The past few days, I’ve been seeing increased views and clicks on previous posts about Grace Residences, the latest of which you can read here. Perhaps dear readers are eager to hear about the good news as well. You are not alone.
From this June 5 article, I also commented that as of Dec 16 call to customer service, we were advised that turnover calls for residents of Lily (Tower 2) are about to start by mid-Dec2016. Tower 2 is scheduled for turnover by Dec2016. The customer service further mentioned that the calls and emails will start for lower floors first, upwards, but there is no guarantee that all floors will be turned over by Dec 31. 😦
December 2016 came and went, we are now 4 days into Jan 2017, and yours truly and the charitable Ilocana are still waiting for our own call and email. Our units are located in the middle floors of the midrise building and we are eagerly waiting for the call as we want to move in as soon as possible, to significantly lessen travel time, avoid daily traffic, and be able to pursue other worthwhile things (sleep, exercise, grow businesses, study stocks, blog, cuddle (eew)) instead of travel for hours just to get home. My Excel-based countdown, shown below, now features #VALUE and computation errors, originally based on counting down to Dec 31, 2016. It’s now negative 4 days haha!
Naturally we called SMDC customer service a couple of times to bug them about our units and pressure them, after all we are already done with our down payment, and actually paying a few months amortization already with our bank loans. Don’t get me wrong, we are not irate or complaining. Not yet. Impatiently excited yes. A few days or weeks delay is bearable, since we’ve been waiting for 4 years now, but with the right amount of pressure, hopefully the wait until 31Jan2017 won’t be necessary. We’re still okay given the horror stories we heard about other developers that were many years delayed in starting construction, worse in turnover, as the unit-owners already lost hope in seeing and using the units they invested in.
As of 03Jan2017 call to customer service, the latest advise is that indeed, turnover of lower floors have started. As for our units located in 9th to 12th floors, the units are already queued in Engineering department already for final unit inspections, after which will be immediately queued for customer service outbound calls and emails. The target, pegged on their system, for our units at least, is 31 Jan 2017.
So we wait again, but hopefully not until 31 Jan 2017. Still hoping to get that call within a few hours, days or a week from now. They say, the marathon (I don’t run by the way) gets hardest when Juan can already see the finish line. Psychological perhaps. Or that it is darkest just a few moments before dawn (this one I believe since it makes sense, physics-wise). So maybe the waiting gets a bit agitating when you can already sense Grace is coming in a while. Below is now the revised countdown, hopefully the last revision:
How about your unit? Still waiting or turned-over already? Let me know!
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https://polldaddy.com/js/rating/rating.jsGlad I found this blog! I have a unit in tower 2 and I have had various issues with SMDC too ever since. I’m trying hard not to regret getting a unit from them 😦 Anyway I have a stupid question about parking. Lol. I am not based in the Philippines so I do not know how it works there. If you don’t purchase a parking space, is there a designated parking area for homeowners? Like a non-assigned/non-covered parking? I read somewhere here that there is no guest parking space (which is ridiculous if you ask me) but I was hoping there is a space for homeowners to park if they opt for the assigned paid parking.
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Thanks for the kind words. I think we managed our expectations well enough so we have high tolerance of certain issues. So far. Lol!
Guests have temporary parking in the open areas in the vicinity of the buildings but they are asked to leave their hazard lights on. And they are for a short time only. Homeowners don’t have tempo parking since they won’t be there temporarily. From what i know (though I’m not the admin) if a homeowner did not avail of the parking slot in tower 1, then he’ll have to look for parking outside the Grace compound or rent a parking slot from those who lease it. Suggest you join the FB groups too. Good discussions there.
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Also the “Grace Mall” as it is called will open this week. There are parking slots in front of BDO and Grace Mall though not sure if they will offer it as paid parking. Because if they do, the slots might run out!
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https://polldaddy.com/js/rating/rating.jsThank you Geri! Appreciate your replies. Let’s hope so, I’m really disappointed at how SMDC marketed Grace Residences as something of a ‘luxurious’ property yet failed at every level to deliver expectations esp at how crappy the receivables look like. Oh well.. I’m hoping everything else wouldn’t be too bad when I see them myself. Lol.
Anyway, I’m looking forward to your updates on “Grace Mall”. Awesome blog you have here going!
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https://polldaddy.com/js/rating/rating.jsTapos na daw ang Tower 2 building, I have unit on 23rd Floor but no one actually confirmed yet kung tapos na ang lahat ng units from SMDC. Although one of the agents says na nag start na raw ang turnover this month.
