Quick Guide to Premium Places to Live in the Philippines

A Premium Guide to Where To live when you Philippines

One of the first questions people ask when it comes to moving to the Philippines is “where do I live?” Sure you can stay in a hotel for a few days or with friends who’ll let you but at one point you’re going to have to pick a place where you can stay a little longer.

(please note that the prices are estimates and may be lower or higher depending on where you get a place to stay)

Here are some options:

• Buy a house or a condo - ($60,000-200,000 or 3-10 million php) this is a common option for people who want their own place. May be a bit pricey but you get to own the place. Although Philippine laws have ways to prevent non-citizens from purchasing property there are a few ways to work around this.
• Rent Executive Village ( starts at $3000/month or 150,000php/month) so you want to live in a big house in a really nice place. Look no further. Most houses in exclusive village have a minimum of 5 bedrooms complete with a maid’s quarters and a garage that can fit 2-4 cars. Your house will always have play space for either a swimming pool, a basketball court or a gym (or all 3). Security is pretty tight. You’ll have 24 hour frequent roving security around you’re village. You’ll have about 2-3 small teams of guards manning your village. An Executive village is usually inaccessible by public transportation(from your Village gate to your house) so it’s easy to track who comes in and out of your place.

Notable Places include: Forbes Park Village,  Multinational Village, Green Meaddows VIlage, Magallanes Village,  Dasmarinas Village, Vale Verde Subdivision, Ayala Alabang.

• Rent Exclusive Village ($1,000/month - $2000/month or 50,000php/month - 100,000php/month) this is a less expensive option for first class living. Although exclusive villages do include most of the features executive villages have they don’t have to be as big or as grand. A typical house in an exclusive village will have a land area of 500 - 1,000 square meters. Security is tight. You’ll have 24 hours roving security as well around your village (A team of guards). An exclusive village may have some of the key features of an executive village but not all and the good news is that building regulations in an exclusive village is not as strict. You can build a duplex, compounds, apartments, town homes etc and your options are not limited to just a single mansion.

Notable Exclusive Villages include: Xavierville Subdivision, Loyola Grand Villas, Casa Nueva Town homes, Tahanan VIllage.

• Rent Premium Village (Prices start at $600 or 30,000php) What I like in a place like this is that everything here is optional. You can have a 2 bedroom house to a 5 bedroom house. Anything goes. You can live in a house/apartment as big or as small as you want it to be You can make it as big or as small as you need to. You’ll have security but its usually just a guard or a couple of guards manning the village gate. You’ll probably have a clubhouse with a swimming pool or a basketball and tennis court and a playground.

Notable Premium Villages include: BF Homes Paranaque, Intercity Homes, San Jose Village, Better Living Subdivision,

Written on November 22nd , 2010 by Kevin Olega