Goodbye 2011 and thank you 2011, Hello 2012!

Whew, we made it through 2011, and now we start anew! Thank God we made it through! 2011 was truly an awesome year. But before we move on to 2012 I would like to look back at the year that was. May we not forget the challenges we faced, the lessons we have learned, the blessings that came our way, and all of the things we are thankful for in 2011. Let us look back at 2011 one last time…

My favorite articles from 2011

Here’s a list of just some of my favorite articles I wrote in 2011, just in case you missed any of them.

5 things real estate investors need to succeed and stay successful - I wrote this last May as a reaction to disturbing observations I had back then. I can still remember a lot of people asking me why I was writing about such things…

“The reason I must be rich is because I have kids” – a Father’s Day reflection - This one is very close to my heart. Yes, we all want to become successful real estate investors, but we should never forget that this should be for the right reasons and we should also stop playing the blame game.

7 questions you need to ask to avoid investment scams - My goal was to create an objective checklist and give some pointers to those who might be thinking of investing their hard earned money.  I just wish I had written this sooner.

Are you violating the RESA Law? - This is an offshoot of one of the comments from the article above. It seems people are being asked to do things which might be illegal. This article aims to remind people to stay out of trouble.

The “aha!” moment that made me decide to take action towards financial freedom - Want to learn what pushed me to take action? Read this and don’t forget to read the comments as well, where other mentors of mine shared their own “aha!” moments!

“The greatest wealth is health” - I wrote this after I was reminded of a very important lesson. Sometimes we forget that all of this is pointless if we neglect something as important as our health.

My “dream” team was born

One of the highlights of 2011 was when my wife Cherry took the March 2011 real estate brokers exam. Not only did she pass, she also made it to the top 10 and ranked fourth place! Actually, I never thought she would ever be involved with real estate. I guess there really is a time for everything. Even with real estate, we are now a team! Yes, my “dream” team was born in 2011!

Real estate brokers exam results in a lot of frustrated examinees

Speaking of the March 2011 brokers exam, I believe it resulted in a lot of frustrated and disappointed examinees (even those who passed had these sentiments). The keyword here is “Ecology“. I just hope that the coming March 2012 real estate brokers exam results in a lot of happy new real estate brokers this time around!

We were a finalist in the 2011 Philippine Blog awards

Foreclosure Investing Philippines made it as one of the finalists in the Philippine Blog awards 2011, Business Category – National Level. Although we did not win, I it was still quite an honor to be included in the list of finalists that included Ready to be Rich, Business Tips Philippines, The Products Blog, and The Sagada Lemon Pie House. By the way, I would like to congratulate Fitz Villafuerte of Ready to be Rich for the much deserved win. I hope to reach the finals again next year!

Media exposure

2011 was also an exciting year because I got some unexpected exposure from various media. These really made 2011 more memorable for me:

• I became a studio guest at DZMM TeleRadyo’s Trabaho Panalo program last February 20 and August 7 where I discussed about blogging.

That's me with Jasmin Romero of DZMM TeleRadyo'sTrabaho Panalo

• I was interviewed by John Calub and Cheska San Diego for Success TV last March 25, 2011 and shared info about investing in foreclosed properties.

That's me with John Calub and Cheska San Diego of Success TV

• I was invited by Liza Gaspar in Ka Mentong Laurel’s Radyo OpinYon show on 1098AM where I also met Ka Linggoy!
• My article on Low Home Loan Rates was featured in Philippine Star last September 21, 2011.
• I was also a guest speaker at a lot of seminars and workshops which includes the Money Summit and Wealth Expo 2011, Internet Marketing for Real Estate Agents Developers and Investors (IMREADI), the PayPal 101 workshop last November with Eireen Diokno-Bernardo, the Think Rich Pinoy Seminars conducted all throughout the year, and other real estate seminars.

Thanks a lot guys for having me!

2011 was also a time to move on…

It was a year when I finally disengaged from certain people I don’t want to do business with. Let’s just say it was all about principles which are very important for me. It seems some people don’t share this point of view. A good friend of mine said it was a moral responsibility for those who knew what was going on. She was right, and so I did what I had to do. Enough said, let us all move on.

It was also an overwhelming 2011…

2011 marked another year of growth for foreclosurephilippines.com in terms of traffic, as it grew be more than 54% compared to 2010. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining! In fact I’m very happy and grateful to all of the readers and subscribers of this blog. But it did cause some issues that I had to address.

