This is just a reminder for interested parties to get ready for the 2009 Philippine Housing Fair which pushes through on December 27-29, 2009 at the SM Megamall Megatrade Halls 1 and 2. Originally scheduled on October 27-29, 2009, the 4th Philippine Housing fair was postponed, most probably due to the complications caused by Typhoon Ondoy’s visit. I’m just glad that the housing fair will finally push through. This was also mentioned in a recently published news article in Pag-IBIG’s website, a copy of which can be seen below. Read the rest of this entry

My wife who has become so obsessed with finding a new house we can call our home shares updates on what we are thinking of doing with our old house that was devastated by Ondoy, what things to consider, our target locations, finding not just a house but also a sound real estate investment by searching foreclosed property listings, and applicable tax exemptions and pending articles about this and other taxes that apply to real estate, which I hope she finishes soon… Read the rest of this entry

One of my mentors, bestselling author Trace Trajano, recently posted a story about Anna, who bought a property in a foreclosure auction in the US. Take note that some of the things in the story might not be applicable here in the Philippines. Nevertheless, there are lessons here that are applicable to real estate investors  no matter where our locations may be. Before that, here’s the story of Anna… Read the rest of this entry

I remember a lot of comments from readers and also from people I meet in person who tell me that they are just looking for a place to live and are not really looking for a real estate investment. My default answer is “Why not treat your first home as an investment?”

In reality, once you buy a property, you become a real estate investor. Buying a home is often considered to be the biggest investment one can make so it’s best to treat it as a real investment — one which will give you reasonable returns if you do decide to turn it into a rental property or if you sell it further down the road. Read the rest of this entry