In exchange for a place to live plus meals, her relatives can also help with cooking, cleaning, driving, grocery shopping, household maintenance, repairs, translating local dialect, etc…

Having trustworthy family members that know their way around the Phils, the Province and the Barangay as well as knowing the local customs/rules/laws is something that can’t be bought and can save you a lot of money and headaches, but may also give you a few.

Usually, the positives will outweigh any negatives.

But like anything else, YMMV

Also keep in mind that many Filipina’s will want their American/Foreigner husband to build a home in their Province so they can “show it off” to their friends and family and so they can stay close to home/family.

These houses usually end up as bad investments as they may be inconveniently located if they are far from shopping, dining, health care, etc… and if the relationship goes bad, the house might be very difficult to sell.

And expect to have several of her relatives living with you “temporarily” for extended periods of time.

I’m sure most guys that plan on marrying a Filipina and relocating to the Phils know most of the above already, but for those that don’t, be aware that when you marry a Filipina, you basically are married to her family as well.

For some Filipina’s, marrying a “rich Kano” (Kano = Americano) is the equivalent of winning the lottery and when the inevitable family financial crisis occurs, you will be seen as “the bank” by them and expected to pay for just about everything, even if you are on a modest pension/SS retirement and don’t have the means to do so.

Now you are viewed as “Cheap Charlie” by the family and the animosity will be tremendous.

Family and Financial issues are the cause of breakups of most Filipina/Foreigner marriages/relationships.

Again, I’m sure most guys that plan on marrying a Filipina and relocating to the Phils know this already but it bears repeating.

Please don’t interpret this post as anti-Filipina, because it is not.
It’s just based on the experiences of many guys that have fallen in love and didn’t see the big picture or do their homework about a culture that is very different than the one they came from.

I plan to retire to the Phils myself and possibly getting married to a Filipina as well.

Good luck and “Mabuhay!”

There is an exemption for returning Filipino citizens regarding import duties. You can get more up to date info at the BoC website. There is a link to them on the links page. I don’t have any direct experience with purchasing a vehicle in the Philippines but I have spoken with a number of people who have the multicabs. They are brought into the Philippines in pieces then reassembled so you want to be sure it is someone who knows what he is doing who reassembles it. They seem to be fairly widely used.

When are you planing to retire? My original plan was last year but the economy has slowed the timetable. I am now hoping for next year.

Just ran across this post when looking for info regarding shipping our Mazda SUV from the US to Manila. My wife and I have a house / small bed and breakfast on the beach in Calatagan, Batangas. My wife is retired and runs the operation from Jan-June then returns to the US as I am not yet retired.

From what I’ve read it looks like the fact that the Mazda would be more than 5 years old by the time we retire there and having a 3liter V6 makes it inelegible for importatation. In addition the duty seems outragous. So we will likely not go that route.

Is there any validity to the rumor that there are special Balakbayan / returning citizen dicounts or elimination of the duty?

I see a number of comments related to the Suzuki Multicab vehicle and most appear to be fairly positive regarding the cost and reliability of these units. We are considering a multicab pickup 4×4 for use by our caretaker for picking up supplies and materials mostly from the town that is about 12km away. At the most it might make a monthly trip to the next city which is another 20km. All the roads are low volume, two lane roads, some strethes are not paved and kind of steep in a few places. Would this be a good choice vs. a tricycle?

Very nice site. Enjoyed reading it very much. Hope you can get everything worked out and retire here soon. I really love it here, good and bad times. Well keep writing and i will stay in touch.

My name is LAR and I’m a Filipino. I made a site to promote the beautiful island nation of the Philippines through pictures, and I am currently inviting anybody, Filipino or not, who visited/travelled the Philippines to help build my ‘Photographic Profile’ page.

If you have some time to answer a few questions and share some pictures of your favorite places in the Philippines, I will create a profile for you on my site. Through this, I aim to help more travelers, photographers and people get in touch with each other and publicly share information about the Philippines.

Please visit http://www.philtravelphotos.com for more information or you can email me at lar@philtravelphotos.com so I can send you a formal invitation and also send the questionnaire, if you’re interested. Or you can also download the questionnaire here: http://www.philtravelphotos.com/submitprofiles.html

Thank you for your time and I truly hope to hear from you. Best regards!

Welcome to the beautiful Philippines!
L. A. de los Reyes
http://www.philtravelphotos.com
http://www.amazing-philippines.com
http://www.sapot-litrato.philsites.net