I was worried that my web hosting account would be suspended for using more server resources than what was allowed. Because of that, I had to move this blog to a new web host last March, just to make sure the blog can withstand additional traffic. I moved from Hostgator to Dreamhost and things looked pretty okay at the start.

Later on however, I noticed that during peak hours, the blog became offline at times, and it was most probably because the site had already outgrown shared web hosting, and I had to upgrade to a Virtual Private Server (VPS) with more server resources. The VPS I got that could cope with the incoming traffic costs 6 times as much as my old hosting account, but it has been stable ever since and was well worth it. To offset the additional cost, I have also started to accept direct advertisements on this blog (Click here if you want to advertise at foreclosurephilippines.com!).

To avoid the need for additional upgrades, I also optimized the site by purchasing and installing Thesis which is a premium wordpress theme that not only gave the site a more professional look with far less coding (this saved a lot of my time!), it also enhanced search engine optimization (SEO), reduced loadtime, and consumed less server resources. I also changed my wordpress caching plugin to W3 Total Cache, and installed Disqus to enhance the comments section.

I hope these things I did behind the scenes will allow the site to withstand the growing incoming traffic by at least another year so I can focus on finishing our other projects.

Other projects?

Yes, I am working on 7 other websites that I have yet to complete, although some are already online. My wife wife and I also have a lot of plans with regard to growing our real estate business in 2012. The coming year is really something to look forward to!

Thank you to all of you!

Thank you to my family! Thank you to my friends! Thank you to my internet marketing and real estate investing mentors and colleagues! Thank you to my business partners, clients, and service providers! Thank you to my fellow real estate investors, real estate brokers, and other real estate professionals! Thank you to all our readers and subscribers! Thank you to all the banks and all our sources of our real estate listings! Thanks be to God Almighty for all the blessings and opportunities and for making all of this possible!

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!

Wishing you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year!!!

~~~

To our success and financial freedom!

Jay Castillo

Real Estate Investor
PRC Real Estate Broker License No. 3194
Blog: http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com
Follow me in Twitter: http://twitter.com/jay_castillo
Find us in Facebook: Foreclosure Investing Philippines Facebook Page

Text by Jay Castillo and Cherry Castillo. Copyright © 2008 – 2012 All rights reserved.

Full disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Goodbye and thank you 2011! Hello 2012! is a post from: Foreclosure Investing Philippines

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Let’s keep it simple, we celebrate Christmas to commemorate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, which is why we call it Christmas, right?!…

Christmas Belen at the AIM Acceed Conference Center - 2011

May we always remember the true meaning of Christmas, not just during the Holiday Season, but all year-round, and in all the things that we do (which includes real estate investing)…

Christmas Belen at BIR office in Las Pinas - 2011

If you think about it, we are all truly blessed as God sent his Son to save the world. May we all lead lives worthy of His blessing, and may we also be a true blessing to others…

Christmas Belen at the PSE in Makati - 2011

We wish you all a most Blessed Christmas!

~~~

To our success and financial freedom!

Jay Castillo

Real Estate Investor
PRC Real Estate Broker License No. 3194
Blog: http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com
Follow me in Twitter: http://twitter.com/jay_castillo
Find us in Facebook: Foreclosure Investing Philippines Facebook Page

Text by Jay Castillo and Cherry Castillo. Copyright © 2011 All rights reserved.

Full disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

PS. Just wanted to share the video below of the Christmas lights and sounds show at Ayala Triangle, very near where I took a picture of the Christmas Belen at the PSE in Makati which I posted above.

A Christmas wish for all of us… is a post from: Foreclosure Investing Philippines

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Congratulations to the twenty winners of 1 free ticket each to the “How To Be Truly Rich Seminar” of Brother Bo Sanchez on November 5, 2011. This giveaway is our way of celebrating Foreclosure Investing Philippines’ 3rd Anniversary! The complete list of winners follows.

Update: Winners are requested to reply to this note in facebook: https://www.facebook.com/notes/foreclosure-philippines/to-all-the-20-winners-of-a-free-ticket-each-to-the-how-to-be-truly-rich-seminar-/283507201680228

Top twenty entries which will win 1 free ticket each

The figures above were recorded as of October 31, 2011 at 11:59pm Philippine time

Update: Winners are requested to reply to this note in facebook: https://www.facebook.com/notes/foreclosure-philippines/to-all-the-20-winners-of-a-free-ticket-each-to-the-how-to-be-truly-rich-seminar-/283507201680228

Here are the actual screen-shots of the winning entries posted in Foreclosure Investing Philippines’ official Facebook Page:

Congratulations again to all the winners and I hope the seminar will help you all get started with your financial education and also your journey to financial freedom.

