Start by buying a house....

I think you will find that for a first time homebuyer - the term of loan should at least be 20 years. Then you should be able to afford to pay the amortisations. I think 5 years is too short.

yeah, try other bank's housing loan. ours have 9.75% interest p/a on BPI.

thank you! cubao unfortunately is too far for me. I want to move out but not be that far from my family. this is just me wanting to be independent and on my own. the one i'm looking at, the 880k, is like 5 minutes away from my parent's place. :D and my friends say if i'm gonna be that close, why should i move out? but a house is always a good investment i believe. i'm still house/condo hunting in the area. the pagibig fund home loan will charge me 12% interest, i need to pay them 21k a month for 5 years. that's too steep. way too steep. with in-house financing, 0% interest 17k a month for 5 years. so in-house financing is cheaper and better i guess.

Thank you for your suggestion. I actually do that in my parents' home actually, clean the house, do the dishes and pay the bills. basically i'm their main provider. and truthfully they are taking advantage of me already. so i decided i need to move out and be on my own. both my parents are still strong enough and young enough to work. they actually still work, but what they are doing is they spend their salaries on themselves. mom goes out shopping and dad, i don't know where he spends his salary. So that leaves me to support everybody and provide for them. I have a 6yr old brother. I pay the bills, i pay my brother's tuition, school needs, i buy the grocery, i cook the food, i clean the house. it's actually rather tiring. i get 2 hours sleep a day. on top of that i have to work. it makes me wonder how i could still make time for my bf on top of the responsibilities at home. i'm not running away from my responsibilites though, i want something near enough so i could help out if needed.

The problem with living with my parents is this, i save up a bit for the month and then an emergency will happen and they end up 'borrowing' what i saved up. Without ever returning what they borrowed. of course i can't ask them for it. it wouldn't be right in my country, you'll be labeled a bad child. sigh. and i am already a bad child because i can't provide my folks a lot.. just basically making ends meet. sigh. well hopefully and im really hoping, i get to save up enough.

Yes, i'm a Filipino. I'm hoping to get a job in the U.S., but i'll need tons of work experience first. Although any other high-paying job (Filipino standards) will be ok. Truthfully, i don't want to go out of the country. I just love it here. But i'm a practical person, and i know i need to do something or else i'll grow old without accomplishing anything. My goal now is to save up enough to get my own house.

i'm considering the pre-selling or rent-to-own. i talked to my bf regarding it, and he did a double-take... like whoa this is too much of a commitment kinda look. weird how guys could be, a few months ago he asked me to marry him and now he's changed his mind. oh well. hahaha. there are also share-a-condo deals i found over the web, but it's a bit dodgy to me. there is one in bacolod, you get a 2 bedroom house with garage plus the lot for 8.5k a month, payable for 15 years. that includes the construction of your house, the materials needed for the construction and the lot. that's the best deal i've found so far, but it's way too far. :D

Yes i tried pag-ibig. i can't get over the 12% interest. I researched on it, tried their amortization calculator and at 12% for the 880k for 5 years, i pay 21k per month. If you think about it, it's much more expensive than the in-house financing being offered by the developers. I'm currently looking at the rent-to-own options. Also somebody suggested to get a pre-selling property. I might try that. it can go as low as 7k per month without downpayment. But i need to know if once it's finished, they'll furnish it as well. because the 880k condo unit i'm looking at is a 1 bedroom unit that is fully furnished. complete with it's own laundry room and utility room. bath and toilet with shower/tub. as in complete. with a balcony as well. and it's 5 minutes away from my folk's place. i fell in love with that unit. it's just tough that it's so stiff.

PAGIBIG FUNDS just lowered they're monthly interest to 11%. If you really want to own a house or condo or whatever there is no better time than now. Prices will always go up. You can save and save all you want and by the time you have saved enough the price would be different. Your savings can never catch up with inflation. Unless you work abroad or won a lottery. Just make a calculated and very much thought-of risk. Even marriage is a risk, but we plunge into it anyway. You can also try asking the banks that have repossess house and lot. If you found a repossess house and lot that you really like here is what you can do. If you know any banker friends try asking them to help you write a letter. I know of someone who bought a repossess house from a bank. The bank's bid price is 1.8M and he's counter offer was 1M. The bank made another offer 1.5M and he again counter it with 1.3M. And they settle at 1.4M, not bad eh... Know how to bargain, and I thought this stuff happens only in the flea market of Divisoria. Now I know this happens even in the banking institutions as well.