SMDC Grace Residences Lily Turnover Updates

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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SMDC Grace Residences Updates: Tower 1 Turnover and Site Pictures

Got some good news and not so good news.  A few weeks ago we went to the construction site of Grace Residences to check out progress (see here for our previous update). Also got word from our agent that Tower 1 Orchid, has already started turnover to unit owners as of March2016, which is within its revised timeline of 1Q to 2Q2016. That’s the good news.

As for the not so good news…

The agent assigned onsite, named Gerald, was kind enough to give us a tour of the Orchid tower to see what it looks like, as well as some amenities so below are some more pictures. When asked if Tower 2 – Lily is within schedule of 4Q2016 turn-over, he said that it might be safe to expect it by Jan2017. Sigh.

 

But we’re hoping the next 6 months is enough to do all these since individual unit owners also need to add their own constructions and fixtures etc.Tower 2 will take longer to turn-over as expected because it has so many units (all 20 floors) whereas Tower 1 had mostly parking and less than 10 floors for residential which they had to furnish. No towering cranes seen in Tower 2 so our hunch is that the construction is now focused on the inside (wiring, walls of individual units, semi-furnishings, fixtures, painting etc).

Was hoping to grab some lunch in the commercial stores in Tower 1 but it’s still undergoing construction. We asked Gerald what stores will be available, but he said he’s only sure about Save More. I hope there are nice dining places in Tower 1.

Gerald was kind enough to give us a tour of Tower 1 so above is their lobby, to the left is the receptionist and guard desks so there’s already a property management group catering to Tower 1 residents.The lobby is decent, with elevators going to the parking floors. Residents have a separate lobby and elevator leading to their units.

Above picture shows the outside hallway in 8th floor of Tower 1, where the far end shows you the view seen in two pictures above. The doors to the left are amenities such as gym, and another waiting area for elevators with a mini-lobby (with aircon and couch). Meanwhile to the left (not in the picture) are said to be function rooms for use of owners. Looks like it will be fun to make tambay in Tower 1 common areas.

The amenities have presentable labelled doors, such as above. We saw the gym too with the new equipments but it’s not yet operational.

As for the other amenities, not sure when the construction will be since exterior of Towers 3 and 4 are still ongoing finishing, and the swimming pools will be situated in between these towers. Basketball court near tower 2 is also non-existent as of this visit.

We forgot to ask when the amenities will be available, like do we have to wait until all towers have been turned-over, or can we enjoy the amenities already while Towers 3 and 4 are still being furnished? Maybe next time we’ll ask.

As for the countdown, we’re keeping it at 4Q2016 for now since there is no official word yet on the revised timelines. We’re hoping that Gerald was just managing our expectations, and that he didn’t want to overpromise. But January 2017 won’t be so bad compared to Dec 2016. Still, the earlier, the better.

God’s grace in God’s time. Hopefully soon!

SMDC Grace Residences: Updated Countdown to Turnover

It’s been a while since we last updated this countdown. Sure we posted some unofficial updates on the construction, the most recent of which is on parking slots which you can view here.

The last countdown was more than a year ago, and it was still counting down to June 30, 2016, our targeted turn-over date based on SMDC’s original target of 2Q16 during launch in 2012 (PSE: SMPH).

No surprises on the revised turn-over date of 4Q2016 as most condo projects really get delayed (and we lowered our expectations). Nonetheless, I hope the 4Q2016 target is now for real, we hope our units already get turned-over by then as the charitable-Ilocana and I cannot wait to move in.

Here’s the updated countdown then, conservatively based on Dec 30, 2016 turnover:

Got busy with wedding preps in 2015 so we didn’t get to feel the long wait and anticipation. Now that we’ve settled down, it’s time once again to set our sights to the condo completion.

This is just our own unofficial countdown. If you ask SMDC peeps, they are not yet willing to commit to a turnover date but based on our request of DP extension to SMDC (from Dec2015 to Dec2016 in lieu of delayed turnover, a request which they granted), it seems that Dec2016 / 4Q2016 is indeed a more plausible turn-over timetable. We’ll see if Tower 1 meets the 2Q16 revised turn-over date, then hopefully Tower 2 towards end of year.

We’re excited to move in but not much in a hurry because moving in means already having to take out a mortgage loan to finance the balance of the property. Actually we already received a number of emails from banks offering us mortgage loans but we still have a little less than 10 months to avail of one.

We still have a little less than 10 months to beef up our financial capacity. Right now, we’re already paying for the unit and a parking slot, for a sum of around PHP16K per month.