I will also contact all of you through facebook to give instructions on how to claim the tickets, directions to the seminar venue, etc.

Update: Winners are requested to reply to this note in facebook: https://www.facebook.com/notes/foreclosure-philippines/to-all-the-20-winners-of-a-free-ticket-each-to-the-how-to-be-truly-rich-seminar-/283507201680228

~~~

To our success and financial freedom!

Jay Castillo

Real Estate Investor
PRC Real Estate Broker Registration No. 3194
Blog: http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com
Follow me in Twitter: http://twitter.com/jay_castillo
Find us in Facebook: Foreclosure Investing Philippines Facebook Page

Text by Jay Castillo and Cherry Castillo. Copyright © 2011 All rights reserved.

Full disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Congratulations to the twenty winners of FIP’s anniversary giveaway! is a post from: Foreclosure Investing Philippines

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How many times have we come across the saying and yet do we really acknowledge what Virgil said that “The greatest wealth is health?”.

If you are wondering why I have “disappeared” after announcing how I intended to celebrate Foreclosure Investing Philippines’ 3rd anniversary, I simply got sick.

Actually I have been sick for the past 11 days and it all started with a flu, then each time I felt better, I would try to do things as if everything was normal. This actually made things worse.

The greatest wealth is health. ~Virgil

Photo by katerha, on Flickr

I stayed in bed for stretches of a couple of days, trying to get as much rest as as I can. But I think each time I got better, I would tend to believe that I have fully recovered, and then I would over-exert myself. This makes me sick again.

To make matters worse, even our PLDT DSL connection is acting up and is becoming more consistently offline (my saving grace is Sun’s wireless broadband) and this blog’s wordpress theme is acting up (because of a plugin I tried to install) as well and any change I introduce on the design of the homepage somehow destroys the formatting (Thank God for backups!), and these added even more to my stress.

Anyway, now I’m just trying to recover from this severe cough with sinusitis that I have and I truly hope I am on my way to real recovery.

I am starting my week on a Thursday and I hope I can back into the groove without jeopardizing my health (again), and the people around me (yup, whatever I have appears to be contagious).

Another reminder and lesson learned.

Take care of your health everyone!

~~~

To our success and financial freedom!

Jay Castillo

Real Estate Investor
PRC Real Estate Broker Registration No. 3194
Blog: http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com
Follow me in Twitter: http://twitter.com/jay_castillo
Find us in Facebook: Foreclosure Investing Philippines Facebook Page

Text by Jay Castillo and Cherry Castillo. Copyright © 2011 All rights reserved.

Full disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

"The greatest wealth is health" is a post from: Foreclosure Investing Philippines

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Yes, Foreclosure Investing Philippines (FIP) will be turning 3 years old on October 31, 2011 and we are celebrating by giving away tickets to the the upcoming How To Be Truly Rich Seminar by Brother Bo Sanchez on November 5, 2011. Please continue reading to learn how you can be part of this celebration!

Photo by Aih., on Flickr

I have said it before and I will say it again, Bo Sanchez’ How to Be Truly Rich Seminar helped establish a solid foundation with regard to managing  my personal finances and pointed me to the right direction towards financial literacy. (I attended it last July 21, 2007, more than 4 years ago!)

I have also said in the past that financial literacy is a prerequisite to real estate investing and financial freedom, and this is your chance to get a jump-start at zero cost to you because…

I am giving away twenty (20) tickets (worth Php475 each) to the upcoming How To Be Truly Rich Seminar by Brother Bo Sanchez on November 5, 2011.

If you want to be one of the lucky 20 who get a seminar ticket for free, here’s how you can join:

1. Visit and like our Facebook page:  http://www.facebook.com/foreclosurephilippines
2. Write a comment on the wall of FIP’s Facebook page stating why you want to get a free ticket to the How To Be Truly Rich Seminar by Brother Bo Sanchez on November 5, 2011.
3. Make your entry stand out so that people will “like” it! You can also encourage everyone you know to “like” your entry.
4. The top twenty (20) entries with the most number of likes by October 31, 2011, 11:59pm (Philippine Time) will get 1 free ticket each. Just in case of a tie, the entry submitted earlier will be the winner.
5. The 20 winners will be announced the following day of the last day of submission of entries.

What are you waiting for, Christmas?!

