Investing on real property as such house and lot, apartments and condominiums has been a trend these recent years that buildings and subdivisions have sprouted like mushrooms in Iloilo City, not just because of the fast appraisal on the monetary aspect, as what we usually think, and as clearly presented by sales consultants or agents whenever they are selling, that these are tangible and are future assets, due to their value appreciation, which I believe is a relevant consideration in making a decision whether to acquire a real property or place your money on other moving investments, but also because of other reasons, as such, you can make use of them, not just for rental business or future investments, but for many, as a personal habitat , or for some, the acquisition is a bucket list achieved!

Naturally as parents, as early as age zero for others or for us, personally, we have clear plans ahead preparing our children in college. We live in Miagao, 42 km. away from the city of Iloilo. While working abroad, my eldest son was in elementary then, I have intricately jotted down the pros and cons of whether to choose a house and lot or a condominium for my children, as they practically need a place to stay in the city when they step in high school or college, and I also wanted them to feel they live in our own home and not renting others’ property. The sense of security and warmth of being in your own dwelling, is important for us as our children continue their school, which they have to spend time for more than ten years, high school and college combined, as my younger child plans to take medicine. Renting for me is burdensome and a waste of money, thus, we finally opted to acquire a condominium unit for the many benefits it could offer.

It was in 2019, SMDC STYLE was on pre-selling, my son was in junior high school then, when we made our first payment for the equity of our major investment in the city, just like a trust fund for our children’s future living convenience, confident that a catastrophe is far from reality. We have chosen SMDC Style, primarily for its location as it is just at the back of the mall, and for its future value once we don’t see the need to use it after our children’s education. The estimated turn over date is May 2023. We understand the delay due to the pandemic, that we temporarily rented an apartment while waiting for the turn over. However, we were informed multiple times of different turn-over dates each year 2023, 2024, 2025 and the latest according to the management as per their engineering team, is January 2026. The date has arrived and as usual, we were eager to move the kids to their own place and stop the spending on rent, but just recently, they moved it again to October 2026, like their delays have caused us hundreds of thousand pesos on temporary rental and time wasted, the most unfortunate– long-term life plans ruined or in chaos as we have trusted the words and commitment of a giant and established company- SM Prime Holdings, INC,. as many perceived known for its excellence in integrated property business—but has been in series of chaos expressed through multiple clienteles’ complaints on substandard construction and turn over delays.

Imagine, the almost finished University of Manila beside the mall, and three of the public markets in Iloilo City, which used to be plans, even during the active selling years of SMDC Style. NEW MALLS NOW COMPLETED FAST PACED! But the STYLE CLIENTS— who have been paying for the units since 2019—still waiting for the turn over until 2026 or maybe counting? And then there’s SMDC Glade Residences in Balago, Jaro, again? That quick?! When they couldn’t even fully finish the LONG OVER DUE SMDC STYLE since 2019? Wow! SM PRIME HOLDINGS, INC., has been failing their clients over and over again, thus composes the over 7,000 members of dissatisfied clients group on facebook. Yet, never listened to!

Are condominium clients really valued? The years of delay have proven our worth. The implied crippled or focus-biased engineering and the deaf customer service teams combined are like ghosts—hunting us in our sleep. May our distressed voice hit your conscience hard, as we—your clients, represent your failed commitments, because every peso we pay to your company comes from our sweat, time and hardships, supposedly intended for the realization of our plans and dreams for our family members—devalued like scrap by SM PRIME HOLDINGS, INC.