People out there are looking for Manila’s best residences. “Best” alludes to ‘close to perfect’ or ‘most suited to one’s needs’.
But I believe that “best” really means “best-in-class”, do you agree? When you search for properties, you have an internal checklist, with one home or neighborhood that’s top ranked for that one, qualifying feature that matters most to you. That would then help you clinche the decision to settle for that property.
So let’s start with a few questions, first about the neighborhood. The primary consideration is still ‘location, location, location’. This leads us to evaluating areas of consideration, such as the list in finding the Perfect Neighborhood, a previous article in Residences Manila:
Are there parks nearby?
Is it scenic and visually appealing?
Are there quiet areas, streets, culs de sac?
Are the people friendly in the neighborhood?
Is the neighborhood clean? Yards, streets, parks?
Are there nice trees and foliage?
Do the lots have large or small yards?
Are there walkways and are they easily accessible?
Is it a safe neighborhood?
What are the market values of the homes in the area?
Are there many houses for sale? How’s the vacancy rate in the condominium?
How ’s the property management and maintenance?
How long ago was the community developed?
What is the average age of the people in the area?
Are there families with small children in the area?
What is the proximity to schools?
Are there community events or organizations?
What’s your consideration for choosing your neighborhood? Let us know by leaving a comment or emailing Residences Manila.
The condo elevator may be such a trivial thing to consider when selecting a condo to buy or rent.
But in the past viewings I’ve had in the Fort and in Makati, the kind of elevators a condo estate had became an important consideration! Here are my buyers’ and tenants’ concerns, a real eye opener for me:
When I recall what AIM professor and problogger extraordinaire Anton Diaz asked me that invigorating September night in class: ”What’s your passion?”, something stirred in me. I felt the mounting excitement of my vision affirmed by those words.
He said it would be hard to deviate from what you’re passionate about when you blog, for that’s where your strengths lie. Recalling that moment I decided to do a review of Residences Manila, which I secretly conceived as an experiment for my Maven Secrets problogging class.
The spark of Residences Manila was to blog about the lux and mid-market condo communities in Alabang, Fort Bonifacio Global City, and Makati. I wanted to capture online the snapshots and stories of what it meant to be a condo dweller living in a community. I winced at listing blogs that described these projects, just like a product. Model units, though pretty and chic, still seemed lifeless and isolated like mug shots of homes in a lineup. The model units were beginning to look alike. I wanted to make the home search come alive, create some excitement, make it resonate in the reader’s mind’s eye. I wanted to do it differently online–yet again.
Traipsing almost daily among these three territories gave me a real feel of the ins and outs of the estates. And I enjoyed doing this. I love going thru Alabang, the Fort, and Makati City. And it’s not about shopping, but the experience of the new and unknown.
As a broker who loves aesthetics and imagining what is possible in a unit of space, I could always visualize different looks of condos, in different styles–no matter how worn or how new the place looked. And beyond that, how the pulse of the community made that relatively small space a more homey one for its resident. That was the researcher within me observing colors, spaces, people, movement, pulsating patterns of life around the area.
I must admit though that there are places in these territories that I resonate with more than others. My ‘goodness-of-fit’ radar is better in these 3 places. I’ll stick to that for now.
Somehow, I felt I deviated from the original spirit of this blog. Some pressure to include listings on houses and first time home buyers gave it less voice online.
My stats counter prove that my viewers do want to see these lux finds and unique apartment listings on Residences Manila. But they also want to see the life behind and around the four walls of that pretty condo in photos.
So I return to Residences Manila’s original spirit. Expect news about the condo, the best-in-class estates, the good apartment finds around the Metro. I will write about the urbanite apartment dweller’s usually great, sometimes challenging experiences of living in the condo. There are surely many stories for this, as many as the units and floors for each condo estate!
Do expect to read on how to dress up your residential gem, tips on living, lifestyle and renewal for your home in the sky. Lux means many things to many people. But in Residences Manila, lux living means getting the most for your space, making it what you want to be, and living the life that you really want within those four fabulous walls.
I’ve seen a lot of condominium facilities and amenities. But I definitely love the luxurious and definitely very private residential ammenities available at Fairways Towers. It’s a nice gem to cap an otherwise conservative-looking, almost boring facade of the functional but well-located condominium. Having the facilities at the penthouse level gives it a luxurious mien by default. The idea that no one else but invited guests and residents will get to use or see it unless they take the ride to the 30th+ floor makes it an ideal urban getway right after you come from a lightning-paced day at work, or coming home after living out of your suitcase for 4 weeks.
