By CJ Tamale
Congratulations! You are now the proud owner of a new condo unit in the Philippines. You’ve got your key and are ready to furnish your unit after that initial shock that you have to pay a lot of unexpected fees such as the transfer fee, utility connections fees, legal fees and others. After paying your unit for 3 years…what’s next?
The first option is to do nothing and just leave your unit empty until you come back to visit the Philippines. Your unit is not earning anything but at least you don’t have to pay for your accommodation.
The second option is to let your relatives live in your unit. Not really sure about this one! You let them live there for free and also send them a monthly allowance? Maybe too much generosity. Not to mention that you have to live with them when you visit the Philippines.
The third option is to rent it. Which is what I did. Let me share with you my experience of this. I am not saying that this is the best option, but this was my plan when I bought my unit in Makati.
After all the stress of preparing the unit, I decided to “hire” the developer to manage my unit. I was expecting that I would get tenants in the first month. I was wrong. Almost a year had passed and no tenants. I think the developer has hundreds of units to manage that it just cannot look after my place.
One day, I received a call from my friend’s brother asking if my unit is available. I said yes and he asked me if he can rent it out as he had a client who was looking for a place in Makati. That was the time when I was thinking to look for another property manager, someone dealing on a smaller scale so that there’s less competition with other properties. I asked him if he wanted to include my unit to the list of properties that he manages. With a 20% commission, we closed the deal. This might seem like a lot but 80% income is better than 0%.
Since then, my unit is being rented on a weekly and monthly basis, some short-term, others longer. My tenants were coming from all over the world as my property manager has set up an online booking site.
My condo is now earning money on a regular basis. All I have to do is to receive the monthly financial statement and to check that a deposit has been made to my bank account in the Philippines. I don’t have to worry about paying other fees, internet connections and cleaning the bed sheets and towels as my property manager will just deduct them from my income. And if I’m going to Manila, I just give my dates to him and he will reserve my unit for me or if it’s not available he will look for another unit on his list. I also don’t have to worry about the exchange rate as I’m spending my income on my unit when I’m in the Philippines.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not all breezy and there were some hiccups along the way. I trust my property manager but I had to tell him to improve the reporting of the monthly financial report. I had to tell him that the safe should be screwed on the wall and locks have to be changed. These things I see when I go and visit the unit. But these are minor things that I keep reminding him.
All in all, I am happy with him and my unit is earning income on a regular basis. I’ve been with my property manager for almost six years now and he is managing my two properties. (I have provided his contact details below).
Again, this may not be the best option but it works for me.
PhilRental
Tel +639178446366 or +6329640659
Email : phil_rental@yahoo.com
Website : www.philrental.com
Contact person: Garrie Trinidad
