Before you reserve a pre-selling condo, test the developer on five questions: what it has actually finished, whether your exact tower is licensed and free of unapproved mortgages, how close to schedule its past projects were handed over, exactly what you will receive at turnover, and what its finished units resell and rent for. The trade-off: none of these answers predicts the future with certainty. An established developer with a long record lowers the risk but does not remove it, while a newer one may offer easier terms with less evidence behind them — so match how much you commit to how much you can verify.
Key points
- Judge the developer by buildings it has finished and that people live in, not by renders or showrooms.
- Check the license for your specific tower or phase and ask whether any of the project is mortgaged.
- There is no reliable “typical delay”. Look up this developer’s own record and read the contract’s delay clauses.
- Get the turnover specifications in writing and price the fit-out yourself before comparing projects.
- Treat portal listings as asking prices; they hint at resale demand but are not sale records.
Why the developer matters most in a pre-selling purchase
With a pre-selling unit you pay the reservation fee and most of the equity years before the building exists. What you are really buying during that time is the developer’s ability to finish the project as approved, on the date it committed to, with the finishes it advertised. PD 957 gives buyers remedies when that fails — including the right to stop paying and claim a refund with interest if the developer does not develop the project on time (Sec. 23) — but using those remedies takes time and effort. Choosing a developer you have checked is the cheaper protection.
Question 1: What has this developer finished, and who is it legally?
Start with identity. The brand on the brochure is not always the company that signs your Contract to Sell. Check that the developer named on the License to Sell is the same company on your contract and receipts, and ask whether the project is a joint venture and which party is responsible for construction and turnover.
Then look at the record. If the developer or its parent company is listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange, its annual report and disclosures on PSE EDGE describe projects completed and under construction, along with audited financial statements. For a private developer, ask for a list of completed projects with their turnover years.
Finally, visit at least one completed building, ideally one that has been occupied for several years, because wear shows what was built well. Things to look at:
- Common areas: lobby, corridors and stairwells — clean and maintained, or stained and patched?
- Water stains or seepage marks on ceilings and walls, especially near windows and in basements.
- Elevators: how many serve the tower, and how long the wait is at a busy hour.
- Amenities: were the pool, gym and other facilities in the original brochure actually delivered?
- The building administration’s view: how turnover went, how defects were handled, and whether association dues have risen sharply or owners have faced special assessments.
Question 2: Is your exact tower licensed, and is anything registered against it?
Every condominium project must be registered with DHSUD and hold a License to Sell before units are offered, and licenses are issued project by project or phase by phase. Ask for the Certificate of Registration and License to Sell numbers and check them against DHSUD’s online directory or its regional office; our pre-selling guide walks through the steps. The phase detail matters: in August 2026, DHSUD Region VII publicly named five Cebu projects, including two towers of one project, that had not yet been issued licenses — from a developer with many licensed projects elsewhere.
Two further checks are often skipped:
- Mortgages. Under PD 957 Sec. 18, a developer cannot mortgage units without the regulator’s prior written approval, the loan proceeds must go into the project, and buyers must be notified — they may then pay their instalments to the lender so they can get their title on full payment. Ask in writing whether the project land or units are mortgaged.
- Advertising. Keep the brochure, price list and printed materials. PD 957 Sec. 19 makes the facilities promised in them part of the developer’s sales warranties.
Question 3: How close to schedule did its past projects turn over?
You will often hear that Philippine projects run one or two years late. There is no official dataset behind that figure, and records differ widely between developers and between projects of the same developer. The useful question is how this developer performed.
- Compare the completion date on each recent project’s License to Sell, or the turnover date in its contracts, with when owners actually received their units.
- Ask owners and the building administration in completed buildings, and check news reports for the developer’s projects.
- For listed developers, compare the completion targets in older annual reports with later ones.
- Ask the developer directly for the turnover dates of its last few projects, in writing.
Then read the contract. Check the stated turnover date, any grace period the developer gives itself, how “force majeure” is defined, and what you are entitled to if the date passes. Under PD 957 the developer must complete the project within the period fixed by the regulator (Sec. 20), and the completion date also appears on the license — compare it with the contract.
Instead of assuming a fixed delay, ask what a late turnover would do to you: extra months of rent where you live now, a bank approval that might expire, a rental income that starts later. If a delay of a year would break your plan, keep a larger buffer or choose a ready unit.
Question 4: What exactly will you receive, and what will it cost to make usable?
“Bare”, “semi-furnished” and “fully furnished” mean different things at different developers. Ask for the turnover specifications as part of the contract documents, not only the showroom, and check item by item: flooring, kitchen cabinets and counter, bathroom fixtures, water heater, air-conditioning provisions or units, light fixtures, and whether parking is included or sold separately.
Price what is missing with quotations from fit-out contractors before you compare two projects; a cheaper unit that needs more work can end up costing the same. Add the charges due around turnover — other charges, advance association dues, utility deposits and move-in fees — which our payment terms guide explains.