When you first step into Fairway Towers’ lobby, you’ll notice that it’s cool, bright, and quite compact. The ceiling is high, and you can immediately see the perimeter wall with the golf course peeping over it. You get an initial impression that there’s nothing remarkable about the building, except that fact that the lobby has a very quiet and empty vibe. I guess one can sense in the dynamic that there aren’t that many residents yet in the Fairways. But for someone like me, who has seen hundreds of condominiums in the line of broker’s duty, I was pleasantly surprised for the view of the facilities opening up into wide, inviting spaces while wind whips your hair. The comfy chairs and tables alongside the pool were filled with some teenagers, apparently international school kids on break, discussing anything and nothing under the pleasant sky.
The infinity pool is by no means olympic-sized, but it’s just right for residents who want to get away from the the cloister of their condo by springing into the pool, framed by the vast expanse of blue-and-white backdrop of clouds and sky. The gym on the penthouse level is well-equipped with treadmills, transport machines, and barbells good for a fair program of bodybuilding. The high-ceilinged ballroom and function rooms promise to hold capacity crowds of 150 or 200 people. You can just imagine in the evening that the top of the Fairways Towers glows from afar like a brilliant gem in the scepter. It definitely will hold its own beside the blue spaceship-like helipad of its neighbor, the Pacific Plaza Towers.
As I told my guest, it really feels like a ‘resort-in-the-sky’. The Fairways Towers units here are fairly priced, given its functional look, acceptable make and materials and location. The units’ layouts are also wider despite the usual 36 or 52 sqm footprint for studio- and 1-br units respectively. But getting units on the higher floors, one with a full view of the golf course, and topping it literally with the well-located facilities, you feel that you’re getting a more-than-fair deal at the Fairways. The condominium dues (it was 75 pesos/sqm. when I last asked) are also reasonable, compared to its more popular branded competitor.
As Fairways Towers sit at the left end of McKinley Road, just as you enter the Fort from Forbes Park area, residents will not be bothered by the seemingly endless construction din going on in the rest of this burgeoning satellite city. Just don’t expect Ayala-Land-style maintenance (which I think is the top-rated post-sale maintenance standard for the industry). But considering the rest of the values, this is a condominium project to consider if you want consider ready-to-occupy units in the Fort, for a more modest budget. What do you think?
Looking for a one-stop-blog to help first time home buyers in the Philippines, I didn’t find any!
Doing a bit of research, I found this site from Basta Pinoy with an article by Charles Covalesky, a Title insurance lawyer based in Florida, with info on helping you get your first home. Yes, it was written for the Florida residential buyer market, but a lot of the advice offered can be applied here. There are a couple of points which the article cites, which are differently practiced here in the Philippines.
One, in terms of financing, there is NO PHILIPPINE BANK that will give you an approved loan equal to the house’s selling price. That means you must put in some equity, equal to at least 30% if the house is on re-sale. The only time I’ve seen this exception is when some customers would agree to an unscrupulous agent’s suggestion to pay off the appraiser. What the appraiser does is to raise the value rating of the house, consequently leading to a higher approved loan value. In many cases, it’s enough to cover the entire selling price. But it doesn’t reflect the real asset base of the Philippines. We in the Philippine Association of Realtors Boards (PAREB) discourage Realtors from bribing any official or network partner, as it sets a precedent of dishonesty and bad business advice.
Credit ratings for consumers are only visible to the Philippine banks, unlike in the States you can pay for the service for access to the information. Your bank officer will just tell you that you get a pass’ or ‘fail’ rating. Our loan approval system also relies on specific neighborhood information from referred friends or associates, in addition to a review of the objective details given by the borrower himself. That’s where the Realtor’s role is important as he acs as mediator between the borrower and the bank if he offers bank loans as a mortgage broker.
Lastly is that though there may be an economic recession round the world, in the Philippines most people I’ve talked to, sellers and buyers, say that it’s as if the country is much less affected than its Western counterparts. You may also attribute it to the smaller supply of good homes in your area of choice, which keeps buyers on their toes to look for the best house with the best deal. But my advice is to aim for a fair price or slightly lower than market price, and grab the good property if you find a house worth negotiating for. Don’t wait for the seller/owner to bring the selling price way down. Every seller, remember, thinks that his house is the best. He can be less objective about the pricing compared to the next seller. Good houses in any market sell quickly.
