Because 500 USD is expensive rent in the Philippines. I was paying 200 USD for a two-bedroom apartment in Alabang (Manila). 500 is a lot for the Philippines.

I currently live in St. Petersburg, Florida, and rent a house for 1,125 dollars a month, well below the current market. The townhouse I rent for my fiancée in a subdivision in Cordova, Cebu is 15,000 pesos, or 241 dollars a month. In Korea my apartment was 1,200,000 won, about 1,000 dollars at the time In Germany my house outside Stuttgart was 1,200 euros, so again about 1,300 dollars

I live in the SF Bay Area and my rent is 5,000 dollars a month, but I take home 15 to 25k. Still, if I moved to the Philippines I definitely wouldn't be looking for a 5k-a-month place.

I think it's mindset. There was a guy in the PH with 1M USD who said he wouldn't pay more than 30k pesos for rent. There are people in the US who 'live expensive', but it's all paycheck to paycheck with installment loans, and they never save anything.

I do come from a country where a one-bedroom apartment is about 3k USD. But I just expected the Philippines to be a lot cheaper than it is. One of my friends lives in Georgia, in Europe, and pays only about 300 to 500 USD a month for a whole house. And the quality of life there is so much better than the Philippines. So you've got to compare.

You hang out with lower-income people.