The target is to fully pay and pre-terminate another mortgage loan by Nov16 (which I’ve been pre-paying for years now), to free up those funds and use some of it for the condo payment. Targeting to complete the condo mortgage loan in 10 to 15 years, hopefully with good interest rates. Then partial-pretermination again as and when there are extra funds.

God’s grace in God’s time.

PS. The unit owned by my charitable-Ilocana is still for sale.

But we figured it’s much easier to sell the property once it is already turned-over this year so people can actually see and appreciate. We figured people are usually visual and perceptive of something tangible, compared to selling them the idea of having a condo in a future date. But then again selling price will definitely be different once we have the keys to the unit.

Or we can always rent it out to any of the many interested parties.

Truly Rich Club Stock Tip: LaFarge Republic Inc & Unexpected Dividend

I think it was just two weeks ago when Truly Rich Club included LaFarge Republic Inc (LRI) in their model portfolio, with buy below price of Php12.68. Being a major cement manufacturer, it is expected that LRI shall benefit from the government’s thrust of PPPs and infrastructure. Add to that the booming real estate and construction industry. Plus the construction and renovation needs of normal consumers. A few days after that, with some spare cash, I invested in a few lots. This was in the middle of a market correction so as of this writing, I’m at 5% paper loss (which I’m ready for). But it doesn’t matter. The correction should be temporary. Plus some more good news.

Dividends!

I just found out today that LRI has recently declared dividends (didn’t check when and didn’t expect any when I bought some), with ex-date of tomorrow (already!), 11Jun2013. Amount is Php0.45 per share which is a sum of Php0.12 regular dividends (same throughout the years), then Php0.33 special dividends. Company has been giving dividends annually since 2007. I hope it continues.

At market price of 11.60 per share, the Php0.45 dividend is already a 3.88% return (not yet net of tax). So what? Well this is among the biggest dividends I’ve received percent wise. The usual I get is 1% to 2% of stock price. Not complaining though. But 3.88% is still a high number, a generous profit-sharing from LRI. And we’re not even talking about capital appreciation here which should follow suit once market and stock recovers from its recent correction.

So I’d say LRI was a good call for Truly Rich Club. As well as MPI which I also have. They recently put FPH on hold due to a recent incident in one if its plants. But given COL Financial confidence, I added more FPH.

Other companies in my portfolio (I have 15 at the moment), not necessarily part of TRC recommendations, and their upcoming dividend payouts are as follows:

• SMPH – payout date 11Jun (0.27/sh, 1.5%)
• FPH – payout date 11Jun (P2/sh, 2.1%)
• SMDC – payout date 20Jun, then SMPH tender offer 04Jul
  (0.053/sh, 0.63%)
• LRI – ex-date 11Jun, payout 03Jul
• BDO – sharing it’s huge gains, ex-date 19Jun
  (Php1.5/sh, 1.72%)
• JFC – just finished payout last week, thank you!

*Note: Returns here were computed based on today’s prices but I would think the more accurate way to compute it is based on ex-date since it’s the cut-off for those included in payout. Or if you wish based on your purchase price so that the ROI is relative to your investment amount. I’m just too lazy to back track the share prices at those dates. But you get the point.

Keep them coming! A good source of passive income and relief in these times of technical correction!

Juan Liners: SM Aura, NBS Backdoor Listing, PSE@7400 (shortly), etc.

Some random news tidbits.

Those that I hope you’ve read about somewhere.

If it’s the first time you’re hearing these, then I suggest you Google some more so you can read the details.

SM Fan

SMDC and SMPH are already finished with their annual stockholders meetings. Was hoping to get more concrete news on a possible merger of the former to the latter. But not much details were provided really. Still a work in progress I suppose. For the meantime, stocks rise and fall with the tides of the market. Some have observed that the two stocks tend to move to opposite directions, maybe because if SMDC becomes more and more expensive, SMPH will have to shell out more.

More SM

SM Aura Premier in Global City opened this month. It opened with the bang and flair it wanted, plus some more unintended publicity. It currently has issues with BCDA (or maybe it’s Taguig LGU vs BCDA?) over the piece of land where it was built and the necessary roads for further construction. Some even opined that this is a proxy war between Ayalas (behind BCDA) and SM (which benefited from the land donated to Taguig government which SMPH bought / leased). Let’s see how this progresses, but if you ask me, welcome to Global City SM Aura (someone actually asked me if it’s walking distance from Grace Residences. So excited). But as trade-off, more traffic jams in BGC!

Phoenix Reborn

Not the bird but the smuggling case against Phoenix Petroleum was somewhat reborn, as the case was reopened again. As expected, this sent the stock price tumbling down. But oil prices continue to go up.

