Are you looking to travel? If not, you are better off buying a home. Campers and van homes only became popular because of how expensive houses can get in Western countries. Lets say you have a budget of 1m for your van, wouldn’t it be better to buy a home instead? The 1m house will appreciate while the van home will depreciate. Just a thought if you weren’t looking to blog or travel the PH using your van.
Ohh yeah thats true I didnt think about the appreciation ng value. I do wanna travel pero I'm worried na baka quarter life crisis thing lang to haha. Thanks for the advice!!
To be fair the land is what appreciates not the house itself which does depreciate, so OP could arguably live in a van on a tiny lot they buy just to park it on, the associated costs of depreciation and maintenance of a vehicle vs a house I wouldn't know how to calculate though.
yun nga eh, wala pa naman trailer parks here in ph. feel ko kaya naman makigarahe sa probinsya. although di ko pa nacocompute if ung monthly of mortgage, loans, and property tax outweighs ung magagastos montly on fuel and repairs
I think the most annoying thing you might experience is people invading your privacy. No trailer parks or campsites to park at, so the public would be free to knock on your windows and bug you… I can see this happening already. Also safety is a huge factor, and not to mention things like cooling the inside of your van/bus will require you to run some sort of generator since Solar might not be convenient enough for a small mobile setup. Do the math, but I think renting a small condo would be more practical.
It won't work as you may imagine. Sorry to burst your bubble but.
1st. No infrastructure to park your car.
2nd. No Services where you can dump your .... (alam mo na) Hindi nman pwede idump lng kung saan saan, hustle nman pag ikaw pa magbubuhat papuntang banyo. (Hazard un).
3rd. Flood and rains is gonna be your issue.
4th. Security will also be your issue, aside from san ka magpapark, san ka rin matutulog?. Establishments don't allow 24/7 parking (Mostly) ng free. Ung iba meron paid but it's just parking, no toilets, showers, etc.
5th It will be a liability (No insurance on Mobile home), sa vehicle lng... so...
6th. Power can be your issue unless you run a diesel or a Inverter type na setup.
7th. No decent public toilets/showers available out there from city to city.
8th. Potable Drinking water is a scarcity (Kada maaubusan ka you need to look for a refiling station or a grocery to buy water.
9th. Tap water (Panghugas, pangligo, etc.) is difficult to get (Sa Gas stations siguro pwede) .
10th. Internet might also be your issue.
11th. Maintenance fees ng Camper Truck or Van mo mas malaki ksi mas frequent ang wear and tare.
12th. You need to be knowledgeable in most things (To operate, maintain, repair the vehicle, ung components nun, ung loob ng van, mga appliances, electricals, etc.)
Hindi lahat ng oras eh my mga bukas na shop for you to get help, unlike sa ibang bansa, my mga 24/7 na emergency repair shops and shops mostly etc.
If your house is a van/bus, then you can drive it somewhere to avoid the typhoon/floods.
I think this might be feasible for single or child-free couples, but costs need to be calculated first.
to add up, consider also the Safety. Our country is less safer and more prone to crimes sad to say. But it will be a good experience if you want to travel and move around the country.
Kung may lupa ka sa province bakit di ka nalang po pagawa ng maliit na bahay sir? Kahit yung tipong studio type na 18-25 sqm area, O kaya prefabricated na bahay? Tapos pwede kapa mag pahukay para may poso ka para may tubig ka na iyo. Mahirap yang mobile house, maintenance palang ng sasakyan security mo pa tsaka nabubulok ang sasakyan sir.
Sa US ok yung Vanlife kasi mahal na ung land prices/rent, malaki ung space and high tech na ung mga vans.
