The past year had been an eye-opener for me on so many things. The pandemic has wrecked so much havoc in our lives that many economic markets have been literally shut down. Travel and tourism had been badly hit, an incredible amount of jobs have been lost, many got sick and worse, this disease had taken so many lives. It isn’t a surprise that many have been surprisingly brought to their knees on the onset of these events, including me. When before I could travel on a whim, the change of circumstances had me literally staying at home 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
But no matter how sad the current situation is, I am glad that I have been one of the more fortunate ones who still have a job (and I wish that other’s fortune will be better in the coming days). But that is not saying that there times that I thought I was so close in losing my work. Our company had undergone several downsizing the past year that my co-workers and I found ourselves on our toes several times for last minute announcements. I do not want to experience that feeling of uncertainty again.
I recall that I had been on rest days when the Philippine government announced a lockdown last year. I was grateful that we were given the opportunity to work from home. But since I was not on duty when the news came out, there was no time to secure a work laptop as the one I had at home was not suited for office work. I ended up not working for many days for the first few weeks. I was unable to purchase a new laptop as I had no extra money then.
As a frequent traveler, I admit that most of my finances before goes to my travel funds. Which, I now realize, was not ideal. The change in environment had me seriously thinking of my present and future financial needs, my security as well as my family’s. I think that I had to accept the fact that gone were the days of YOLOing. That there were more important things than where my next destination should be.
When not working from home, I found a lot of spare time for other things. I was constantly updating myself about the global situation by reading sites like CNN and Bloomberg for current affairs and National Geographic for the latest studies on COVID-19. I also felt affected by the world and local markets. Thus, I would frequent sites such as the Wall Street Journal and Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
This had me thinking of investing. And as I often hear, real estate investment is one of the best. I then found myself browsing through sites which sells properties in our locale such as lamudi.com.ph or dotproperty.com.ph. Computation of mortgages where made easier by sites like Mortgage Calculator UK and Pag-IBIG Fund loan calculator. I had also browsed Facebook groups about affordable homes! Haha! These sites had been my online best friends for quite some time now. 😊 Though I had always been okay with the thought of staying with my parents as long as I am unmarried, my desire to have my own home grew each day.
I shared my thoughts with my parents and they were very supportive of my decision. They gave me worthy advise on what to look for in a property. I taught myself of the intricacies of applying for loans and how to compute for my possible monthly amortization. Trust me, it did not spell f-u-n. But it definitely meant security and permanence for me which I think we somehow lost during the pandemic.
Even if the pandemic has caused many to lose their source of income, Pag-IBIG has declared recently that home loan borrowers statistics has increased by end of year 2020. For those who still have stable income or did not lose their jobs, I think the current events have greatly affected their decisions in investing. Just like me, real estate investment is one thing that they can afford to spend on as this is an asset that does not depreciate. In the long run, if the need arises, these investments can be liquidated and help in financing our needs.
