I am long overdue in writing this update, but I just haven’t felt motivated or organized enough to do so. So this will be very short.
The lot in Barotac Viejo we were on the verge of purchasing didn’t work out. Everything was fine with the two lots we were going to purchase, but there ended up being a possible issue with access. We needed a right-of-way across another lot purportedly owned by the seller, but on investigation it turned out that another family was contesting ownership of that lot. I know that sounds unusual to my western readers, but nothing here is as cut and dried as it is in the West. You really have to check out every detail on your own.
So, we’re back looking for lots. Meanwhile, we moved out of the condo and into a small rented house in the Savannah subdivision. The house was mostly selected because it has a yard, which is not usual in subdivisions here. There is also a vacant lot next door which we are also renting for Inday’s garden. Inday is a farmer at heart, and she needs to grow things. She has room to do that here.
The condo was fully furnished, right down to linens and kitchen stuff. The house was rented empty. That means we had to buy a houseful of furniture and linens and cooking stuff and plates and cups and silverware and appliances. That took a good bit of time and attention. After looking at the cheap particle board stuff in the furniture stores, we found a custom furniture maker and met with him and told him exactly what we wanted. It took about six weeks, but we ended up with everything custom built, delivered, and installed.
Then, of course, there was Christmas and New Years and all the activities those holidays bring. And now it’s finally 2025, and we are back to our hunt for a place to build the house where I will live for the rest of my life. The best news is that we’ve finally found an agent who we feel comfortable working with, and we might, just might, have found our place. We looked at it yesterday and liked it very much. Now comes the process of checking everything out and making sure there are no issues with the lot, the title, access, etc. Reagan said “trust, but verify.” When it comes to real estate in the Philippines, don’t trust anything anybody tells you, you have to verify absolutely everything.
Okay, that’s all for now. More later.