"Rising with the water."

Alternative housing concept for flood-prone areas.

Floating house design by Morphosis Architects

Thom Mayne, founder of Morphosis and winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, wanted to build a home that could survive through hurricane flooding as well fit in with the surrounding homes. He and his team designed a house that was essentially built on a chassis of polystyrene foam and covered with glass-reinforced concrete.  Read more.

 The most likely reason is the promo price of 4800 per sqm which was offered for that day only although it was actually extended the following day. The regular price of the lots after the launching is 5200 per sqm which is still low considering that the subdivision is very accessible being adjacent to the Maharlika Highway.

The total subdivision area is about 87 hectares but only 22 hectares were initially developed for sale. The general topography of the project is gently rolling and has a commanding view of Mt. Makiling towards the east and the highlands of Tagaytay towards the west. The summer breeze was strong that afternoon which helped a lot to alleviate the scorching heat.

 For more information on Ciudad Verde please contact:

Al Galang 
REB-NCR-20282
Mobile: 09189015430
Email: aag@webnicher.com
Website: http://real.webnicher.com/ciudadverde.htm

Foot parade during the launching of Bamboo Grove

The nighlight of the day’s activity is the inauguration of the three model houses of the project, namely, Acacia, Narra, and Molave. These house models are complete units and move- in ready. The cost of house and lot package starts at P800,000 which can be financed thru PagIBIG or in-house financing.

Bamboo Grove Model Houses

For more information on Bamboo Grove please contact:

Al Galang
REB NCR-20282
Mobile: 09189015430
Email: aag@webnicher.com
Website: http://real.webnicher.com/bamboo.htm

We attended an orientation on Palma Real Residential Estates last Saturday (Feb 6 2010). The project is owned by Crown Central Properties Corp and developed in 2004 by Sta Lucia Development Corp. The project itself is located in Brgy Timbao, Binan, Laguna but we went there via Laguna Blvd from Sta Rosa although it is also accessible via Mamplasan Exit from SLEX. The project is very near the future “university belt of the south” because it is just a stone-throw away from De La Salle Canlubang. Other known schools in the area include Don Bosco, St. Scholastica, and Ateneo MBA program. It is also near commercial areas like Paseo de Sta Rosa and Rustan’s.

The orientation was held in the afternoon at the clubhouse. From there we could see the nice view of the highlands of Tagaytay and could feel the cool breeze while we listen to the briefing. Project development is already complete although very few houses are already built and occupied. The clubhouse is very spacious and elegantly designed. Adjacent to it are the covered basketball court and a large swimming pool. We also noticed a large tarpaulin ad of Palma Real showing John Lloyd Cruz as its endorser. 

Next we inspected the model houses. Currently, three house models are offered but we were able to see only the Alyssa and Martha because there is no Malarie built yet. The project has no particular theme as far as house design is concerned. The buyer can build his/her own designed house provided the cost is not less than 1M and approved by the developer.

Currently, the cost per square meter of lot here is relatively low despite of its nice location and its being comparable to high end subdivisions in the area. Lot prices start at P5700/sq.m.

For more information on Palma Real, click here.

Al Galang

Mobile: 09189015430

Email: aag@webnicher.com

Website: http://real.webnicher.com

The achiever in all of us is longing to be recognized! We want everybody to know that finally all our efforts and hard work paid off.

And what would be a better way of showcasing your achievements than having a home in a prestigious community? Yes, where you and your family live speaks so much of you and what you have become especially if that community symbolizes quality as it is built following a well thought out plan.

 Enter Ciudad de Calamba.

Ciudad de Calamba Entrance

It is a township that is being developed following a master plan wherein everything a community needs will be there,

• residential areas (Vista Hills, Punta Altezza, Aldea Real, Montebello) where everyone can commune with nature, enjoy the relaxing scenery of the country and still be pampered with all the conveniences and amenities of city living;
• commercial area (Asenso Village) where aspiring entrepreneurs can start fulfilling their dreams of becoming big and;
•  a PEZA registered techno park (Filinvest Techno Park Calamba) that caters to light and medium non-polluting industries.

Moreover, the entire township is flood free.  What more can you ask for?  Get a unit now!

For more information contact:

Al Galang
REB-NCR-20282
Webnicher Realty
Phone: 0918 901 5430
E-mail: aag@webnicher.com
Website: http://real.webnicher.com/Ciudad.htm

Ciudad de Calamba Loation Map

Banyan House Model

The recent flooding brought about by tropical storm Ondoy and typhoon Pepeng reached unprecedented depth and extent. It also exposed the inadequacy and ineptness of the current land use and development policies of the government. As pointed out by Jun Palafox, a renowned architect and urban planner, Metro Manila’s vulnerability to flooding had long been identified. As early as 1977, a study sponsored by World Bank on land use and development noted the possibility of heavy flooding on exactly the same areas badly affected by Ondoy floods. The study declared these areas unsuitable for development and yet the government did not seem to consider it as evidenced by mushrooming of real estate development in those areas. As a result, a lot of subdivisions, from low end to high end, in Marikina, Pasig, Cainta and other neighboring areas were inundated when an unuasual flood such as Ondoy hit the area. It also seems that flooding history considered in the development of those areas were not long enough, perhaps up to 25 years only when the more advanced countries consider more than 100 years. PAGASA said flooding brought by Ondoy was something we have not seen in 40 years which proves the inadequacy of design considerations in many development projects.

