Written by PhilippOK on September 2, 2013. Posted in Main

To rent apartments or a house in Dumaguete is easy. But there are some details. I wish I knew them when I was renting for the first time.

The price for rentals in Dumaguete starts with 500 peso for a room or bachelor pad per night and can be higher up to the sky. Usually it depends a lot upon the landlord s state of mind and hardihood. A price like 100 US dollars per months doesn t mean that the apartments are Not suitable for housing and the opposite 30,000 peso per month for a house can guarantee you the level of comfort you expect. Prices, terms and conditions here are very strange.

For example, the owner can rent out some unfurnished apartments in not very good condition but on the same time ask for safety deposit for 2 or 3 months. Some other can ask for crazy amount of money and ask for a one year contract. Anyway while searching for advertisements you can already make a conclusion about your future landlord s behavior and way of thinking.

Examples of rentals:

7000 peso per month (160$), 1 bedroom, unfurnished

10 000 peso per months (220$), 1 bedroom, fully furnished

23 000 peso per month (520$), 2 bedrooms, fully furnished, with a swimming pool

Internet is the easiest option. These web sites can come in handy:

All of the other web sites double the ads given on the sources above. Most of them are posted with a couple of  pictures made using a camera in mobile phone so the quality of the pics is awful usually. Why so? I have no idea, this is how people do business here.

Go and view the property you ve chosen, it can look a lot different than on the photo. Better or worse both possible. And never expect to get a quick reply to your request no matter how you did it by sms or via email. The fact that someone is desperate to have his house rented doesn t mean the person will react asap.

• don t pay attention to the date when the property was listed on the web site. Even if it was posted years ago the house can still be available for rent.
• don t trust marks given on the Google Maps, it s  possible that the direction mentioned there is wrong.
• don t call, better text. Very often the Philippino owners don t speak English well enough to clarify all necessary details for you. 
• terms, conditions and prices all can be negotiable. Usually unfurnished property can become furnished if you pay about 2000 peso more. Mind that when a landlord is creating a post about his property for rent mostly he takes data from the same ads or just fantasysing.

Offline search.  They say this is a more effective way to find a house for rent in Dumaguete. I ve heard many times people say that  there are only the most expensive houses listed in the internet and all of them are good only for foreigners. Well, what can I say always rented using internet and never paid more than average price.

Searching offline means the following: you rent a bike or a tricycle for the whole day and start riding the neighbourhood in a pretty hot day looking at every corner for a sign For rent . Then you call the landlord or start searching for him as he didn t leave his phone number and then view the apartment if you got lucky and he was there to show it to you. I assume that there are some properties in Dumaguete NOT listed in the internet, saw a couple, may be more. But I doubt there are lots of them. That s why I never spend my time driving around and use online search.  Also there are some ads listed on a desk in The Why Not Bar, often the tricycle drivers can help as they know their neighbours well and anyone whom you know here can come in handy because almost all foreigners I know are concerned about this matter.

There are some real estate agencies here but they are focused mostly on sales, not renting. And the properties are the same as listed on the web sites given above. Also agents are looking for profit from you and I think a signing a contract is necessary in this case.

So after you found A house of your dream and you feel like renting it. Don t hurry up, have a look at our ADVICE first:

• Try to pay more attention on who your landlord is. Your future comfort depends a lot upon this person. Because you can face many issues like clogged pipes, broken fridge, internet connection failed, and so on. He (or she) will be the one to solve these problems so it s very important that your future landlord should be responsive, reliable and honest.  You should feel that you re welcomed and appreciated being a potential client, don t you? BTW if he (she) is a foreigner this means nothing. The Philippino way of living meaning literally No hurry no worry affects them badly here and sometimes they become extremely irresponsible. Also expats married to Philippinas very often let them rule rental business which sometimes is for worse I m sorry to say.
• Make it all clear with moving out terms. They are different everywhere but usually you have to inform your landlord that you want to move out 2 weeks or 1 month before that. Here is another example of madness: the safety deposit will be refunded to you 5 days (or up to 1 month) after you leave the place. The reasons for such term can be the following: the landlord wants to make sure that the walls won t fall together with the ceiling and that he won t get any shock bills . Never say yes to this, it is all bulls***, they are simply trying to cheat you. 
• Security deposit This is not a horror story, guys, this is just some negative experience gained by me and people I know.  Belive it or not but such things happen sometimes in this sunny country and I just want to warn you in order you could avoid any issues. So the more the amount for safety deposit is the more obvious it is that they re trying to fool you. unfortunately we have to admit that not all landlords are christally honest and have a good reputation. I ve heard many stories such as:  the day you were supposed to move out your landlord is hiding from you, doesn t answer the phone, doesn t want to refund the safety deposit although it is all safe and clear in the apartments, saying you damaged something that has been broken centuries ago and never been fixed in spite of the fact you asked to do that. That s why guys you should be smarter: luckily we are in 2013 now and you can use your gadget to have the talk recorded! Belive me, this helped not once and not twice.
• Check the house properly, check if everything provided is in good condition, works and nothing is missed. Check all the possible damages before moving out and better take a picture of them (spots, cracks, something broken) or it s quite possible that you ll have to pay for it.
• If there are no grilles on the windows you d better negotiate about installing them there were some crimes when a thief entered the house through the window. If the windows are not made of solid glass keep in mind that such windows can not protect you from the noise.  
• Internet connection. If you are renting a townhouse of 3-6 apartments and the owner says there is an internet connection provided likely you ll have to share connection with other tenants which in fact means that you won t have good internet. Should I explain that in case just one of them will have a movie downloaded all the others will get low-speed or even disconnected. On the same time this so called internet can be included into the rental price or be extra from 500 to 900 peso per month. The unlimited internet which you won t have to share with anybody will cost you 1000 peso. Just saying 
• If you are renting out of town pay attention to the animals and pets around: roosters, dogs barking and goats shouting in the middle of the night won t let you fell asleep, trust me. 

Here is for instance a very nervous cow taken by an old lady to our house. Being not aware I let the lady tight the animal and let her go. But after 2 hours of listening complains from the cow (not sure if I understood her MMMOOOO right) went out to find the lady and had to ask her never to visit us again.

• Transport and transfer. There are many very nice subdivisions in Dumaguete but some of them can be located a bit far away from the main roads. So if you have no vehicle of your own and you re not looking forward to buy it pay attention on how close is the place where you can get a tricycle. 
• Make sure there is a separate counter.  Before moving in take a picture of it s numbers and better ask for the previous tenant s bill.  Electricity here is not cheap (10 peso Kw/h) ,that s why it s better to watch how much you spend and check the counter every month. On average we spend  1600-1900 peso per month without aircon working and 2500-3000 peso with it.

• If you fell in love with an unfurnished house but you have no furniture and no plans to buy it very often landlords are ready to buy it for you. Negotiate. 
• Contracts are usually being signed in case you/re renting for long-term otherwise there is no profit for the owner as he ll have to pay for the lawyer s service. 

If you faced some issues or still have any questions about this matter pls feel free to address us using comments form below.