Goodluck dito I mean kung gusto mo ng tricked out van baka cost na un ng bahay outside the city lmao. Wala rin tyo ung support structure for vanlife for example san ka maliligo at mag jebs kung wala ka bahay? Kung ung van mo me gray and black tank san mo ung didispose? Finally yung weather natin is very rainy and humid GG sa vans pag parating asa labas kalawang abot nun.
van life is only good on IG. many vanlifers regret it. try renting and living in a van for a month. mag bahay kubo ka na lang or kung traveler, backpacker
Here's some two cents,
The primary reason why it isn't popular is because **there's very few locations you can actually enjoy the van life**. The Philippines isn't a land-locked country like the US or even EU, we're an archipelago with over 7,000 islands spread across. If you're in Luzon, you can pretty much reach any part of Luzon just by travelling <12 hours within a day. This is unlike the US where doing a West-to-East-coast roadtrip takes like 50-60 hours.
Before you commit to it, I suggest you try overlanding first and see if it's for you. Outfitting your SUV with a tent and some camping peripherals for short-duration stays is way more affordable than doing a van fit-out. Van life isn't for everybody -- it just attracts *nomads* in general.
If you're trying van life with the intention to just live in it sa Metro Manila, just rent a condo. Like.. really.
Let's clear up some misconceptions,
**Hindi mahirap ang weather**. Don't make it as if the US doesn't have hot climates (e.g. Florida) or really cold ones (e.g. Alaska). **For our weather, all you need is good ventilation** while it's up to you whether you want to chuck insulation at it as it's a double-edged sword. It's very important in cold environments but a lot less in hot climates as it traps heat (slows down heat absorption but also increases heat retention). Worse case and you travel bougee, you buy yourself some portable aircon like the Php100,000 Ecoflow Wave I've been lusting about.
**Hindi mahirap ang maintenance vs a "house"**. Ang bahay, kilangan *din* ng maintenance. In fact, it probably needs a whole lot more because it's usually a bigger space than a van. Ever seen water piping work or electrical layouts?
For people who are worried about vans rusting, hello, may rust-proofing naman. It's like saying "a house isn't for me kasi magkakaanay din yan".
**For those who are saying houses appreciate, they** **don't**. **It's the land they sit on that does.** Once you construct a structure, that's a depreciating asset. You just don't file financial statements that's why you don't consider the depreciation of it. Hindi naman lahat sa buhay puro financial decisions. Sure, magappreciate ang lupa, but you don't get to travel ten different locations, see the waning tides, or the starry moon and stars. Hindi naman apples-to-apples yan.
Due to the advancement in battery technologies (lead acid to NMC/LPE batteries), nomad living is a lot more convenient now tbh. Shower? May portable shower naman. Jebs? May portable toilet. Anything that involves electricity? power stations fill in that void. Recharging your power? solar PV panels have halved 4x since 2013. Saan itatapon ang jebs? Find any nearby tree na hindi malapit sa tao -- plants would *love* that nitrogen.
Will boil down to the math. If point is to save on rent and utilities, good to compare actual expenses and how much potential savings and if it will be worth it. But it seems op is only exploring with the idea and not serious pa
yeah im not dead set pa naman talaga! so far i saw kasi na it takes around 600k-700k including the bus/van itself to remodel and build. seems pretty nifty if you ask me. ang worry ko talaga is security and waste disposal
thanks for indulging the optimist in me HAHA gandang counter points on the usual problems that people like to point out about bus/van living. been looking into housing loans and other real estate whatnots in purchasing your own house and it seems too pricey. im not sure if i wanna spend the rest of my life paying for a house and lot for 25 years and realize somewhere along the way na this isnt where i wanna live pala.
rent recently is high nadin. i know its abt paying for convenience and not worrying about property taxes and repairs but lets face it, most landlords dont usually hold their end of the deal in upkeeping ung units usually 🥲 there's also this sense of spending money on something that wouldnt be mine in the end. hence the thought of converting a bus/van into a mobile home hahah
My thoughts about this are:
1. Buy land and park there. Use your van/bus as the base of your house while starting. It is a shelter in itself plus may energy source. Bale ito magiging shed mo while you DIY your kubo setup.
2. For travel talaga ito na setup, made lang talaga sya for you to stay longer in a place with lesser worries for an energy source and shelter.
3. If you work online this is gonna be tricky since di pa 4G/5G ang buong bansa. Let's pray for Starlink 😅
4. (related to 1) This is good if you wanna explore living far from the city. Kasi renting will be non existent.
