lbounds

Thanks for sharing the links. I've been doing a lot of reading on the subject. Yes a falling coconut is serious as I saw some tore up metal roof before from one falling. I was also reminded to never stand under one. I think we should close the deal on property very soon.

Thanks, I told my wife I just want to sit on the beach and wait for the coconuts to grow. It sounds better than sitting in an office at the moment lol.

Thanks for the links

I've read posts here before about people buying rice farms and other businesses in Philippines. I think there's a few people here that have or thought about retirement in Philippines which is why I asked.

My wife and I are looking to buy a coconut farm soon. We will have her family work on it. Really this is a gift for the family.

As far as an investment does anyone have any experience doing this?

Coconut farms have a harvest every 3-4 months. If it goes well I could get a second one to add to my future retirement income.

I was just curious if anyone here had done this kind of thing before. Thanks

Marco Polo is a 4/5 star hotel by US standards I would say. I've stayed there several Times. They will arrange a van to take you from airport to hotel if you ask them.

A word of advice. When I went to this NBI office early just after it opened with my fiance the official immediately closed the gate when he saw I was from US. He said they were at max capacity and we would have to return the next day. My wife said to let her talk to him. He basically wanted a bribe "tip". Then he opened the gate, gave us some paper and told us to wait. Once we were called they brought us into the office where a man at a desk also wanted a bribe. This was on top of the normal fee for NBI. I'm just letting you know you might want to let her go by herself or you will spend a bit extra and maybe have some hassles.

Happily married for several years now. My wife's birthday is Wednesday so taking a day off work to spend with her. I'm really thankful I met the right one for me.

National city, a lot of Filipinos always at seafood city and all around the area nearby with LBC, Jolibee, Filipino bakeries, other Filipino restaurants etc. My wife made some great friends just during shopping trips.

Congrats to you both

A survivor's story

http://cbholganzablog.wordpress.com/2013/11/11/a-survivors-story/

I got an email this morning that Rebtel is offering free calls to Philippines until the 18th for those trying to check on friends and family

Red cross is always a safe place to donate

I don't know what its like now but as a high school dropout I took my GED in the 90s. I was worried at the time because it had been many years since I was in school but I needed a GED to go to technical school. The GED study book was huge and a bit overwhelming to study. Someone encouraged me to just take the tests on each subject. If I failed I could just study for that subject. I actually ended up passing them all without study.I hope it goes as well for you

There's Filipino grocery and restaurants in ocean side. National city has a huge Filipino community. Go to seafood city there and get some groceries and then hang out to eat. My wife made a few good friends just during shopping trips at seafood city.

Sorry you had that problem. My bank was bank of America. We had no issues with them or strange forms. That was about 4 years ago

When my wife came to the US I had her added to my bank account so it became a joint account. They asked for her SS # but we didn't have it yet. They said they would add her and complete the change to joint account but we should give her SS# later. They never really asked again later that was years back.

BTW when are you going to change your avatar to your fiance

John 14:13

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

my wife is 4 hours from Davao and didn't feel it there though people in Davao reported feeling it.

I call her "get me a beer"

I guess that explains your avatar

I just call her "my sweet wife"

We got one from walmart I'm sure around $30 or less. It has self shut off and she has been using it for 3+ years and loves it. No problems. Spending $100's of dollars is kind of a waste to me but if you want a luxury rice cooker I guess they have them. My wife looked at a $200 pair of jeans once and we both looked at each other like what kind of person would pay that for jeans.. lol

Very sorry to hear about your situation. You need to get it taken care of with uscis. She sounds like a really bad person.

http://mindanaobob.com/

Mindanao Bob has some nice diary-style articles about expat living in one of the more provincial areas of the Philippines. I perused some of them when I returned for the first time in 2011.

He has a few e-books as well. I was thinking of buying one a while back. I used his pointman PI services in the past.

I'm buying in Camotes...on the island of San Francisco off the coast of Cebu.

That looks like an awesome area to live from the pictures I saw online.

I've seen nice sand beaches in Mindanao and Cebu. I've also seen some beaches that weren't much to look at. When I was in Cebu city we paid a taxi to take us to the beaches. I wanted to go to public beach but he insisted that we wouldn't like it. He said those are dirty with garbage etc. We went to some resorts that were side by side and walked along the resort beaches. In October there was almost no one around on the beach but hotel workers. Cebu city has some casinos, good food and entertainment. I didn't travel around that island to other parts as we were only there a few days. Palawan is a place I've wanted to visit but since its in the Muslim area I'm not sure. Really bad stuff going on in the west of Mindanao the last few months. The underground river in palawan is on my list to visit someday though.

I like the beach views as well though not sure about typhoon season. One went through Mindanao this year and in one place that once looked like a beach paradise it looked like a bomb hit it with hardly a tree or anything left standing.

I read this article and noticed that Cebu was one of the top 10 places. You can read below but I noticed that they mention the price of "heat" maybe they meant air con ? I really doubt anyone in Cebu at any day of the year needs a heater.

One of the things often missing from articles like this is the cost of healthcare there. Anyone planning to retire in Cebu ? Actually having visited there it would be one of my choices.

I felt safer there than in Mindanao (not seeing security with machine guns or car bomb checks entering hotels that is)

I wonder how nice a $270 a month apartment is in Cebu.

http://money.msn.com/retirement/10-places-to-live-on-dollar2000-a-month