Head on over to the Foreclosure Philippines Facebook page and start submitting your entries NOW! You only have until October 31, 2011, 11:59pm (Philippine Time) to get the most number of likes for your entries.

If you have any questions, ask them by leaving a comment below.

Good luck!

~~~

To our success and financial freedom!

Jay Castillo

Real Estate Investor
PRC Real Estate Broker Registration No. 3194
Blog: http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com
Follow me in Twitter: http://twitter.com/jay_castillo
Find us in Facebook: Foreclosure Investing Philippines Facebook Page

Text by Jay Castillo and Cherry Castillo. Copyright © 2011 All rights reserved.

Full disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

As FIP turns 3, grab the chance to attend the "How To Be Truly Rich Seminar" for free! is a post from: Foreclosure Investing Philippines

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Since the middle of last week until this afternoon, I was in fire-fighting mode. I basically had to stop everything I was doing to fix the intermittent problems www.foreclosurephilippines.com was facing on a daily basis, which seemed to get worse in each passing day.

Anyway, I managed to identify the problem last week, but  I was able to implement a permanent solution only this afternoon.

Basically, the more visitors it had, the more memory this blog consumed. With website hosting, memory is not only limited, it is quite expensive, and when the memory limit is exceeded, the website just goes offline.

I’m just glad we are hosted with Dreamhost. Instead of disabling my account when the blog eats up their servers’ resources (this happened to me with Hostgator last year), their system  will just shutdown and restart my webserver, which means the site will be back online in about 5 minutes. Because of this, I believe only some of you may have noticed the blog was having problems.

This was very annoying however, because it got more frequent last week when incoming traffic steadily increased. It pretty much prevented me from posting any new listings and articles because with each new post, another traffic spike occurs, and the blog will become offline again. Obviously, this problem will not go away by itself and will cause even more problems. This was both urgent and important.

Thank God I was finally able to apply a solution that fixed everything (I think). Anyway, I hope and pray everything will remain stable and stay that way for another year or so, so I can stay on-track with real estate investing tips and updated foreclosed property listings, and more.

What happened last week

Before our hosting problem got worse last week, I was able to post the following.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Paranaque adopting revised schedules of real property values?

A friend of ours who visited the venue of the public hearings on “Adopting the revised schedule of values of real property in the City of Paranaque” told us the zonal values increased by about 300%. I’ll confirm this by sharing the meeting minutes once I get a copy.  Read the full article

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

175th UnionBank foreclosed property auction slated on September 24, 2011

This auction will be happening this coming Saturday so If you are planning to bid on any of the UnionBank foreclosed properties on the list, you should already be winding up on your due diligence activities. The 175th Special Public Auction of UnionBank includes Metro Manila and Luzon foreclosed properties, check out the complete list on the following link. Read the full article

Other stuff

Here are some other stuff that either happened or I learned about last week.

PDIC Acquired assets - I was finally able to secure my new NBI clearance and I was able to submit it along with the other requirements for my accreditation as a real estate broker with the PDIC ROPA department. This means that soon I shall be able to help those who might be looking for acquired assets of closed banks that are now under the receivership of the PDIC.

Money Summit Cebu – For those who missed the Manila leg of the Money Summit and Wealth Expo 2011, the Cebu leg will be happening on September 30 – October 1, 2011 at the Waterfront Cebu Hotel & Casino. More info can be found through this link: Money Summit and Wealth Expo Cebu 2011

That’s it for now, I gotta get some much needed sleep!

~~~

To our success and financial freedom!

Jay Castillo

Real Estate Investor
PRC Real Estate Broker Registration No. 3194
Blog: http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com
Follow me in Twitter: http://twitter.com/jay_castillo
Find us in Facebook: Foreclosure Investing Philippines Facebook Page

Text by Jay Castillo and Cherry Castillo. Copyright © 2011 All rights reserved.

Full disclosure: I am an affiliate of the Money Summit and Wealth Expo Cebu 2011.

P.S. I am helping a fellow real estate investor market a  Quezon City Townhouse for sale located in Kamuning. This is also available through a rent-to-own scheme.  Please call/txt 09157603090/5059259 for more details. A video of the townhouse can be seen below.

We are back in business! is a post from: Foreclosure Investing Philippines

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Based on the total number of posts during the past 7 days, I can say it has been a very busy week. But it is better than that because it has also been a productive one.

My wife and I have been busy AND productive with our own respective online and offline activities. You guessed it, these are mostly related to real estate.

In my case, let me just say that I worked on some deals and projects with the help of fellow real estate investors, real estate brokers, and friends. You know who you are, and thanks to all of you (and to God of course!) , I can say it has been a truly productive week!

