Thursday, 23 August 2012

Of typhoons, floods, and home ownership

The wrath of mother nature spares no one. This was made perfectly clear by the unnamed "habagat" (monsoon) that brought non-stop torrential rains, which turned Metro Manila into a floating metropolis. Believe me, it's no Venice in summer.

What has this got to do with real estate? Plenty. Prospective buyers have their own criteria when it comes to buying houses and other properties. The list may vary but there's one criterion that is on every buyer's list and that is location

Back in the days, homebuyers shun away from areas known to suffer from heavy flooding even during normal rainfall. The slightest rainfall causes flood water to rise at dangerous levels prompting local government units to evacuate families. This was decades ago.  The sad part is that it still happens up to this day. What's worse is that no city is immune to flooding. It's no longer a case of rich city vs. poor city. Mother nature does not discriminate.  

(source: toonpool.com)

While the general criteria remain the same, homebuyers should start researching about how efficient the city's drainage system is. City governments are pretty much resigned to the fact that their city will be flooded everytime a typhoon hits. So, the only logical thing to do is to improve the drainage system. The faster the flood water disappears, the more the city becomes attractive to prospective homebuyers. 

Perhaps the smartest thing that has been done so far is to create an underground storage tank the size of 8 Olympic sized swimming pools. But get this, only the Bonifacio Global City (BGC) has it. BGC is not even a city. It's just an area in Taguig. Watch the video here.

Now that you've been wowed by the fact that BGC is virtually flood-free even when tormented by non-stop rains for several days, I'd hate to burst your bubble by saying that the properties in the area may not be within budget. Of course, the ability to pay has murky and complicated metrics that one can actually own properties by virtue of future earnings and not with current savings.

The question is, if having these ginormous tanks do not cost a lot (as stated in the video), why aren't city governments installing them? Good question, yes? If you ask every city mayor in Metro Manila, they would probably  just offer excuses, one more ridiculous than the next.

Since having underground storage tanks may be out of the question in your city, the best thing to do is to keep track of your local government's drainage projects. If you plan to move to another city, check out what the mayor has done to to address the flooding and drainage issues. Talk to the people in the community, observe how fast (or slow) the floods subside. Research is vital if you want to make the most of your real estate investment.

Friday, 10 August 2012

Casa de Sequioa: Modern Living in Las Pinas City


The City of Las Pinas is known for its affordable housing schemes. This is partly attributable to real estate magnates who have re-invented the city's housing landscape long before they waded through the murky political waters. 

Arguably, Las Pinas is one of the cities in Metro Manila with a high concentration of low cost housing. It can be said that "low-cost" is relative and will depend on the spending capabilities of a prospective home buyer. Take the case of a Php1 million condominium. By industry standards, this is considered "cheap". But cheap is relative as well. It is cheap only when it is compared with condo units in other areas, say, Makati, where units can go as high as Php20 million. Relative.

Although Las Pinas has been the pioneer in setting up affordable housing, it has been playing catch up in the condominium realm. To date, there are only a few condominium towers in the city, but this will change in the next few years as new condos are being developed throughout the city.

One of the condo projects being offered in Las Pinas is Casa de Sequioa, home of Spanish-inspired residences. Its proximity to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), SM Sucat, Golden Haven, and the historic Bamboo Organ, should be enough reason to check out the new condominium. The Php 8,888 per month  installment plan is currently enforced. Sweet deal, isn't it?

Read more about Casa de Sequioa here

Contact us. We'd love to give you a tour.

GINA A. MORALES
PRC Lic. 0008117
TEXT:  0922-8190122
E-MAIL:  venturealtyservices@yahoo.com
WEBPAGE:  venturealtyservices.blogspot.com

Saturday, 4 August 2012

The Trump Tower Manila Rises


While there is no promise of a bat signal mounted on top of the high rise residential building, the Trump Tower guarantees unparallelled quality real estate that is to become Manila's most prestigious address. Owning a piece of Trump real estate does not only symbolize power, prestige, and wealth, it also celebrates one's success and stature, so richly deserved.

Stake your claim in one of the units at The Trump Tower Manila at Century City Philippines. Call us at 0922 819.0122.