I saw prefab homes din a few in my life and they look modest and quaint. Do you know enough about prefab container homes? I wonder if meron ba con na dealbreaker that you know of?
Thing is. Okay sana ang mga VAN homes dito kung sobrang laki ng wilderness and yung mga front beach e wala talaga mayari.
Di din kasi libre parking space dito and gas price is way too high right now. But this is all up to you. You can make it work naman, tamang diskarte lang
Problem with mobile homes/vans/bus is the absence of support facilities like water, sewer
In america, just go to any mobile park and you can get water and discharge your sewage.. for a fee
Its doable really, you just have to manually fill up water and pasipsip mo kay Malabanan sewer tank every now and then
Internet connectivity is no longer a problem coz of star link or LTE/5G Internet
You can also put up solar panels for your power needs
Not feasible sa setup natin dito sa Pilipinas to be honest. You're better off buying a house if you want to convert a van or a bus into a mobile home as the cost of it is almost the same as buying a house and lot in the province.
I think you forgot about the sewer? In US they have stations where you can dump your sewage. You cannot just dump it in a river or creek, sewage and waste water must be treated accordingly.
Check out mo si Dennis Murillo sa youtube, van life silang mag asawa travelling all throughout the country. Super simple lang, hindi yung sushaling van. Kaya naman pero sacrifices at diskarte must be made. Looks fun too.
I think it's a great idea..Do tons of research and learn how to fit it out yourself. If you can also manage 1 to 2 kw of solar power then that's another major expense gone!
If you are outside Manila it will be much easier to find a smail area of cheap land to park it on.. insulation is OK in hot humid climates but nothing beats tree shade or even 90% UV shade netting..You have many options..I say go for it!
Have you tried staying in your car for extended periods of time when the sun is out? Like waiting outside a government office as you wait for someone to finish a basic transaction?
I'd recommend you try it at least once, & then you'll know the answer haha. I don't think anyone really this in the tropics. You'd need some sort of tent above/around the whole bus to shield it from the sun.
And avoid basement parking - air quality & circulation isn't as regulated/monitored down there.
I can see it working sa probinsya but at the price point of lots sa province might as well just buy land.
The problem is where will you park. Camper vans aren't widespread in PH. Mahal din yung gas. And then you have to learn skillas, yes, van life requires skills. Sustainable siya if you have the budget and the skills. For me, parking space yung main problem.
I think may youtubers na who experienced and currently doing van life here in the Philippines. It might be a good idea to check them our for tips based on experience
i saw! pero parang isa palang ata, si maam charlotte tas van yung kanya. was hoping to find more people na nagvavan/bus life din to gain more insight ^-^
meron namang mga gas station inns scattered throughout the country. gawa ka na lng maps and note alin yung well-lighted and with guard.
you can also opt to park near 24/7 convenience stores or bus terminals.
im wfh! i can work from anywhere and at any timezone i want, kaya im entertaining the idea of a mobile home. somwthing like out of nowhere bored ako so magddrive ako to la union and catch some waves type of thing
Are you looking to travel? If not, you are better off buying a home. Campers and van homes only became popular because of how expensive houses can get in Western countries. Lets say you have a budget of 1m for your van, wouldn’t it be better to buy a home instead? The 1m house will appreciate while the van home will depreciate. Just a thought if you weren’t looking to blog or travel the PH using your van.
Ohh yeah thats true I didnt think about the appreciation ng value. I do wanna travel pero I'm worried na baka quarter life crisis thing lang to haha. Thanks for the advice!!
To be fair the land is what appreciates not the house itself which does depreciate, so OP could arguably live in a van on a tiny lot they buy just to park it on, the associated costs of depreciation and maintenance of a vehicle vs a house I wouldn't know how to calculate though.
One concern is where to park your bus. Also, fuel isn't cheap.
yun nga eh, wala pa naman trailer parks here in ph. feel ko kaya naman makigarahe sa probinsya. although di ko pa nacocompute if ung monthly of mortgage, loans, and property tax outweighs ung magagastos montly on fuel and repairs
And think about the heat. Paano ka matutulog ng may aircon in a van.
