BonditoBali
Hi everyone, I have a question regarding how negotiable the cost of accommodation that is advertised online is. I would be very grateful if you could share your expertise. A brief introduction: My wife and I are intending to move to Bali soon. We've been there quite a few times before (for work and on holidays) and have experienced the good and bad. We've both lived and travelled in developing countries before so we understand that things are done differently to home! However, for a variety of different reasons, we think it would be a great experience to go and live in Bali for some time. Fortunately, we both have jobs which allow us to work remotely. I am a bit of a planner by nature, so I am doing a budget to work out how much money we'd need per year.My question relates to the cost of accommodation. We're looking at renting a house/villa in the Berawa/Canggu area (we have stayed there numerous times previously) and will look for a 1year lease to start with. Ideally, we'd like a 3-4 bedroom furnished house/villa + pool in Berawa/Canggu area.There's no shortage of websites that cater to foreigners looking for accom e.g. balinaturaltreasure.com, universalbaliproperty.com, beachpropertybali.com, balilongtermrentals.com, as well as some websites in Indonesian that I have found. It seems there are lots of properties available. I know that the best way to find a place will be to arrive there and start looking around, and discussing prices etc. In fact, we plan to take a short-term rental for a month when we arrive and use that time to check out the available long term options. However, for the purpose of making a budget now, I'd like to know if the prices that I see on the websites (like the ones I listed above) that target foreigners are likely to be negotiable. For example, if I see places that are listed at 300millionIDR, is it reasonable to assume I could negotiate that price down? If so, by what sort of percentage is possible? 10%, 20%, more etc? I know that different owners will have different prices depending on their own circumstances, but I'm looking for a general rule of thumb. E.g. on those types of websites, I can assume that I can negotiate the price down by 10/20%/30% etc. What do you think? Can leases be negotiated? By how much?Thanks very much for your help! It is very much appreciated!
Smoke
almost everything in RI is negotiable . how good of a negotiator are you ?
Markit
Welcome to the forum and good luck with your plans - you are looking to move into the prime villa area (not "prime" in terms of quality of life, just most expensive area for tourists) so the prices you will be seeing are based on the value as a tourist let, usually short term i.e 2 maybe 3 weeks. Hence if you insist on living like a tourist in a tourist area you will pay tourist prices. If you want to live where the rest of us live i.e. Bali, then you will pay less and everything is negotiable here - less so in areas where the landlords/owners know they will rent to tourist at top dollar. But who in his right mind would want to live there? Other than a tourist...
samsiam
Me........but not near canggu club.found a nice little place last week, 130 down to 110 without trying, so likely 100 would be ok......but still looking.I want a bamboo shack....they seem to be not as abundant as I thoughI lived in the jungle for years, cambos, burmese and thais all around.....this 'immersion' shit aint allmits cracked up to be.....I like a bit of civilisation now.
Markit
"Immersion" is here when Hardys (departments store) is a 20 minute drive away instead of 10
davita
Hi B o B and welcome to the forum.You are already familiar with Bali, and still decided to come and live here, so may I say that your own sentence is your best advice. ....[I]I know that the best way to find a place will be to arrive there and start looking around, and discussing prices etc. In fact, we plan to take a short-term rental for a month when we arrive and use that time to check out the available long term options.[/I]It really is a buyers market here...there are villa's here been so empty they are in disrepair and yet advertise as if new, and still they build like no tomorrow. Where you indicate is, of course, top of the market by location....so demand top dollar...but like someone else said...everything is negotiable...up to you!If your desire is to live in the North ...Karengasem...Singeraja....Lovina...etc. I'm sure there are peaches of places that you can rent or buy...they will, generally, not be to your standard of fit...that's your decision...but relatively cheap!I cannot help you with budget except to say...I live on investment/pension and can live at 2x what I used to on the same budget in Canada. Put another way...I live equally, actually better, on half the cost.This does not dismiss the problems of Bali life...it isn't all just surfing! The future of Bali imo....is problematic.
Peter Ka
In the Berawa area there aren't many 3-4 bedrooms with pool available for 1 year lease. Most houses only do day rental. There are a few but they are 200 to 300 mln. And they are usually leased out very quickly at that price.
