Philippines Farm Investment provides for supplemental income

Feb. 13, 2010 - PRLog -- The idea of Farm Investment was born from the wish of many Filipinos who are working abroad (OFW's) plus 'foreigner expats' to have a supplemental income while living in the Philippines.
The groups consultant Will Irwin noted that “somehow many people seem to think that condotels are a good (and the only possible-) investment opportunity in the Philippines but a condotel is not meant to be an investment; it's a 'nice second home' at best. If you want to invest your money in the Philippines then agriculture is the most obvious answer since this country has all that is required to produce extremely high yields; what is lacking is mostly the implementation of the latest know-how and technologies”.

The group consists of Filipinos and non-Filipinos (expats living in the Philippines) from different nationalities working together with Universities who provide the 'technical know-how' and with government officials who give full support; together they are developing Low Risk - High R.O.I. agri investment opportunities. Point of focus is the Pili Nut (for export) which seems to give a much higher profit than condotels.

The obvious location of the farms will be the Bicol Region and Romblon because the pili tree grows there indigenous. The group also coordinates closely with all Philippine retirement villages which are being developed in the same region. According to Will Irwin “this is one of the top places to retire overseas because of the low cost while the environment is as beautifull as Boracay which has 1 million visitors per year”.

With the 'Farm Investment' concept anyone (Filipino or 'foreigner'; overseas real estate investors or individuals) can buy shares of stock in a development company or buy a lot (1 hectare or more) of a farm, growing Pili nuts and/or 'Quick-Cash-Crops'. All is done under supervision of the group. It will not only provide for a solid monthly extra-income; the worth of the property will increase because of the retirement villages nearby.

Some of the differences between ‘owning a condotel’ and 'farm investment' are:
- Buyers of a condotel-unit own only 'the space between the walls of the room' for as long as the condo-tower exist while farm-lot owners really own the lot permanently; even non-Filipinos can be 100% in control.
- Income from renting out a condotel in the Philippines heavily depends on occupancy rate which have to be high at all times to ensure a good ROI. A global recesion, terrorism, political unrest or oversupply of units can have great negative impact on occupancy rate hence on ROI.
- Appreciation of the unit in case of resale is possible when purchasing at pre-construction stage but becomes uncertain at a later stage.
- There seem to be an additional emotional value to the farms; an overseas property investment which can be a hobby also. For example the beehives between the Pili trees which not only provide organic honey but also can give a crop- or harvest increase of 30%.

A 'demo-farm' has been set up where interested investors are briefed about the latest developments and individuals can get more information about available investment options.

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About Will Irwin: he is the author of several books about 'Living in the Philippines' for expats and retirees and is an appointed consultant for the Farm Investment project. He can be contacted at email philippines.consultant at gmail.com or through the website http://www.sibonga.com