What buying and selling actually looks like

I'd been saving listings for months before I understood what I was looking at. The ₱/m² comparison on each page was the first thing that made asking prices feel less arbitrary — I could see when a condo was priced at the city median and when it was fishing.

The offer went through the site's offer box — the seller countered two thousand a square metre higher, I accepted because the comparables said it was fair, and the earnest money only moved after I had a signed acknowledgment and my own certified true copy. Six weeks later the title was mine.

I priced my parents' house the way everyone does — what the neighbour claimed he got. The estimator showed the city median was well under my number, so I listed a bit above the median instead of way above it. Eleven enquiries in the first month.

What I didn't expect: the enquiries came with dates and viewing requests in one place, so I wasn't juggling texts. We closed a few percent under ask — the sold feed says that's typical — and marking it sold stopped the phone calls the same day.

Buying from Dubai sounded impossible until I understood the SPA. I watched listings for two months, video-called into three viewings my brother attended, and only then went to the consulate to execute the special power of attorney — narrow, named, time-limited.

The paper trail was everything: every payment by bank transfer, every document a certified copy, nothing on anyone's word. The deed was signed by my brother as attorney-in-fact and the title came out in my name. I'm still abroad; the house is real.