:

Location: Fuente Osmeña Boulevard, Cebu City
Number of floors: 28
Number of units per floor: 19
Average size of units: 60 square meters to 100 square meters
Amenities and features: Closed circuit TV security monitoring, automatic generator set, automatic sprinkler system, Internet connection, video intercom, five high-speed elevators, swimming pool, multi-level basement parking.

Related posts:

Overseas Filipinos fueling construction boom
Manhattan Garden City: Only a dream
Antel Spa Residences: Pampering at its best
Phinma Properties' Fountain Breeze

Many are the folks that rush headlong into buying a property because of reasons known only to them but later retreat when the lot, house, or building fails to live up to expectations.

So before you seal the deal on that hot piece of real estate, learn from the mistakes of others and start composing and ticking off the checklist on your very own guide to buying property.

Location: The property you are eyeing should match your requirements. For example, in choosing a home for your family, you should consider the basics, including proximity to your workplace and the children’s school, accessibility to basic needs, like groceries and markets for foodruns and churches for spiritual quickfixes, safety and security, and environment. You should also think about the property’s resale value, especially if you see your family moving some time in the future. Nobody wants a property that is expensive to maintain and with no buyers in sight.

Family size or number of dwellers: Another critical factor in choosing a property is the size of your family or the number of persons expected to stay there. Obviously, a four to five bedroom house is a mansion to a three-person family composed of father, mother, and child. Similarly, a one to two bedroom condominium unit is not really the ideal abode for seven persons.

Type of property: While weighing the needs for room or space of your family and the location of the property, you should also ponder on what type of property you need—not want—to purchase. With the multitude of housing options—from apartments to townhouses to subdivision house and lots to high-rise condominiums—available today, it still pays to think about comfort. Will the members of your family feel better living in a gated house and lot with lots of green open spaces or the limited and confining rooms of a condominium?

Cost of acquisition: Finance also plays a big part in acquiring property. How do you plan to acquire the property? Are you going to pay in cash? Or do you need financing? If you are planning to pay in cash, then this factor may not have much of a bite. But if you’re gunning for financing, you need to remember that your monthly amortization for the property should not exceed 30 percent of the family’s total income.

Get advice from licensed real estate professionals: Since buying property is considered a major investment, it is highly recommended that you consult a licensed real estate professional prior to issuing that check. These professionals, who include brokers and lawyers, will give you additional tips in buying property, especially those concerning money.

For more Homebuyer Tips, click here.

How can you protect yourself from fraudulent or spurious real property sellers or developers?

Here are some tips that may protect you in dealings with these unscrupulous people.
First, conduct a title search and check the authenticity of the transfer certificate of title, or TCT, or the condominium certificate of title, or CCT, which represent the seller’s proof of ownership over a property.

If you rely on the seller’s act of showing you an owner’s duplicate copy of either the TCT or CCT, you should check whether 1) the last digit of the TCT or CCT and the page number are the same, 2) the copy bears a security mark that can be seen when the document is exposed to light, 3) the red seal on the copy does not smear even when dabbed with a wet cloth, 4) the registrar of deeds has a copy, and 5) the document is a true copy of the TCT or CCT at the registrar of deeds.

Second, probe the identity of the seller. If the seller is the registered owner of the property being sold and not a broker, then request for identification, especially government-issued IDs like a driver’s license, a passport, or tax identification number card.

If the seller is a company, however, you can still confirm its identity as the owner of the property by asking for the Securities and Exchange Commission certificate of registration, a board resolution authorizing the sale of the property, and an authentic employment ID from the one selling the property on behalf of the company.

Remember that if the seller is someone other than the registered owner of the property, he or she must have a special power of attorney that authorizes him or her to sell the property.

Third, establish the seller’s ownership of the property. There are other, subtler ways to check this than merely asking for identification. One such way is by interviewing the seller about the property. If the seller is the real owner, he or she will have a great deal of stock knowledge about the property, such as history and topography.

Last, if the seller is a property developer, you should establish its compliance with laws by first asking the developer’s representative to furnish you copies of its Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board certificate of registration and license to sell.

See the title? We mean that literally.

The first thing you need to know when checking wood in your new home or home-to-be is that appearances can be deceiving. How a wooden beam looks like, for example, has no bearing on its condition. A perfect-looking beam or wood trim may hide a rotting interior, courtesy of termites and wear and tear due to extreme temperatures.

When you inspect a house with lots of wooden parts, be it beams, ceilings, or floor and wall panels, make sure to knock, bump, and tap on them. The best tip in handling this is never, ever trust your eyes to do the inspection.

