Cebu Landmasters partners with rental portal Rent.ph

CEBU, Philippines - On the drawing board of real estate developer Cebu Landmasters, Inc. (CLI), over 5,000 units are projected to go full swing into the market in two years time, and with such a huge inventory, a partnership with Rent.ph might just be timely.

Top officials from CLI announced their recent enterprise with the popular online rental portal, a move they described will help put the brand in the forefront of property development.

Jose Franco Soberano, the chief operations officer of CLI, said at a press conference that out of the total 5,000 expected units in their inventory by 2015, a good 30 percent are seen to be rented out. Rent.ph will help market these units.

Soberano said it’s not only the selling side of the real estate sector that is contributing to its current healthy state, but also the renting side. He believes that the involvement of Rent.ph in making people aware of the huge shortage in housing will propel the industry further by helping fill up the vacancies in the market.

Currently, over 3.5 million Filipino households are said to have no access to shelter, according to Rent.ph managing partner Chris Malazarte.

Malazarte said the demand for housing is there, but the supply sorely fails to complement the former. He added that Rent.ph is the best place for prospects to get more relevant information on renting, slamming the classifieds as giving only limited information.

Rent.ph is an advertising website that houses rent and property managers whose services could be tapped by unit owners on an individual basis.

Rent managers take charge of the upkeep of the property and even find prospective renters in the event that the owner decides to have the space leased out.

Malazarte explained that in a nutshell, rent managers manage the property on a per-unit basis in contrast to the popular meaning of “property managers or homeowners associations” who actually manage the whole development.

Meanwhile, CLI in 2003 first brought its passion for real estate to the countryside by developing its first residential subdivision, called San Jose Maria Village, in the town of Balamban.

After the success of its first subdivision, the company then proceeded to bring its brand of San Jose Maria Villages, low-mid cost quality homes, to Minglanilla in 2007, and to Toledo in 2009.

In 2010, the company launched its fourth San Jose Maria Village in Talisay City.

The year 2010 also marked an important milestone for Cebu Landmasters, Inc. when the company embarked on its first vertical project by launching the first residential condominium in booming Asiatown IT Park.

Rent.ph president and chief executive officer Anthony Gerard Leuterio said that despite the fact that most of CLI’s developments are located in the suburbs, it would not be a challenge on their part since there is still a considerable number of inquiries they are getting online for these locations.

The same sentiment was echoed by Jose Soberano III, CLI’s chief executive officer, who thinks that the future of the real estate is the “countryside development”.

“What is good to look at is that the growth pattern or residential buildup is moving more outside of Metro Cebu,” Soberano III said.

There’s going to be a combination of real estate residential living and agriculture in these areas, he added, where house owners, instead of going to the city to buy their agricultural needs, could just alternatively till a garden in their backyards.

“They don’t have to go away too far to get their nutrition, and I strongly believe this is the direction we are all heading. High-rise developments will be concentrated more in the metropolitan areas,” Soberano III said. (FREEMAN)