Our Investment - The Search, Process, Payments and Beyond

Most people say that for you to invest in anything such as buying a House and Lot, a Car or even investing in the Stock Market, you need first a HUGE guts because it is a big gamble.

And buying a House and Lot through Housing Loan is a bigger gamble, you need to endure the pains of the interest all throughout the terms of your loan. This is after the long process of application and verification before your loan gets approved.

Our search for a prospect house and lot unit started around March 2008, we have visited several subdivisions in different areas nearby Metro Manila such as Binangonan, Rizal; Antipolo City, Rizal; Imus, Cavite and Gen. Trias, Cavite.

By early May 2008, as we are in a hurried position to choose a unit, we finally selected a unit in a subdivision at Gen. Trias, Cavite - 50 sqm lot, townhouse unit, 2-storey, with 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms, garage and garden area.

The selection of unit is just tip of the iceberg, just the starting point - after paying the Reservation Fee (Php 10,000.00) comes the completion of needed requirements and documents such as Certificate of Employment, Birth Certificate, Valid Identification Cards, Community Tax Certificate and others.

We are also required to undergo a Housing Loan Seminar at the HDMF Office. Also a current (checking) account was opened for this purpose because we are required to issue PDC's (post-dated checks) for the installment of the Equity as well as the first three years amortization of the unit.

After the completion of the requirements, here comes the waiting game - waiting for the completion of the house construction and the approval of the housing loan which will follow after the construction of the unit.

Aside from the long wait, we need to follow up the developer's progress from time to time, this includes the site visits of our unit. Luckily, our unit was constructed on time (6-months timeline) and the loan was also approved on time (1 month after construction). So, by November 2008 we already have the green light for the final inspection prior to the delivery of the unit.

Sadly, the unit have several defects that needs repair, so we have to wait again until the developer finished the repairs (2 weeks timeline). After the timeline, we conducted the second inspection, still there are some defects but we have little choice but to accept the unit.

The unit was officially turned-over to us before Christmas of 2008, after that we have to process the application of utilities such as water and power connections.

It has been more than one year since the unit was turned-over, and all we have to do now is pay for the house loan - we have 29 years more left to do that.