I've heard that buying real estate in Phils is a horrible investment. Can't remember much but basically it's impossible to make a profit off of selling your place due to taxes and the demand for already purchased places is incredibly low since new ones are constantly coming up.

Have done 0 actual research, just reiterating what someone else told me.

it is indeed not for flipping and only makes sense if you will want the usufruct of such a place for yourself for some years going forward instead of renting...

I'll post pics later this month of what I see as good and safe value once repairs are done

Cool looking forward to it

Milano

You dont have to sign in girls at Gramercy anymore they never say anything to me. Havent stayed at Tivoli yet but the rooms look a bit old on Airbnb

Nice. Have you stayed at Milano yet? It looks really nice.

It's definitely a generation older than Gramercy, so yeah it's not as nice inside but you get more room for the money. For pretty much all of the apartments I find the furniture to be the most important thing and it varies so much on stuff like airbnb. Actually the nicest place I've stayed at was a 1 bedroom on Jazz and that's definitely not new. The owner completely refurbished the inside and bought an awesome bed and some other decent furniture though so it was awesome.

Milano is really nice. Haven't lived there but I know a girl with a condo there and checked it out a couple times.

There is a couple older buildings in the Tivoli complex and a couple newer than Gramercy. Even the older buildings are pretty well kept though. Really just depends on the unit you get as bluegrass mentioned. Also they just built a nice new gym. + bball court which I haven't seen anywhere else.

Has more of a resort feel as opposed to Gramercy or Jazz etc which is a big deal to me when youre living in the rat trap that is Manila.

There's also some decent options in the Timog area (QC) if you don't mind being the only foreigner around.

Milano is nice, the gym is worse though, no free barbells it's all machines according to a friend that stayed there. Havent stayed yet but he sent me some pics. Does Tivoli have a free barbell and weight plates?

Yeah it feels like a rat trap that's why I want to be a short walk from several malls (a.venue / century, greenbelt not that far either leisurely walk past the ayala gardens), discos (royal / time), late night food (pasha / ziggurat / and arabian nights is 24 hours) and the whole red light district

Cool thanks for the info.

I had no idea that Tivoli had new buildings too, I assumed they were all built at the same time.

You do realize Tivoli is only about a km from a.venue? 10 minute walk, 5 minute taxi/grab, 2 minute tricycle (40 pesos). Slightly less convenient I agree but I prefer not having to walk out of Gramercy and be surrounded by unpleasantness every day. Although I will say it is probably better now than it was 2-3 years ago when I lived there as far as beggars and little kids. They do have 2 convenience stores in the Tivoli complex although they are only open like 7 am to 11 pm I think.

I haven't seen the new gym as it was being built when I left so I can't confirm if it has weight plates and free barbells or not.

Edit: I Just asked a girl that lives there and she said it's not just machines and they have weight plates etc.

I know where it is, each to their own but it's so nice to be right next to stuff. A girl is gonna start moaning if we're walking over that bridge to Tivoli and it's gonna be just that much more annoying / hot and sweaty. I hate trikes

At gramercy you just step out of royal, time, all the restos around there, point to your condo 'oh yeah I stay there it's the tallest condo in the Philippines', want to see the view?' Or you're already in century mall having eaten at the food court thing there and just slip in through the private mall entrance. Or you're at burgos and it's an ok walk but burgos to Tivoli would cross the line to becoming a bit of a hassle

It's rare you see a beggar or kid right outside in the car park area between gram and avenue. You have to walk to makati avenue or kalayaan for that, where there are no security guards around

Makes sense you mentioning signing in girls if it was 2-3 years ago then. That didn't happen to me, sample size >50 girls some obvious street meat

That 1km might as well be 10 when you sweat like I do.

Yea I walked it once in a while during the day but would never walk it after a night of drinking. Taxi takes no time at all and is like 50 pesos from burgos.

No chance I'd consider walking more than 30 seconds with a filipina. I'd take a taxi from one end of burgos to the other side just to avoid the moaning. It's intolerable. "mainit sobra, so hot talaga"...

I'm here too and not saying a word. Shaddup.

Havent had that yet, cos u just cross the street and its there and u can point to it

I would get it at tivoli and I hate taxi/trikes cos then it's 'you want lady' or not using meter, not giving change, driving like theyre on crack

And too short a distance to wait for Uber

You would have made money buying real estate anytime in the last 15 years.

Your annual rent yield on an apartment in Metro Manila might be anywhere from 7-12%, and after rpt and maintenance you would be in the 5-9% territory before capital appreciation.

I do agree that buying in certain areas limits your ability to sell (due to increasing supply) such as lifestyle choices as Rockwell, BGC, and parts of Makati, as you are paying for the lifestyle and definitely not the location or intrinsic value of the property.

The residential market is somewhat soft this year and going into 2018, but commercial property is still really strong, especially on the higher end.

If you are looking into purchase of a unit, you're better off looking at larger cut units (2 br+) and areas that can still appreciate in value (not overinflated due to lifestyle and developer forced increases).

Talking to a friend and told him I was going to Cambodia on my next trip, play poker and do some sight seeing plus partying. He wants me to visit him and his girl in Dumaguete, problem is he knows nothing about poker so he can't even tell me if there is poker in Dumaguete. He said there is great diving and fishing plus the beach is awesome he said.
Does anyone know if there is poker in Dumaguete if not how far away is it?

Organizing a dinner tomorrow at 8pm in Makati.

PM me if you're down!

what's the occasion? Im in town might join you boys

I'll be there if this dinner is actually happening

I just went to immigration for latest extension in Davao... First i only got a 'claim stub' which stated the date and that i have to come back after one week(i didn't even had to leave my passport there). That was pretty short visit but the next visit took some time. One thing i noticed was that there was no 'express lane' fee(which i have been allways laughing about... but maybe it was reason for one day handling) on the receipt.
Well obv. i dunno if it same in other parts of Philippines now... but just thought to let you know.

Yeah the express lane fee is gone everywhere, it was a 'service charge' going to the employees which DU30 eliminated.

Yea that's good and i agree... but my point was now you have to make two trips to immigration and wait one week for you extension(at least here in Davao).

Got an extension in makati couple months ago. Went in at like 9 am gave them my passport etc and they told me to come back at noon the same day. No express lane fee.

Just moved to Makati and trying to decide between Knightsbridge and Gramercy, looked at multiple 1br units this week already. All things being equal is there any good reason I should choose one over the other? Going to be playing at Solaire prob 2-3 times a week so considering one of the condos over by MOA but rooms all look small though and slightly worse amenities. Any insider advice would be great, really struggling to make a final decision.

100m closer to hookers & attached to a mall with food in it gives gramercy the edge

So much variance with furnishings that I'd just go with whichever one is nicer. The differences between the two is small and not going to matter as much as the quality of furniture.