Upgrade v2.0

As many expected but not too soon, S&P upgraded the credit rating of the Philippines, shortly after Fitch initiated its own upgrade. Some would say that with this second upgrade, we are now officially under the radar of fund management companies abroad as they usually require that investments be made only on ‘investment grade countries.’ And that the Fitch upgrade is usually used more for tie-breaking / 2nd opinion purposes, the ratings provided by S&P and Moody’s are what they usually rely on. So now we’re waiting for Moody’s to further lighten the mood with their own upgrade. And of course the FDI concern and trickle down effects of these upgrades to the common Juan.

PSE 7400

PSE recently breached another psychological barrier of 7400 but did not stay there for long. Recent days have in fact shown some serious correction, with market today ending in bloody reddish sub7000! Ended at 6953 today. Market seemed to ignore the very good GDP growth for the quarter as concerns on China, Japan and US plus profit taking dominated our small market. Hoping that this healthy correction ends soon.

VUL Erupts

This is no new news. National Bookstore shall enlist backdoor via Vulcan Industrial and Mining Corp (VUL). First official news actually came out around last month which sent the VUL stock price erupting upwards due to speculation and anticipation. Well VUL finally had its annual stockholder’s meeting yesterday approving the enlistment of NBS (and the change in stock code, capital infusion, change in corporate structure, nature of business etc). The catch, target date is 1Q2014 which prompted the sell down of VUL stock today. Market was expecting that it would come sooner but as some would say, documentation and preparations need enough time for this to be done right. Add the fact that the whole market is correcting in general so stock was really battered NBS-red today.

Mining, Gambling este Gaming

Some progress on government policies on gambling and mining, in terms of revenue sharing and taxation. At least it helps minimize the impact of this deep correction for gaming and mining stocks. On the other hand, PX will be fined with more penalties as filed by Napocor.

12 New Senators

Good luck to those who won and good luck to us for electing them. Whether we voted for them or not, they are our Senators now. And if we want a deserving and competent President by 2016, Jim Paredes is right. We have 3 years to do massive voter’s education.

SMDC Grace Residences: Updates and Timelines

Pardon me I keep on mentioning this from time to time. Not bragging about it. Just excited much. For some, this may not really be much of an accomplishment, and the condo unit, indeed is very humble  if not small. Well yeah it is small. And still very far from completion.

 

Though for me this is major step, a major investment for a low profile breadwinner employee. Well aside from getting a mortgaged house and lot for my family, this is my next biggest investment. And consequently, my next biggest leap of faith (that in 3 years time, I can repay two home loans at the same time, Amen). Seeing this project also made me think twice about getting a car this year. And so for the question car or condo, you already know my answer.

 

 

 

Just wanted to share this post to provide updates on the progress and milestones on SMDC’s Grace Residences (PSE: SMDC @ 5.95/sh). If you want more detailed information on the project, you can visit the following (unofficial) sites:

• http://smcondo.com/grace-residences-the-fort-condo
• http://www.smdcgraceresidences.com/

 

Milestones I listed below are from my perspective, meaning they may not be accurate time-wise or project construction-wise. I just want to detail in this post my slow long journey towards having my own unit, one that is really mine alone. Plus the prospect of living alone (first time in 26 years) and living more independently, designing my own unit etc. Ok I digress.

 

Just for my reference in the future, and in case you are interested as well. And mind you, I do not pass by the site every day, usually just once every week or every two weeks, so these are really just my own timelines, observations and updates.

 

July 2012

SMDC announces a new project in Taguig City, named Grace Residences. Will be comprised of 4 towers, 1 with only 12 floors (5 residential and 5 parking levels, 2 levels for stores) while the 3 towers with 19 residential floors. Estimated completion date is 3Q15 to 4Q16. Located in Levi Mariano Ave, roughly 150 meters away from C-5, near DMCI’s Acacia Estates / Mahogany / Cedar Crest / Rosewood Pointe projects (PSE: DMC @ 53.90/sh).

 

Aug2012

Residential units of the first tower to be finished, Orchid tower, now fully reserved. Huwhaat?!?!

 

Oct2012

Finally met Grace via a common friend, Google. Proximity to BGC and Makati CBD was appealing to me (I come from the northeast you know). Plus, since project was just recently announced, chance to take advantage of comparatively low introductory prices. Lastly, there are many condos out there for sale, but only quite a few fit my budget.

 

1WNov12

I saw the actual site of construction for Grace Residences for the first time. Lot is fenced with blue galvanized irons, with a small tarpaulin saying “On this site will rise SMDC’s Grace Residences.” No visible groundbreaking from the outside. Very discreet really, no big signage or posters.

