Investing There | PhilFAQS

Start an Internet Cafe in the Philippines?

November 13, 2009 By Philly 7 Comments

This is a very common query that leads folks here to PhilFAQS, the site where you find the answers to frequently asked questions about living in the Philippines. From time to time I have published answers, including this series by a real “computer shop” owner here in Bulacan, Philippines on how to start and run an internet cafe.

But I am always on the lookout for more current information to help my readers. Recently I came across a comment on my good friend Yuga’s blog that answers a lot of questions, about internet cafe’s, gaming shops, LAN shops and other computer-related service businesses here in the Philippines:

There is a new comment on the post "Are Internet Cafes still a Good Business?".
http://www.yugatech.com/blog/netrepreneur/are-internet-cafes-still-a-good-business/

Author: JJ
Comment:
Yes, it is still a good business. We have been in this business since 1992.

For those interested in setting up your own internet cafe or just need a free consult, visit our multiply site at http://kompyuters.multiply.com or email me at kompyuters@yahoo.com
http://www.yugatech.com/blog/netrepreneur/are-internet-cafes-still-a-good-business/#comments

I really thank JJ for offering up a lot of very useful information on his LAN Shops, IT Services, At Iba Pa… site where you can find out how he has been making a nice business in the computer shop world, right here in 2009. (for those not familiar with Filipino slang, At Iba Pa technically translates to the phrase “and other things” and is frequently used in it acronym form, ATBP, the way we might use et. in the US).

I like the way JJ has organized his efforts and how he does his own thinking and doing … example, making his own computer tables. The computer desks I have seen in most suppliers were designed and built by people who don’t use computers and are often useless, and certainly overpriced. There are two ways to deal with situations like this … throw up your hands and do nothing, moaning the words ‘if only’, or take up a hammer and saw and fix the problem. JJ appears to be a fixer rather than a whiner .. one thing I can tell you, if you want to succeed in the computer business or any other business, you need to be a doer too.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Filed Under: Investing There Tagged With: internet cafe philippines, live in the philippies, Living in the Philippiines

Why is Philippine Retirement Such a Mystery?

August 27, 2009 By Philly Leave a Comment

Someone shoved a printed fly in my hands for this condo project this afternoon. As such projects go it’s not all bad. It will be located on a reasonably good street in Quezon City, quite near the SM City North complex (which is actually the biggest mall in the Philippines, dwarfs SM mall of Asia down at the other end of EDSA in floor space). It’s close to ABS-CBN and GMA networks, close to some good hospitals and medical centers and not far from the MRT trains on EDSA.

Price-wise I see something you seldom see in these offerings (and I would guess there are easily a thousand of these condo pre-build sales projects going on in Metro Manila at this time). I see a three bedroom unit with nearly the same floor space as our older house out in the province for about the price this house in Bulacan would go for if on the market today. That’s a rarity, believe me. This project also has a very decent web site, How quickly they answer emails and or their phone calls, I don’t know, because I don’t have the time to deal with yet another sales staff. But you should look if you are at all interested, at least just to start learning the market.

But I can tell you what they do not have on their brochures or on their web site … and indication that they are (or are not) approved to sell to foreigners. or a simple, almost free stateside number for people to call for info, or –pricing and terms for foreign buyers, or a simple paragraph to show how you can buy one of these properties, on low down, low amounts per month and qualify yourself for a lifetime retirement visa (perfectly legal to resell, or lease out the condo later if you want to live elsewhere in the Philippines), nothing to show they have any on-site property management service to keep the units rented out if the owner is away, etc. and ATBP.

These are units that are prime investments for retirees, foreigners or Filipino returning OFW’s, yet you would never know it to read their sales copy.

Just a few days ago I wrote about how the RA (Philippine Retirement Authority) web site makes it look like getting a retirement visa in the Philippines is both expensive and a big financial investment. Truth is, it’s not. But how will a stranger know?

Do any of these companies or even the Philippine government even want retirees, or is it all just window dressing?

When one does a Google Search on the term ‘retire Philippines’ (without the quotes(, the first thing that pops up is a paid ad from a private company selling retirement in Penang … they appear to be paying about 56 cents a click to steal away potential Philippine retirees, but you won’t find a single ad from anyone trying to actually drive retirees to the Philippines. (hint, these ads start at a nickel or less). Out of all the potential businesses that could make money from retirees in the Philippines, not one sees fit to even spend a dime advertising for them. And the government doesn’t see fit to promote their own country?

