There are a number of important realizations that the family will make here:
n•Given the high costs today, it is impossible to depend on one family member to support everyone else’s education. Everyone must do his/her share. Working family members should never quit work just because there is an OFW in the family or just because one member gets a relatively high-paying local job.
n•It should be obvious that more children mean higher educational expenses. This is another case for family planning.
n•Those who are still going to school will realize how much their parents/siblings are sacrificing to see them through school. Given that they are not earning income yet, their main contribution is to save money, study hard and adopt a simple, healthy lifestyle.

The best way to finance children’s education is still to buy pre-need education plans as early as possible. These plans ensure regular savings for your children’s education. And if you don’t use them, you can sell them for a profit. However, given the problems that pre-need companies faced recently, it is advisable to buy pre-need plans only from the best performing insurance companies. Visit www.insurance.gov.ph to see a list of the top insurance companies and ask an agent to explain their education plans to you. If you decide to buy an education plan(s), include the total annual payments for these under column D. See Appendix C for a more detailed discussion of pre-need plans.

Tips:
n•Renting a house or apartment all the time will be expensive in the long run because you “lose” all your payments to whoever owns the house. When you buy and make monthly installments for a house, you don’t lose these payments because you will be the owner of the house. You are effectively paying yourself. Later, you can sell your house or take out a loan from the bank using it as collateral. You can never sell a rented place or use it as collateral to borrow money.
n•Are all employable/employed persons in the family members of PAGIBIG or SSS? If not all are members of PAGIBIG or SSS, make sure you all become members. Visit http://www.pagibigfund.gov.ph/mt_faq.htm to find out how to become a member.
n•If you are an OFW and cannot afford to buy a house and lot now, at least make it your top priority to become a member of PAGIBIG Overseas Program. Visit or download (http://www.pagibigfund.gov.ph/sp_h2mpl_pop.pdf). If you are newly employed locally, ask your employer to make you a member of PAGIBIG and make sure your contributions are actually remitted to the housing fund.
n•If the family does not yet have an idea of the location, area, total cost, down payment, and monthly installments for the house and lot, do a canvass and get these information for several houses from which the family can choose its desired home. Take your time. Do not force yourselves to make a decision that you may regret later. Remember you make this kind of decision probably only once in your life. Make sure you are happy with it.
n•Make sure the property you want to buy is properly titled and has no claimants (“clean title”) other than the owner. You can find this out from the Register of Deeds of the town or city where the property is located.
n•If the property is newly developed, find out if the developer is properly accredited with the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) and has a license to sell the property. Visit http://www.hlurb.gov.ph/article/archive/113/ to see the “Master List of Developers and Projects in the Expanded National Capital Region”. You can find the addresses of the HLURB’s Regional Offices are at http://www.hlurb.gov.ph/article/archive/71/ .
n•Get a document in exchange for every payment you make, whether it is an Official Receipt, a Contract to Buy and Sell, a Deed of Absolute Sale, the original title itself, etc. The more of these documents you can get, the better.
n•After doing the above and you find out that you can easily afford to make a “Cash Payment” (give the property’s total price in one payment), ask for a big discount (10% or higher) because you are doing the owner a big favor.
n•To see other general tips, visit http://www.eyp.ph/complete.jsp?page=660&content=2003/0526_realestate.html#1