In short: there is a question everyone asks late and should ask early. Who is behind this, since when, and what have they actually built. Land of Nomads started in 2023 and today has two developments under way in two different provinces of the Philippines. Here is the route, without decoration.
Why this question always arrives late
Conversations with someone looking at a distant project tend to follow the same order. Price first. Then the return. Then the contract.
And at the end, once the interest is real, the good one shows up: so who are these people, exactly?
It should come first. A 99-year contract gets signed with whoever will still be around in ten, not with whoever shows the prettiest render.
2023: the starting point
The group was formed in 2023.
That is not a date to brag about. Three years is not thirty, and anyone after a developer with half a century behind it is looking in the wrong place. What those three years do explain is why the approach is what it is.
Land of Nomads was not founded to sell houses. It grew around a fairly specific idea: that there is a generation whose income does not depend on where they happen to be sitting, and that those people want a base of their own somewhere good without giving up on it earning while they are away.
Everything else follows from there. The 99-year leasehold, which is the legal route available to a foreign national in the Philippines. The managed rental, which turns an empty unit into a working asset. And personal use with no cap on nights, which is what separates this from a pure financial play.
First development: San Fernando, Camarines Sur
The first sits in San Fernando, in the province of Camarines Sur, in the Bicol region.
It holds 368 eco-villas: 347 Standard and 21 Premium. The whole complex was laid out more like a small town than a housing estate, with three coworking zones, a Pool Club with four pools, a gym and sports courts, a supermarket, a laundry, a Green School and a playground.
The site was not chosen for the postcard. Camarines Sur has the wakeboarding complex that runs all year, it has the Caramoan islands to the east, and it has Naga next door, which is the city that supplies the hospital, the university and the airport.
That combination spreads demand across twelve months instead of concentrating it in two good ones. It is dull to describe and it is what holds occupancy steady.
Second development: El Nido, Palawan
The second plays in another league altogether, and at a different game.
El Nido sits in Palawan, facing the Bacuit Archipelago, a bucket-list destination for long-haul international travel. There you find 149 Loft units of 56 square metres. And 82 Duplex of 95.6, each with a terrace and private pool.
Of those 82 Duplex, 21 remain available. The other 61 are already sold or reserved, which says more about the project than any sentence we could write here.
Who actually builds this
Precision matters here, because this is where the sector sells the most smoke.
Land of Nomads does not build. The work is carried out by one of the top five construction companies in the Philippines, with over 60 years of combined experience, with its licences and permits current: tax registration, company registration, contractor’s licence and business permit.
Site management is led by Gene Arthur. On the group’s side, Mike handles the legal work and Sergio the commercial side and asset management.
That developer and builder are separate outfits is normal in this sector and it is a good sign. It means whoever pours the concrete has been pouring it for decades.
The technique: Super Adobe 2.0
The villas go up using Super Adobe 2.0, a method that builds with compacted earth bags.
It sounds artisanal and it is not. It gives natural thermal insulation, which in a climate averaging 27 degrees all year means less air conditioning, and it gives good seismic behaviour, which in the Philippines is no small detail.
We wrote a whole article on building with low impact where typhoons pass. The full reasoning is there.
Where things stand today
Two provinces. Two developments under construction, four unit types between them, and a base of hundreds of people who have already signed in San Fernando and El Nido.
That last part is the one we most like showing. The marketing department does not get to decide it.
Frequently asked questions
What happens to my unit once the development sells out?
Nothing changes for anyone who has already signed. The leasehold runs 99 years and the rental operation carries on exactly as before.
Is a third project on the way?
Two developments are active today, San Fernando and El Nido. Anything said beyond that would be speculation, and we would rather not.
Want to see the real state of either development, with photos from this week rather than last year? The Land of Nomads team will show you.
