ALERT: Here’s a red flag your due diligence process probably won’t catch. (We would’ve missed it too if this were our transaction.) A Filipino couple was set to buy a condo from a foreigner and a Filipina partner. No brokers involved. On paper, everything looked clean. Facts: Sellers disclosed: “We got married in Canada.” They presented a Canadian marriage certificate. Title: shows John Doe (foreigner) and Luz B. Reyes — both listed as single. Luz’s passport: Luz Borromeo Rey

Once upon a time, a tenant called in a panic: water was overflowing in his basement backyard. (Day 0) Day 1. Broker booked the owner’s trusted plumber (Plumber 1). Diagnosis: water pump + backup pump probably died. They agreed on a Day 4 visit. Day 2. Plumber 1 suddenly asked the owner to send P9K for a submersible pump—plus another P9K to siphon the tanks. Broker checked online and found the exact same pump at 50% off, so he bought it himself. He also learned the siphoning s

Once upon a time, a broker once celebrated the smooth closing of a condo sale. Title transfer was the only thing left, so they passed the baton to their long-trusted “taga-lakad” (TL)—someone they’d worked with many times, someone they believed would never fail them. But then came the call. The TL reviewed the documents and confidently declared: “Mali ang form. Don’t use 1706. Dapat 1606. Sole proprietor kasi si Seller.” The broker froze. Wrong form? Impossible. But the TL in

Once upon a time, a foreign med-tech company was looking to move into a bigger office. After months of viewings, they finally found one that seemed perfect — right size, right floor, right price. The lessor was thrilled. A multinational in the med-tech space — stable, recession-proof, and punctual with rent — what more could you ask for? But there was one tiny wrinkle. A small portion of the office was going to serve as a product showroom. Some of the machines they wanted to

Once upon a time, a landlord leased a unit to a tenant who later subleased it. Everything went smoothly—until the pandemic hit. The tenant’s sublease income dried up, and from then on, communication with the owner became nearly impossible. Despite repeated follow-ups, the tenant only replied after the lease had expired, saying they’d renew and pay “in a few days.” Those few days turned into weeks. No payment came. Then came a new excuse: they’d sell their furniture to pay the

Here’s the recap. While I was away, my colleague forwarded a letter from the Bureau of Internal Revenue. The letter claimed that I failed to file several tax returns listed in an attached “Annex O.” Except… there was no Annex attached. Naturally, I was confident. I’ve always been meticulous with filings. “Probably a glitch,” I thought. But just to be sure, I had someone check what those missing returns were. And that’s when the plot twist came in: the BIR was asking for 8 tax

Once upon a time, two college students in Metro Manila got into a fistfight — let’s call them A and B. A threw a punch. B fell, hit his head on the curb, and was knocked unconscious. The school rushed him to the hospital, and eventually, he recovered — or so everyone thought. Years later, it turned out B suffered permanent brain damage. His family decided to sue the school, not A, arguing that the incident happened within school grounds. And instead of filing in Metro Manila

A man once bought a hillside lot—his dream perch overlooking the glittering city below. Every morning, he imagined coffee on the veranda,...

Beyond taxes and red tape, a bigger obstacle to Philippine RE is safety. For many foreigners, crime is the deal-breaker. What JPRE...

Once upon a time, there was a corporate soldier—gray cubicle, blue tie, gray soul. Thirteen-hour workdays filled with reports nobody...