 

2WNov12

Contacted a friend’s SMDC agent to inquire more about the project. Couple of showroom visits in MOA (they use showroom of Field Residences). By end of the week, finally signed documents to reserve a unit in Lily tower (ETD: 2Q16). Total damage: PHP25,000. Parking plan and slots not yet available for reservation.

 

2WDec12

Issued 36 PDCs as 3-year monthly down payment for the unit. 1st of 36 months payments due by the end of that same week. Agent also confirmed that prices have already been revised upwards for future buyers / reservations. Mind you, the advertised TCP of 1.6M is usually the cheapest unit, meaning located at the bottom floors of the towers. Most likely already sold out and no longer available. I further realized that: 

1. Price goes up as the unit floor goes up, or as the “view” from the unit becomes more “beautiful”. Location of the unit within the floor and the size are also considerations in the pricing.
2. There are other costs involved aside from the price of the unit itself, such as registration, transfer and annotation costs, utilities costs, taxes etc. These are usually lumped into ‘other charges’.
3. Parking slot is not automatically sold together with the unit as not all unit owners will avail of parking slots anyway. In my case, I will have to reserve a slot once parking reservation opens. Usual price range is PHP500k to PHP750k per slot. Grrr. So expensive right?

2WJan13

Anne Curtis finally arrives on site. Well at least her poster and the Grace Residences logo and  promo pictures are now plastered on the blue fencing. But still, no visible ground breaking from outside. 2nd of 36 months payments due this week. Per last check, Grace is still tagged as future projects in SMDC website.

 

Will be updating this post from time to time to keep you posted. You may contact me as well in case you are interested in the project.

 

As per my motto, God’s Grace in God’s time. Can’t wait. Fingers crossed.

Increased Demand for Presell Office Space

As supplement to the previous post on whether an asset bubble is imminent, another
Inquirer article on demand for office spaces caught my attention. It basically says that demand for office spaces increased for 2012 (led by BPO firms) and that companies are also already committing for and reserving office spaces to be available by 2013, 2014 and even 2015. This bodes well for the property development and real estate sector.

So apparently, even companies now purchase pre-sell properties. Being the individual small time consumer that I am, I’m only aware of pre-sell purchases of condominiums, but hey, most likely the set-up is quite similar so that’s why even businesses already buy pre-sell.

 

Self-liquidating

Property developers are having a party now because of this pre-sell set-up. Imagine, just announce a future building 3-4 years from now, select a location and have a planned layout, and people and businesses are already starting to buy now. They haven’t even started ground breaking and actual digging, yet there are cash inflows already for them by way of reservations, down payments, lease agreements etc. This makes it easier for the developer since they will need less of their own cash to finance the construction. It has become a sort of self-liquidating (pays for itself) venture. As the saying goes, “build it and they will come”. Here, it’s as early as, “announce the plan for it, and they will come”.

 

Price Increase

And mind you, once they have started digging, and the closer to completion date, the higher the purchase prices usually gets. These milestones are likely the trigger for the property firms to implement price hikes. Makes sense since one will only wait for a shorter time (compared to those who reserved first), and that time and capital has been invested already in the project.  Money invested earlier on in a project that has yet to start has more opportunity costs in it, hence purchase price  should be rightfully cheaper. Sort of advantage of the first mover.

 

Lending and Risk

That’s why consumers and businesses now reserve as early as possible, to get the cheapest offer prices. Technically, such customers are lending to the property firms. They lend property firms on account of a promise that 3-4 years from now, a condo unit will be available for you. At the back of my mind though, what if the project does not push through? Or what if economy turns sour and property prices drop? To these questions I don’t know the answer yet. Most likely it is in the documents I signed but did not really digest.

But on the other hand, if the buyer fails to meet the down payment requirements, s/he loses the unit (sadly) and developer is free to sell it again to a new buyer. Shrewd right?

 

Crawling Countdown

Was blessed enough to be able to reserve a unit in SMDC’s development in Taguig (PSE: SMDC), right outside BGC and nearby DMCI’s prime developments (PSE: DMC). I chose this over getting a car. Have already paid some amount but as far as I can see, ground breaking and construction has yet to begin. I’m just seeing the familiar blue fences in the site, not even their big red and yellow logo is installed there yet. 

I just wish construction commences as soon as possible, (by 2013?) not just for resale value to increase, but also for my peace of mind that finally, my own humble condo unit is now slowly taking shape.

 

42 months to go before estimated turnover date. X months to go before start of construction. Few hours to go before Christmas. Can’t wait.