With this experience in mind, how do we now select the real estate properties we want to invest in without relying solely on what the developers tell us, at least initially? The answer lies in the fact that advanced information technology particularly the Internet has empowered people with information never before available. Just look at Google Earth. This allows us to see the earth surface at any angle, providing geographic information at the click of a mouse. Ten years ago, you have to pay a lot of money to obtain a single stellite image which needs to be analysed first before you can obtain meaningful information. Now, all you have to do is go to Google Earth and focus on a particular area of interest. Information such as coordinates, elevation, terrain, road networks, political boundaries among others, can be easily obtained. This tool will help us greatly in the preliminary site selection for any real estate investment. As an example, let’s take a look at the panoramic view of Marikina Valley below, generated using Google Earth:

From the image above, we can see the extent of the valley with Marikina River and Manggahan floodway at the center and the higher grounds of San Mateo on the upper right. Visually, we can easily see the relatively low elevation of the Marikina Valley and the surrounding area, and also the dense settlement on the valley itself.  No wonder, when a an unusually heavy rain falls on the watershed area of the valley, the entire valley will be engulfed with raging flood water. The flood was aggravated by the narrowed waterways because of the dense settlements along them and the domestic and industrial wastes that clogs them. It is not only those areas near the waterways that were severely affected by floods but also those low lying areas surrounding the Laguna de Bay when water level in the lake rises considerably. According to authorities, the normal water level in the lake is about 10 meters but after the tropical storm Ondoy, it is now about 14 meters. Worse, the water level in the lake is expected to go down to its normal level very slowly because the Pasig River which drains the lake to Manila Bay is already silted and clogged. It was estimated that the water level will normalize in about 3 months. We only realize this things now because the disaster happened already and we can only expect even worse disasters as a consequence of global warming and the rapid denudation of our forests. We have learned our lesson, albeit at a very high price.

Now, as an individual real estate investor, we can be wiser now because we can at least get as much physical information on a specific area through Google Earth. This is something we can’t do easily just a few years ago when it was not yet available. Imagine being able to determine the elevation at any given point relative to the mean sea level, or to areas known to be flood prone, or even to the nearby riverbed. With Google Earth, all you have to do is point the cursor to a location on the image and its elevation will be shown. This means we will be able to judge if a particular real estate is flood prone or not because we will be able to identify areas that forms basins.

Of course elevation is not the only consideration in determining the vulnerability of an area to flooding. Other factors such as proximity to natural waterways and availability of flood control infrastuctures should also be considered. Areas with steep slopes (areas with rapid change in elevation) should also be avoided as these areas will be vulnerable to landslides. Ideal area for investment will therefore be those that are relatively high in elevation but do not have steep slopes, far from natural waterways such as creeks and rivers, and of course there is enough drainage facilities.

The flooding brought about by Ondoy should be an eye opener to many developers because I have seen many subdivisions that were flooded even though they seem to have adequate drainage facilities because their concrete perimeter fences acted like small dams that impound water. I know of a couple of subdivisions that demolished portions of their perimeter fences just to release water trapped by those fences. Of course, the residents of adjacent subdivision complained because flood water was diverted to them.

We have just considered one natural phenomenon which is weather related in general and flooding in particular in our search for real estate properties to invest in. What about the other natural phenonmenon like earthquake? About two decades ago, Luzon was rocked by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake which caused significant damage to lives and properties particularly in Baguio and Nueva Ecija. Subsequently, Philvolcs then released a report on the existence of a geological fault line which was called the Marikina Valley Fault System (MVFS). As the name suggests, the fault line traverses Marikina Valley. Not only is the valley flood prone, it is also earthquake prone. Now, what do you think will happen to the value of real estate in the area?

As more news continued to come in, I began to realize that this was not an ordinary happening as a lot of the news and public service calls on the radio were about people asking to be rescued because they were trapped in their houses and were already in their rooftops. I turned on the TV but unfortunately, I could not get any station presumably because our cable TV provider was having technical problem so I just had to be content listening to the radio. More news came in and it became clear that area affected by floodwater was so wide including not only the usual areas but many places in Metro Manila that were not usually affected by floods. Among the hardly hit areas were Cainta, Pasig, Marikina, San Mateo, Quezon City, Antipolo, Taytay, and Manila. Distress calls flooded the airwaves and the NDCC and local government units had their hands overflowing with calls for help, much more than they can handle. Rescue operations were complicated by impassable roads due to floods and stranded vehicles.

Later in the evening, I was able to watch TV and the imagery I had in my mind earlier in the day came to life as I watched the video footage of a group of people on what seems to be a makeshift raft being carried away by strong current along San Mateo River towards the San Mateo Bridge. It was also apparent in the video how that group of people went underneath the bridge and the people who were on the bridge tried to rescue them by throwing ropes at them to no avail. The next day, in the news, two bodies were found under the bridge. Presumably, they were among the group of people seen in the video the day before. This was just one horrifying instance of a disaster in progress. The day after, the extent of the destruction began to unfold as more video footage were shown on TV. Footage of people wading in neck-deep waters, people crawling on the myriads of electric cables, people lining up for relief goods, piles of abandoned vehicles lining the streets, remnants of destroyed houses and all sort of garbage everywhere, all these scenery were simply to much to bear. More were being unfolded in the days that followed when tallies of how many people were killed or missing, number of families displaced, homes and properties destroyed were being made.

I’m sure, a lot of things had been written and told about Ondoy, Many more will be said and seen on print but Ondoy may just be the beginning of an era of more destructive natural phenomenon due to global climate change, regardless of whether you believe it is partly due to man’s abuse of the environment or simply one of nature’s inevitabilities.

Al Galang

aag@webnicher.com

http://real.webnicher.com