What I am doing here
Things I am trying
What I am doing, what it costs so far, and what I do not know yet.
Four ways of living here, weighed
| Way | For | Against | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy here | One address in the place I already walk every day, instead of a lease that renews. | I have been here weeks. I do not know yet which building I would want to be in. | The rules on what a foreign buyer can own here are their own set, and I have read only part of them. |
| Loan against the home I own, and buy here | The home I already own earns nothing while I live here; a loan against it would fund the place here. | Two debts running on one income, with an exchange rate between them. | The loan is paid in a currency I do not earn in this country. |
| Let the dividends carry the rent | Ten years of numbers, each with a source: the arithmetic is written down. | It is arithmetic on past payments, and a payment can be cut. | The rent is in pesos and the dividend is in dollars, and the two rates move apart. |
| Long-term low rent, or build and move in | Low rent now keeps the money working while I learn the place. | A long lease locks the year before I have walked the streets. | Building takes longer than the plan says, and I have not priced it. |
What it costs so far
| Area | What I am doing | What it costs so far | What I do not know yet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where I stay | Staying close to the mall, where I eat and walk, after a first place further away. | The place further away was a costly mistake: 30 to 60 minutes each way, 300 to 600 PHP a ride, and one day 760 PHP, about 17 to 18 CAD. About 10 condo buildings sit around the mall, maybe 1,000 apartments in each. | Which building I would sign in, and what a one-year lease costs in writing. |
| Food | Eating at Sizzling Plate inside the mall, and the juice place across the way. A 200 gram Brazilian ribeye with rice is the usual. | Ribeye: 600-something PHP, about 15 CAD. Regular drink at the juice place: 100 PHP. Another ribeye day: about 14 CAD, plus two dollars for the drink. | What a week of this adds up to, and whether I keep the ribeye habit. |
| Walking, and the towel | Walking the mall in the air conditioning, morning and night. The towel is the one thing I use every day. | About 18,000 steps yesterday. Light days: two walks of roughly two hours. Nothing to walk the mall, open until it closes at 10. | Whether the walking holds once I have a fixed address and a working day. |
| Getting around | Grab and Joyride scooters for the usual rides, and a tuk-tuk for the short hop to the laundry. | Short ride: he asked 50 PHP, I gave 100 PHP, about 2.50 CAD. A cab home: about two dollars. Usual scooter fare right now: 310 PHP, about seven dollars. Leaving at 10 to 11 at night after the mall closes: more than double, and a long wait; a taxi in that crush was twenty to thirty dollars, and almost an hour. | Whether the scooter fare holds, and whether 11 in the morning is really the quiet hour. |
| Services | Foot massage in the mall, and the laundromat at the base of Shell Residences. | Foot massage: about 30 dollars; one hour in the mall, 31 CAD. A bag of clothes: 360 PHP, about eight or nine dollars, back dried and folded, about 89 percent of it cleaned up. | Whether these are the going prices or the prices for me. |
| One income idea | Asking whether local silver shops would carry a piece I made: Silverworks inside the mall, and the shop across the street. | Nothing yet. The ask is the work. | Everything. They said to reach out on Facebook. Nothing is agreed, and no answer has come back yet. |
Every price above is one I paid, dated. The ledger has the day of each one.
What I am holding back
Anything I mentioned once, or have not checked myself, waits. I would rather publish ten things I have lived than eighty I am not sure about.
How we communicate
Our communications are made with AI. Every person here is real.
What this is not
Not advice, not a promise. These are prices I paid; yours will differ.