Real Estate for sale in General Luna
“dutchpickle” usually recommends that foreigners don’t buy land in the Philippines but here is an example of what stuff is going for in Siargao.
The asking price on this house with 8000 square meter lot is 8 million pesos. It is not on the beach but is about half way to Cloud 9 from the town of General Luna.
I have no connection with this property but am just putting it on the net for general information to give property seekers basic info. Always keep in mind that foreigners must hold the property (land) in a Filipinos name.
The house looks well built. German-Filipina owned.
Real Estate for sale in General Luna – Siargao
For Sale
If interested call
0928 7241663 -Wilma
0918 2894725 – Rosalyn
0920 3361353 – Raul
Real Estate Siargao
Climbing Mount Apo
General Santos
Growing Orchids
Judy's Resto Bar
Logging with Motorcycles
Mount Mayon
Balabac Island
Biri Island
Calbiga Cave
Capul Island
Mangrove Swamp Palawan
Mikes's Resort
nice dp but around P7.999,999.oo out of my price range ahahah
BW Dave
Please email me information on land that is for sale in general luna.
Thanking You
Dvid,
You will have to make a trip to Siargao and do some legwork!
cheers
dp
Hi Dutchpickle,
I’m starting to think about buying some land in the Philippines after a recent trip (our second) to Siargao. I’m currently considering two places: middle to northern east coast Siargao, and now I’m starting to look at East Samar! I love surfing tropical waves so both of these places sound ideal. In several posts I’ve read that you warn people about not buying land in the Philippines. Would you be so kind as to give me some suggestions on buying land in the Philippines, and the things I should avoid! I know a lot of people probably ask you the same thing and it’s probably a pain in the ass for you, but I would really appreciate any help you could give me to avoid falling in some kind of fraud (where I would end up losing my hard earned money)!!
Thanks in advance.
Best Regards,
Jose Espinoza
Hello Jose,
Buying land anywhere in the Philippines is risky for a foreigner and even a bit tricky for a Filipino.
One problem is that very little land has an undisputed clear title. Most land is “tax declared” meaning basically that it has been squatted on and the person has filed taxes on it.
Another issue is that a foreigner can not own land in the Philippines – the foreigner puts up the money but the title is in some one else’s name (usually the spouse or girlfriend) or local business partner. Obviously this is not very secure.
Land that has been in one family for generations will have issues with getting all the heirs to sign off on the deal.
There is no “title insurance” in the Philippines that I am aware of. You must use the most honest lawyer you can find and hope that the other party doesn’t have relatives in the land office or any that hold high political office. There are so many shakey deals and it is easy for a newbie investor to loose everything quickly. (but sometimes the hammer doesn’t drop until after the land has been improved).
Eastern Samar does indeed have some fine surfing but unfortunately a large developer has bought up most of the beach south of Guiuan and has constructed a 3 meter concrete wall for kilometers so no one else can even see the beach.
Pete, Pirates Cove, in Borongan has a bit of surf at his place and some people surf off he small islands near Taft. The east coast is rather remote and you might not be successful developing land there unless your wife /girlfriend is from there and then you will have to become accustomed to having family members kind of taking over the place.
I strongly suggest renting. It you have disposable income that you want to have fun with – why not give it a go – but figure on a total write off of your investment. Just play with money that you really don’t need.
cheers
dp
In Gen luna or cloud nine there still have some land for sale that really have a clear and legal paper on it. the first thing you have to do visit the municipal office in general luna ask the tax office to look up the land title if that match to the owner title who’s selling the land. by laws in the philippines when you buy the land you cannot owned the beach its a public domain.
yes 8 mill is a bit steep ,u can get condo units in manila for 1.5-3million,other islands for 4-5 million for houses ,just search in yahoo or classifieds.
im jane…………actually taga dapa me,gsto ko punta jan after my vocation here in manila…………………….miss ko na kc sa general luna eh hve a beautiful spots just open my emai ok………facebook un
DP was very accurate in his description of the land buying issues in the Philippines. He was a – understandably – bit diplomatic, but if you can read between the lines, it’s a big NO for a foreigner.
