Two months ago I got on a call with a man I'll call Ryan.
He was tired. He was frustrated. And he was one bad day away from booking a one-way flight back to the States and abandoning the retirement he had spent his entire life working toward.
Within his first two months in the Philippines, he had lost $7,000. Not because he was careless. Not because he was reckless. Because he didn't know what he didn't know.
This is his story. And it might just save yours.
How It Started
Ryan arrived in the Philippines full of excitement. He had watched the videos, done the research, and was ready to finally turn off his work brain and start living.
He found a condo in BGC that he liked and moved in. Within days the reality set in. The unit was filthy. It smelled like a sewer. Mold was spreading across the walls. The landlord had promised a mold specialist and never followed through. The smell of rotting wood came through the AC ducts and the furniture was so infested that Ryan was waking up covered in bug bites.
After one week he packed his bags, hired a lawyer to try and recover his four month deposit, and went searching for a second unit.
Things seemed to look up. He found another condo he liked and put down another deposit. Then the roaches showed up. On the countertops. On the floors. Everywhere. In his own words, it felt like he was the one intruding on the cockroaches, not the other way around.
By the time he got on a call with me, he had lost $7,000 across two deposits on two uninhabitable units. He was distraught, exhausted, and completely hopeless.
Why It Happened
Ryan thought that because he was already in the Philippines, he was a step ahead. He figured he could vet the landlords and realtors himself, face to face, with his own eyes.
What he underestimated was the communication gap. The Philippines is English speaking, but what you describe as quality from a western perspective does not always translate. Local realtors have no reference point for what you are used to back home. They are showing you what they know. And some of them are showing you what makes them the most commission.
He also trusted online property listing sites to find his units. Based on what we hear from expats regularly, the realtors operating through these platforms tend to be hands off, unvetted, and in some cases, completely untrustworthy.
The result was two scams in two months and a man who had gone from dreaming about his retirement in the Philippines to almost despising the country entirely.
The Two Lessons
First, do not be quick to trust realtors and landlords here. Most leases in the Philippines are written in favor of the landlord. Behind a smiling face can easily be a greedy intention. When you spot red flags, do not let them go unchecked.
Second, do not use online property sites to find your condo. The listings look beautiful. The photos are polished. And the unit you walk into can be something else entirely. This is the bait and switch, and it happens more than anyone in the expat blogging world wants to admit.
What Should Have Happened
Ryan should have had someone on the ground before he ever signed a lease. Someone who knows which landlords are legitimate. Someone who has walked hundreds of units and knows exactly what to look for beyond what shows up in photos. Someone who negotiates the terms in your favor, not the landlord's.
That is what we do for every client we work with. And it is why the expats who come to us first do not end up in Ryan's situation.
You worked your entire life for this retirement. The Philippines can absolutely deliver the peace, the lifestyle, and the freedom you came here for. But only if you set it up the right way from day one.
Do not leave your future to guesswork.
Travel Well,
Evan Lorezca
The Savvy Expat