This leads us to the second thing you need to know—and do—when you are considering the purchase of a house with some or many wooden parts. One of the biggest issues hurled at the once-famous wood is degradation.

When going on a tour of that house you are eyeing, make sure you physically touch these wooden parts. Aside from knocking, bumping, and tapping on them, you might want to intensify your inspection by poking and stabbing wooden beams, doors, walls, and windowsills.

Remember that soft areas in thick wood indicate internal rotting. If you find even one wooden part in this state, chances are most wood in the house are either infested with termites or haven’t been replaced since the time you were born. Make haste and go down to the next house on your list.

Why should you have a sudden change of heart when you find soft spots in the wooden parts of the house? It’s because if you find these soft areas troubling, something much worse can and will happen to the wood.

What’s worse than knowing the wood is being eaten from the inside? When you finally get around to doing the physical inspection and start poking wood, you may want to make a run for it if you see dusts and bits—or chunks—of wood falling out or off. This is a sure sign that termites have come, seen, and conquered.

Wood can be very attractive for first-time homebuyers and sentimental people wanting to get their hands on classic homes but, just like most experts say, it’s simply too unreliable a material, especially for houses in a tropical country, where storms and typhoons make short work of flimsy walls and ceilings.



Many thanks to Termite Trap for the lovely image. Speaking of Termite Trap, you may want to check out their great guide to termites.

With the continued rise in demand for affordable housing in the country, real property developers are shifting to high gear, putting up new houses and condominiums in Metro Manila and nearby provinces at a faster rate.

The sudden jump in demand for real estate from a veritable slump in the late 1990s and early 2000s is being attributed to a renewed interest from one of the most powerful sectors in the worldwide Filipino community today—migrant workers and “balikbayans.”

Motivated by the improving economic outlook in the Philippines, overseas Filipino workers, especially professionals working and living abroad, are fueling consumption boom back home that is fast spilling over to longer-term investment like property—and the real estate industry is equally fast in seizing the opportunity.

At present, real property developers are shifting their sales pitch from local buyers to their more moneyed relatives abroad, taking into consideration the record $10.7 billion in annual remittances.

Big property developers like Ayala Land and MegaWorld have already reaped the bounty of closing sales with overseas Pinoys. These companies have, on the average, experienced a 92-percent rise in net profit from last year that was primarily driven by strong sales of residential condominium and housing projects, and rental revenues from large shopping malls.

“The exciting prospects in the residential market are being boosted by rising demand from migrant workers, improving affordability, low interest rates, and rising middle-class demand,” a report released by an international bank said.

In the Ilocos Region, which is home to many Filipino migrants in the United States and Canada, a new building boom is also being experienced as many balikbayans are constructing their dream vacation and retirement homes.



Image, taken from daylife.com (original from international news agency Reuters), shows a construction worker walking past a banner advertising condominiums for sale at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig, Metro Manila.

Here's the price guide for this year's lineup of Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. I've decided to separate the prices for Toyota cars from the SUVs and 4x4s since posting the entire pricelist will make the article too lengthy. Go scope out the pricelist.



Oh, and just like all other pricelist on Cribs and Rides, here's a link to a currency converter to help resident aliens and expatriates with the number crunching. Today's interbank rate is USD 1 = PHP 47.87.

As in all cases, Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. reserves the right to change prices at any time without prior notice.

I once lived in Cubao, a district of Metro Manila component Quezon City, with my wife and daughter from mid 2006 to early 2007. Why Cubao? Well, for starters, Cubao is familiar territory since I spent most of my young adult life in neighboring districts. And then, of course, there's proximity to relatives. My father also lives in Quezon City and almost all members of my expanded family. Finally, Cubao is—I felt and still feel—the center of the metropolis, not geographically but in terms of public transport.

It is probably on this premise that Megaworld Corporation, one of the largest property developers in the Philippines, joined hands with the Araneta Group, a group of companies that practically owns majority of land in the Cubao district, to develop and build the Manhattan Garden City.

What is Manhattan Garden City? Let's lift a description directly from the developers:

Manhattan Garden City is the best place to nurture your family and your dreams. It’s a complete community that provides for both your work and play needs and offers a highly mobile lifestyle, that the only way for the family to go is up.

Manhattan Garden City is actually several condominium towers that are being built in a section of the Araneta Center in Cubao District. Its biggest come-on is the fact that it is—or will be—connected to two light rail transit lines that services a majority of the metropolis. Manhattan Garden City's second best attraction is its proximity to Gateway Mall and the Araneta Coliseum, which has seen a resurgence of food and events-loving people.

Sigh. For me, living at the Manhattan Garden City is just a pipe dream. For those who can afford it, though, you may want to check it out.