As the week starts, let us all keep in mind that being busy does not necessarily mean being productive, just like being efficient does not always equate to being effective. After all:

A lot of our ‘busy ness’ is a way for us to avoid thinking about what is most important. There’s a difference between being busy and being productive. ~ Kristen Lippincott

With that said, here’s a wrap-up of what happened here during the past week.

September 6, 2011 – Tuesday

HUDCC to hold Housing Fair 2011 on September 30 to October 2

Probably one of the most anticipated events related to real estate is the housing fair that is conducted annually by the HUDCC. The Housing Fair 2011 which is already on its sixth year is just around the corner. If you are looking for an affordable home, don’t miss this year’s Housing Fair. Click here to read the full article

September 7, 2011 – Wednesday

50 Sterling Bank repossessed cars for sealed bidding this September 2011

If you are one of those that have been looking for repossessed cars, checkout this list from Sterling Bank of Asia. One of the 50 repossessed cars for sale might be for you. But please don’t forget to bring a trusted mechanic with you to inspect the car as part of your due diligence. Click here to read the full article

September 8, 2011 – Thursday

2 Sterling Bank foreclosed properties for sale this September 2011

Yes, only two (2) foreclosed properties are listed in the September 2011 batch from Sterling Bank. Check this out if you are looking for a foreclosed house and lot located at BF Homes Paranaque, or at St. Francis Homes I, Biñan, Laguna. Sealed bids will only be accepted up to September 15, 2011. Click here to read the full article

September 9, 2011 – Friday

Fresh listings of BDO foreclosed properties for September 2011

Here’s another batch of updated listings of BDO foreclosed properties. This list also contains repossessed cars. Although the properties are for negotiated sale, and the listings are very fresh, don’t be surprised if some of the items on the list are already sold.  Click here to read the full article

September 9, 2011 – Friday

First Notice: Tagaytay Tax Delinquent Real Properties 2011

The City of Tagaytay has just issued a First Notice for tax delinquent real properties for 2011. Before you get too excited, this list is more of a reminder for property owners to settle their real property tax arrears. No auction date was announced. Click here to read the full article

September 10, 2011 – Saturday

Pasay City Tax Delinquent Properties auction sale slated on September 15, 2011

Unlike the Tagaytay list of tax delinquent properties, this list from Pasay City indicates an actual date for the tax foreclosure auction sale. Click here to read the full article

September 10, 2011 – Saturday

Are you looking for a REAL real estate mentor?

Having a REAL real estate mentor is so important and sometimes you have to rely on your gut feel to figure out if a mentor is for real or not. Sometimes all it takes is to find out what they are doing to give back to society. Another way would be to see if they can issue an Official Receipt… Click here to read the full article

Up next

I believe I will finally get to share my pleasant experience when I visited the Registry of Deeds located in Binangonan Rizal. Even though it was a long drive, traffic was light and I actually enjoyed it!

I also want to share the logic behind my decision to stop investing in mutual funds in favor of foreclosed properties, as part of the money Summit 2011 series.

Of course, I will be posting listings of foreclosed properties and repossessed cars this week.