Something is wrong here, and it is attitudinal, not financial. Do you want retirees in the Philippines, or do you not want retirees in the Philippines?

(I’ll be on the road a couple days checking out a potential retirement investment in Baguio for a lady overseas. I do this sort of project on a case by case basis … not because I really want to, but because no one in business in the Philippines seems to want foreign money … cash money. This lady has the money to spend but getting information from overseas is harder than pulling teeth.)

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Filed Under: Investing There

Living in the Philippines — Recession? What Recession?

July 18, 2009 By Philly Leave a Comment

8 Steps to Recession-Proof Wealth

Have your 401K savings vanished?
Are you worried about losing your job?
Is your retirement plan on hold?

There’s no doubt about it. Things are tough out there. 401Ks have shrunk. Stocks have nose-dived. Unemployment is soaring.

But guess what? The key to wealth has little to do with the economy. There is a clear and proven path you can follow to attain sustainable, long-term wealth that’s immune to whatever the market throws at you.

8 Steps to Recession-Proof Income!
FREE Webinar Wednesday, July 22

Popularity: 6% [?]

Filed Under: Investing There

It Can Be Done in the Philippines Continues — 3

March 11, 2009 By Philly Leave a Comment

Just a quick update on my “It Can Be Done in the Philippines” investment real estate series. here’s a quick look at the project I have been following that is located right around the corner from my home. It’s moving right along.

I have been spending some time talking with the owner of the company doing these projects and he is an interesting character to say the least. He’s 80 years young, has three current building projects in full swing (his wife and his son supervise the other two projects) and had at least four more projects in the “will happen” stage to begin on as soon as this one is done.

There’s no opportunity in the Philippines. You can’t make money with rental property in the Philippines. Filipino builders are slow, drag their feet, do shoddy, sub-standard work.

Anyone heard those statements before? Thought you had. They sure are all lies based on my personal investigation, and I can take you around and show you proof. You can chase pie-in-the-sky dreams, multi-level marketing schemes, insanely inflated interest rate certificates of deposit (Legacy Group, anyone?), or you can make money the old fashioned way and build something that will last even for your children.

Don’t believe all the idle chatter you hear … get the facts for yourself.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Filed Under: Home Building, Investing There, Live There Tagged With: building homes in the Philippines, Philippine living

Not Getting Scammed in the Philippines — Update 2

February 20, 2009 By Philly Leave a Comment

Those interested in the economy here in the Philippines will note I mentioned a couple weeks back that although noting major seemed to be happening here economy-wise … the stock market is ‘flat’ but not showing any giant losses, the peso/Dollar rate seems kind of ‘stuck’ at about 47 per, two big ‘featured’ US employers here, Intel and Texas Instrument (TI) have scaled back drastically. However I was just up at Clark today and work is progressing well on the huge tech center that TI is building there, so certainly not all the news is bleak.

Home prices still seem on the rise and my bank is actively promoting ‘all in one’ financing packages with 20 year and longer terms, unheard of just a few years back. I do expect that condo prices in particular are going to take a drop. 6 to 20 million and more for a few hundred square feet of floor space in the heart of the “Big Smoke” (otherwise known as Manila) may well stagnate or drop this year. I base that guess on news last night from Hong Kong where homes on “The Peak” (and if you know Hong Kong, no other explanation is needed) have gone down in value 40% in the past six months. Maybe the trend won’t cross the South China Sea, but6 I’m not buying any condos this year, just as a precaution.

Arguably over-valued homes leads me to one of my key points. The strange attitude I see in so many people, especially my own countrymen, that somehow many of us are ‘better’ than anyone else and we deserve more, so we will by God get it. Bob wrote an interesting piece a day or so ago, and my American citizen wife told of her feelings watching the massive “greed fest” the last couple years we were living in the US. Just last night on a US news show was a woman in California who had bought way, way more house than she needed and then lost her ‘service provider’ type job. her comment was, “I’m not going to let this home go to foreclosure, the government must bail me out.” Well, since we are busy pouring our grandchildren’s and great-grandchildren’s money down the rat hole of Wall Street, I suppose if the government does bail her out, fine well and good … but the idea that she is entitled to be bailed out when she clearly bought way more than she could afford just because she feels entitled just sticks in my craw.

