You found a condo in BGC online. The photos look great. The price seems reasonable. The agent is responsive.

Stop right there.

There are two tactics used against foreigners in the Philippine rental market every single day. Most expats only find out about them after they have already been burned.

A beautiful unit is listed at a below-market price. You inquire. The agent tells you it is no longer available — but they have something similar nearby. The photos were a lure. The real unit is worse, more expensive, or both.

This is standard operating procedure on Lamudi, Facebook Marketplace, and Carousell. Agents post units that were leased months ago purely to generate leads.

Ryan trusted the listings. He signed two leases on two units he found himself. The first had mold spreading through the walls. The second had a cockroach infestation so bad he described feeling like a guest in the cockroaches' home. He lost $7,000 in deposits before he called for help.

This one is more dangerous because you never see it happening.

The unit exists exactly as shown. The price quoted to a Western face is simply 20 to 80 percent above what a local would pay for the exact same unit. Landlords assume you are comparing Philippine rents to Miami or New York. That assumption is almost always correct for first-time expats.

There is no Zillow equivalent in the Philippines. No public database showing what units actually rented for last month. Landlords know the real number. You do not.

Michael was quoted 85,000 pesos per month for his BGC unit. The real market rate was 65,000. He never would have known the difference. Over a one-year lease that is $4,800 gone for absolutely nothing.

My team negotiated it before he signed. Michael put it best when he said to me “You are basically paying for yourself.”

In BGC a legitimate furnished unit runs approximately 1,000 pesos per square meter per month. A 50 square meter unit listed at 80,000 pesos is a red flag unless it is a premium luxury building. Anything significantly below market rate is bait, not a deal.

Never pay a reservation fee on a unit you have not physically viewed. Never wire money to someone you have not met in person. Always verify ownership at the building's administration office before paying a single peso.

The expats who get great units at real market rates are not luckier than the ones who get burned. They just had someone in their corner who had already seen every tactic in the book.

You have worked too hard for this retirement to hand thousands of dollars to a landlord betting you do not know any better.

Click here to start your move to the Philippines the right way

Travel Well,

Evan Lorezca

The Savvy Expat