Buying property from abroad: the OFW guide

Around one in ten Filipinos works abroad, and a house at home is the most common thing the money is for. Buying it from nine time zones away is entirely normal; the transactions that go wrong are the ones where the paperwork is improvised after the money has already been sent. What you can buy. A Filipino citizen, including a dual citizen under the Citizenship Retention and Re-acquisition Act (RA 9225), may own land anywhere in the Philippines. A former Filipino who has not re-acquired citizenship may still buy land within limits: up to 1,000 square metres of urban land or one hectare of rural land for residential use under BP 185, and larger areas for business under RA 8179. A foreign national cannot own land, but may own a condominium unit as long as foreign ownership of the project stays within 40%. If your citizenship has changed, settle which rule applies to you before you pick a property. Who signs. You will not be in the room for the reservation, the Contract to Sell, the deed, or the bank. Someone at home signs for you under a Special Power of Attorney — a notarised document listing the exact acts they may do on your behalf. Done properly it is routine; done loosely it is where most delays start. The interactive checklist at /buying-from-abroad walks through it step by step, and the guide at /insights/the-special-power-of-attorney-for-ofws explains each choice. The order to do things in. First, check the people: verify the practitioner's PRC license at /verify and, for a pre-selling project, the developer's License to Sell at /projects?lts=1. Second, settle the money: work out what you can afford at /tools/affordability and what the taxes and fees will add at /tools/closing-costs. Third, execute the SPA and get the original home. Only then reserve and pay — to the developer or the owner, against an official receipt, never to the practitioner. What to expect. Pre-selling purchases are paid over years on a Contract to Sell, and the Maceda Law (RA 6552) protects a buyer who has paid at least two years of instalments with a grace period and a partial refund. A ready-for-occupancy unit or a lot from a private owner closes faster but needs your representative at the BIR and the Registry of Deeds. Either way, keep every receipt, and ask for a copy of every document your representative signs on the day they sign it. Read how property scams work at /buyer-protection, and how to pay from overseas at /insights/paying-for-property-from-abroad.