The last few years that I worked for the government in Colorado Springs I managed some contracts with companies that were essentially “body shops”. For x amount of dollars per year they would provide a body with certain job skills, like a software engineer, to work on government projects. As a feature of the government procurement laws, these companies had to disclose every hour these ‘bodies” worked and exactly how much they got paid … so I know exactly what a lot of these professional people were actually taking home. The houses some of them bought simply astounded me. No way could a person at their rate of pay ever amortize such a debt in 26 or 30 years. Yet the lemmings leaped over the cliff by the thousands, funding their 4 and 5 thousands show pieces with ARNs and “Interest Only” mortgages and various other sleight of hand tricks, in some cases knowing full well they would never be able to afford the house once the crooked mortgage deals came home to roost. There are times I feel I am a complete stranger in my own country, I don’t even connect with many of my fellow Americans. Life grows steadily stranger as I age.

One the other theme I wanted to touch on today, getting scammed, you recall I s=discussed briefly the Philippine sown little investment bubble that ”popped” over the Christmas holidays … the Legacy Rural Bank Certificate of deposit fiasco.

The PDIC is starting to pay off investors. In so far as they know the extent of the scam, they feel they have enough money to pay them all. I hope so. That’s what Deposit Insurance is supposed to be for. But this one gives me mixed emotions too. If I offer you a scheme where I promise you 24% on your money, and the institution you are investing in makes, on average, 7% on the loans they give out (special discounted loans on used motorcycles, mainly … real blue chip, low risk stuff, eh?), then you shouldn’t walk away, you should run away.

Several fellow expats were involved in helping to float this specious scheme. One,. whose wife was openly selling the paper to all his friends and online acquaintances for healthy commissions herself is absolutely obnoxious about the facts. “Look,” is his response< “the facts of the investment are not important because it is covered by PDIC, so no one will lose.”

Sad. Yes, no one will lose except the PDIC (which is the Filipino people) who should have been quicker on the draw to see the scam coming. Well they weren’t, so too bad for them and hurray for me, I got mine seems to be the prevailing view.

You know who really pays for such a mess? The school teachers, the tricycle drivers and every other wage earners who tries to keep a few pesos in his or her hand long enough to get it to a savings account. The money PDIC pays out in claims comes from taxes on deposits and fees the banks pay, so the more the bank has to pay for deposit insurance, the less an honest worker gets on their savings. I really wonder how some people sleep at night, actually.

Remember what I said the last time I wrote on this subject. You are not a rock star. If you are offered a deal that is “:too good to be true” and pays 5 or 10 times what the going rate for something is … it is too good to be true, and if you grab for the brass ring, you’re no better than the perpetrators of the scheme.

As a signoff, to my retired military/TRICARE readers. beware. Last night I received some text messages from someone who purported to be in Cagayan de Oro and wanted my help in marketing a “TRICARE Clinic”. Most of these clinics are scams, offering to do the work of submitting claims that the TRICARE program clearly makes the retiree responsible for. Several gigantic ones in the Philippine shave blacken the eye of TRCARE and made all Americans living here look like crooks by association.

Don’t buy in to something that sounds too good to be true, in the Philippines or back in the USA and likely you’ll never get scammed.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Filed Under: Investing There, Phils Editorals

It Can Be Done In The Philippines Continues 2

February 14, 2009 By Philly Leave a Comment

Gosh am I on a Living in the Philippines roll here, or what? I was doing some checking into the fellow who owns the two apartment complexes I wrote about recently (he’s still not set up for an interview and feature here, but I’ll keep trying) I found out that the project currently under construction isn’t his second project, it’s building number three. Here’s a snap of the very first project, located right behind his home, right around the corner from me in our little “part-time-water” community.

The Original Mukti-unit success

The way the story was told to me, he had a grown son thinking about moving out, so rather than let the son move off to the wilds of Manila, the father built this three door complex on the side street behind the main home, and the son can live in one unit, collect the rents on the others and if the son really does decide to move up scale some day, he’ll collect on all three. Not shabby. [Read more...]

Popularity: 3% [?]

Filed Under: Investing There, Live There, Phils Business

Never Get Scammed in the Philippines

December 28, 2008 By Philly Leave a Comment

How’s that for a guarantee? Think it will hold up?

Well I’m not sure, and it’s not a guarantee … I don’t offer them … it’s advice only from a lay person.

But I will say this. It’s informed advice and it will go a long, long way to insuring you don’t get scammed … ever … in the Philippines or in any other country for that matter.

Sounds like a good deal, no? What’s the catch? Well, truthfully there isn’t a catch. But what may seem like a ‘catch’ is that my advice is too simplistic for many people who absolutely know they are smarter than me. And and there are so many of you out there who just ‘know’ you’re smarter than me. (some of you are, actually, my talent lies in knowing my shortcomings, not in being the smartest guy in the group.’

