Ten Questions Buyers Forget to Ask When Viewing Properties
A site viewing, or tripping as it is universally called in the Philippine market, is usually organized to be pleasant. You arrive on a Saturday morning, the unit has been cleaned, the lights are on, and the agent is prepared for the questions most buyers ask.
The questions that matter most are the ones nobody prepares for, because they cannot be answered with a brochure. This article sets out ten of them, why each one matters, and what a satisfactory answer sounds like. Ask these and you will learn more in an hour than most buyers learn in three viewings.
1. Can I See the Certified True Copy of the Title?
Not the owner's photocopy. The certified true copy from the Registry of Deeds, dated recently.
The owner's duplicate reflects the register at the moment it was issued. It can be outdated, it can omit annotations entered afterward, and in cases of fraud it can be a sophisticated forgery. The certified true copy is drawn from the record on file and carries the Registry's certification, stamp, dry seal, and date.
What to look for on the reverse: the memorandum of encumbrances, where mortgages, adverse claims, notices of lis pendens, easements, and agrarian reform annotations appear. An annotation without a corresponding cancellation entry is still live, regardless of what the seller says about having settled the underlying obligation.
A satisfactory answer: yes, here it is, or yes, we will provide it before you pay any reservation fee. An unsatisfactory answer is any version of it being unnecessary at this stage.
2. What Is Your PRC License Number and Authority to Sell?
Ask the person showing you the property who they are and what authorizes them to offer it.
Real estate brokers and salespersons are licensed by the Professional Regulation Commission under Republic Act No. 9646. Separately, the person offering a property should hold a valid Authority to Sell or Authority to Negotiate from the owner. These are two different things and you want both.
Why it matters more than it sounds: the most common wasted trip in Philippine property is arriving at a property offered by someone with no authority to convey it. Asking before you travel saves the trip. Asking during the viewing at least saves the reservation fee.
For a project sale, also ask for the developer's DHSUD Certificate of Registration and License to Sell. Advertising or accepting reservations without a License to Sell is prohibited under Presidential Decree 957.
3. What Happens Here When It Rains Hard?
Ask about flooding directly, and ask someone other than the agent.
After Ondoy and Carina, flood exposure is a first screen in this market rather than an afterthought. It affects insurability, resale liquidity, and whether your ground floor parking is usable.
Ask the security guard, a neighbor, a nearby store owner. People who are not selling you anything give more useful answers. Ask specifically how high the water reached in the worst recent event and how long it took to drain.
Then verify independently. Published hazard maps and PHIVOLCS FaultFinder cover the specific address. Do this before the viewing so you know what to ask about.
4. What Is the Total Monthly Cost, Not the Amortization?
The mortgage payment is the number you will be quoted. It is not what you will pay each month.
For a condominium, add association dues at roughly ₱100 to ₱200 per square meter per month, parking dues where applicable, utilities, and annual real property tax spread across the year. On a mid sized unit, dues alone frequently add several thousand pesos monthly.
Ask specifically what dues cover and when they were last increased. Dues are set by the condominium corporation and they rise. A building with ageing systems and deferred maintenance will raise them faster.
Real property tax is now a rising cost on a known schedule, since local government units conduct general revisions of assessments every three years under the Real Property Valuation and Assessment Reform Act. Budget for increases rather than for a flat figure.
5. What Are the Total Move-In Costs?
This is the question that produces the largest gap between expectation and reality.
Miscellaneous fees run 6 to 10 percent of the purchase price, covering title transfer, registration, utility connections, and developer processing charges. On a ₱4 million unit that is ₱240,000 to ₱400,000, and it is rarely quoted upfront.
Add documentary stamp tax at 1.5 percent, transfer tax at 0.5 to 0.75 percent, the reservation fee of ₱20,000 to ₱50,000 which is usually non refundable, and move-in and furnishing costs starting around ₱100,000.
Ask for the full breakdown in writing before you pay anything. A seller who will not provide it has told you something useful.
6. Which of These Finishes Are Actually Included?
Show units are furnished and specified to sell. Delivered units frequently are not.
