CEBU-BASED Filipino Homes is eyeing to open at least four more ‘Global Partners’ facilities in countries where there is a large concentration of Filipino communities – Japan, Canada, and the United States of America – this year.
Introduced and piloted in Dubai during the company’s property roadshow in January this year, Global Partners is a facility that aims to protect overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from being scammed, especially when purchasing real estate properties in their home country.
Acting like an advisory service, Global Partners provides overseas Filipinos working or living abroad access to the right information about property investments in the Philippines and also spots illegal real estate-related dealings abroad.
“This facility—Global Partners will support Filipino Homes’ plans to expand in many countries where there are Filipinos, and provide them physical access to sound advice and consultations about real estate investments and issues like scams, and others,” said Filipino Homes founder and president Anthony Gerard Leuterio.
Global Partners is also willing to collaborate with reputable developers in the Philippines to ensure the legitimacy of projects marketed and sold overseas.
The facility will also offer assistance to OFWs who want to list their properties for leasing or rental.
“The goal is to reach out OFWs in each country and to help them from being victimized by scammers,” said Leuterio.
“We give free consultation or advice to prospective buyers. We will also launch a regular talk show to provide an avenue for Filipinos abroad who may have concerns or questions about real estate investment, property management and other related issues,” he added.
The “Usapang Real Easte” talk show was launched at the newly established Filipino Homes Global Partner-Dubai.
“In our sales mission trips abroad, we discovered that a lot of Filipinos are being scammed in their investments in properties in the Philippines. Global Partner offices’ purpose is to help them come up with the right decision in investing in properties, as well as protect them from being victimized by colorum developers and real estate agents,” Leuterio said.
The OFWs continue to be a major force in driving the growth of the country’s real estate market. They are the top residential property buyers in the Philippines.
Property developers are betting big on the continued inflow of remittances to support the growth of real estate.
Latest data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed that the money sent home by OFWs from January to November 2023 grew by 2.9 percent to US$33.6 billion. November remittance alone stood at $3 billion.
Bank lending also grew by seven percent, according to the BSP.
Outstanding loans for production activities went up by 5.7 percent in November from 5.9 percent in the previous month, mainly due to the growth in loans to major sectors including real estate activities (11.9 percent); electricity, gas, steam, and airconditioning supply (12.8 percent); and wholesale and retail trade, and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (9.6 percent).