Have a productive week ahead!

~~~

To our success and financial freedom!

Jay Castillo

Real Estate Investor
PRC Real Estate Broker Registration No. 3194
Blog: http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com
Follow me in Twitter: http://twitter.com/jay_castillo
Find us in Facebook: Foreclosure Investing Philippines Facebook Page

Text by Jay Castillo and Cherry Castillo. Copyright © 2011 All rights reserved.

Full disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Weekly wrap: A busy AND productive week is a post from: Foreclosure Investing Philippines

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I tried to get my NBI* clearance last week and I remembered this line from a song of the Eraserheads “Huwag mo nang itanong sa akin” where it said “…katulad ng buhay natin – isang mahabang pila, mabagal at walang katuturan” (… just like our life – a long line that moves slowly and is utterly pointless).

*NBI - National Bureau of Investigation

Well, I wouldn’t say my life is like that, but I did feel the long line one has to endure to get your NBI clearance was painfully slow, wasted too much time, and should be a thing of the past.

I just kept reminding myself that I was doing this because of an opportunity that came my way and it also helped that I had internet on my phone, I downloaded an ebook and read it while I was falling in line with about 2,000 other people at the NBI. Posting updates on Facebook also helped.

I actually did this twice. The first time was at Robinsons Otis (fewer people, I was done in 3 hours) last Thursday, and at UN Avenue (I estimate around 3000 people were there, I stayed from 5:30am to 1pm) last Friday. I went to their UN office because I was told it was possible for me to get my clearance on the same day there, but I did not get it because my name was too common.

This is the reason why I am only writing this weekly wrap-up today because I had to catch up with my sleep debt. Who knows, I just might write about my NBI clearance experience in the coming days, once I get my hands on my clearance.

For now, here is a review of what happened last week.

August 30, 2011 – Tuesday

174th UnionBank foreclosed real estate auction slated on September 17, 2011

This Special Public Auction of UnionBank foreclosed properties includes the Visayas and Mindanao areas. The auction announcement still says “No Credit Checking” which means interested bidders need not pass stringent credit checks associated with mortgage loans.  Click here to read the full article

August 31, 2011 – Wednesday

Republic Act 9182: The Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) Act of 2002 full text

I can foresee that I will be featuring a lot of foreclosed properties from SPV’s here so I might as well post the full text of the law that paved the way for the creation of these entities. By the way, there is an amendement to this and I will also post it soon, along with the full text of the IRR. Click here to read the full article

August 31, 2011 – Wednesday

FTI Consulting announces list of bank foreclosed assets for sale from PI Two

One example of a Special Purpose Vehicle or SPV is Philippine Investments Two or PI Two for short, and FTI Consulting has been tasked with the selling of their big list of bank acquired assets/foreclosed properties. These are for negotiated sale and include properties from all over the Philippines. Click here to read the full article

Other stuff

Here are other stuff I was busy with last week:

I attended the Think Rich Pinoy Seminar last August 27, 2011

I gave a short talk in the morning and I also helped facilitate the Cashflow 101 games in the afternoon. During the seminar, Doctor Larry Gamboa was given a surprise birthday cake in celebration of his Birthday Month. I held on to the cake while Larry blew the candle.  The photo below was taken moments after.

By the way, if you attended the Think Rich Pinoy Seminar last August 27, 2011 using my link, I will send your freebies once I get your e-mail address from the organizers.

PDIC foreclosed properties public auction

I tried to submit requirements (they did not accept my NBI clearance because it was 7 months old) for my broker’s accreditation at PDIC’s ROPA disposal department and I found out that they will be having a public auction this coming September 20, 2011, if I heard correctly. I already checked their website which you can find in my Ultimate List of Philippine Banks but the auction announcement was not yet posted. If I get the list, I will also post it here.

Up next

I currently have an updated list of repossessed cars and foreclosed properties from Sterling Bank of Asia, an updated list of BDO foreclosed properties for  sale, and a couple of notices for Tax Delinquent properties from Tagaytay and Pasay and I will post all of these in the coming week. (Update: all of these have been posted, just click on the links to view)

I would also like to share my recent experience when I visited the Registry of Deeds located in Binangonan Rizal, which covers properties located in Taytay, Cainta, Angono and Binangonan (obviously).

Argh! I still have not published my next installment for the Money Summit series where I am featuring questions and answers about investing in foreclosed properties. I’ll have this ready soon.

Have a great week ahead!

By the way, since the “ber” months are already here, advanced Merry Christmas!

~~~

To our success and financial freedom!

Jay Castillo

Real Estate Investor
PRC Real Estate Broker Registration No. 3194
Blog: http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com
Follow me in Twitter: http://twitter.com/jay_castillo
Find us in Facebook: Foreclosure Investing Philippines Facebook Page

Text by Jay Castillo and Cherry Castillo. Copyright © 2011 All rights reserved.

Full disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Weekly Wrap: A long line that moves slowly and is utterly pointless is a post from: Foreclosure Investing Philippines

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This is my first time to create a weekly wrap and frankly, I think I should have done this sooner.

After all, at the end of the week, we should all sit back, relax, and take a good look at what happened and see where we are. Maybe this can help us realize where we ought to be and set our goals the following week right?!

During the past week I still felt I was trying to catch-up after I got sick a couple of weeks back and felt both physically and mentally drained for another week.

The good news is I now feel I am back “in the zone”, even though some listings still “fell through the cracks” and I was not able to publish them at all, me bad!

Anyway, here’s a round up of what happened here during the past seven days and a little bit more.

August 20, 2011 – Saturday

PRC accreditation guidelines for Real Estate Salespersons published

A lot of people have been waiting for this and after a long wait, the PRBRES has finally published the accreditation and registration guidelines for real estate salespersons. One thing that caught my attention was the high school graduate requirement for the second and third categories (section 2.2 and 2.3).

