Buying Properties

(Zamboanguita, Negros Oriental) - I am so fond of checking properties on the web because it is more easy than visiting the properties directly. At least, through a website, most of your questions are already answered with minimal effort.

When I checked the properties in this region, I could not find affordable properties with our tight budget so I tried asking my Aunt if she knew someone selling a cheaper lot. My auntie told me she heard that someone is deploying lands for 20k every 100 square meter. That interests me. So I asked my aunt to accompany me to pay a visit to this guy. When we were there, the informer told us that the land has been sold because it was only 40k. Then, the man whom we were asking said that his house and lot is for sale for only 230 k. I got so interested since we were in a hurry to transfer immediately so our dogs can be transferred. He told me that everything is cleaned that what we need to worry was the transfer of the Title. I believed him.

He suggested that we should go to the Barangay Captain for the Deed of Sale. He said, the transfer could take a while so its not really in a hurry to have a Deed of Sale since the Barangay Captain cannot provide it. That the signed agreement will do. Off course I did not agree for security reasons. So we visit his one of the relatives who is making Deed Of Sale. The lawyer said that he dont want to process our request because he dont have all the requirements he needed. And that his fees were much higher. He forwarded us to another lawyer that ask reasonable fees . We were very well accomodated.

The property belongs to the grandparents of the seller which was given to him as one of the heir. Though he has the documents and the Original Certificate of Title as the heir, still we needed every heirs of the grandparent to sign a document to forfeit their claims of the property. Good that the “acting dealer “ of the property has already the document we need. She said it was worth 7 thousand pesos but I managed to bargain for 5 thousand pesos.

The lawyer said, without that Waiver of Rights signed by all the heirs of the said person, he will not make the Deed of Sale. Though he said, Waiver of Rights is legal, it should be the Sentiment Quit of Claims. After checking the property history (if it has pending case, if its been used as bail, loaned, etc), latest tax receipts, etc, he told us (me,the sellers) to get a Community Tax Certificate (Cedula) in the municipal hall.

When we handed him the Cedula, he started making the Deed of Absolute Sale. The payment for making the Deed of Absolute Sale was Php5,000.00. He said that was 3 % of the selling price. Usually its 5% but he preferred to lower it since the market value of the said property was small. Then we paid the agreed property price to the seller in front of him after we signed the Deed of Sale document.

He told us that he also process Title Transfers and he offered us Php15,000 as a payment for the service. It will cover all the expenses for transferring a Title and it will take 3 months in his estimation. But, since we are not married yet, my fiancee would like an assurance that I could not sell the property without his authorization so also asked him to make a memorandum of agreement which should be notarized by a lawyer to make it legal. Its another Php 1,000.

Just a piece of advice:

If your buying a property of any sort, do not agree to do it in a Barangay Captain's office. The lawyer said, any transactions regarding buying properties made from the Barangay Captain will not be honored in the Registry of Deeds.