BonditoBali
Hi everyone, Thanks for taking the time to reply. I appreciate your input!Smoke - I think I am a reasonable negotiator! Generally speaking I don't like to haggle too hard if the difference is simply a few dollars. However, if we're talking 1000s of dollars (e.g. a year long rental), I am keen to negotiate! The key is knowing what an acceptable price is - acceptable to me, and to the villa owner. For example, if I knew they'd accept 250, but they advertised at 300, I'd counter with a lower offer and after a bit of to and fro we'd hopefully come to 250 (saving me 50)Markit - thank you for your welcome! I had lurked around the site for a couple of weeks, just reading interesting threads, it's nice to dive in and say hello . I understand I am looking at an expensive area but it's one of the few areas that I am familiar with, and like, so I would be willing to pay for the luxury of living there. At least until I can explore other areas, and then may move to them. However, we need a home while we're exploring other areas. Could you recommend other areas in Bali that are expat-friendly and more affordable? As we have a young family we will likely spend a lot of time in our home, so it needs to be a nice place to live. We love the beach, so a coastal location (say 15-20 mins on a scooter to the beach maximum would be great)You mentioned that in Bali things are negotiable. How negotiable are they? Could I offer 60% of what they wanted (and be willing to move up to 75%) or would that be offensive. I am looking for a good/fair/acceptable price, but I don't want to insult anyone or show a lack of respect. Samsiam, a bamboo shack would have more than met my needs a few years back. Sadly, not anymore. The wife wants a touch of luxury!Davita, I've travelled a bit in the north and we loved it up there. But I think wifey wants to be closer to a hospital (BIMC?) just in case something happens to our little one. I imagine it would be cheaper up there, especially compared to prices in Sydney! Peter ka. Thanks, we may have to expand our search to include Umalas/KerobokanThanks again for everyone's help!
davita
Umalas/Kerobokan/Canggu is what my driver calls 'Kampung Bule"...loosely means expat village. If you walk out of your villa you need to watch you don't trip over a bule....so many live in this area.....and they aren't tourists. But the traffic for a car is a nightmare sometimes.btw Siloam Hospital in Lippo Mall on Jl Sunset is open.I wouldn't call it disrespectful to offer 50% of any asking price...almost mandatory. I just bought a pair of khaki Woods pants from Centro marked down 70% so it's anyones guess what their mark-up is....I still say your first idea of moving to a holiday villa for a month and then survey...is still your best bet.
SquarePeg
I've spent a couple of months in Canggu over the last couple of years. I like it, but it provides less of what I want now. For expat families, I believe it is still a lovely option - the "nightmare" traffic is only if you want to quickly get into or out of Canggu - e.g. Seminyak, Kerobokan, Sanur, BIMC ....Maybe consider Sanur - many holiday villas to try, long leases, plenty of expats, large homes, better beaches for kids, unless they prefer fairly rough and unsupervised surf. Jeez, I sound like I'm selling it - no.idea and Smoke must have got into my ear too much ......
BonditoBali
Hi Davita and SquarePeg, thanks for the advice re negotiating the price, much appreciated. In my few visits to Bali I've regularly run into some pretty nasty traffic when I left Berawa and headed south. However, we're presuming that we'll only head to Seminyak to eat every once in a while. Most of the time, we'd eat at home or in our local area. With a young family, we're usually at home most nights. Sometimes the effort of getting ready to take the family out just isn't worth it! I don't know Sanur very well but I think the lack of surf may be a deal breaker.
SquarePeg
....... others that know much more than I do about Sanur will tell you some of Bali's best surf is there (I think out beyond the reef) and not far from ...... All the best.
Markit
Living down south is kinda like living in the big city. "Why do you live in London/New York/Paris/etc. ?" and the answer is invariably because of the proximity to restaurants/museums/movies/plays/etc. When you then ask when the last time these people were in the West End or a good resto the answer is invariably "nearly never". Yet people seem to be willing to pay double and triple the "normal" rent/rates to be able to have this never used option. I don't understand it. You get double the crime/traffic/hectic/dirt and bad manners too. Me, I chose to live in the sticks and love it - no persistent motorbike snarl, friendly Balinese people doing stuff they've been doing for hundreds if not thousands of years, rice getting planted, babies getting born - shit, life!Try Karangasem, Lovina, Sideman, Gianyar, feck even Ubud is better than the south. But what do I know?
BonditoBali
Thanks SquarePeg and Markit, I am grateful for your advice. Moving to Bali has been something that wifey and i have been thinking about for a while. We needed to get our job/financial situation sorted so that we could work remotely. Fortunately, that has almost completely fallen into place. However, in some ways, it's a little daunting to step away from our everyday lives and experience what else is out there. Reading through this forum I can see why people have made the move (and the benefits/drawbacks). The info I have found has been super useful. Thanks again.