It seems there will be a lot of real estate agents out there, who are not high school graduates, who wont be able to sell properties legally anymore. Click here to read the full article

August 22, 2011 – Monday

You are invited to the Think Rich Pinoy Seminar this Saturday, August 27, 2011!

The next Think Rich Pinoy Seminar will be held tomorrow, August 27, 2011, from 8am to 6pm, at the L/G Skyland Plaza Bldg. Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue, Makati City. I attended the same seminar several years ago, and you can check out this post if you also want to attend. By the way, It turns out I will give a short talk in tomorrow’s seminar, and I hope to see you there! Click here to read the full article

August 24, 2011 – Wednesday

The Buena Mano Q3-2011 Luzon catalog is here!

I was finally able to finish scanning the Buena Mano Q3-2011 Luzon catalogue which includes green tag, yellow tag, and red tag properties. This time around the softcopy was not only smaller in file size, it is also clearer and very much readable. Check it out if you are interested in acquired assets from the Luzon area. Click here to read the full article

August 25, 2011 – Thursday

Get the Buena Mano Q3-2011 Visayas & Mindanao catalog now!

Just like the Q3-2011 Luzon Catalog, the Q3-2011 Visayas and Mindanao Catalog is very clear and readable, but the file size is smaller. It also contains green tag, yellow tag, and red tag properties. I’m pretty sure a lot of people from the Visayas and Mindanao areas look forward to this softcopy because the hardcopy might take some time to reach them. Click here to read the full article

Other stuff

Here are other stuff I have been busy with concerning http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com

• I have finally finished restoring the “Upcoming real estate auctions, seminars, and events” section at the right sidebar. Please check it out. Think of it as a friendly reminder of whats coming.
• I have been busy with making sure http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com is accessible at all times. Sometimes I notice I cannot connect to the site (I know some people also noticed this and brought this to my attention). I thought it was caused by a lack of resources on my web server with Dreamhost. However, after I upgraded my server’s memory, I still noticed the problem just yesterday. Oh well, I will have to sift through the server logs again to solve the problem once and for all.
• I changed the site’s default font to Verdana and I believe the change has made reading more pleasant to the eyes. What do you think?
• Lastly, I also added like buttons and counters for Facebook, Twitter, Google plus, and Linkedin, and these float at the left side of all articles. Please feel free to like and share the articles using these buttons. I really appreciate the feedback as I will know what content you like.

By the way, I will publish my next installment for the Money Summit series by next week. Sorry for the delay.

