How to buy a condo in the Philippines

Hi everyone! You don't know me and probably will never will. I am an extremely private person -- I seldom post on social media. Even my own LinkedIn account is a dormant one. 

Anyway, I'm starting this blog because I want to get real out there in my journey as a broke mom acquiring her first house. There are a lot of plot twists in this journey. And I find that no matter how hard I've done my research, there's always something that I'm not able to account for.

And no, I've already combed Google for my concerns and didn't get the answers I needed. Let me share things with you to make your journey as smooth and fast as possible.

Have you ever wondered what's the process of buying a house in the Philippines? What to expect when buying a house or a condo in the Philippines? Then read up as I try to make the process easier for you.

So here are my parameters: I'm buying a condo in BGC Taguig for my family. Yes, it will be our primary residence and yes, I'm a Filipino married to a foreigner living in the Philippines. And, yes, I'll be using Pag-ibig loan to buy our first house.

Even if you're a foreigner, you can still buy a condo and process the documents yourself. You just had to have a lot of patience. And don't worry, as long as you're transacting directly at the counter of the government office (at least in Taguig), you won't get scammed here in the Philippines.

Probably one of the perks of doing the processing yourself is you'd get acquainted and hopefully have a better appreciation of Philippine agencies. Contrary to popular opinion, they're nice and really helpful. And if you're a foreigner, you can easily charm your way into their hearts. 

Another perk would be that it's cheaper and you're assured that the documents you have are legit. 

This is not to discourage you from acquiring the services of a broker. They really make things easier. But if you're on a tight budget like me and getting a broker is not an option for you, then please read on. 

How much should I prepare for the processing of the documents to buy a house or condo here in the Philippines?

Step 1: Know what you can afford.

My personal rule is you should have an extra 20% on top of the property value. This is a safe estimate. 

A 15% budget for document processing is still OK but you have to consider the BIR zonal value of your property. 

Sorry, just to be blunt, a 10% processing fee is not gonna cut it. And I am one of these foolish people right now. It's just not worth the headache, anxiety, and sleepless nights. Not only that, it will rob you of the joy of acquiring a property. 

So if you have a budget of, say, 4M pesos to buy a property, you should have max 3.33M pesos allocated to the property alone + 670K pesos just to process the documents.

Here's how I got that: 

Property value you can acquire = Total budget to buy house or condo / 1.2

I still haven't figured out how to add a table here but once I do, I'll update this page. In the meantime, yep, that's your magic formula. 

(If you're planning to get a Pag-ibig loan, read on. Otherwise, please move on to the next article.)

Even if you're like me and will get the property via Pag-ibig loan, you still need 20% of the property value money at the ready. 

IKR. Had that reaction too. And this could probably be one of the reasons why a lot of people don't buy houses here, it's darn expensive. 

BUT... If you can get past your own negativity (I know I had to get over mine), it's encouraging, especially for people like us just starting out. If you have some money in the bank that's 20% of your dream house or condo, then you may want to get the property easily thru a Pag-ibig loan. 

And speaking of encouragement, here's another one: Pag-ibig doesn't really care if that 20% is the only money you got in the bank. As long as you have a stable job that pays BIR regularly, then you should be OK. 

I suggest you check this Pag-ibig housing loan calculator: https://www.pagibigfundservices.com/ac/

What can make your application disapproved:

• If you're trying to get a loan higher than 6M pesos. You can only get 6M pesos maximum loan thru Pag-ibig. 
• If the seller's price is higher than their appraisal of your property, your application will be rejected too. 
• If you're highly leveraged. Meaning you had other loans at the time you applied with Pag-ibig.

I suggest you play around Pag-ibig housing loan calculator to see how much you can borrow based on your monthly salary. Or how much you can borrow based on property value. 

I'm just not sure if a foreigner working legally in the Philippines can apply for a Pag-ibig loan. But it won't hurt if you ask. Just email them at contactus@pagibigfund.gov.ph.