spicyayam wrote
Prices are basically dependent on how bad the owner needs money.
You have prices displayed in real estate agents, which is probably the top of the range and at the bottom you have someone who is desperate to sell and will take anything they can get.
For me it is hard to get my head around someone leasing vacant land, building a house and then just basically gifting the house to the owner when the lease is finished. I can imagine an unscrupulous owner start making your life difficult after they see a nice, new villa on their land.
I think it is why you sometimes see houses in disgusting condition for rent at a low price, as the owner believes the tenant will fix up the place for them.
I think you are better off just leasing a house already built.
Many houses in Bali are poorly built and things like foundations, concrete strength, steel quality, wiring, plumbing, damp proofing etc. are very difficult or even impossible to assess once the place is fully constructed. In my view it's better to build yourself rather than taking a risk by leasing a house that may constantly require repair and renovation, or even worse become uninhabitable if there is a strong earthquake.
Regarding leasing of land, I don't think it's a problem if the lease is structured properly, eg a 30 year lease with the right to renew at an agreed pricing formula. An advantage to leasing is price, as lease rates naturally tend to be far lower than outright purchase. For example, even if a lease rate for Sanur is 6 juta per are per year (sounds high, in these times definitely nego hard), on a 30 year lease this is only 180 juta per are. Compare that to freehold price in Sanur, which I understand is much, much higher. You will also have more properties to choose from, as many more locals are willing to consider leasing than outright sale.
Alternatively, if a foreigner has Kitas, they can explore 'ownership' via Hak Pakai. There are some restrictions on this, eg size limited to 20 are, but this type of title is quasi-freehold (there is no landlord as such - the title itself is held in the name of the state) and it can be converted back to hak milik and the property sold to an Indonesian as freehold, so it's much more valuable than a lease. Of course, this means buying the property at hak milik prices, which as mentioned are much higher than current lease rates.
