Journey to Our Home (Micara Estates, Tanza, Cavite)

In 2016, I was enjoying life working and traveling with my girlfriend (now my wife). Almost every month we have a gala - a typical working millennial always wanting a break lol. When I felt, that I am not getting any younger, I decided to invest in property.

One morning, I got a call from my mom asking me random things. Then she asked me, why don’t you buy a house of yours and use your Pagibig benefit. I wasn’t foreign to that idea because it was my intention to really buy a house of my own some day. 

I searched the internet and call a lot of agents. There are some subdivisions that I cannot afford, so an x mark. There are some low cost housing - like under Php500k - but I do not know how it looks like. I wanted to check so I texted some agents offering low cost housing. I didn’t felt the warmth, the response feels so generic and sometimes grumpy. There’s even a message that if you are late for even one minute "iiwan ka ng van" for a tripping (or site visitation)

No. No. No. I deserve more than this.

Then my cousin recommended his agent but I was kinda hesitant because the units being offered were located in Imus and Tanza, Cavite. But the price and description of the units seems appealing so I went on. 

I met the agent on a Saturday and we talked for more than an hour about the property. I had a lot of questions (lol) and she was very patient and happy answering all my questions. My concerts were flooding, drainage, water, transportation etc. 

I told the agent that the value I am looking are:

1. It should be near the main highway ✅
2. 10-20 minutes commute to the market ✅
3. Has hospitals nearby ✅
4. No flooding! ✅
5. 24 hours security ✅

Everything was met according to the agent so I agreed to visit the subdivision. 

It was a fast one hour drive from Pasay to Tanza via CAVITEX because we were riding a private transport. No PITX at that time but there were plenty of buses in Coastal Road. I’m good with that.

We liked the place. The main gate is two kilometers from the current developments then (houses) with all the tall grasses and empty spaces. Anticipating that we will move-in in 2-3 years, I was fine with the current scene then hoping for more developments in the years to come. 

I needed to decide because on the next few days, the TCP will go up (According to the memo presented by the agent) from around 800K to 1.2M. 

The equity payment will cost me 13k per month for 15 months. My salary then (2016) was like around 25k per month. So do the math, I cannot afford yet. 

I wanted it. 

With a help from my mom and major adjustment of my lifestyle, I can do it. I paid the 10k reservation fee and the next 15 months was history.

There were some hurdles with Pagibig Financing. But after signing the almost 6-inch documents, I was granted a loan for 20 years. 

Fast forward 2019, the unit was ready for turn over. I did not accept it during the first inspection because there were some things that needs to improve. On our second inspection after 3-4 months, they improved but there were some stains and rusts that needs attention. I did not accept. 

In 2020, pandemic happened. This is the year that we are about to get married but postponed twice because of the quarantine - well that’s for another story.

I’ve been calling the developer to ask for my third and hopefully last inspection but due to pandemic, they cannot give me a date - even though that the quarantine restriction was at lowest (GCQ) and construction resumed. 

Aug 24, 2020 was the schedule of our intimate wedding so I had to rush the 3rd inspection. I was very stressed when August came. I am on high pitch mode every time I talked to the developer because they cannot give me a timeline. I was using all the government offices handling these kinds of issue. I specifically mentioned HLURB to them! Haha!

A week before our wedding, they called me for our 3rd and final inspection. Thank God! 

Inspection date was one week after our wedding. Before we go on the 3rd inspection we already contacted some contractors to do the home improvements. 

The 3rd inspection was our last inspection. We accepted the unit and proceed with all the orientation set by the developers.

As for the contractors, there were some who quoted around 200k all in. There are some whose price was based on the items that we will have to improve. 

Our unit is 2-story house ready for occupancy if you wish to. There were no tiles yet but some buyers were moving in as is. As for us we wanted to improve our home and live comfortably 😝

The home improvement took 5 weeks to finish. These were the things we did in our home.

1. Concreting of our carport 
2. Tiles all over the house
3. Kitchen extension
4. Cabinets (kitchen and room)

While improvement was ongoing we were living in my childhood home in Fairview and we were traveling weekly to Tanza to oversee the construction. 

It was very fulfilling to have a home and looking back, all the sacrifices are all worth it.

If you are curious how much did we spend for the Home Improvement, you may watch the video below. You can also watch our Home Improvement Series in out YouTube Channel.