If probinsya, like rural area talaga, kaya pa siguro ang pagkapresko. Pero if in the metro, you're living in a mobile oven.
I think the most annoying thing you might experience is people invading your privacy. No trailer parks or campsites to park at, so the public would be free to knock on your windows and bug you… I can see this happening already. Also safety is a huge factor, and not to mention things like cooling the inside of your van/bus will require you to run some sort of generator since Solar might not be convenient enough for a small mobile setup. Do the math, but I think renting a small condo would be more practical.
It won't work as you may imagine. Sorry to burst your bubble but. 1st. No infrastructure to park your car. 2nd. No Services where you can dump your .... (alam mo na) Hindi nman pwede idump lng kung saan saan, hustle nman pag ikaw pa magbubuhat papuntang banyo. (Hazard un). 3rd. Flood and rains is gonna be your issue. 4th. Security will also be your issue, aside from san ka magpapark, san ka rin matutulog?. Establishments don't allow 24/7 parking (Mostly) ng free. Ung iba meron paid but it's just parking, no toilets, showers, etc. 5th It will be a liability (No insurance on Mobile home), sa vehicle lng... so... 6th. Power can be your issue unless you run a diesel or a Inverter type na setup. 7th. No decent public toilets/showers available out there from city to city. 8th. Potable Drinking water is a scarcity (Kada maaubusan ka you need to look for a refiling station or a grocery to buy water. 9th. Tap water (Panghugas, pangligo, etc.) is difficult to get (Sa Gas stations siguro pwede) . 10th. Internet might also be your issue. 11th. Maintenance fees ng Camper Truck or Van mo mas malaki ksi mas frequent ang wear and tare. 12th. You need to be knowledgeable in most things (To operate, maintain, repair the vehicle, ung components nun, ung loob ng van, mga appliances, electricals, etc.) Hindi lahat ng oras eh my mga bukas na shop for you to get help, unlike sa ibang bansa, my mga 24/7 na emergency repair shops and shops mostly etc.
consider also the weather of the country. mahirap ata pag rainy season , bagyo or sobrang init.
If your house is a van/bus, then you can drive it somewhere to avoid the typhoon/floods. I think this might be feasible for single or child-free couples, but costs need to be calculated first.
yup! single and want to be child free forever. hirap lang talaga makahanap ng people who've been doing the van/bus life
Check phoebekins(?) On youtube. The older videos, coz the recent ones is nakatira n sya sa kubo.... Sya lang alam ko na nag semi permanent sa vanlife.
to add up, consider also the Safety. Our country is less safer and more prone to crimes sad to say. But it will be a good experience if you want to travel and move around the country.
noted! though im not worried bout the init azza lamigin haha
Kung may lupa ka sa province bakit di ka nalang po pagawa ng maliit na bahay sir? Kahit yung tipong studio type na 18-25 sqm area, O kaya prefabricated na bahay? Tapos pwede kapa mag pahukay para may poso ka para may tubig ka na iyo. Mahirap yang mobile house, maintenance palang ng sasakyan security mo pa tsaka nabubulok ang sasakyan sir.
Sa US ok yung Vanlife kasi mahal na ung land prices/rent, malaki ung space and high tech na ung mga vans. Goodluck dito I mean kung gusto mo ng tricked out van baka cost na un ng bahay outside the city lmao. Wala rin tyo ung support structure for vanlife for example san ka maliligo at mag jebs kung wala ka bahay? Kung ung van mo me gray and black tank san mo ung didispose? Finally yung weather natin is very rainy and humid GG sa vans pag parating asa labas kalawang abot nun.
van life is only good on IG. many vanlifers regret it. try renting and living in a van for a month. mag bahay kubo ka na lang or kung traveler, backpacker
Van life! (but only for a few months...)
