You Can Live Well Here For Just $10/Day (Bucolic Setting with Stellar Telecom Infrastructure)

Zero Hedge ^ | 07/26/2011 | Tim Staermose of The Sovereign Man

[SeekAndFind]

I first started coming regularly to Daet, in the Bicol region of the Philippines, more than 13-years ago.

It’s a sleepy, quiet, relaxed place without the bustle of Quezon or Manila… perfect for people looking to live an easy, simple life. Despite the bucolic setting, though, the telecom infrastructure is pretty stellar.

At my wife’s hotel last week, I was able to utilize a mobile broadband connection, which cost me the equivalent of $0.25 an hour, to sit and do what I do every day no matter where I am in the world– monitor and trade the Australian stock and options markets.

I even sent out a trading alert to my 4th Pillar subscribers from here when another great opportunity to make some safe money in the Aussie market became available.

I should also mention that Daet is incredibly cheap.

Wages for unskilled workers are about $4.65 per DAY.  If you buy food from the local markets or vendors and prepare it yourself, you can have quite a decent meal of fresh local fish, rice, and vegetables for less than $1 per person.

If you have a place to stay, even adding in a few luxuries (beer is about 50c a bottle, for example), you could live well here on $10 a day.

Down the road from my wife’s small hotel is a vacant beach lot for sale.  It’s priced at about $35,000, and the owners have spent a considerable amount of money improving it with access ramps and other structures leading down to the water.

The land is already planted with some crops, and there are ponds suitable for fish farming. Of course, construction costs here are quite cheap by western standards, and you could build a nice three-bedroom home for around $60,000.

In total, that’s less than $100,000 for a spacious beachfront home in a quiet, clean, pristinely beautiful place where living costs will only run $10/day.

One thing to keep in mind is that this is largely a cash market; there has been no rampant bubble created by teaser loans and negative real interest rates. Hence, prices haven’t moved much.

I believe it was Milton Friedman who said, “Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.”  From what I’ve observed around the world in property markets, I couldn’t agree more.

Property markets that are based on high leverage and cheap money are the quickest to rise and fall. Where property markets are based on cash transactions, though, prices tend to remain reasonable.

If you’re looking for great value, I’d put that among the key criteria in your search.  Assuming you have cash, seek out places where the real estate market is largely cash-based.  Daet is just one example of a cash market where there are some real bargains available– both in terms of property and living costs.

In the Philippines, the catch is that only Filipino citizens can buy land outright. A non-citizen may own only a 40% interest in real property.  So if you were interested, you’d need a Filipino proxy, or a carefully structured corporate vehicle through which to purchase land here.

I’ll have much more to tell you about the Philippines, my adopted home country, in future letters… including how I don’t have to pay taxes!

[SeekAndFind]

The Philippine Peso has RISEN by 20% against the USD since last year.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Of course, construction costs here are quite cheap by western standards...

As are the contruction standards no doubt.

[Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!]

The only thing of worry would be bad weather tidal waves.

What is it like to live in Puerto Rico?

[Vor Lady]

That sounds like the resort area where the Burnhams and others were kidnapped by the Abu Sayef a decade ago. I wonder if the government has the Muslim problem under control.

[BubbaJunebug]

FASTFOODS & RESTAURANTS
Catherine’s
Jollibee
Chowking (cousin of Chunking)
Greenwich
Graceland (Now we know where Elvis is)
Shakey’s (Ah Pizza!)
Mang Inasal (newly open)
Bigg’s Diner (not Operational)
Kingfisher Restaurant
Golden Palace Restaurant
Kusina ni Angel
Tippy Toppy
Renzo Cassava Cake
K Sarap
Brick Yard ( Indy 500 specials!)
Garden View Bar and Restaurant
Central Plaza Restaurant
Iñigo Cafe
Pasillio Siete
Green Cow (Doesn’t sound edible)
Leo’s Cuisine
Alvinos
Hotpot
3B Bucket, Barrel & Booze (There we go!!!)
The Caramel
Siennalos
Biñan Kitchenette
Mr. Donut (Local police hang out)
Food Choices
Bagasbas Lighthouse Bar & Restaurant ( Catherine’s )
Stroll Cafe & Restaurant

I didn’t see any “adult bars” nor pole dancers for LAZ listed

[Pecos]

Of course they have. Just ask them. Why would they lie? /s/

[353FMG]

>>I wonder if the government has the Muslim problem under control.<<

.
Not much more than here in the US with the exception that we don’t recognize having a problem.

[BikerJoe]

The Philippine Peso has RISEN by 20% against the USD since last year.

That's one way to look at it...

[TexasRepublic]

I guess it is all good until the communist or muslim guerillas sweep through your village.

[pyx]

There are Philipino moslems and they now represent about 7.5 percent of the total Philippine population. From 5% on, they [moslems] exercise an inordinate influence in proportion to their percentage of the population. The Abu Sayyaf group of moslems are both militant and violent. They roam and are attacking the Southern part of the Philippines for now. It would seem the paradise described is not quite as serene as the article suggests.

[SeekAndFind]

The Muslim insurgency is being contained even as we speak and is located WAY down South of the Country (closer to Indonesia), very far away from this place the author is writing about, which is geographically closer to Manila.

[HerrBlucher]

Can you legally own a gun or two or three, there? I won’t live anywhere I cannot legally own a gun.

[SeekAndFind]

I believe the answer to your question is ‘YES’.

Read this piece :

http://www.progun.ph/content/philippines-last-frontier-civilian-gun-ownership

[Ax]

I remember 50 years ago, all the bars in Angeles, right outside Clark Air Base, had signs saying that all firearms had to be checked with the management before entering the establishment.

[Vor Lady]

Roger that.

[max americana]

>Can you legally own a gun or two or three, there? I won’t live anywhere I cannot legally own a gun.<

My bro was married in Cebu 3 years ago and I had one of the best 2 weeks ever.

Yes, you can own as many guns as you can. My in-laws are more armed than your local sheriff. Once they knew I was their in-law, I had my own posse of armed Filipinos who accompanied me to Makati and Q City every night to party. We apparently married into a “known” political clan and they gave me 2 firearms; a Par Ord 45 and a Hnk 45 Compact. Sucks I couldn’t take them back to America.

[max americana]

When my bro married in Cebu, I met a lot of expatriates in Cebu AND in Pampanga where my in-laws are. I’m usually awake during night there so we would just eat pares’ at 4 am in the morning then chow down with more burgers at Burger Machine. Nothing closes down in Manila..

[HerrBlucher]

Glad to see that!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks SeekAndFind.

I believe it was Milton Friedman who said, "Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon."