|
If you are buying your own home for the very first time, it is best to start with a condominium, and more importantly, to buy it now.
Financing for condos is now easier as banks ride on the current boom in the property sector, which picked up again after a long slump triggered by a contagion that hit the region 10 years ago.
The prevailing low-yield environment has allowed lenders to offer long-term mortgage loans at fixed rates now running in single digits. Mortgage payments for a condo unit, meanwhile, now come for as low as P10, 000 a month.
“If you want a start-up, the best is a condo. Prices are reasonable, coupled with the fact that interest rates are now at their lowest,” Patricia May T. Siy, Security Bank senior vice-president and corporate relationship group head, said in an interview.
“Now is the chance to own your own house. You’re catching the best rates,” she added.
But most people who want to buy a condo unit instead of a house and lot are concerned that most of these units are offered on a preselling basis – one has to buy the unit before it is built, such that you may find yourself failing to avail of bank financing. But lenders often require a title before extending you a credit facility to finance your home.
Ms. Siy, however, pointed out that with the birth of the “Homelite” concept, prospective homeowners can get bank financing right from the day one when the buyer agrees with a developer to purchase a condo unit.
The “Homelite” financing program, a tie-up between Security Bank and listed property firm Megaworld Corp., has veered away from the old culture of having the developer provide in-house financing for condo unit buyers.
The new concept allows prospective homeowners to lock in their borrowings at a lower cost via a smooth transaction.
“What we provided is a seamless process. We bring them the benefit of end-to-end financing from CTS [contract to sell] to mortgage. So the buyers are able to protect their rates,” Ms. Siy said.
While a house and lot has always been desirable, current trends no longer make buying it come easy. Developers have placed house and lot blocks in the suburbs, which may not bode well for those working in the city, Ms. Siy pointed out.
Besides, condos are now tailored fit to accommodate even growing families, with more developers offering units with up to three bedrooms.
Condo-living also somehow replicates the kind of life you get from staying in a subdivision, given the security and amenities developers now provide, Ms. Siy added. “Condos now have a community.”
The banker warned of rising interest rates in the near term as property prices go up.
“We [expect] rates [to] go up. If you have the intention to buy, don’t delay it anymore,” she said. “Property prices are about to go up. So if ever [you’re buying a home now], you’re catching the bottom prices,” she added.
|