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June 29 11 am opening of Grace Mall. Let’s see if it really feels like a mall. Lol!
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Dropped by the commercial area to see ongoing works. There’s BDO pero 8 to 5 lng sila Monday to Friday basedsa signage sa door.
Then according to the guard on duty, there will be Alfamart, Montalbo, LBC, Kuya J, Classic savory, Davids salon. I would prefer a bigger grocery though.
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Is anyone here renting out their parking slot? Need to rent one for 5 months. Thanks.
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https://polldaddy.com/js/rating/rating.jsyes.. pls give me your contact number
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Hey Geri, great stuff, any updates on 19th floor, tower II?
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We are selling our unit in Grace Residences, Tower 2, 10th floor. 27 sqm, with 1.5 hp air conditioner. Know anyone that is interested, pm at tmjsbarrett@yahoo.com
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Great blog big help indeed, thanks Geri! I’m also a unit owner at tower 2 lily 22nd floor. Very disappointed with smdc delayed turnover. My unit is fully paid since dec 12, 2016 but they kept on delaying the turnover. I received an email last month saying sorry for the delayed turnover of my unit and giving last week of april as a target turnover. Still waiting for the exact turnover date email though. Another disappointment when I saw the interior of basic turnover unit. Badly need for a renovation.. Don’t you think they should compensate for the delayed? I’m living abroad and went to Philippines last Jan because they said unit turnover starts on dec. I just wasted my time and money for nothing. 😦 Looking forward to your next update. Thank you.
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Same sentiments with the bare unit. The flooring was dark which makes the unit smaller than it already is. I was expecting that it would be ceramic tiles similar to other smdc projects. I was wondering why they used the vinyl instead. I asked PMO about replacing the tiles and we would have to pay 50,000 pesos for construction bond (refundable), around 2500 admin fee (not sure of the exact price), and the elevator fee. The kitchen counter top looks really cheap. The faucet in the bathroom is placed really high. Like when you put a pail below, it would really splash water. The faucet is above the waist area (mind you, I am a tall girl). The lavatory is super tiny. You cannot do anything in the balcony aside from standing there. LOL. And you have to pay 95/sqm for that balcony in assoc dues. What a waste. The lobby is pretty though. I was really sad when I saw our turned over unit. Hubby kept on cheering me up ( I was the one who wanted to purchase this condo because we are currently renting a condo unit, I figured why not add a little more and have our own.). He always looks on the brighter side of things. He balances me out. haha. Back to the unit, you have to really do a lot of interior changes to make it look homey and spacious. I do think that the end of April is possible. I don’t see a lot of construction going on in Tower 2. The Tower 3 looks built from the outside. The pool is being tested as well. In the meantime, people are free to park in the parking area near the future savemore. The security is good I think. Better than in the Condo where we are currently staying.
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Finally got both my units. Learned a few things the 2nd time that I wasn’t told the 1st time. Didn’t know that there is a switch in the fuse box that you can turn on the generator in a brown out. They said the swimming pool will not open until Tower 3 is completed. They don’t want construction debris falling into the pool. There will be a Savemore in the shopping area below Tower 1. Remember the showroom at the front of the property that is now closed. That is going to be a Starbucks. There will be a free shuttle from Grace to SM Aura in the future. I went ahead and bought a parking space. They are selling out quick and the prices will be going up next month. We paid 10,000 php down and 13,000 php a month with no interest for 5 years.
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Thanks Ted for the updates. Heard about the shuttle and the Starbucks. Some sources said it will be alfamart and not save more since there is save more already in acacia estates. But personally i prefer a bigger supermarket than a convenience store.
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Hi Ted, hope you are well. Thank you for the updates. Just wanted to ask if your parking space includes tax already? I bought one on October 2016. I think the price back then was 800k. Then after a few weeks, SMDC informed me that unlike the condo unit (if below 3m), all parking spaces are subject to 12% tax, which is more than 90k. We had a big fight about it because that was not the price that was initially advised. They acknowledged their mistake, but in the end I still had to pay the 90k tax because as they said, it is what the Philippine law states. Can anyone shed light into this? When I computed your parking space cost, it seems like it is much cheaper than what was advised to me last October. Thanks in advance guys!
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Do you know how can I file for a complaint regarding the delay of the unit turnover? I was told it would be turned over by Feb 2016 and it’s already April 2017 and it’s not turned over yet. Would SMDC compensate me for the delay?
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Hi Dothy, my wife threatened smdc about complaining with HLURB. It worked and she got her unit a few days after.
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