Second, I’m not sure where ‘here’ is. Are you living in the Philippines now, or planning to move here which is what your first sentence seems to indicate.

Third, depending where you live in the Philippines you might6 squeeze by on $1000 USD per month but a great deal depnds on you medical care requirements. If you have medical coverage that works in the Philippines, you should be safe enough, but you could be put in a very precarious position if you have a medical problem and have to foot the bill out of pocket. Medical care is typically on a cash basis here, one the “everything down and nothing per month” plan.

Also with health care consider this. Many US plans factor in Medicare when you reach 65. In other words at age 65 they expect Medicare to pay first and then they pay what Medicare doesn’t pay. The problem is you can’t use medicare in the Philippines, so you muight be in great shape until age 65 and then discover a huge gap in coverage.

Summary advice? You can live in the Philippine son $1000 USD per month but you won’t live very comfortably. Number two thought is, if I had obnly $1000 USD available I wouldn’t be living here. The US is a much better place to be poor than the Philippines, it’s a great life here if you can pay cash.

Hot water in the Philippuines is normally provided via individual ‘flash’ wate rheaters at the tap where the water is needed. Actually, many new energy-efficient US homes are being built this way too, as the individualk jeaters are way, way more energy-efficient than the ‘normal’ methpud of heating a 40 gallon tank in the baement and then piping it to reach outlet. It’s common practice to buy an individual heater at harware or builder’s stores, connect to the shower and then take it with you when you leave, so rerat assured you are getting good advice.

This will _not_ be the strangest thing you’ll encounter here I am pretty sure … but take them is stride and you’ll probably be glad you did. Happy Holidays.

Well on a person versus person basis, everyone of us is smarter than someone and not as smart a sothers … but our home-country based knowledge is very often flawed when it comes to doing things here in the Philippines. There are a thousand and one jokes about Filipinos in the US FOB (Fresh Off the Boat). What we have to guard against … and believe me I am not preaching from the pulpit here, I’ve trapped myself more times than I like to think of … we Westerners are all FOB for long after we arrive here.

Got to take ‘baby steps’ until you really learn the ropes and you have to remember that the Filipinos were here, running things their way and making things happen in their country long before the USA was even the 13 original colonies. And the Chinese … a large proportion of Filipino ethnicity … had a very advanced civilization already back when European countries were living in mud huts and communicating with grunts.

There’s a lot to learn here, for people who are open to learning.

Further to your comments, I see many half-finished or gigantic, out of proportion, homes up in Cagayan sitting empty, waiting for a buyer. In the RP, considering a house as an investment is wishful thinking in the provinces. Build a home to live in or house a business, but thinking that you can “flip” property here is unrealistic at best. (As a side note… Most of those empty houses were built by foreigners thinking they could simply sell them quickly at a profit if they needed to leave).

Rebecca looks at property as something to invest ON, rather than IN. Build a shop, plant rice, whatever… But USE it rather than hoping to realize a gain. We just bought some land near a university to open a dormitory for students. We will use the land. If the dorm fails, we tear it down and plant rice, fruit, etc. We could also use the buildings for storage / warehousing. Point is, the land itself is not the investment.

Mainly because we were planning to move to the Philippines as soon as my wife’s US citizenship was granted, which should hav ebeen in 2005 (it doesn’t happen in the expected htree years of US residency, folks ) we decided to sell our home in Colorado Springs. We even made a small profit. Praise the Lord.

The fellow who bought it invested a non-trivial amnount in a big fencing project, a lot of redecorating and “upgrades” and it has been for sale several times since (marvelous thing, the Internet). As of the last time we saw it listed the asking price was half what he paid in 2005 … and so far as I know it isn’t sold yet.

Massive over-supply of houses coupled with these unregulated mortgages that shoot up enormously in the third or fourth year have really taken the ’shine’ off the real estate market in my view.