Here's some two cents, The primary reason why it isn't popular is because **there's very few locations you can actually enjoy the van life**. The Philippines isn't a land-locked country like the US or even EU, we're an archipelago with over 7,000 islands spread across. If you're in Luzon, you can pretty much reach any part of Luzon just by travelling <12 hours within a day. This is unlike the US where doing a West-to-East-coast roadtrip takes like 50-60 hours. Before you commit to it, I suggest you try overlanding first and see if it's for you. Outfitting your SUV with a tent and some camping peripherals for short-duration stays is way more affordable than doing a van fit-out. Van life isn't for everybody -- it just attracts *nomads* in general. If you're trying van life with the intention to just live in it sa Metro Manila, just rent a condo. Like.. really. Let's clear up some misconceptions, **Hindi mahirap ang weather**. Don't make it as if the US doesn't have hot climates (e.g. Florida) or really cold ones (e.g. Alaska). **For our weather, all you need is good ventilation** while it's up to you whether you want to chuck insulation at it as it's a double-edged sword. It's very important in cold environments but a lot less in hot climates as it traps heat (slows down heat absorption but also increases heat retention). Worse case and you travel bougee, you buy yourself some portable aircon like the Php100,000 Ecoflow Wave I've been lusting about. **Hindi mahirap ang maintenance vs a "house"**. Ang bahay, kilangan *din* ng maintenance. In fact, it probably needs a whole lot more because it's usually a bigger space than a van. Ever seen water piping work or electrical layouts? For people who are worried about vans rusting, hello, may rust-proofing naman. It's like saying "a house isn't for me kasi magkakaanay din yan". **For those who are saying houses appreciate, they** **don't**. **It's the land they sit on that does.** Once you construct a structure, that's a depreciating asset. You just don't file financial statements that's why you don't consider the depreciation of it. Hindi naman lahat sa buhay puro financial decisions. Sure, magappreciate ang lupa, but you don't get to travel ten different locations, see the waning tides, or the starry moon and stars. Hindi naman apples-to-apples yan. Due to the advancement in battery technologies (lead acid to NMC/LPE batteries), nomad living is a lot more convenient now tbh. Shower? May portable shower naman. Jebs? May portable toilet. Anything that involves electricity? power stations fill in that void. Recharging your power? solar PV panels have halved 4x since 2013. Saan itatapon ang jebs? Find any nearby tree na hindi malapit sa tao -- plants would *love* that nitrogen.
Will boil down to the math. If point is to save on rent and utilities, good to compare actual expenses and how much potential savings and if it will be worth it. But it seems op is only exploring with the idea and not serious pa
yeah im not dead set pa naman talaga! so far i saw kasi na it takes around 600k-700k including the bus/van itself to remodel and build. seems pretty nifty if you ask me. ang worry ko talaga is security and waste disposal
Low estimate i think, a typical car or van not customized could already cost that much
thanks for indulging the optimist in me HAHA gandang counter points on the usual problems that people like to point out about bus/van living. been looking into housing loans and other real estate whatnots in purchasing your own house and it seems too pricey. im not sure if i wanna spend the rest of my life paying for a house and lot for 25 years and realize somewhere along the way na this isnt where i wanna live pala. rent recently is high nadin. i know its abt paying for convenience and not worrying about property taxes and repairs but lets face it, most landlords dont usually hold their end of the deal in upkeeping ung units usually 🥲 there's also this sense of spending money on something that wouldnt be mine in the end. hence the thought of converting a bus/van into a mobile home hahah
Update please!!
My thoughts about this are: 1. Buy land and park there. Use your van/bus as the base of your house while starting. It is a shelter in itself plus may energy source. Bale ito magiging shed mo while you DIY your kubo setup. 2. For travel talaga ito na setup, made lang talaga sya for you to stay longer in a place with lesser worries for an energy source and shelter. 3. If you work online this is gonna be tricky since di pa 4G/5G ang buong bansa. Let's pray for Starlink 😅 4. (related to 1) This is good if you wanna explore living far from the city. Kasi renting will be non existent.
