Buying or selling property in Makati can feel like navigating a maze blindfolded. The city’s real estate market is buzzing, fast-paced, and sometimes downright confusing. That’s why picking the right real estate broker is a game-changer. Trust me, having a savvy guide by your side can save you time, money, and a whole lot of headaches. Let’s dive into some practical tips on how to choose the best real estate broker in Makati. I’ll share what to look for, what to avoid, and ho

Give credit where credit is due. I spoke with someone who just received turnover of his unit at Shang's Aurelia Residences in BGC. Keeping it was never the plan. It was going to be a quick flip. Then turnover day came, and the unit stopped him in his tracks. Now the plan has changed. He's renting out his own house and moving into the unit instead. That is how good it is.

In business, a “hatchet man” is someone brought in to do the unpleasant work: cut costs, restructure, and yes, sometimes fire people. Someone who can terminate ten employees before lunch, eat normally afterward, and move on—like George Clooney’s character in Up in the Air, whose job was literally firing people. Some people are built differently. Firing one person can drain them for the entire day. One of the worst corporate stories I've heard was about a manager who was pirat

Can you upload a land title to ChatGPT and ask it to plot the property? We decided to try it. We uploaded the technical description from a title and asked ChatGPT to plot the lot based on the bearings and distances. In less than two minutes, it produced a clean-looking diagram with boundary lines and labels. Impressive. It looked like exactly the kind of practical AI use that could save real estate professionals a lot of time. Then we checked the plot ourselves. The boundarie

Back in 2015, the DPWH proposed building a vehicle underpass along Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue (formerly Buendia). The goal was to ease one of Makati's worst traffic bottlenecks. The plan was a four-lane, 570-meter tunnel passing beneath the Makati Avenue and Paseo de Roxas intersections. Construction was supposed to begin in June 2015 and finish by April 2017, with a budget of around P1.2 billion. At the time, DPWH projected it could cut traffic in the area by as much as 50%. So..

The more responsibilities you have, the less you should rely on memory. I was reminded of this while reading about the Harvard Business School case method. Unlike a traditional lecture, professors facilitate discussions among roughly 80 students, where class participation forms part of each student's grade. That raises an obvious question. How do they remember who made a thoughtful comment? One tool they use is a seating chart with student photos. By matching faces to names a

One of the first things people notice when dealing with transactions in the Philippines is how uncertain timelines can be. Buy an appliance from a mall and ask for delivery to your condo. More often than not, they will not give you a specific delivery time. Instead, they will block off the whole day. Sometimes, the delivery does not even happen. Then you get a vague explanation: traffic, scheduling issues, the driver could not make it, or some other reason that may or may not

Recent reports of trees being cut along Quirino Avenue have been making headlines these past few weeks. In one viral Facebook video, someone even pointed out that the tree appeared to be “bleeding.” Poor trees. But as beautiful as trees are, there’s also another side to them that property owners eventually encounter. Here are 3 real estate problems involving trees that we've personally come across... 1. Surprise! There's a tree! It was in a newly developed village, and the ow

Did you know that banks in the Philippines share credit information through systems commonly referred to as “Negative Databases” or “NDB”? In simple terms, banks don’t only look at your relationship with them. They also look at your overall financial behavior across the banking system. How does it work? If Juan applies for a loan or credit card, the bank may check: + Existing loans and credit card obligations + Payment history + Past defaults or restructurings + R

Every cycle feels different when you’re inside it. The stories change. The headlines change. The reasons always sound new. But step back, and the pattern becomes familiar. Periods of easy money lead to rising prices. Rising prices lead to confidence. Confidence leads to leverage. And somewhere along the way, risk gets ignored. Until something shifts. — The Philippine market today is not facing the same structural risks as past crises. Banks are better regulated. Currency risk