Thirty-one agents board a charter with surfboards, folding chairs and a banner reading ‘We Are Ordinary People, Please Be Normal’
Orange County Realtors Fly to Cebu on Solidarity Mission
A delegation from the Newport-Mesa Association of Realtors arrives with seventeen surfboards and a plan to buy lunch for everyone
LAPU-LAPU CITY, Philippines – A charter flight carrying 31 Orange County real estate agents touched down at Mactan-Cebu International Airport on Saturday afternoon. The passengers disembarked in matching teal polo shirts, carrying surfboards, folding chairs and a six-foot banner reading: “We Are Ordinary People. Please Be Normal.”
The banner is a nod to a line a local developer’s marketing manager is drafting for a new brochure, as reported by Manila News. The Orange County delegation says it saw the line and “felt seen.”
“We are here to show solidarity,” said delegation leader Craig Ferrante, 58, the founder of Surf & Sell Realty in Newport Beach. “When the market gets nervous, you don’t hide. You show up. You bring a banner.”
Why They Came
The nerves in Cebu are linked to a news story. Philippine justice officials are examining allegations concerning Thomas Markle Sr., the estranged father of the Duchess of Sussex, who lived in Cebu earlier this year, according to GMA News. No charges have been filed and the allegations are unproven. Ferrante said he wants nothing but a fair process: “Protect the children. Investigate properly. After that we can discuss the condos.”
The condos, meanwhile, have had a rough week. Brokers told Manila News that buyers now ask about the neighbours instead of the parking, and Ferrante’s team read the report on the flight. “We cried,” said Brenda Tolliver, 49, a broker from Costa Mesa. “Then we landed and we did what Americans do. We organised a committee.”
The Itinerary
- Saturday, 4 p.m.: Arrive, unpack and distribute teal polo shirts to the airport staff. “They were very polite about it.”
- Saturday, 6 p.m.: Group dinner of lechon, grilled squid and rice. Ferrante picks up the check for eighty people, “including the cook.”
- Sunday, 7 a.m.: Dawn patrol at Mactan beach. Seventeen surfboards, zero waves. Delegation paddles around anyway.
- Sunday, 11 a.m.: Open house tour of six Mactan condos. Delegation asks one question at each: “Are you all right?”
- Sunday, 3 p.m.: Solidarity rally in a hotel car park. Banner unfurled. Speeches delivered in English, Cebuano and, for reasons unknown, pig Latin.
- Monday: Departure. Everyone sunburnt.
The Locals React
Cebu agents have been gracious but baffled. “They came with surfboards,” said Priscilla Montecillo, a broker who serves foreign buyers. “There are no waves here. The strait is flat as a table. One of them tried to surf the hotel pool.”
The same agent was the source of the quote in The London Prat’s report on British retirees noting that “the atmosphere is what buys the flat.” She said the Orange County delegation had improved the atmosphere by about 14 percent, measured by “the number of strangers who smiled at me in the car park.”
The sellers on the ground were less convinced. A woman selling grilled corn outside the tower told the delegation, via a translator, that she appreciated the support but would prefer if they bought a cob or two. Ferrante bought forty. The delegation ate them on the beach, in teal.
American Buyers Watch the Mood
The delegation also met with a group of American retirees already living on Mactan. According to Bohiney’s report on a Cebu open house, at least one has begun arriving at viewings with a binder of references and a trombone case. The delegation’s response was practical. “We took the trombone,” Ferrante said. “It’s now the group’s official musical instrument.”
The market itself is in better shape than the mood. Colliers described the Visayas and Mindanao as a key property investment hotspot in July, and Ferrante’s team came away reassured. “The numbers don’t lie,” said Tolliver. “Only the feelings lie. And feelings can be re-listed.”
Comics Wave the Banner
- Greg Ames: “Thirty-one Orange County realtors flew to the Philippines to tell everyone to be normal. This is the least normal sentence ever put on a banner.”
- Tia Ramos: “They brought surfboards to a flat strait. That’s like bringing a sled to Florida. But I support the optimism.”
- Herb Goldman: “Realtors in teal polo shirts. I’d trust them with my house. I wouldn’t trust them with a pool noodle.”
- Yvette Cruz: “We get it. The sea did nothing wrong. But I’d like to know what the realtors did, because they’re the ones in the matching shirts.”
Rules for Visiting Buyers
Delegation members were reminded that foreign buyers face limits. Under the Condominium Act, foreigners may own units but not land, and are capped at 40 percent of any project. Retirees planning a longer stay may apply through the Philippine Retirement Authority. Ferrante circulated a one-page cheat sheet. It was laminated.
The psychological explanation is familiar. The availability heuristic, which Tversky and Kahneman described in 1973, holds that one vivid example can swamp the dull facts. Ferrante put it in more practical terms. “One bad headline is a loud neighbour,” he said. “Everyone else on the block is just trying to get some sleep.”
The Flight Home
The delegation departed Monday evening with three signed purchase agreements, one marriage proposal (declined) and an official thank-you letter from the Cebu Chamber of Real Estate, written on a napkin.
The trombone is now in a closet in Newport Beach. Ferrante says it will be used at the next association meeting, “to call the meeting to order, or to end it, depending on how it goes.”
The saga continues at prat.uk and bohiney.com, and the British view of overseas property folly is always on offer at The Daily Mash. For the comic tradition behind the banner, see this guide to being funny in the Philippines.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/cebu-realtor-cant-sell-beachfront-listings/