We’ve done it. Reached our first milestone on the Journey to Samal. No, not the first milestone on the blog, but the first milestone on the actual journey to living on Samal Island.
What is it? Well it’s the ownership of the land we committed to buying back in 2008, which in turn was the impetus for this blog. We don’t have the title yet, that’s another story and I guess might be milestone 2 or maybe 1A, but we have finished paying for the land where we expect to build our home. Our last payment was sent this weekend.
I’ve always found it funny here in the US when they ask you if you rent or own your home. Almost nobody actually owns their home, the bank or lending institution does, but that’s how it’s termed here. I actually do own my home, for a second time but that’s another story, too. I won’t own our home on Samal. By Philippine law I can’t.
We’ll be picking up all our physical receipts and paperwork when we visit. We already have copies of the receipts, as the seller has been scanning those and emailing them to us each month, along with the outstanding balance. For the most part that arrangement has worked out pretty well. Communication hasn’t been perfect, but as businesses seem to go there, it hasn’t been bad.
Our title has been in processing for quite awhile now. There have been a few hurdles, but since we didn’t have the land paid for I wasn’t too concerned. I also understand that it can take quite some time to get the a title processed in the Philippines. I still hope that ours is complete by the time we visit and we can get the whole thing wrapped up. There is still the matter of the title transfer fee, which is quite a bit more than I had imagined.
We also hope to have the land surveyed and partially cleared before we arrive. If not before, then shortly there after. We’d like to put up a barb wire fence to help keep people off, and to give us an idea of the boundary lines. We’ll see if all that is too optimistic for the short time we are there.
Now all we need to do is start saving for the house we want to build!
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/atoach/1433809857/
Jul 20, 2010 @ 23:07:08
Congratulations Randy. Maybe another year or so for us. I’ll be taking notes on what you do as I’ll be doing the same. Let me know how much that title transfer fee is sometime. Let me know if you find a good land surveyor.
Jul 21, 2010 @ 06:26:54
Thanks, Kevin.
We asked the seller to get it surveyed for us. He had offered that in the beginning, but I’m not sure he remembers or if he’ll get it taken care of. I’ll find out before we get there, and have it done then if he hasn’t.
We may have one of Rechie’s relatives do the fence. Not sure on that yet.
Jul 23, 2010 @ 22:15:06
Hi Randy,
Progress is seems! If it’s any use to you, we used a land surveyor called Danilo Ticuas for our land. He lives on Samal near our patch and has an office in Davao. We found him very willing and dogged in the face of massive beaurocracy; while he just about came in on time, he was bang on budget. He also handled all the land transaction for us through Tagum Registry. If you need him you can contact him via ticuasd88@yahoo.com. You’re also welcome to pay a vist to our patch and chat to my brothers-in-law who have been building solidly since January. If they can be of any help to you I’m sure you can work something out. They’re reasonable and trustworthy and hardworking. Best of luck – I’m green with envy!
Angus
Jul 24, 2010 @ 07:54:48
Hi Angus – thanks very much for the suggestions. We are hoping the the owner will take care of the surveying, but we don’t know for sure that is going to happen. I’ll check with Danilo, if we find it isn’t going to get done.
I’d love to visit your land and see what is happening. We may need some help around there, both now and in the future.
Jul 23, 2010 @ 14:53:48
Congrats Randy. I think all together, the fees for transferring titles will be close to 5% of the “declared” sales value. This will involve transfer fees, document fees, registry fees, etc. Who is doing the transfer? The owner? He needs to prove payment of capital gain or withholding tax first before the registry of deeds, Bureau of lands and land transfer office will entertain the transfer. Also, what people normally do here is just declare a smaller sales price to avoid paying all those high taxes and fees. But the government got smart on this and imposed that the tax is on sales price/assessment value/zonal value – whichever is higher. Most people declare as close to the zonal value which is almost always lower than the REAL sales price, but enough so that the government get their share of the tax. I am not sure if Samal has zonal values, but you can see the set values in the BIR website or ask their office.
I’ve never done an actual transfer yet – so all these are from the top of my head when I did the research over a year ago. So don’t quote me.
If the owner issued OFFICIAL RECEIPTS for the actual payments received, then he has to declare the actual sales price and have to pay taxes on it. Most don’t issue OR until all payments are done and the sale is declared through a deed of sale. More than likely he would have given you just confirmation receipts of the payments, or what they call here – Provisional Receipts.
Jul 24, 2010 @ 07:49:59
Hi Ellen – I believe you are correct, the receipts we’ve gotten are most probably just confirmation of our payments.
I would say the fee he is asking for is within the 5% that you mentioned, actually a little less. Our seller is processing the title and I’m not sure what he has declared officially. I’m still trying to get an answer as to the state of the transfer, but I do know that he has told us that it was started a long time ago. We’ve had to send some documentation to the Philippines and that was last year.
Good thing we aren’t in a hurry on this
Jul 25, 2010 @ 01:03:07
That’s great news, Randy. I’ll be following this closely since I and 2 relatives are looking into Samal property right now.
Jul 25, 2010 @ 08:22:04
Let me know how that comes out and where it is approximately. You should have some land on Samal!
Jul 26, 2010 @ 13:35:36
Hi Randy
I too can say I own my home in the Philippines with the exception that my wife owns it but you know my name is on the title. As far as getting the title my niece was handling that and the company that built our house was stalling her but then I went into their office when we were there last and they handed me the title right off so maybe I intimidated them.
Jul 26, 2010 @ 18:46:50
Hi Dan – seems my title may also be transferred after all. At least the owner informed me last night that we could pick it up anytime.
BTW it’s been interesting following your home construction via the photos. When do you expect completion?