Walk through the unit with the agent and ask, item by item, what transfers. Cabinets, closets, light fixtures, air conditioning units, shower enclosures, kitchen appliances, window treatments. Ask whether the flooring, tiles, and countertop materials in the show unit are the delivered specification or an upgrade.
Get the answer in writing as part of the technical specification, not as a verbal assurance during a viewing. The gap between the show unit and the delivered unit is the most common source of turnover disputes in the Philippine market.
7. Can I See the Actual Unit, or Just the Model?
If the unit exists, ask to walk through the specific unit you would be buying.
A show unit is a different unit on a different floor with a different view, and frequently a different layout orientation. The actual unit tells you about the view, the noise, the light at that hour, the corridor, the neighbors, and the finish quality as actually delivered.
If the unit does not exist yet because the project is pre-selling, ask instead to see a completed project by the same developer, ideally one delivered several years ago. How a developer's building looks at five years tells you more than how the show unit looks today.
8. What Is the Developer's Completion Record?
For pre-selling, this is the most important question you will ask, and it is not about this project.
Ask what projects the developer has completed, when they were turned over, and whether they were delivered on the original schedule. Ask to see them. Ask to speak to owners in them.
Understand your protection. The Maceda Law provides installment buyers with grace periods and a partial refund after two years of payments. That is a genuine protection and it does not make an incomplete project complete. Under PD 957 the developer must also post a performance bond guaranteeing the development, and must deliver the facilities represented in its plans and brochures within one year of the License to Sell or such other period as DHSUD fixes.
Keep every brochure and marketing document. Represented facilities are an obligation, and that material is your evidence of what was represented.
9. What Is the Parking Situation, Specifically?
Parking is sold separately in most Philippine condominium projects and it is frequently unavailable at any price later.
Ask whether a slot is included or must be purchased, what it costs, whether it is titled separately, and how many slots remain unsold. Ask whether the slot is a standard slot or a tandem, and where it is located relative to the lift.
Ask about visitor parking, which is a recurring source of frustration in buildings that provided too little of it.
For house and lot purchases, ask about street parking rules, the subdivision's restrictions, and whether the driveway accommodates the vehicle you actually own.
10. What Do the Deed Restrictions Say?
Every subdivision and condominium project carries rules, and you are bound by them from the day you own.
Ask for a copy of the master deed and the by-laws for a condominium, or the deed restrictions for a subdivision. Read them before you commit rather than after.
The provisions that catch people: rules on leasing the unit out, whether short term rental is permitted, pet restrictions, renovation approval requirements and permitted hours, restrictions on business use, and the process for special assessments where the corporation needs to fund major works.
Ask specifically whether any special assessment is currently under discussion. A building about to fund a major systems replacement will be charging owners for it, and a buyer who did not ask will inherit that.
Questions Worth Asking About the Building Itself
Beyond the ten above, four building level questions consistently produce useful answers and are rarely asked during a viewing.
How old are the building systems, and when were they last serviced? Lifts, generators, fire suppression, and water pumps have finite lives. A building approaching a major systems replacement will fund it through special assessments charged to owners, and a buyer who did not ask inherits that liability.
What is the building occupancy rate? A largely empty building has fewer owners contributing to dues, which puts pressure on the corporation's budget and on the quality of maintenance. It also tells you something about resale demand.
Who manages the building, and how long have they held the contract? Frequent turnover of property management is a signal worth investigating. Ask a resident rather than the agent.
Is there a backup water supply and a generator, and what does the generator actually power? Many Philippine buildings provide generator backup to common areas and lifts only, not to individual units. If you work from home, that distinction matters every time the power goes out.
Two Habits That Improve Every Viewing
Visit twice, at different times. A Saturday morning viewing tells you about a Saturday morning. Go back on a weekday evening to see the traffic, the noise, the parking, and the building at its busiest.
Take your own photographs and notes as you go, including of anything that looks wrong. Memory blurs across multiple viewings, and a photograph taken during the viewing is useful evidence if the delivered unit differs from what you were shown.
Most of what protects a buyer is available before the viewing rather than during it, in the title, the license, and the authority to sell. You can explore verified listings across Metro Manila and the rest of the Philippines, with seller identity and selling authority confirmed at source, at The Grid Property Ventures, the Philippines' smartest real estate platform.
