In most cases, rent to own is not literally a rent on the property but already SALE of the property just that the seller or the owner or the developer of the property agrees to finance the buyer instead of other financing institution such as Banks and Pag-IBIG (Aka In-House Financing).

In rent to own properties, it usually have the lowest down payment possible (some reaches 1.5% down payment only). The main reason for this is to gain additional interest for the seller/owner/developer over the years (in the example, 98.5% of the price will incur interest).

The amortized interest rates on rent to own properties (or in house financing) ranges from as low as 9.5% and above (it’s too high compared to the 5% to 8% offered by banks and pag-ibig).

The common reason here is that the working capital of the selller/owner/developer cannot be liquidated over long period of time that’s why they offer very high interest rate. Also, for property developers, they offer high interest rate to discourage buyers from taking in-house financing as it restricts their working capital.

Foreigners can buy properties so long as the land is not sold to them. They usually buy condominium properties but if they preferred house and lot properties, kindly ensure that the land is leased to them and not sold.

For a 4-Million property, you can use loan calculator apps: but as an example, a 4M worth of property at 15% interest rate for maximum of 5 years only for foreigners = 95,200 monthly payments for 5 years with 272,000 minimum monthly income requirement.

To know more about this, you can watch this video!

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLAstYBhExM&t=888s

Hello Carlo,

Thank you so much for your kindness in replying in detail.

From your response it does not make sent to invest in RTO properties since they are more expensive in the long run.

So, as a foreigner if I purchase a condo apartment, the condo is on my name. Correct? How much commission do I have to to the realtor for doing the paper work? And when I sell the condo how much commission do I have to pay to the realtor?

Can you advice whether it is safe for a foreigner to buy a condo in General Santos city and that area?

Carlo, thank you once again and I hope to help you to increase your business manifold since I am a retired licensed Realtor from Canada and would like to share some tips to expand your business.

Take care and God bless you.

Tino Sequeira

Tino Sequeira: Hello Carlo, Thank you so much for your kindness in replying in detail. From your response it does not make sent to invest in RTO properties since they are more expensive in the long run. So, as a foreigner if I purchase a condo apartment, the condo is on my name. Correct? How much commission do I have to to the realtor for doing the paper work? And when I sell the condo how much commission do I have to pay to the realtor? Can you advice whether it is safe for a foreigner to buy a condo in General Santos city and that area? Carlo, thank you once again and I hope to help you to increase your business manifold since I am a retired licensed Realtor from Canada and would like to share some tips to expand your business. Take care and God bless you. Tino Sequeira

--Hi!

Yes, the condo would still be under your name. When it comes to the commission, if you’re a buyer, the property developer or current owner will be the one to pay for it, and not you. It’s part of their marketing and operating expenses. But when you decided to sell it, you’ll be the one to pay the commission for the realtor. The industry standard is 5% but take note that property developer also offers 5% commission rate while they do all the paper works instead of the agent/realtor. Thus, in case you wanted to sell your property, you might opt to give a higher commission rate for it to be attractive to agents and realtors and for them to prioritize selling your property.

Yes, it’s also safe for a foreigner to invest in General Santos City knowing that the area is booming also and there’s a lot of potential for capital appreciation and future developments in the area.

And I do appreciate your compliments and I would love to learn from you as well!

Hello Carlo,

We can all learn from each other.

Actually, I cannot make up my mind where to land in the Philippines. My Canadian govt. has advised me against travelling to Mindanao https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/philippines and hence I am now thinking of landing in Cebu and renting a one bedroom apartment fully furnished with washing machine, fridge, cooker, microwave, TV, etc. for a short while.
Later, I plan to have a family move from General Santos and rent a 4+ bedroom house in Cebu and live there. What do you think? Do you have any suggestions or ideas for me?
I can definitely share with you the scripts to use when cold calling your prospective clients. As trained by the Specialists the secret of succcess in real estate is developing a People Bank. I can show you how as we go along.

Thanks again and God bless you and wish you success in your business.

Tino

Tino Sequeira: Hello Carlo, We can all learn from each other. Actually, I cannot make up my mind where to land in the Philippines. My Canadian govt. has advised me against travelling to Mindanao https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/philippines and hence I am now thinking of landing in Cebu and renting a one bedroom apartment fully furnished with washing machine, fridge, cooker, microwave, TV, etc. for a short while.
Later, I plan to have a family move from General Santos and rent a 4+ bedroom house in Cebu and live there. What do you think? Do you have any suggestions or ideas for me?
I can definitely share with you the scripts to use when cold calling your prospective clients. As trained by the Specialists the secret of succcess in real estate is developing a People Bank. I can show you how as we go along. Thanks again and God bless you and wish you success in your business. Tino

--As a Filipino residing in Manila, to be honest, Cebu and General Santos were really distant from Manila however when it comes to the current development in the area, even though general santos is part of Mindanao, the primary concern in the region is islamic terrorism. To be honest, General Santos is a safer place as compared to other places in Mindanao and living there can be similar as to living in Cebu and/or Manila. Both were already urbanized and home to tons of establishments also that can cater to your living needs.

Cebu (Visayas Region) is more developed that General Santos (Mindanao Region) and of course Manila (Luzon Region) is the most developed among the three. But when it comes to the cost of living, living in General Santos is cheaper than living in Cebu but you can still get the same quality of living.

I think in Canada, it’s normal to see an apartment complex that has furnishing in it but in the Philippines, it’s not that usual. Most of the time, apartment rentals here comes in bare or semi-bare, for people have their own furniture as they move in and out. But it’s quite common for condominium rentals (I think it’s more common in Cebu) to have condo rentals that comes with all the furniture you need. This platform, Onepropertee is also a great platform to look for those kind of rentals.

But personally, I prefer and recommend living in Cebu more than living in General Santos. Some reasons are economic and political stability. Living in Cebu is almost similar to living in Metro Manila.