How did I end up here?

I’ve lived in Sydney for the past 3 years, and I’m amazed at how this country preserve their historic buildings. When you look at their iconic structures, you won’t see any trace of weariness on them, but just glamour and elegance. Take the Queen Victoria Building in the city, for example. The structure was built in 1898, making it 111 years old this year. From my research, there had been a plan to demolish the structure on 1959, but instead, it was restored to its beauty between the years of 1984 and 1986. Who would imagine that the site where the coffee shops and the expensive boutiques have been there even before World War II? Amazing!



Why am I saying this?

I’ve always dreamt of a big house with a garden, as every Filipino would’ve dreamed of. It’s different when you have the space and the air and all the good things in life. But I find it hard to find ‘the’ place in Manila, where I grew up. I started searching for a house 2 years ago, and all I can find are townhouses, usually 3 or 5 in a row, and cramped in very narrow lots. Well, I think the budget that I’ve set is decent to buy ‘the’ house, but I was wrong. Nowadays, space is a luxury in Manila. With over 12 million people living in the city, it’s common for a family to live in a 50sqm condo or a townhouse. After inspecting over 20 townhouses, I got tired. I know for myself that space is my priority and this is my dream house. So, having the Sydney property investor mindset à location, location, location, I expanded my options and looked for not-so-new houses with potential. Yes, potential is indeed the key.

So, how did I end up with this house?

It was my sister who contacted the agents and inspected the houses while I’m in Sydney. I just assisted in searching properties over the internet, which there weren’t so many, and there was no single effective real estate portal in the Philippines, this is of course a different topic. The profile of those houses range from a confused owner with no final decision whether o sell their house to a very dodgy place where there was a previous shooting incident because the houses is tenanted by a police. Creepy eh? I don’t want to live in a house where me or my family could be mistaken for being a criminal and just start shooting at us! Noooo!

With the budget that I have, I’m limited to buy the old 80s houses or crampy townhouses. Being a third world country having more to worry about having food to eat than a place to live, the Philippines, is not very inclined in renovating old houses. So, houses built in the 80s stay the way it is. At this point, I was stucked. Old spacious house? Modern crampy townhouse? Gosh.

Location, location, location. It’s the most important factor in searching for a house, the designs and the paints can be changed, but the house will stay on the same spot forever. I went back home on December 2008, because my husband misses the Pinoy Paskuhan way. I took advantage of the time to search for ‘the’ house, this time with more courage and knowledge of what house I’m looking for. My sister is already in contact with an agent who had some prospects for us.

When I went in, I suddenly felt the airbreeze, the space, the brightness and calmness that I have in mind. The feeling that you’ve want to have after a hard day’s work, of course, without the LazyBoy chair and that dream bath yet, but I know that all these will come eventually.

I found the one.