Owning a house in the Philippines

One of the simplest dreams of a Filipino is owning a house and lot. For him, it is most crucial that he at least, gets his dream house up during his lifetime. Scouring the land, he sees a huge and vast landscape, still without a house standing. Unknown to him, however, those huge tracts of land he sees are now either owned legally by someone else or illegally by those who manipulate land titles over at the Land Registration Authority (LRA).

The images that the Filipino nowadays see are images of Mediterranean or American inspired houses. Camella Homes, Filinvest and Ayala Land are very good in advertising their model houses. They always look like American houses or Italian. When you go on a "tripping", meaning the Filipino term for a house look-up, you'll find that each and every house is modeled after a foreign house concept. And why is that?

Because most house buyers are Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW). Why are these houses designed like foreign ones?Land developers and real estate companies think that OFWs actually aspire to have the same house as that of their foreign employers abroad.

Observe and you'll find that a foreign designed house actually says much about the place where the owner usually works at. If he works in Italy, there are several housing projects with Italian inspired houses. If he works in America, chances are you'll find an uber modern house constructed for him. And if he or she is a Japayuki, chances are, her house are adorned with Japanese items and inspired by the Japanese.

There is nothing, however, for Filipinos who work and sweat it out here. Those offered to locally employed Filipinos are Pag-ibig houses, with just a roof and a dubiously strong foundation.

Now, why is it that real estate companies sell houses mostly with OFWs than locally hired Filipinos? There is a misconception that Filipinos who work here cannot easily afford to buy their own house. And there's a basis for believing and saying this. (wait for my next entry)