Real Estate Prices on Bali

UluwatuWaves

How is it that a thatched roof two bedroom villa with a ten foot swimming pool in seminyak costs $300,000 USD. That is rediculous. The peolpe selling these properties and the owners themselves must be making a killing. Labour and materials are cheap in Bali, right? How can a 2 bdrm villa with a dinky ass pool be $300,000 USD. I hope it would be outright ownership and not some lease. Is anyone experienced in these matters?

UluwatuWaves

Thanks bert for the details and info.. i have been to seminyak before but had no idea it was any more expensive than any other area. Why is it more expensive than other areas? Is it the proximity to kuta and legian?

UluwatuWaves

Just found this information about real estate on Bali... it is a bit daunting, they require you pay an indonesian citizen 150,000,000 Rp./month, are they joking or is it 150,000 per month. Who are these people? It is, for now, impossible for a foreigner to own property in Indonesia. There is a chance that this will change in the future. The Indonesian government has taken a more and more flexible point of view on this matter. In the mean time you will have to use a contract that is strong enough to give you the legal protection you need for your property. The advantage of this contract is that you don't have to pay the 5% handling tax. Another advantage of this contract is the simple adjustments needed in the contract when you want to buy a house with other persons. (time-sharing) In Indonesia the land has to be registered in the name of an Indonesia citizen. We can use someone with whom we have already done business with for several years, and has long proven to be 100% trust worthy, or you can use an Indonesian person you know. We offer you a legal construction that will give you full protection. The contract is made out of 4 parts that contain the agreements of cooperation. According to Indonesian law there has to be a balance between the two parties. Our contact will give you his services and for that you will honor him namely in payments. You will pay him Rp. 100.000,- per month for his legal protection for your property, which will be at a rate of Rp. 8.000,- or approximately 12,50 Euro. In this way you have created a balance according to Indonesia law. Contract Part 1 - Describes that the foreigner will supply the money to the Indonesian citizen in order to buy the land and the house on the land. The Indonesian citizen will give, out of free will, the land and house on it permanently to the foreign citizen to take use of it as his home. The Indonesian citizen is owner, so he has his share of responsibility in care of the property. All mail that is related with the land and house will come through him to you, the bills for electricity and water will be directed to him too. For this he will receive payments as described above. He will also receive 5% of the profit made when you decide to sell your property. Further it states that the Indonesian citizen has given you his permission for selling, renting, and eventual changes to the house. There are procedures of arrangements in the contract that have to be made in case your properties are inherited, and that the cost for water, electric, and property taxes (20 Euro per year) will be the responsibility of the foreign citizen. Contract Part 2 - This part describes in detail the actions that have to be taken when you want to sell your property and that the Indonesian counterpart fully gives his/her permission to sell the property. Contract Part 3 - Here it says clearly that the foreign citizen is allowed to lease or rent out the property. Contract Part 4 - This part describes that, when it is possible for the foreign citizen to become owner of a property when the Indonesian law changes, the Indonesian counterpart will have to abide by his duty to help / cooperate in changing the contracts so you will be owner of the property, and in case there is a change in the law that would negatively effect you, that the contract of agreements with your Indonesian counterpart will be changed into a lease contract for a long time period of 50 years with the right and option for extending it. If you at any time decide to stop your contract with our contact, and cooperate with another Indonesian counterpart, the Indonesian has to cooperate. In this circumstance it is your duty to pay him his losses, namely his monthly payments for the period of 25 years at once that in 25 x 12,50 x 12 = 3.750,- Euro/Dollar on a rate of 8.000. You also will protect yourself in this way from the chance of a higher cost relating to the percentage of extra profit made by selling the property as this can not be higher than the price you pay when stopping the contract!

Bert Vierstra

Amongst others. Its considered the "upscale" part of Bali....

Roy

Yes, as Bert mentions, “the Yak” as it is called, is considered upscale with lots of trendy shopping and restaurants. I agree, the real estate there is considerably overpriced.

ChadM

I have found nice, relatively sizeable oceanfront homes and villas on the north coast of Bali (primarily in the Lovina-Singaraja stretch) for US$50-60K. Similar homes in the southern tourist areas can be 4-5 times as much. It's a bit off-putting, but real estate in Bali is no different than that anywhere else. It's about location, and it's about supply and demand. If buyers wouldn't pay those prices, sellers wouldn't put those price tags on the properties!

shebitme

To be honest, land prices in Bali are cheap. Compared to a similar market such as Thailand around Phuket and Koh Samui my gestimate is prices are about 50% cheaper. And like everywhere they are determined by supply and demand. In Western cultures cashed up baby-boomers are looking for somewhere to retire; a little piece of paradise. They have superannuation, and want a lifestyle that has luxury and the exotic, and Seminyak provides it.

Roy

[quote]...and want a lifestyle that has luxury and the exotic, and Seminyak provides it.[/quote] Exotic? What is exotic about the Yak? Most of the villa developments there are large compound like arrangements where all your neighbors are other westerners.

