Quote:
Originally Posted by Journeyman
Sounds like a perfect rip off setup in which you end up getting booted out of your place after a month and them keeping the cash and renting it out again.
On an unrelated note, how do you like Manila so far?
Yes, this is why you should only go through the big developers, like Ayala or Rockwell land, since they would lose way too much business trying this for it to make any sense, because I have heard of scams happening (not exactly what you describe) semi-regularly when not dealing w/major groups.
So far manila is a mixed bag, although I am basically happy. Living is cheap. Yesterday I went to lunch with Tyrese Sebastian and it was $5 for the two of us for a simple but filling and complete meal at a local place in a nice mall. A cheap haircut is $1.5, an upscale haircut is $7-8, and the top of the line haircut (at probably the best place in the country) is $30 or so. The girls are also very hot if you are in the right places, and given income inequality they are all looking for guys making western incomes, as the average CPA here makes $200-300/month. The other day we were hitting on some girls at a club and they expressed no interest in us but when we mentioned that we were from the US they went nuts (unfortunately they were not particularly attractive). I am also paying $460/month for a pretty big and fairly nice 35 sqm studio in one of the most upscale developments in the country. The lobby is elegant and there is a nice, very green pool area. Security is very good and the staff is also very friendly.
What I just described is great, but there are big downsides. The pollution actually makes you feel sick sometimes, and walking around it is just scorching some days. Also, I'm not really happy about any method of transportation I might have. Drivers are all maniacs and my main option for transport is a taxi which looks like it is made of tin, has no seat belts, and has a licensing structure so that the driver has to drive 24hrs straight, so in addition to crazy driving, a tin car, and no seat belts, the guys are falling asleep. The alternative is to hire a chauffeured car from avis, which though ridiculously cheap by western standards, the cost does add up. My apartment, though in a fancy building, also had its share of problems. I had leakage in my washing machine closet ceiling which left a yellow pool on the ground. When I looked up at the ceiling later I noticed that there was a waste pipe. I called the building maintenance and they claim the pipe is sealed so it must've come from somewhere else (one of them also dipped his hand in the pool and smelled it and told me that it didn't smell like urine, but like soap), but I'm still not entirely thrilled by the fact. There was also a distinct smell of sewage in my bathroom, which they were able to fix, but it still didn't leave a great impression. One can say this stuff can happen anywhere, but I have talked to family friends who live in similar buildings and it is apparently the norm here, while in a similarly nice building in the first world it would be the rare exception. On a side note, I am also irritated by the constant attempts people make to scam me.
Overall life is quite comfortable here, and I would recommend it to people thinking of coming here, but they definitely need a disclaimer that there are a lot of things they will love and a lot of things that they really might not like at all.