That’s all for now. Happy long weekend!

~~~

To our success and financial freedom!

Jay Castillo

Real Estate Investor
PRC Real Estate Broker Registration No. 3194
Blog: http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com
Follow me in Twitter: http://twitter.com/jay_castillo
Find us in Facebook: Foreclosure Investing Philippines Facebook Page

Text by Jay Castillo and Cherry Castillo. Copyright © 2011 All rights reserved.

Full disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Weekly wrap: A week of catching up is a post from: Foreclosure Investing Philippines

Although it’s already 2011, I simply cannot let 2010 go without giving thanks for another year full of blessings.

Let me look back at 2010 for one last time to give thanks and count the blessings for the year that just passed.

After all, 2010 was the year…

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011!!!

I quit the rat race

2010 was the year I quit the rat race and got to enjoy what I believe was by far my most stress-free year ever in my adult life! Yes, there were also stressful moments (more on this later), but if I compared this to the job I left in the corporate world, it’s like a walk in the park! It’s also so much more fun, rewarding, and healthier!

But wait, before anyone out there gets any ideas, you need to consider a lot of things before you can really quit your job. I’ll discuss these in another post.

We won the apprentice challenge

In 2010, I also got to be part of the team that won the first ever apprentice challenge and I got to meet so many people, most of whom became good friends and mentors, for which I am so thankful.

I did however decide to leave the RYP team later on. One of the reasons I left was because of too much stress, which I found to be unhealthy. I also needed to focus on a lot of things left undone. Let’s just say things did not work out the way they were supposed to.

I did stay on to finish the coaching program initiated by Trace Trajano but I should have trusted my instincts.

Update dated June 2, 2011 – After much thought, I have decided to leave Trace Trajano‘s local coaching program and my role as one of the local coaches. I would also like to inform everyone that I am not part of Trace’s other programs.

For those who don’t know, I was once a student of Trace, and I was also part of the team that won his first apprentice challenge, although I decided to leave the RYP team last September 2010. I became one of the local coaches as part of the now defunct Terrific Trio University. I also helped promote his seminars in the past including TRQ 1.0, TRQ 2.0, TRQ Cebu, his quick cash seminars, and the last one was TRQ 3.0.

It has also come to my attention that some materials that Trace used in marketing some of his seminars might make it appear that I am one of his partners. I would like to make it clear that I am not a business partner of Trace Trajano.

Things did not turn out as planned, but lessons have been learned, and I feel it is time for me to move on. ~ end of update ~

Nevertheless, I’m still very thankful for the whole experience and for all the lessons learned.

One of the happiest places on Earth

Last August 1, 2010, we were finally able to attend The Feast at the PICC. I really wanted to attend The Feast sooner, as in a couple of  years sooner at the Valle Verde  (beside ULTRA), but I wanted to do so with my wife and our son.

When my wife heard about The Feast at the PICC, I was surprised when she insisted on attending. I even played hard to get and asked if she was serious. It turned out she really was and we have been attending regularly ever since. I guess this was one of those examples where things will fall into place, in due time, with the help of prayers of course!

To our sources of real estate investments

Thanks again to the various banks in the Philippines and other lending institutions whose listings of foreclosed properties and repossessed cars were featured here in Foreclosure Investing Philippines. Please keep them coming in 2011 as I’m sure a lot of people out there are just like me, and always look forward to finding good real estate investments through your lists.

To my mentors and friends

I am even more thankful to all my mentors for real estate investing and internet marketing that I mentioned in my thank you post for 2009. I continued to learn a lot form all of you in 2010.

It was also great helping facilitate Larry Gamboa‘s Think Rich Pinoy Seminars where I not only got to see the likes of Larry, Bo Sanchez, Alvin Barcelona, Randy Manaloto, Jay Mclean, Victoria Lucker, etc., I also got to know better the Think Rich Pinoy franchisees, team members, and a lot of seminar attendees.

Other awesome events worth mentioning are the Internet Marketing Boot Camp, The Money Summit and Wealth Expo, John Calub’s How to become a Money Magnet seminar, Maven Secrets (I  re-attended to review and sharpen the saw), and Roy Alejandrino’s Strategic Investing and Practical Fundamental Analysis.

In some of the seminars above, I not only met friends and mentors, I also met business partners.

2010 turned out to be very interesting because my wife started to attend seminars with me. Several years ago, she would often say things like “Puro ka na lang seminar, wala ka namang napapala diyan…” (In english: “You’re always attending seminars but you get nothing out of them…”). Now the tables have turned.

To my dear readers and subscribers

I would also like to thank YOU, for taking time to read what I have to share here in Foreclosure Investing Philippines. I owe the success of FIP to all of you and I shall always be gratefull.

Sorry if I may take a long time to answer the avalanche of e-mails, comments, and text messages, or if I have failed to answer them at all. I guess I was not prepared for these last 2010. Hopefully I’ll find a way to multiply myself through better automation, virtual assistants, and outsourcing.

Speaking of outsourcing, a good example would be the time when I outsourced the transfer of the title of one of my properties. I hope to do more of this in 2011.

My thank you’s won’t be complete…

Of course my thank you’s won’t be complete without mentioning my wife and my son, who I love so much and inspire me to do what I do, and to our God Almighty for everything, none of which would have been possible without him!

By the way, today is our 7th Wedding Anniversary, and my son recently celebrated his 6th Birthday. I guess it’s about time for another “baby project”.

Thank you also to my family, friends, and just about everyone out there who has helped in one way or another. Of course, there are so much more things to be thankful for in 2010, but I guess putting them all here might not be a good idea as this is already too long as it is, so this will have to do. Remember to count your blessings too!

Let us all keep moving forward in 2011!

To our success and financial freedom!

Jay Castillo
Real Estate Investor
Real Estate Broker License #: 20056
Blog: http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com
Follow me in Twitter: http://twitter.com/jay_castillo
Find us in Facebook: Foreclosure Investing Philippines facebook page

Text by Jay Castillo and Cherry Castillo. Copyright © 2011 All rights reserved.

PS. Don’t be the last to know, subscribe to e-mail alerts and get notified of new listings of bank foreclosed properties, public auction schedules, and real estate investing tips. Mailbox getting full? Subscribe through my RSS Feed instead!

Photo credit: Eustaquio Santimano, on Flickr

Thank you 2010! Let us keep moving forward in 2011… is a post from: Foreclosure Investing Philippines

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