Once upon a time, an in-house broker sold a pre-selling condo to a walk-in buyer. The buyer was pleasant, easy to talk to, and decisive. The deal closed in a few weeks. File done. Commission earned. Life moved on. Months later, the broker met someone with the same last name as his buyer. It was an uncommon surname, the kind that makes you pause. So he asked, if they were related. She smiled. “That’s my father.” What a small world. Thinking nothing of it, the broker casually m

Once upon a time, a guy with more confidence than experience decided it was a good idea to bomb the downhill road in Tagaytay on a skateboard. He had been skateboarding for exactly ONE week. He pushed off. At first, it felt incredible — the wind, the speed. Halfway down, he realized he was going way too fast. Instinct took over; he jumped off the board at probably 50 km/h. He tried to catch himself but physics disagreed. His collarbone smashed into the asphalt and snapped cle

Once upon a time, a man once bought a vacant lot in an ordinary, ungated residential neighborhood. He did nothing with it. No fence, no caretaker, no visits—just a title tucked away, proof enough in his mind that the land was his. Years passed. Then one day, squatters began to appear. The owner noticed, but he wasn’t alarmed. As long as his name was on the title, he believed the law was on his side. Decades went by, and the owner died. The property passed to his son. The son

Once upon a time, a couple leased a property through a broker. Their lease still had a few months left when the broker reached out and said the owner was short on cash. As an incentive, the owner was allegedly willing to reduce the monthly rent if the couple paid the lease extension in advance. Afraid to lose the opportunity, the couple immediately transferred the funds to the bank account provided by the broker. After all, the broker had been extremely helpful during their m

Once upon a time, a business owner in the manufacturing industry found himself facing a good problem to have: demand was growing faster than his capacity. To keep up, he decided to lease a second warehouse and convert it into another manufacturing facility. After weeks of searching, he struck gold. The warehouse was almost perfect—flood-free, minimal repairs required, low rent, and immediately usable. Paperwork was signed, keys were turned over, and machines were lined up. Ex

Once upon a time, a family stood on the brink of letting go of their beloved seaside estate—an ancestral sanctuary stretching six hectares, complete with its own quiet cove where generations of kids once chased tides and built sand castles. A large portion of the land wasn’t even beach real estate at all; they were humble fish ponds that fed the caretaker for years. But when the sale was finally completed and the taxes were computed, reality hit hard: the government assessed

What’s the usual due diligence process—and why wouldn’t it have caught this mess? 1. Secure certified copies of the Title and Tax Dec. a. Everything matched perfectly. The names appeared consistently across the CCT, Tax Dec, and passports. b. No liens or mortgages were annotated. Title was clean. 2. Verify the TINs. a. The TINs matched the numbers provided. 3. No CENOMAR was required. They already submitted a Canadian marriage certificate, meaning they weren’t claiming to be

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