Renovated Unit at Deca Clark Pampanga

We invested one townhouse unit at Deca Clark Homes Pampanga. The property developer is 8990 Holdings Inc., well known in mass housing in the Philippines.

Deca Clark Homes Pampanga offers Bungalow, Single-detached, and 2-storey Townhouse ready for occupancy units.

My sister Gadz and Jan showed us first the Deca community through pictures. I visited Pampanga last February 2018, I inquired the price and checked their payment terms to see if it’s still fit within our budget.

The agent Berja Realty told us that there’s a vacant house in front of my sisters unit and we decided to take that one unit too.

Tip: When it comes to buying a home or investing in real estate, you should always try to buy less price than you can afford. Chances are, there are hidden extra costs in owning one.

If you’re getting a house, check if it’s a bare type or finished. If it’s bare, you need to allot money in improving your unit to make it liveable. For some finished unit, you still need to build a gate or add window grills for safety. If you’re getting a condo, review the miscellaneous fee.”

Here’s our experience.

We purchased one townhouse with a minimum lot area of 51sqm and floor area of 48sqm. It is located at Brgy. Margot, Angeles City, Pampanga about 10 to 15 minutes’ drive from Clark International Airport, SM City Clark, Korean Town, and other major establishments in Clark.

Unit Computation
Reservation fee	Php 10,000
3 months equity fee	PHP 8,333.33
Contract price	PHP 1,049,000
In-house loan rate	9%

First, to get a unit, you must pay the reservation fee of 10,000 pesos. Then, you have to pay the down payment (25,000 pesos) in 3 months. We didn’t have time to check PAG-IBIG, we took an in-house loan with an interest rate of 9% in first to five years. The payment mode is in a post-dated cheque. After six months, they turn over the unit.

Our bare unit February 2018

What is a bare type unit? The term “bare” describes a unit that there’s nothing in it. There are no tiles, no paint for walls, no ceiling, no partitions, etc. Deca Homes will turnover a plain unit with toilet bowl in the bathroom and sink in the kitchen.

Before the turnover we went back to see the Deca unit

July 2018, we went back to attend the seminar needed before they can turn over the unit. It’s raining, and we saw some vacant units with really tall grasses. It can be a problem with visitors in a big car.

Renovation started December 2018

We went back to Clark again last November to personally meet our contractors Kuya Milvon and his wife Ate Marivic of Milvon Builders. They give us local knowledge about processing the documents in Angeles. There is paperwork before the unit owners can start their renovation. We applied at Angeles Electric Company for the electricity and water line at BP Waterworks.

Deca Clark Paper Works
Building Permit Angeles City Hall	475
Construction Bond, 8990 Holdings	10,000
Brgy. Clearance for Water connection	50
Electric fee survey, Area Fee, etc.	1,500
Angeles Electric Company Deposit fee survey, Area Fee, etc.	6,000
Converge Internet Connection Installation + Deposit	3,000

Our renovation started end week of November, we highly recommend Milvon Builders workmanship in improving our Deca Home. They completed the renovation in about two months. February 2019, we had our house blessings. We invited our family members to check our improved unit and were very glad for their positive feedback.

Managing house renovation overseas

My sister highly recommended our contractors. We visited a few of their renovated projects at Deca Clark. They managed some of the units, and we were impressed by their works. We did house hopping and took as many photos as we can for our reference. The renovation cost ranges from 300K up to 1 million. There were a lot of challenges. Besides not being physically there to see the progress, we also don’t have documentation of everything. We just had signed an agreement and put our trust to them 100%. Our family played a significant role in checking onsite. They suggested us to improve our toilet by adding a Water Heater and changing the toilet bowl. They helped us purchase the items and delivered to Clark. Our family monitored the progress, assuring us that all is well. Of course, it also helped that our Contractors Kuya Milvon Miral was very responsive throughout the entire renovation. And they are experienced in and out of the home improvement. Here’s a rundown of how much we spent in owning one townhouse unit at Deca Clark:

Construction Cost
TOTAL COST including ALL flooring and tiling, partition works, electrical, plumbing works, carpentry, window grills, plus 2 brand new aircon, screen door, water heater, new toilet bow, labor cost, etc.	373,500
Closing the unit and adding the Gate	135,000