In the more than 8 years now that I have been intimately familiar with what people are looking for in the Philippines it would be no secret that houses are at the top of the list.  Home to buy and homes to rent.  I bet I have looked, conservatively, at several hundred web sites myself.
Typically [...]

A few tips I really didn’t get to put into my last post on moving.  The real key to success in moving is in the details.  I made a lot of moves, mostly for the US government in my career, so they were done by professionals.  Believe me, a pro is no guarantee of good [...]

Just a little quick note here to keep the blog alive ;-)  I have comments waiting for response as well, and I am working on a review of Bob Martin’s very informative "49 Ways to Make a Living in the Philippines book.  I’m also almost ready with the next "Moving" installment … but time [...]

OK, you’ve figures out , how to support yourself, how you are going to communicate via paper, phone and computer, how to work your banking and how to get a visa.  Now the actual fun part begins.  You get to move things.
The first question is not always as simple as it seems … what will [...]

Books are something we have talked about here on PhilFAQS in the past … I actually have half a dozen or so in my reading list that my readers have graciously recommended and commented upon.  I’ve decided I’ll add a book review category/page to the site to document some of my reading, which may be [...]

It’s Saturday morning here in the Philippines as I write this.  This has been a short week due to the Independence day holiday on Monday (as if I really took holidays off),
But anyway, I promised to try to keep theses shorter, so I will.
By now you should have decided on which of the [...]

I promised I would talk more about the Special Resident Retiree Visa before I got deeper into the mechanics of moving.  It’s always a toss up to decide how much or how little detail to include in these posts .. looking back over the past few days I sense I have been too verbose, so [...]

When I promised last time I would talk about the ways to actually get your possessions and your family here to the Philippines I later realized I have jumped the gun a little.   The methods that are open to you and the actual rules on bringing things vary quite a bit depending upon your legal [...]

I’m on my way out the door as I write this, it’s been a busy day, and it’s not over yet.  But a friend of mine made a product launch today that I felt it was worth letting you know about.  I recommend very few products directly here, but when something is of real value, [...]

Workers hoist the Philippine flag at the Aguinaldo Shrine in Kawit, Cavite yesterday in preparation for Independence Day celebrations in the place where the Declaration of Independence was first read by revolutionary president Emilio Aguinaldo.  Photo by MANNY MARCELO
It’s a big day here in the Philippines today … Independence Day.  [...]

Last post under this subject we talked about physical (snail) mail and some strategies to handle it.  This time I want to talk with you about phones.  The world of telephones, especially Internet telephony, or VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) is changing so fast that many don’t even have a concept of what’s actually available [...]

I notice a lot of folks search here at PhilFAQS for information about prices.  Both in the Philippines and in the US the price of gas is a hot topic right now.  My wife and I had a laugh a few days ago when one of her sisters sent a message from Rhode Island and [...]

Got a good query regarding my post a day or so ago about getting ready to move from the US to the Philippines.  An address in the US … I had recommended you keep at least one US-based credit card with a US address, and my reader, quite properly, wanted to know … how?  Well, [...]

It’s really pretty funny in a way … only a small percentage of comments and email I get regarding this blog have to do about business in the Philippines.  But so many of them do center on the Internet cafe business that I thought I ought to offer up some more thoughts on the [...]

A few weeks back I tried out a little web service here called "Skribit".  It involved a little ‘widget’ in the side bar and gave readers a chance to tell me what they wanted me to write about.  frankly the tool looked a little ugly and did not seem to me to be too [...]