Once upon a time, a unit was leased out under a standard contract—no pets allowed. Everything seemed normal at first. Until one day, the building admin reached out to the owner. There had been complaints from neighbors. A strong, unpleasant odor was coming from the unit. “Oh no,” the owner thought. When was the last time he heard from the tenant? Could something be wrong… or was he overthinking it? So he went to check. The moment the elevator doors opened, the smell was alrea

I was speaking with a broker who’s been in the industry since the mid-90s. He told me: “What we’re going through now feels worse than the Asian Financial Crisis.” That’s a strong statement. But is it actually true? Disclaimer: What I know about the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC) is secondhand—based on research, industry stories, and conversations with veterans. So if you lived through the AFC and see gaps here, feel free to jump in. What the AFC actually looked like + Office la

In banking, staff are required to operate out of a “backup office” for a week each year—a site located far from the main headquarters, designed to take over if something catastrophic happens. It’s part of Business Continuity Management. Most hated it—seeing it as wasted office space, idle equipment, and lost time. Preparing for a scenario that feels… unlikely. Until 2020. --- BCM exists for one purpose: to make sure the institution survives. --- Now bring that into real estat

Following up on yesterday’s post...so I walked into the BPI branch across the street and asked if they offered safety deposit boxes. They said yes. And apparently, I got lucky. A client had just terminated their lease, so one box became available. The only one. The teller mentioned that vacancies are rare, and most boxes stay occupied for years. The size was 10 inches wide, 24 inches deep, and about 3 inches high. Just right for real estate documents. You can even fit some je

Once upon a time, Broker 1 got a call from Broker 2. “Do you have the consularized SPA? We need it for the transfer.” “We already gave it to you,” he said. “It was in the folder with the other documents.” “We checked. It’s not here.” A week passed. Broker 1 went through every file in the office. Nothing. He was sure he had submitted it. But being sure doesn’t solve a missing document. Now the real problem came in. The seller, who lived abroad, refused to take another painful

Early in my career, I thought I had a breakthrough strategy: destroy the benchmark. If success in brokerage is driven by inventory, then the fastest way to win is simple: get more listings than everyone else. The top brokers I spoke to had: 300+ listings The very best broker? Around 800 quality listings Not all are direct, some are co-marketed. But with that scale, probability works in your favor. So I asked: how do I get there faster? The idea: Lower the commission. Typical

Is it still smart to lodge a property in a corporation? It depends. This strategy can be powerful—but only if executed properly. Done wrong, it creates more tax and compliance problems than it solves. 👍 Pros 1. Avoids “estate gridlock” When a property is held in a corporation, ownership is through shares—not the title. So when a shareholder dies, what gets transferred are the shares. This avoids a common PH problem: + Property passes to multiple heirs + Co-ownership balloons

Once upon a time, a homeowner leased out her property to what appeared to be a well-off Filipino couple. They arrived for the viewing in a sports car, accompanied by bodyguards. They looked the part—confident, polished, and financially capable. They expressed strong interest and, unusually, insisted on moving in within a week. Pressed for time but reassured by appearances, the owner accepted. The couple issued post-dated checks (PDCs) covering several months of rent. At first

Can you “securitize” real estate in the Philippines? A common idea in real estate is this: what if you could pool money from hundreds—or even thousands—of investors to buy a single property? Before anything else, let’s define the term. "Securitization" is the process of turning an asset into financial instruments (“securities”) that can be sold to multiple investors. In practice: + You set up a company (SPV) + The company buys the property + Investors buy shares in the compan

When setting up a food business in the Philippines—whether as a manufacturer or an importer—you are required to secure a License to Operate from the FDA. And getting that license isn’t just paperwork. The FDA will actually inspect your declared office/warehouse. They want to confirm that your business physically exists—that you’re not a fly-by-night operation that disappears the moment something goes wrong with your product. This principle isn’t unique to the FDA. Banks opera