Philippine Real Estate Rental Business

Great news Jazz Residences investors. Here are the latest, although unverified as of the moment updates regarding are beloved condominium.

Ground Floor - Will be the commercial podium of the project.
2nd Floor - Call Center Offices. Great for investors planning to rent out their unit.
The Basement, 3rd and 5th Floor - Parking Area of the project.
6th Floor - Amenities of the project.
7th Floor up to 46th Floor - Residential units.

The bridge way located at the 2nd floor will lead to Salcedo Village, so no need to cross the street. This is exclusive to unit owners.

Turnover dates:

Dec 2010 - Bridge way
Dec 2011 - Commercial Podium
Dec 2012 - Tower 1
July 2013 - Tower 3
Dec 2013 - Tower 4
July 2014 - Tower

Very exciting developments indeed.

If you are a Jazz investor like me and is wondering what the heck is seems to be no construction going on in the site might be a bit disappointed. On the copy of SMDC 2009 Annual Report, the estimated target completion date for Jazz Residences is on October 2014. Well that too bad, I was expecting it to be around 2013. Oh well, that explains the pacing of the construction. I hope once the construction process start, an early turnover maybe on the horizon.

Ever wanted to own part of a huge real estate company that also ventures into malls, hotels and commercial spaces like SMDC, RLC or Ayala land? Well dream no more, the real estate investment trust or REIT will make that dream into a reality in the form of a financial instrument issued by these huge corporations.

REIT is a stock corporation organized by big developers specifically for income generating real estates. It will be sold on a per share basis that will yield dividends coming from sales and rentals of the aforementioned income generating properties. The SEC released the draft IRR and hopefully will be available to the investing public within the year. Watch our for this one folks.

It took me 3 years to save enough money to pay for my Grand Emerald Tower bachelors pad. Nothing beats the feeling of such an accomplishment, but I know this is just the beginning of my journey to financial independence via real estate rental business. I still need to pay off some more taxes and miscellaneous expenses prior to the turnover and I am now in the process of looking for an interior designer to maximize my small 21.92 sqm home.

I paid my reservation fee of 25,000.00 pesos to my high school friend who is an agent of SMDC last March 29, 2010. Although he has already informed me that it takes a month to process my papers, I am getting a bit impatient from the lack of news on what's going on. Oh well, still 2 more weeks before a month has passed. By the way, I have availed their financing term of 20% down payment payable in 36 months and 80% of the balance due after I finish paying off my DP where I plan to pay it cash.. (hopefully)

Here is a cool tip for buyers who can pay for their real estate in cash. Inquire with the developer all the financing terms available. Ideally, you would want to go with a developer who offers a 20% down payment payable in 36 months and 80% of the balance due after the down payment term. SMDC offers this payment scheme. They also offer discounts of up to 14% for outright cash buyers, but don't go with it, why? Because 14% in 3 years is just around 4.67% per annum and there are plenty of safe, well regulated and insured financial instruments out there that can net you more than that rate.

So here it goes. Pay the 20% down payment amortization and place the remaining 80% in various financial instruments like time deposits, UITFs and stocks for a maximum period of 3 years, just remember to stay liquid and do not overdo it with stocks since there is no assurance that there is no downturn within the 3 year period and you do not want your money stuck in it. As an added bonus, since you are only paying for the small monthly amortization, you would not loose too much money in case of non delivery by the developer.

This is my second real estate purchase. Jazz residences is developed by SM Development Corporation (SMDC), a new player in the real estate market but is backed up with the SM brand that everyone in the Philippines is familiar with.

The Jazz residences is located in N.Garcia st, barangay Bel-air Makati City and is strategically located very near the CBD with a huge potential market from yuppies looking for a place to stay. Target date of completion in approximately early 2013 so I won't be earning from this unit anytime soon.

Situated in the heart of the Ortigas center in Pasig, Cityland's Grand Emerald Tower (GET) is my first real estate venture. What attracted me to this condominium is it's attractive price, great location to all the malls in the area like Robinsons Galleria, SM megamall and The Podium is all within walking distance from it.

The estimated turn over date for my unit, which is a bachelors pad by the way is around June 2011, but I have heard some rumors that construction is way ahead of schedule to turnover date would probably be early first quarter of next year. Keeping my fingers crossed on this one.

There's a lot of talk, debates and discussion on which is better to live in, house and lots or condominiums. Well for me it really depends on what you are buying the property for.

If you want to use the property as your primary residence and would want to give it as an inheritance for your children, then I would probably agree that getting a house and lot would be a wiser choice.

For someone who would buy a property as an investment with the purpose of renting it out, then I would agree that getting a condominium is a better choice specially if it's located in a commercial center like Ortigas, Makati or Bonifacio Global City.

Another thing that I notice when talking about condominiums is that people are turned off by the fact that you don't own the land that the condo is built on and the lifespan of the building which is typically only 40 to 50 years unlike owning a house and lot.

Well for me, from an investors point of view, meaning I am buying this unit for the reason of earning rental income from it. It does not matter if house and lots will outlive condominiums. I treat condominium units as a form of investment vehicle, like time deposits, stocks or mutual funds which serves as part of my portfolio if only I foresee it as profitable, otherwise I could just sell or swap them for other forms of asset before the time's up.

Good day and welcome to my new blog on how to earn a decent income from renting out real estate properties. My family owns some rental property and I can really say that this is one of best kind of business you can even come into if given the opportunity. I have enough exposure with the rental business to venture out on my own. I will be concentrating on acquiring condominium units as my first rental properties because I will be targeting yuppies who work in mega Manila as my market, specifically Makati and Ortigas.

Since I am new to this, I will be chronicling all my adventures and misadventures in dealing with developers, agents, city hall and tenants with the goal of helping out future landlords to learn from my experience and mistakes.. well I really hope I do not make any costly mistakes along the way.