Our New Home

Our six years of living in an apartment from city to city has given us so many memories with our small family. But I realized, the kids are growing and we are ought to give them the best possible provision they deserve and that includes house where they can call home. 2016 was the deal breaker for us. I felt so exhausted at our former apartment that it suddenly hit me--I don't want this for the rest of our life. It was frustrating to say the least. 

So I carefully and fervently prayed that we can move the soonest before the children starts school. Then, after months of scouting, house tripping and narrowing down to our choices. We finally found a place we now call home. 

But it I didn’t occur to me that having a house incurs a lot of responsibility. All I can think of before moving was to have a place where I can do freely what I want and that the kids could have a better and quiet place to live in. Now that we moved into our new home, I have to prioritize especially our household budget. It never occurred also to me that there is a need for us to get insurance for our house. Getting home insurance in the Philippines is not that common. Heck, I didn’t even know if our ancestral house was insured or not. 

In our case, we chose move-in ready house because we don’t want to wait long to move in since the kids need to settle down and adjust for their school. We were very lucky that we found a move-in ready house. But in getting a house, you really need to consider a lot of factors. 

Here are few considerations before you decide to buy a move-in ready house. 

Clean Title. Here in the Philippines, scams can occur in almost everything you buy. To save you from so much hassle, you need to verify the property you are going to buy is clean. You need to secure a photocopy of the property and check with the local Registry of Deeds where the property is registered.

Consider house in general. You want to get your money’s worth in investing something for your family. You need to consider the value of the property as well as the cost of repairs and renovations before you move in. 

Consider the family’s long term fund. You will invest in something that will take a big portion of the family’s monthly fund. This needs to take into consideration so that you are sure that you can pay it in the given time frame and not leave you in huge amount of debt. 

Furnishings. When we moved in, some that house was semi-furnished. We were lucky and thankful that the previous owner left some of their furnishings to us. If you are a family who is just starting out, having furnishings is a big help since you only need to invest in few stuff to complete your home.