Shopping Tips

I mean, shopping for a house or a for a condominium unit. I just want to share what my husband and I have learned throughout the course of our shopping.

1. Set your criteria. As for us, our considerations are the following: It should be within our budget, location is near Makati CBD, has a community, good amenities and it should be a house and lot. Well, that was at first. We really wanted a house and lot as we are already living in a high rise condominium. Although we did find a house that almost fits our criteria, we were not really convinced. Other house and lots already range from 8M up.

2. View the site and model units. You really need to take the time to view the sites. You cannot rely on flyers and internet-based advertisements. We visited sites almost every weekend for several months. We even went as far as Laguna, although out of the way already, just to see said developer's work. Site visiting is the only way you can compare the projects of different developers. Like for instance, there's this well known developer with a project that offers sooo many outdoor amenities, but when it comes to the finishing of the units, hmmm... it wasn't that good as compared to DMCI's work.

3. Time your purchase. What I mean by this is that, if you can get a unit during pre-selling stage, the better. If you pay in cash, additional discount is given on top of the 10% discount. On the other hand, if you're going to pay only the downpayment say 20% of the total contract price, you can stretch your monthly payment until the date of RFO (ready for occupancy) or when the unit is scheduled to be turned over. In our case, we reserved our unit 15 months before RFO. So we have 15 months to pay the downpayment plus additional discount was given because it was still pre-selling.

4. Ask for other fees. Be sure to ask your broker about all other fees that you will need to prepare for. Because aside from the total contract price of the unit, there is a titling fee which includes all charges to process the title of your unit. Aside from that, if you plan to go through bank financing after payment of equity or downpayment, there is also a processing fee for the bank to process your loan application. And there will also be mortgage and fire insurance fees that you will cover during the duration of the loan. All of this you need to discuss with your broker and your bank.

5. Build up your financial portfolio. Now, if you're like us who can not pay in cash, and you know that you will have to seek a bank's assistance, you will need to build up your financial portfolio. Before a bank will grant your loan, they will be needing certain requirements like your banks' statements for a year, or your mutual funds and stocks investments certificates. So while you are still shopping around, just continue beefing up your portfolio so when the time comes, you are ready.

6. Save, save, save. It would have been great if we can pay in cash. But, as we are only middle-wage earners, it is unfortunate that we can't. But we were able to save up so that we are able to pay almost half of the total contract price. All the while we thought we won't be able to get a parking area. But because of the savings we got from the discounts, we were able to get the parking area in cash. So if you are seriously considering to get your own property in the future, save for it.

7. and most important of all - PRAY. You wouldn't want to make a decision you may regret in the end. In all of this, more than anything, we give glory to our God! We thank Him for His guidance and provisions. Although, we know that our stay here in this world is only temporary, we are grateful for this home and we are looking forward to our eternal home.