Philippine Real Estate Rental Business

It’s going to be a very busy month for me this coming March what with my condo unit from Citylands Grand Emerald Tower in Ortigas officially being turned over to me and having to do some minor renovations and furnishing (yes I have decided to go the furnished unit path) it in preparation for me renting it out hopefully this coming April.

I’ll be updating this blog with pictures from my punch listing, renovations (although I am going to go minimal on this route to save money) and furniture’s bought and the unit itself when all of them come together. Keep an eye out for this guys.

Here are the latest pictures I have taken from the site. Sorry for the low quality of the pictures, I took it using my cellphone camera, will not forget to bring my digicam next month. As you can see there are definitely some big improvements  with the project. Work does flow very quickly when the developer has tons of money.

I took some street level view pictures of Jazz Residences today. Not much has changed since last month above ground. But I am pretty sure there are lots of improvements made to the basement level since construction is in full swing. Come back here regularly for updates of this project.

As promised, here are the hi-res pictures that I took from the site this morning. The rebar’s are noticeably higher in just a span of days and it looks like construction is starting to pick up the pace. I’ll post more pictures as often as possible so please come back and visit my blog for more updates.

Here are some Jazz Residences updates. I apologize for the quality of the pictures because I used a cellphone camera. I'll be dropping by again soon to the site, this time armed with a digital camera. As you can see, things are progressing nicely. The rebars and cranes are already visible. Construction is definitely in full swing. I will be posting pictures on a regular basis. I'll try to do it as often as possible since my office is just a 10 minute walk away.

Finally after 2 months of paying my monthly amortization for my unit at Jazz Residences, my contact to sell (CTS) is now available for me to sign. My agent left me the documents so I can go over it before signing and I will probably return it to him next week. I have been busy at work so I will probably read and sign it up this long weekend since Monday, June 14 has been declared a holiday.

Well as of this time, rumors has it that Cityland's Grand Emerald Tower in Ortigas will be completed this October, a whooping 8 months ahead of schedule! Although it is still unverified, the website of Citytland, which can be found here has indicated that Grand Emerald is already 88% complete and still 5 months more till October. I am very excited with this development because I can rent the place out earlier so my money will be working earlier than expected. Will keep you guys posted for more developments.

Finally, my agent and I met last Friday to get my PDC's. 35 checks in total because he forgot to get them from me last April so he had to pay my first amortization to SMDC. Anyways, I already repaid him after a month in cash but I still don't have my contract to sell yet. My guess is because SMDC has yet to finalized the layout for Jazz Residences as my agent has confirmed. he will email me the revised designs for Tower C next Tuesday. Tomorrow is election day, go out and vote wisely. Lets' vote the leaders we truly deserve. (I'll be voting for Gordon/Bayani in case you are wondering)

I recently took a stroll in SM North's Interior Zone looking at the latest furniture and interior designs that I will need once my condo units are turned over when I happened to chance upon a store that's perfect for me. CondoFIT, as the name suggest, caters primarily to condominium owners where space is a very big issue. Since both condo's I bought are quite small, maximizing the living space will ensure that my future tenants will not be living a cramped lifestyle. Condofit offers a wide variety of space saving furnitures like hideaway beds, tables and even ironing boards, an example of which is the picture below.

















Please visit their site here for more of their product lines.

Well what can I say, I was annoyed at my agent because he forgot to inform me that the start of my monthly payments was every 29th of the month, starting last April! He also did not get my 36 checks for my amortization.  But as an apology, he paid for my first payment. I'll just repay him back when I meet him next week, provided he bring along the O.R as proof of payment, you can never be too sure right?

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.