Dear mouse,
I was one of those bloggers tagged by Reyna Elena to respond to Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Salve Duplito’s request for opinion on how Filipinos overseas are affected of the financial crisis.
I promised that I will write an article about the said topic but I will publish it after all the other articles were featured in her Money Smarts column. Besides I do not want to
submit my photo. Marami akong kalaban sa Pinas. Baka gawing dart target practice pagnafeature sa PDI. mwehehe.
This is one of the two articles that I have written about this financial crisis.
The parties stopped over a year ago. Before last year, there was hardly a week when there were no come-and-see-my-new-house- invitations for parties thinly disguised as house blessing or housewarming.
If Imelda had an edifice complex according to Ninoy Aquino, the Filams began to cultivate a very expensive fixation—buying a house as if they are into maybe-on-your-way-home-you-can-pick-up -a-loaf-of-bread-a-carton-of-milk-and-a-house-and-lot type of grocery shopping.
I know one who had four houses before the bubble burst. The more expensive the houses are, the more they are enticed to buy them.
Blame the “keeping up with the Joneses” sort of competition among high income earners in the same profession like nurses and realtors for the race of having a number of buildings they call home.
Once a nurse buys a house in a community where the bloated price of a house comes close to a million, expect other nurses to do the same.
Blame also the realtors who pamper the buyers with freebies such as free accommodation of their time-sharing vacation rentals or their condominiums in the Philippines for vacationing VIP clients.
These Filams do not belong to the low income bracket. They can afford to pay a monthly amortization for a house with a tag of 1 million. But some became a little bit greedy and bought more than they can afford to pay hoping that the houses will be self-liquidating by renting them out. But who is going to rent a house for $ 2000 when at the time, even the low income earners could buy a house with practically zero down payment and interest only for the first three years? This was the root of the subprime crisis. Many of them became willing victims.
Some partnered with relatives and friends for home equity sharing. Same motivation…to
earn from rental as well as earn from the gain on the increase in the value of homes.
Whatever bonanzas they got from the increased home equity, they encashed and used them to buy another house. Second-time buyers are required to make down payments.
Some enjoyed life…frequenting casinos…going on cruises or going home more often on balikbayan vacations.
They flaunted their riches to their less privileged relatives in the Philippines. For a moment, owning a house is a benchmark on how successful you became in the Land of Milk and Honey.
I attended several of these housewarming parties. Some of them were former officemates; former employees in our registry and some were friends of friends.
In all these parties, I was the party-pooper. I warned them of possible housing bubble burst. Not because I can see them in the crystal ball… not because I know that whatever goes up will come down but because the prices of houses became unreasonably high. Unscrupulous real estate agents at that time looked for old houses…bought them at ridiculously low prices…gave them some makeover with free dishwasher or washing machine and tagged them with prices more than three times they’re worth.
Real estate agents massage the egos of the prospective buyers…pursue the buyers like what a paparazzi will do to get a scoop on celebrities until they get them to sign not an autograph but a contract of sales.
With the big commissions, the real estate agents drove Benzes or Beemers.
The subprime meltdown humbled many of them. Telephone calls during midnights and early dawns were oftentimes about the foreclosed houses, filings of bankruptcy and moving out of the States to avoid embarrassment.
What was there to be embarrassed about when all of them were in the same boat? There were no more invitations coming
I know five realtor/real estate agents-friends who are no longer driving their red Benzes or white BMWs.
No more talks about vacations. No more talk about buying the latest car edition.
The Ca t
ei cat, daya naman! was really looking forward to your email about this pa naman.
kasi hiumihingi ka ng retrato, tinanong mo pa edad. anyway, i got one more article which I am going to send you. it is more on retirement and small business. Promise.
from ellen tordesillas to reyna elena to cath. very real cat, very real.
i know one filipino in jersey (well make if filipinos) who are the jones’s types. some are nurses and programmers. they earn pretty good with beemers and benzes, europe and boracays.
like you, i party with them until the party slowed down. one was laid off – well make it many because most programming jobs disappeared. then houses went down. rumors have it that they overspent their equities on huge tv’s, pc’s all over the house and most of them live alone.
one sold his house for a loss. he now lives in a condo. far from some glitzy development.
akala ng iba walang katapusan ang grasya. yon ngang alam ko pinuno yong 6 bedroom niyang bahay ng mga bagong gamit thru credit cards. ngayon bankruptcy siya.