The advice? Simple. If it isn’t yours, honestly earned you have no business trying to take it.

Where’s the rest of the advice? There isn’t any. That’s it. Most of us learned this at out mother’s knee, but oh how many every year forget about it and decide that some particular ‘easy way’ is for them. They’re smarter than the average guy and so they can take advantage of a ‘good thing’ and the rest of the world can just lag behind.

This is what’s behind every scam here in the Philippines I have ever learned about. In fact it’s right behind every scam I know about ion any other country, for that matter. [Read more...]

Popularity: 4% [?]

Filed Under: Investing There

Philippine Business You Can Understand — Three

November 21, 2008 By Philly Leave a Comment

Here’s another answer to that frequently asked about the Philippines question, can I make money with an Internet cafe?

Answer: Not only can you but the government of the Philippines wants to be your partner. PAGCOR the Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corporation is a government-owned corporation that has control over all legalized gambling in the Philippines. Actually their charter is even more broad than that:

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation is a 100 percent government-owned and controlled corporation created in 1977 by virtue of Presidential Decree 1067-A and was amended to PD 1869 on July 11, 1983, later known as the PAGCOR Charter.
PAGCOR was created with a three-pronged mandate: to regulate all games of chance, particularly casino gaming in the country, to raise funds for the governments’ socio-civic and national developmental efforts, and to help boost the country’s tourism industry.… more about PAGOR here.

So why am I writing about these guys in an article about Internet cafes? Simple. One of PAGCOR’s less well know activities is not only the regulation but actually the provision of free-standing video gaming facilities.

Notional First Year revenue Projections

This is a very unique opportunity for an Internet cafe type building in an area that can attract traffic. The corporation provides the game terminals, cashier’s system, 24×7 support all licensing permits and such except local mayor’s permit. In return the operator gets a share of the gaming profits and of course all the profits from anything else served up by or attracted by the facility. They even have a compete turnkey package where the eGames cafe arrives on a truck, you set it on a foundation, plug in the power and you’re a casino operator.

Investment ranges from P1.2 to P1.8 million … not really too shabby considering the upside potential. It’s not legal to have any ‘real’ games of chance in an Internet casino … except through this PAGCOR program so competition is automatically regulated and no worry about the police knocking on the door some night because someone complained to them they thought you were running a gambling den … as has happened to more than one otherwise successful Internet cafe operator. here’s their projected cash flow. Like anything else on the Internet, YMMV but this is a Philippine business opportunity worth looking into if you don’t want to work 14 hours a day, 7 days a week for 40 cents an hour.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Filed Under: Investing There

Philippine Business You Can Understand — Two

November 19, 2008 By Philly Leave a Comment

Guess I’m on a real business trip lately. That’s OK, many of you who read this blog are too. This morning I had to evacuate my home … my wife got on a cleaning kick and said she couldn’t work with me around so I should make myself scarce … so I did what any red-blooded faux Filipino would do, I headed to the mall.

Everyone always thinks Internet cafe (computer shop) when they think about business in the Philippines it seems. In our local mall there are two ‘real’ Internet cafes, franchisees of the Netopia chain. (on the 2km drive to the mall I pass at least 10 other Internet cafe’s that I know of, the closest one is less than 100 meters from my house). They both do business but I have seen the hourly rate go from P60 per hour to P20 per hour in the slightly over two years we have lived here. This doesn’t lead me to believe they are making any huge profits. In walking around the mall I noticed that a huge mezzanine area on the second floor had been take over by yet a third Internet business … just tables and workstations out on the mall floor, specializing in high speed games access only … and at 10:30 in the morning there were already 5 or 6 “gamesters” with their noses glued to the screen and their fingers flying on controller buttons. So it seems the bottom has not yet dropped out of the business.

I also had been meaning to get some business cards (calling cards) for PhilFAQS that I can hand out when I interview people. There’s a little kiosk in the main mall hall. It’s been there for more than three years … exactly the kind of low-overhead business that would interest me. Aside from the investment in glass showcases they have only a computer and a couple color printers and a scanner. The big part of their business is making personalized party invitations, gift cards and even buttons to pin on your shirt with loved one’s pictures. They do a lot of calling cards as well … not fancy print work like you get in a ‘real’ print shop but at P3 a card while you wait who is going to argue? GRAPHIC WORKS DESKTOP PUBLISHING is their name and I find they have stores in dozens of malls. If you go to the one in Marilao, just look for Charlene, tell her you’re a friend of the kalbo kano who asks all the questions and she’ll take good care of you.