A furnished, hotel-managed unit can save fit-out work, but the furniture package may be bundled into the price or charged separately, and income does not start at turnover by default. It begins once the operator opens and your unit is in the rental program, and it depends on occupancy, the revenue-sharing formula and the fees deducted. Read the management agreement before counting on any income.
Question 5: What do its finished units resell and rent for?
Resale and rental activity in a developer’s completed buildings is real-world evidence of how the product has held up, but it needs careful reading.
- Asking is not selling. Prices on property portals and marketplaces are asking prices, and listings can stay up after a unit is sold or withdrawn.
- Volume tells you something. Many units listed at once in one building, or the same units listed for months, can point to weak demand, high dues or problems worth asking about.
- Compare like with like. Set asking prices per square meter in a completed building against the developer’s current price list for similar units nearby, and ask a broker for recent closed sales.
- Don’t credit the developer for everything. Location, unit mix, association dues and building management affect resale as much as the developer’s name.
BIR zonal values are a tax base, not a market price, so they are not a substitute for this evidence; our zonal value lookup shows the official figure if you need it for tax estimates.
Putting the answers together
| Question | Reassuring answer | Warning sign | Where the evidence comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Track record | Several occupied buildings you can inspect, aging well | No finished buildings, or worn common areas and unresolved defects | Site visits, building administration, annual reports |
| 2. License and encumbrances | License covers your tower; no mortgage, or one approved with buyer notice | License “being processed”; vague answers about mortgages | DHSUD directory or regional office; written answers from the developer |
| 3. Delivery record | Recent turnovers close to the promised dates; clear delay remedies | Repeated slippage; broad force majeure clause; no remedy for delay | License dates, owners, news, the Contract to Sell |
| 4. Turnover scope | Written specification annexed to the contract | Only a showroom; “subject to change” on key finishes | Contract documents and quotations |
| 5. Resale and rental evidence | Few units on the market; asking prices near current launch prices | Many long-standing listings at steep discounts | Portals (as asking prices), brokers’ closed sales, building administration |
No single answer decides the purchase. A strong record on four questions and a weak one on the fifth calls for more questions, not automatic rejection.
Frequently asked questions
Does buying from a large, listed developer remove the risk?
It reduces some risks — listed developers publish audited financial statements and project lists — but it does not remove them. Licenses are issued per project or phase, so a well-known name does not prove your tower is licensed, and large developers can also turn over late. Run the same five checks on the specific project.
What if the developer is new and has no completed buildings?
Then there is less evidence, not necessarily a bad project. Look at the track record of the people and companies behind it — principals, joint-venture partners, the general contractor — and confirm the license and performance bond. If the evidence stays thin, consider limiting your exposure: a smaller unit, a shorter equity period or a ready unit instead.
Is a project without a License to Sell still protected by law?
Selling units without a license is prohibited under PD 957. The Maceda Law (RA 6552) covers residential instalment sales generally, so the problem with an unlicensed project is not a missing statute: it is that the regulator has not yet approved the project and its performance bond, and recovering money from a project that stalls can take years. Do not pay into a tower that has no license.
Does a condotel or hotel-managed unit earn income from turnover?
Not automatically. Income usually starts only once the operator has opened the hotel and your unit is in its rental program, and it then depends on occupancy, the revenue-sharing formula and the fees deducted. Read the management agreement — term, fees, owner-use rules, reserves and exit terms — before treating any income as part of your budget.
Can I judge resale value from listings on property portals?
Only roughly. Portal prices are asking prices, not sale prices, and some listings stay up long after a unit is sold or withdrawn. They are useful for spotting how many units in a building are on the market and for comparing asking prices per square meter with the developer’s current price list; ask a broker for recent closed sales before drawing conclusions.
Run these checks on a specific project
Send us the project and tower you are considering. We will tell you what its License to Sell covers, which of the developer’s completed buildings you can inspect, and which Contract to Sell clauses on delay and turnover to read before you pay.
Ask about a developer WhatsApp +63 917 550 8229Sources and notes
- Presidential Decree No. 957 — LawPhil — Sec. 4–5 registration and license to sell; Sec. 18 mortgages need regulator approval and buyer notice, buyer may pay the mortgagee directly; Sec. 19 advertised facilities are sales warranties; Sec. 20 completion within the period fixed by the regulator; Sec. 23 non-forfeiture and refund with legal interest if the developer fails to develop on time
- Republic Act No. 11201 (DHSUD Act) — LawPhil — DHSUD took over HLURB’s regulatory functions; the Human Settlements Adjudication Commission hears disputes
- Republic Act No. 6552 (Maceda Law) — LawPhil — applies to sales of real estate on instalments, including residential condominium units
- SunStar Cebu — “DHSUD urges homebuyers to verify project license to sell” — 8 September 2026; DHSUD’s online License to Sell directory and regional offices
- Daily Tribune — DHSUD Region VII notice on five Cebu projects without selling licenses — 19 August 2026; includes the developer’s statement that none of the projects had been offered for sale
- PSE EDGE — Philippine Stock Exchange disclosure portal — annual reports and disclosures of listed developers and their parent companies