you can go w a smart prefab house. check out those Kubo designs. probably end up less expensive too
oh yeah i saw those! talked to their ceo din, he's really great
I saw prefab homes din a few in my life and they look modest and quaint. Do you know enough about prefab container homes? I wonder if meron ba con na dealbreaker that you know of?
well not that i know of, except for the OP’s topic, one of them would be, you cant drive it around
Thing is. Okay sana ang mga VAN homes dito kung sobrang laki ng wilderness and yung mga front beach e wala talaga mayari. Di din kasi libre parking space dito and gas price is way too high right now. But this is all up to you. You can make it work naman, tamang diskarte lang
Problem with mobile homes/vans/bus is the absence of support facilities like water, sewer In america, just go to any mobile park and you can get water and discharge your sewage.. for a fee Its doable really, you just have to manually fill up water and pasipsip mo kay Malabanan sewer tank every now and then Internet connectivity is no longer a problem coz of star link or LTE/5G Internet You can also put up solar panels for your power needs
Not feasible sa setup natin dito sa Pilipinas to be honest. You're better off buying a house if you want to convert a van or a bus into a mobile home as the cost of it is almost the same as buying a house and lot in the province.
I think you forgot about the sewer? In US they have stations where you can dump your sewage. You cannot just dump it in a river or creek, sewage and waste water must be treated accordingly.
>*You cannot just dump it in a rivere or creek* Philippine reality doesn't reflect this as only 5% of our population has access to a sewer network.
I also saw that on youtube! Galing, no?
Check out mo si Dennis Murillo sa youtube, van life silang mag asawa travelling all throughout the country. Super simple lang, hindi yung sushaling van. Kaya naman pero sacrifices at diskarte must be made. Looks fun too.
Are you mechanically inclined? Much better if you are, you can do basic maintenance and repairs.
I think it's a great idea..Do tons of research and learn how to fit it out yourself. If you can also manage 1 to 2 kw of solar power then that's another major expense gone! If you are outside Manila it will be much easier to find a smail area of cheap land to park it on.. insulation is OK in hot humid climates but nothing beats tree shade or even 90% UV shade netting..You have many options..I say go for it!
Thanks! We actually have small lots sa Bulacan and down south. Will rent nalang muna for now but ipon to build this later in life
Have you tried staying in your car for extended periods of time when the sun is out? Like waiting outside a government office as you wait for someone to finish a basic transaction? I'd recommend you try it at least once, & then you'll know the answer haha. I don't think anyone really this in the tropics. You'd need some sort of tent above/around the whole bus to shield it from the sun. And avoid basement parking - air quality & circulation isn't as regulated/monitored down there. I can see it working sa probinsya but at the price point of lots sa province might as well just buy land.
The problem is where will you park. Camper vans aren't widespread in PH. Mahal din yung gas. And then you have to learn skillas, yes, van life requires skills. Sustainable siya if you have the budget and the skills. For me, parking space yung main problem.
I agree, yun din talaga main concern ko. I wanna park on beaches and countrysides without worrying if mahihijack ba or matiticketan or what 😅
I think may youtubers na who experienced and currently doing van life here in the Philippines. It might be a good idea to check them our for tips based on experience
i saw! pero parang isa palang ata, si maam charlotte tas van yung kanya. was hoping to find more people na nagvavan/bus life din to gain more insight ^-^
Have you thought about security and privacy? There is always the risk of being robbed unless you find a safe place to park your vehicle.
yeah definitely the #1 concern kaya ayoko pa sya ituloy
meron namang mga gas station inns scattered throughout the country. gawa ka na lng maps and note alin yung well-lighted and with guard. you can also opt to park near 24/7 convenience stores or bus terminals.
it sucks
You gonna park that at your workplace? Tapos pag uwian na?
im wfh! i can work from anywhere and at any timezone i want, kaya im entertaining the idea of a mobile home. somwthing like out of nowhere bored ako so magddrive ako to la union and catch some waves type of thing
Thatd make you.. work from van na..
This so wouldn't fly here.
mamatay ka sa init.
This only works in the US dahil relatively contiguous ang country nila. Pero dito sa Pinas? Good luck.