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.