Pag-IBIG Offers Home-buying Options via Acquired Assets

Owning a home is a dream shared by most Filipinos. But the cost can be prohibitive: we’re not just talking about a posh condo unit but rather a simple house and lot that can sometimes costs more than what you can make in a year.

Fortunately, there’s a way you can own a home and it won’t cost an arm and a leg. Thanks to the Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF, better known as Pag-IBIG), you can actually buy a foreclosed property at a discount rate of as high as 30 percent.

Acquired Assets Task Force chief Atty. Digna Magpantay of Pag-IBIG, who spoke at the recent annual Philippine Institute of Real Estate Service Practitioners (PhilRES) assembly last February 28, said they currently have a large inventory of acquired assets as of December last year. These acquired assets were those properties whose original owners used a Pag-IBIG housing loan to purchase their houses but were unable to make the payments.

According to Atty. Magpantay, these Pag-IBIG acquired assets total 58,218 and are worth Php 16.7 billion. She explained that Pag-IBIG normally gives the loan borrowers a chance to buy back these foreclosed properties once they forfeited on their payments. However, in the event that they’re unable to do so, Pag-IBIG has no choice but to offer these properties to new buyers. This buy-back option is also offered to third-party occupiers who occupy foreclosed properties, she said.

Once the buy-back option is ruled out, Pag-IBIG offers the properties to other buyers via Sealed Public Budding. If this method fails, they are offered to interested buyers via Negotiated Sales with generous terms: as much as 30 percent discount if they pay cash or on installment. However, if the buyer pays on installment, they must pay the purchase price within one year.

The buyer can also use a housing loan to make the purchase and they don’t need to make a down payment (though they do need to make a reservation fee of Php 1,000). If they pay in cash, they need to pay within one year. If they pay on installment, they need to follow Pag-IBIG’s housing loan guidelines.

Another option Pag-IBIG uses to dispose the property is via Rent-To-Own, i.e. buyers can get a three-year lease on the property but they need to exercise the purchase option before the term ends. Moreover, Pag-IBIG has other ways to dispose the properties but these involve selling the properties in bulk or as projects to brokers or developers.

Atty. Magpantay said they’re currently trying to get the word out about these properties to the public via their Housing Fairs, accredited licensed brokers who help them sell these properties, and their Home Match programs (where they offer the properties to companies, local government units and associations to sell to their employees and members).

Though their brokers’ accreditation program only started during the last quarter of 2012, Atty. Magpantay said they were grateful for the help of their brokers as—despite there being only 24 active brokers—they’ve managed to dispose 1,558 accounts worth Php 341,546 since then.

More than anything, Atty. Magpantay said the mandate of Pag-IBIG is to provide not only affordable housing to Filipinos but also socialized housing to Filipinos who don’t have enough money to afford buy their own homes, like informal workers and minimum wage earners. Whatever funds Pag-IBIG generates from these acquired assets will help create socialized housing for our less fortunate Filipino brothers and sisters.