DUBAI: There are two kinds of real property investors among Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) — and UAE has both.
On one side are the young ones who want to have their condos soonest so they could secure an early retirement; and, on the other, the not-that-young-anymore who have just started investing because they had spent all their lives raising their kids back home and sending them to college, if not helping relatives with their finances, saving just enough for their basic needs while working abroad.
Joshua Valentin, media practitioner, left for work abroad in 1996. His kids were in grade school back then. Today, his kids have finished college and are raising their own families.
Valentin, 54, invested in a condo unit just two years back – 21 years since he started life as an OFW. He says: “Na-realize ko, wala na akong mauuwian dahil may kanya-kanya na sila. Saan na ko tirira? Pasa-pasa?”
Ronaldo Robles, who has just turned 51, has been in Dubai for the past 15 years, working as a lay-out artist and video editor. He said he signed a deal for a condo unit just this year. “Inuna ko pag-aaral ng mga anak ko. Tatlo sila, sunud-sunod,” he says.
“Wala pa naman tayong idea about condo investment nuon. At saka, wala naman tayong inaasikaso kundi magpadala ng magpadala ng pera,” he added.
Josefina Impas, 50, left for work abroad when she was 25. It was only two months ago this year when she invested in a condo unit. “Wala naman akong pamilya. Mother ko lang at mga kapatid, so wala namang titira,” she said.
“Pero naipaliwanag sa kin na pwede namang pa-rentahan para may extra income. Lately ko lang nalaman yun mula sa mga friends ko (na meron na),” she added. She had worked in Taiwan and Saudi Arabia.
Florence E. Agawa, 42 and a physiotherapy aide at University Hospital Sharjah, went abroad for work 10 years ago. She signed up for a condo in 2014.
“My Kids were still young so it took me five years before I could start. I also had some credits to pay.”
Gretchen Joyselle Hernandez, 21 and working as a accountant in Dubai said she invested in a condominium unit on Taft Avenue last year.
“Napapalibutan yun ng mga universities na afterward pwedeng maging passive income through rent,” she said, adding: “Habang bata pa at konti pa lang obligations (nag-invest na ako so that) by the age of 30, I would have my own condo.”
“In the future pag tumaas ang sahod or pag magkaroon ng added income, magdadagdag ako ng investments.”
Rodney Delos Santos Reyes, 38, said he immediately invested in a condominium unit soon as his finances stabilized a year after he went to Dubai for work n 2009.
Reyes, quality officer for ambulatory healthcare services, said he did so because “I have heard a lot of stories about OFWs who have ended their tenure abroad and going back to the Philippines with only the clothes on their backs and whatever money they have in their pockets.”
Jill Evita Blanch, 28, compliance officer at a financial services company, started investing in a condo unit just three months ago.
“The real estate appreciation is mataas sa Pilipinas as well as the demand. It’s a really good opportunity; also, at an early age, if I’m thinking about getting passive income for the next years to come, hopefully mag-invest ulit ako ng another condo,” says Blanch.
Nestle Quinto Malanum, 29, marketing coordinator, started investing in January last year “because it’s good cash flow for my future and business; as well, am hoping for future gains on the property price.”
“Even if I’m working here abroad, it can be my source of income once I go back to the Philippines,” she added. Malanum says she has plans to buy more properties “but not right now because I don’t want to over leverage myself.”
