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

If this is something that matters to you, the safest approach is simple: protect yourself contractually. When submitting an offer, include a clause requiring the seller to declare whether any of the following occurred inside the property: + Any death + Suicide + Violent crime or homicide If the seller refuses to sign such a declaration, well then, we know the answer. This approach is important because laws on disclosure vary widely across countries. In many developed economie

A buyer once came across an attractively priced condo online. He had been searching for a property for months, and this listing immediately caught his attention. The price seemed below market, so he scheduled an ocular right away. When he arrived at the building lobby, the owner personally greeted him and accompanied him upstairs. As they reached the unit, the buyer was about to step inside when something odd happened. The owner stopped at the doorway. He didn’t go in. He sim

When I first got life insurance, I had absolutely no idea how much coverage I actually needed. A quick search online gives broad rules of thumb. Many advisers suggest coverage of around: + 30× income for ages 18–40 + 20× income for ages 41–50 + 15× income for ages 51–60 + 10× income for ages 61–65 These guidelines are helpful, but they focus mainly on income replacement. In real estate, there’s another way to think about life insurance. At the very minimum, your life insuranc