But don’t look for them on the Internet. Even their business license is online, and some employee’s have their own web sites, management haven’t yet seen how much additional business they could do with even a simple website.

In that same mall is a very nice dental clinic, modern, clean, top quality dentists, bright, snappy signage and advertising, good prices and very convenient hours. Know what that dentist ain’t got? A simple web site … you can see a good example of one Philippine dentist who lives in this century here … not even the most simplistic little ‘brochure’ site that lists their ph=one numbers, hours of operation and such. Their business license is on line, but their business isn’t! .

Personally, I smell opportunity.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Filed Under: Investing There

For Sale: Brentville, Laguna, Luzon

September 21, 2008 By Philly Leave a Comment

Many queries I’ve received over the past few years involved finding a house that’s more to American or European standards and a place for the children to attend school. My standard answer is, I personally am not going to spend the money that so-called "International communities" come up to, and I’m a believer that your kids can get a great education at any of the many higher class university-based private school systems. But that’s only my take and certainly it’s never up to me to tell someone else what they desire.

So here’s a good example of what’s available right now, as we speak, here in the Metro Manila area … a place I would have no trouble living in myself and a development that already has proven investment potential and is very likely to go much higher in coming years.

It’s called Brentville, taking it’s name from the famous international school that’s part of the complex, and it seems to have a lot going for it.

Location: Any real estate professional will tell you this is perhaps the single most important factor in property valuation. The brentville_location Laguna area, south of Manila is a desirable, growth area and adjacent to several important features … the airport … very convenient for folks who may have a lot of guests, or who must make frequent in and out flights. Earning a living in the Philippines is always atop priority issue and I know several fellows who live very near this community who are making a very nice living here with consulting work (corporate security and bank operations management are their specific niches) which mainly is elsewhere in Asia. Not really my cup of tea, but if you want to live in the Philippines and have a 6 figure income, airline commuting is one way to make it work.

Brentville is also very conveniently located for visiting Tagaytay, a prime visitor destination location. There is very good shopping available nearby in Alabang and other prime areas.

Facilities: In addition to the connection with the International School for attendance purposes, an interesting feature I noticed was use of some of the school facilities for community residents. In particular, the library. Americans just do not realize how rich they are in terms of research and library resources for even the lowest income folks. In the Philippines, libraries virtually do not exist, except in the better universities, and "Joe Sixpack" doesn’t get to use them, for sure. When I lived in Colorado Springs I not only had access to a very decent public library system, I was a 15 minute drive from major university library and 30 minutes from the US Air Force Academy library, a huge treasure trove for an aviation buff like me.

Infrastructure: If you look at the complex maps on their website, the streets are well laid out and it seems a truly master planned community. In addition they have underground utilities …. not only is this a rarity, it’s amazing that they even tell folks about it, because most property developers here figure the customer will take what he gets and like it … and what he gets will be the cheapest, you can take that to the bank.

Ownership: Unlike many developments, Brentville seems geared up to accommodate the foreign buyer as well as the affluent Filipino. Their website is a good model for how a property sales website should be. In addition they have cracked the code on condominiums I have been talking about for years. Foreigners may own condominiums legally, unlike titled land, which they can not own. When people think "condominium" they immediately think high rise apartment style buildings. But "condominium" also describes a legal form of ownership, regardless of the style of the building, and Brentville is the first development I have seen that goes out of their way to point out that foreigners can own their town house offerings, which if you look closely are essentially what you would get in a high class community in, say, California for $500 or $600K, only here the good ones are more like $200K … not dirt cheap but in today’s market not bad at all. If you look at what quality high rise condo communities sell for in the more desirable communities of Metro Manila … Forbes park let’s say, Brentville’s offerings are very, very competitive … and you don’t have to live in an overgrown closet on the 38th floor.

Anyway, I don’t sell these properties and I vouch for nothing, but I am sure this is of interest to some of my readers. It will appear permanently on the dedicated PhilFAQS For Sale page UFN (Until Further Notice).

Popularity: 3% [?]

Filed Under: For Sale

FOR SALE IN ILOCOS SUR

August 2, 2008 By Philly Leave a Comment

Blog Reader Roger Mogg asked me to list this property for him. For those who aren’t familiar, Ilocos Sur is on the far north-west coast of Luzon, right on the South China Sea. This is an out of the way place, but beautiful and for a house and five adjoining lots this is something well worth looking at.