Residential Street, Ayala Alabang Village Max and Edith Ricketts

The following information is provided as a guide – to the process of finding a home in the prime residential villages of Metro Manila.

We wish to make finding a home or condominium in Metro Manila an enjoyable, expeditious and effective experience for you. Our company, Naldo-Ricketts Realty, has over three decades of successful service in this marketplace. We have the largest single source of residential listings in prime Metro Manila subdivisions for you to select from.

By way of agency disclosure, we represent homeowners who pay us our fees. However, we do not accept overprice or net-price listings. The reason we are so popular with homeowners is that we are able to show their homes to the widest number of prospective tenants in the shortest time. We also provide considerable professional resource support to homeowners.

We offer prospective tenants the most convenient source of residential rental listings in prime Metro Manila subdivisions – and considerable relocation information on residential villages, schools, embassies and other community services. Essentially, our services are free to tenants.

If you are able to well define your requirements in terms of area, features and amenities and rough target rental range, we can maximize the efficiency of this process for you.

1. Promptly make an offer to the house owner through your broker. This offer should contain the monthly rental rate, the amount of advance rental and deposit, and, if there are things to be done to the house, a written list of all that you want the owner to do prior to your occupancy.

2. Give a one- or two-month "earnest money" deposit to hold the property while the contract is being processed. Contract processing time can vary from a few minutes to several days, depending on who has to review your contract. We utilize a standard lease form that most companies and experienced homeowners are familiar with.

3. Verify that your intended home has an existing working telephone line and a dependable supply of water. Also, have the electrical and plumbing systems checked by a competent professional.

Local custom and courtesy: Licensed brokers in the residential rental business operate on a first-come, first-serve basis. That is, while you may look at homes with several brokers, the custom in the Philippines is to view a particular property with only one broker. So, we ask that if you have been shown a home or condominium by another broker that we are going to show you, please tell us so that we will not show you that particular property. Kindly do the same if you go with another broker after us. We respect our fellow brokers and they respect us. In this manner of mutual respect, our business becomes one of friendly and cooperative competition to the benefit of all.

Our computerized database residential listings include the three prime Metro Manila areas of Ayala Alabang, Makati, and San Juan, Ortigas and Pasig. "Villages" are self-contained prime residential communities with their own administrative and security services.

The current bank exchange rate is P41.55/40.79: US$1.00: Buying/Selling US Dollars.

Rentals are expressed in monthly rental rates in Philippine pesos. Rentals are usually paid yearly in advance, plus refundable security deposits of two months. Occasionally, rentals are paid two or even three years in advance. Rental contract periods are usually from one to three years.

Most rentals are subject to a ten per-cent (10%) Philippine government Expanded Value Added Tax (E-VAT) on the gross rental as it is paid. The E-VAT is generally on top of the rental quoted by the owner. The E-VAT is paid by tenant to owner, who in turn remits the E-VAT to the government. Also, a tenant is often required to act as withholding agent of the government by deducting, before E-VAT, a ten per-cent (10%) withholding tax on the tenant's rental payments, which deduction the tenant remits to the government in favor of the owner.

Unfurnished homes comprise over 90% of the available home rentals. Furnished homes rent for about 10% to 20% more than comparable unfurnished homes.

On the other hand, furnished condominium-apartments comprise over 90% of the condominium-apartment rental market. Unfurnished condominium-apartments rent for about 10% less than similar furnished ones.