Pea tours a rental property in Dauin, Negros Oriental with local real estate contact Alma, walking through every room and covering the full cost breakdown for foreigners considering a move to this quiet beach town about 20 minutes from Dumaguete City.
Location overview: Dauin, about 20 minutes from Dumaguete City via a four-lane road
- Known for dive sites, snorkeling, nice resorts, and good food
- The house is walking distance to a sandy beach — about two minutes on foot
- Very quiet and laid back; Pea emphasizes it's ideal for someone who doesn't care about the "cyber world," though internet is available
- The neighborhood has no chickens (Pea and Alma both flag this as a real selling point — no rooster noise)
The property itself
- Owned by a Filipino/Filipina couple who maintain it well
- Sits inside a fully fenced compound with lots of greenery
- 70 square meters total
- Close to the owners' house (they're right next door), so you can borrow sugar from your neighbor, but Alma assures there's still privacy
- There's a nice yard and space for gardening — Pea jokes about growing herbs, then Alma shuts down the Bob Marley "happy plant" joke by reminding viewers marijuana is "very prohibited" in the Philippines
Room-by-room tour
- Living room: Ceramic tile floors (Pea loves not wearing shoes inside — "it's so Asian of me"), hardwood furniture, electric fan, windows that open for cross-breeze so AC isn't necessary, and a tiny 15-inch TV that Pea roasts as a "baby TV" — tenants can bring their own bigger one
- Internet: PLDT fiber optic already hooked up, 15 Mbps, costs 1,299 pesos/month
- Dining area: A small two-person table that Pea calls "intimate" — perfect for candlelight dinners, "especially if there's a brownout"
- Kitchen: Small kitchenette but adequate for a single person or couple; has both gas and electric stove (gas works during brownouts), an oven, a hood vent, and a small two-door European-style fridge; Pea riffs on how Americans want everything big
- Water comes from municipal supply with good pressure, but Pea and Alma stress that drinking water straight from the faucet is a firm no-no anywhere in the Philippines — this is the number one cause of stomach problems for newcomers
- Bathroom: One bathroom with hot and cold water, walk-in shower with no shower curtain (Pea prefers this — hates wet curtains sticking to skin); the shower head is mounted a bit low for taller foreigners but fine for Filipinas
- Bedroom: Queen/twin size bed with a sturdy hardwood frame ("you can handcuff yourself here"), window-type AC unit, and space on both sides of the bed for nightside tables — Pea goes on a mini-rant about how Filipino homes always shove the bed into a corner with no space, which annoys her; one cabinet that's probably not enough if a woman is living there
Outdoor areas
- Small dirty kitchen (outdoor cooking area) in the back
- Laundry area for hand washing; nearest laundromat is 6–8 minutes away, costing 70–100 pesos per load (under $2)
- Covered parking garage that fits one car plus a motorbike on the side
- Lots of fruit-bearing trees including avocado and pomelo — tenants can pick fruit for free; Pea jokes about the pomelo being good in tequila and jokes about starting a "pharmaceutical company" with the traditional medicinal uses of the citrus
Cost breakdown
Rent: 20,000 pesos/month (~$360 USD at the time)
Move-in cost: One month advance + one month deposit = 40,000 pesos (Pea notes some places charge two months deposit, so this is favorable)
Minimum lease: One year, but negotiable down to six months with renewal
Water: Free, included by the owner
Electricity: ~2,000 pesos/month (~$38) if running AC 24 hours for two people
Internet: 1,299 pesos/month for PLDT fiber at 15 Mbps
No HOA fees (it's a private home, not a subdivision)
No property tax responsibility for the tenant
Garbage disposal: Free — just put bags out by 5 a.m. and the truck picks them up
Maintenance: Owner's responsibility
Yard maintenance if desired: Can hire someone for ~1,000 pesos per session, twice a month (~$18 per visit)
Pea's innuendo: She bets she could get a discount on the yard work "if I let them trim my bush — 500 pesos"
Pets: Not allowed at this property because the owners already have dogs; Pea suggests just befriending the owners' dogs so you don't have to pay for pet food
Brownouts (power outages)
- Common across all of Negros island, especially on hot days
- Typically last one to three hours, sometimes just 10 minutes
- Having a gas stove as backup is practical for cooking during outages