First of all, a foreigner can’t own any real estate. He has to spit up the money but a Filipino or Filipina will be the real owner. It’s like writing a blank check and be sure they will cash it sooner or later, preferably after you made improvements and built a house on it – if they can control their greed “for a while”.
In case you’re married (as a foreigner) to a Filipina and you buy land in her name, the entire (large) family included remote cousins will assume they won the lottery and will rely on you for “barrowing” money for their starving kids, the hospital bills of their dying lolas, the college education of a sibbling, jewelry for a wedding, etc… Of course, you will never see the money back and you will be considered rude and greedy if you dare to ask.
If you want to open a small business on the premises, your neighbors will have to sign a testimony that you are a responsible and god-fearing citizen and expect a bribe from 20,000 to 100,000php (depending on the location) for their honest testimony. The Barangay captain and officials will expect their share too, of course, or you’re in for big trouble like deportation on fake charges. A foreigner can’t rely on the justice system since a Filipino is right by definition.
Neighbors don’t get jealous easily (unless they’re drunk) but they expect a foreigner should be “sharing” always. In that case, you’re a true “fwend”.
A foreigner should also follow rules for employing personnel 200%, as to social security, insurance and minimum wage. Filipinos can employ housemaids as slaves, paying them 2-3,000php per month with no time off, not even Sundays.
Land titling gives no guarantee whatsoever, except that you will have to pay all the outstanding taxes first that the previous owner (often a squatter) didn’t pay for years. Then you’ll need a surveyor (expect wages x3 for a foreigner) and a notary.
Most of the property is still ancestral land (that belongs to a tribe) or land undivided between heirs. After all is settled and your Filipino partner or Filipina wife got the title, expect some long forgotten “cousins” to turn up out of the blue asking their extra share. A friendly Barangay captain or notary might help you with it, but he will ask a hefty commission for that.
If you’re very bad and cruel to the family of your wife (like refusing them an umpteenth loan for a cellphone or a gadget, or suggest they shouldn’t invite themselves EVERY day around dinner time for their free meal) the marriage can be easily “annulled” and you will be kicked out of the country in no time, in which case, of course, you’ll have to leave your land behind.
Dealing with Filipino authorities and people, you will have to accept the sad fact that they are totally corrupt from top to bottom, that justice can take years and that as a foreigner you have no chance. No wonder tourism and retirement tourism is rampantly low, compared to other Southeast Asian countries. They have no clue why, honestly.
In the Philippines, don’t buy land, don’t invest, don’t try to do business. You will lose your money. A much better alternative is for instance Thailand, where the sights and nature are much better too. You’ll be reasonably sure of your property there with less bribing harassments from the authorities.
I’m staying in Mindanao for 7 years now, but I only rented. I heard loads of stories of foreigners involving land hassles. Whenever the neighborhood gets ugly, like a squatter family moving in next to your wall burning smokey plastic shredding and playing loud music all day, you can move out.
Siargao is a nice place and I was there again last November. It’s obvious that the locals want to monetize the presence of many foreigners there by asking a ridiculous 9Mphp for a house. A Filipino house – as is – is not suited to Western taste, for many reasons. It’s easy to paint over the ugly fluogreen walls and remove the horrible pink curtains and the Last Supper wall tapestry, but replacing the windows with prison grills by large security glass windows and making the kitchen separate from the living room will cost more.
The electricity plant in Siargo was destroyed by lightning a month ago, so you will have to add a powerful non-Chinese diesel generator.
My neighbor in Cagayan (a Filipino balikbayan with better taste) is building a great and well designed house next doors and his total budget is 1.3Mphp. The lot (in a walled compound) was around 500,000php but the suburb is close to the city center. When I was hunting for houses, I heard prices of 9M too and when I didn’t contact them any more, they went down to 2M finally. 9Mphp is just too crazy, especially in a remote place like Siargao where life is expensive since they have to fetch all by pumpboats.