"We were in the middle of a mass housing construction when lahar flooded the site and the National Home Mortgage Corp. stopped the project. It was then President Ramos who advised us to move further north, where the demand for housing was high but no builder was responding to the call," said president Wilfredo Tan.
Haus-Land went to Pangasinan and constructed around 4,000 houses. With the money earned from Pangasinan, the company returned to Central Luzon and became one of the first developers to provide affordable housing for Mt. Pinatubo victims.
From affordable homes, the company ventured into affordable communities, starting with a two-hectare foreclosed property in Bamban, Tarlac that it purchased from the Philippine National Bank. That was quickly followed by the purchase of a four-hectare property in Angeles City, which was completely developed and sold out in a year’s time.
"We have never lacked for buyers. Our buyers are ordinary government and private employees who are members of either the Pag-IBIG Fund or the Government Service Insurance System," said Tan.
"I’m good at start-ups and conceptualization but I get bored easily," said Tan, who started working in the family’s sari-sari store at age 14. "Developing affordable housing is my tenth business and an unexpected one at that after selling 3M audiovisual products. I can never get bored with real estate."
Haus-land started by buying and selling houses in Pampanga. The company’s clients were mostly the Filipina wives of American personnel stationed at the Clark Air Force Base.
"At three to four months, the turnaround was not so fast. That’s when we started purchasing land and subdividing them. We searched for backyard farms and foreclosed lands. We talked to brokers. We didn’t have much capital. But we believed then and we believe now that this is a sunshine business. The population will keep on growing and the prices of land will never go down."
When the national economy took a dive in 1997-2001, the company scaled down its construction but continued building even as it shifted its target market to the families of overseas Filipino workers.
"Unlike other developers, we were not burned because our loan exposure was not that big," said Tan. "We deliberately started small and grew gradually as we studied the business and learned from our mistakes as well as those of our competitors."
In the last 18 years, it has built 5,010 housing units, mostly for the low- to middle-income groups in support of the National Shelter Program. It has also gained a reputation for completing all projects within timetable and for building quality affordable houses.
Considered a leading subdivision developer in Southern Luzon, Haus-land also currently has 10 projects in the pipeline in Pampanga, Tarlac and Pangasinan equivalent to 7,348 homes. To date, 72% or 5,328 units of these homes have been completed.
"The Philippines has a housing backlog of about 3.8 million. We are committing to reduce that backlog by building 400,000 to 500,000 houses in the next few years," said Tan.
Given such a track record, Haus-land was named "Developer of the Year" and "Best Developer in Luzon-Big Developer Category" during the Kabalikat sa Pabahay Awards 2003. The company was also named the Unlad Pinoy 2004’s "Most Outstanding Entrepreneur" by the Development Bank of the Philippines.
"A vigorous housing program boosts other industries like construction and furniture," said Tan. " Housing also gives people dignity. If you help them achieve their dream, you inspire them to work harder."