As a child, I was always told to prepare for the future. Now as a soon to be pensioner— I am always thinking of preparing for the future although short as it may be compared to the future i was preparing for as a child and the present that took almost all my life.
What is one supposed to do? Ho does one prepare for it? What does one need to know?
I tell you, although I may have gathered all the experiences and lessons I have learned throughout my entire life, I still have to consider factors that are still going to happen. Factors that are unexpected but may also bound to happen. Factors that are part of my fate… and the most important is the destiny that will always happen. Sooner or later, it will, dare I say eventually!
Yes, much to my regrets, I have waited too long to start preparing for retirement. I was always confident that having a place to live in Manila regardless of the size, was enough for my husband and I to stay at when we retire from work. I forgot to consider our comfort and more so, to be able to enjoy our hobbies while we live a serene stress-free life in a not so hectic environment. Conclusion: we look for a place outside Manila. Not too far out in the outskirts but definitely out of the Greater Manila area.
So, I started searching for an optimal place.
Looking at “Ready for Occupancy” houses was the original plan. Big enough for hubby and myself, not too far out in the province and most of all, affordable and fitting to our budget. The websites, Lamudidotcom and DOTdotcom helped me a lot. Although, I still needed to make time and invest on seeing the houses myself.
It’s amazing how many houses/properties are being sold at the moment. It seems like the business of build and sell is booming.
To start with, I needed to know the location. When we hubby and I started planning on the retirement house to prepare, we were actually going towards North of Manila. Pampanga, La Union or even Bataan.
Somehow, in a short span of time, we switched to South or Metro Manila. Not really quiet sure now how it happened. Well, not, I think I still remember how it happened.
Whilst hubby and I were in Manila last December 2023 for a much earned vacation, we were invited by our friends who came to visit us in Germany early that year. They brought us to the new-Boracay and showed us around Manila as well. It was an awesome experience. One that will definitely go into my list of “Milestones in my life”. While we were in Boracay, during a chilling time at a bar called “OM”, sniffing on my Shisha lamp, we started talking about getting a retirement home on the Island. There is a place there being developed that seems like paradise. We had lunch in the area and visited some condominium units that are for sale, well to see and compare to house and lot properties. The difference, comfort, the environment and area of recreation as well as security are big factors to consider. Of course, needless to say, we fell in love with the place. The problem was, the developer didn’t have a bigger unit available for us.
So the search continues.