Sanurian

How much does a two-bedroom box in Washington, DC, with no swimming pool cost? Just wondering. And why does it cost [b]that[/b] much? :x

Bert Vierstra

Hmmmm... Seminyak is relativly "expensive", land prices are high, and most of it is leasehold... Villa projects come up like mushrooms there... Further north of Seminyak, Canggu etc, will at some day go the same way... And, the area around the newly planned airport, Negara, will not take to long too, is my guess.... Some people say that there are too many villas projects, others, both buyers and developers, believe in it, rental income seems not too bad here and there. Ofcourse, you can buy a few cheap sqm somewhere else, and build a cheap house, some people here on the forum have done that. I heard of a local here, he bought 1 are of land at 30 million, allmost on the beach, here, and build himself a house for 20 million rp... A beach house for a something like 5500 USD, not bad :)

Bert Vierstra

Just found this information about real estate on Bali... it is a bit daunting, they require you pay an indonesian citizen 150,000,000 Rp./month, are they joking or is it 150,000 per month. Who are these people?

In the area where I live, it common to pay the nameholder 100.000 rupiah per month for his or her services, as well as 5% of the profit made in case of a sale. My wife acts like a nameholder for a foreigner here in Singaraja like that. Its pretty common, and very workable, many many properties are bought by foreigners with such an arrangement. Its pretty safe as well, as long as the nameholder has no malintent. People that are after you money, may try to make life difficult for you. I heard a few bad stories.... You can read some previous discussions here: House Prices Land Ownership Building a House Advice Needed

UluwatuWaves

Yeah, so i am looking to spend as little as possible under $75,000 and I want to be close to the good waves and vibes, maybe Bukit. I also dont want neighbors for 100 miles :lol: Just relatively in a nice area but not compoundish and all on top of each other like in the "Yak." I guess it doesn't matter living in the "yak" that you could probably hear your neighbors having sex if they are making enough noise because it is so built up. Deffinitely not what i am looking for especially if these places are being rented out all the time. What about Canggu or Padang Bai?

Roy

Let me take this discussion a few steps further, while risking the opening of a “Pandora’s box.” Uluwatu’s initial post was totally dead on target. Property in Seminyak is way over priced, and this has nothing to do with location, location, location, but rather it has everything to do with marketing, marketing, marketing. For location, the Yak has little to offer. I’ve looked at several of these Yak “villas” which in my view were simply cookie cutter replications of the villa next door. Sure, they are mostly nicely built and with all the conveniences any westerner would like, but I often wonder if they are more suitable for time share property development? If one takes the time to study the real estate and “villa” development in the Yak, one will read promises and even guarantees of 15 to 30% annual return on your investment on these properties from rental income. Yah, right! Nice try “shebitme” but I have to ask...did you buy one of these over priced villas, or are you involved in marketing them?

UluwatuWaves

As you can tell by my name, i want to be as close to Uluwatu for those early morning sets. What about the bukit? Shebitme, seminyak is not really exotic but rather trendy in my opinion. The Bukit has so much open land for lease with good ocean viwes. i dont want to be in a villa compound with thirty villas. I want my own piece of land where you can run outside naked anytime and not have to worry about jack.

jogry blok

neil and I do own one of the villa on the beach at Lovina. We love it. Price comparison with australia, we could not buy a property for the same amount as here.

UluwatuWaves

Hey Y'all!!! Just got back from some hunting out in the Shenandoah about 2 hours drive west of DC. Sanur, a two bedroom apt. in DC can be very expensive if you want to live in a place like Georgetown and nice areas of NW DC, i think Georgetown has it's since of culture and in someways is like Seminyak with out the asian influence but all the shops and tourist things. But G'Town maybe two bedroom for $2,000, if your lucky! Seminyak is quite like G'town now that I think of it but Georgetown probally has more history since it is quite an old area. Not taking into account the architecture and such in the "Yak" as Roy states. I have been to agung up on the road near where that restaurant overlooks a section of road and the valley where a lot of hawkers are stationed. It is a beautiful view. Are the beaches on the "North Shore" mostly dark colored sand? seminyak, probably is out of my league for now. Although it would be nice to be able to just drop half a mill. on a nice home in Bali, oceanfront preferably.

shebitme

Hi Roy. No we haven't bought the Yak villa dream. Our land is on a little river inland from Caangu. Quiet location, nice little village, and we own the access road to the land so other development is restricted. We bought it because of the location. As well as the physical aspect of the land it is also close enough to te Australian International School and Caangu Community School if we decide to send our 5 year old there. Not far from Seinyak too, which is fun to visit. Plus the surf beach at Caangu. As well as that, we think as an investment it will do alright, meaning that it will appreciate in value at better than 8%, which if we need to sell at some time in the future is important to us. Have had a look at a few of the developments, and agree with you that they resemble time-share properties. "Neutral" in character, and not really suited to being a home. But from suburban anywhere they certainly are exotic, as is Seminyak, even if it is moch-exotic. Alang-alang on the roof, a stone carving over there, and a nice little pond in the corner. A lot of making a price is marketting, and exotic is big on the brochures because that is what people are looking for. Mind you, I do enjoy Seminyak. Some very nice places to eat.

shebitme

[b]Re: RE: Real Estate Prices on Bali[/b] [quote=UluwatuWaves]As you can tell by my name, i want to be as close to Uluwatu for those early morning sets. What about the bukit? Shebitme, seminyak is not really exotic but rather trendy in my opinion. The Bukit has so much open land for lease with good ocean viwes. i dont want to be in a villa compound with thirty villas. I want my own piece of land where you can run outside naked anytime and not have to worry about jack.[/quote] Nice dream. It is a dream that many westerners have, which is what has driven prices up anywhere with ocean views, which makes proces a premium. Especially in exoti (excitingly strange) locations. The lowest cost for ocean front/view land is in the North from what I have seen, away from perfect surf and white sand beaches. Location location. Plus of course further from the lure of international flavour that you get in Seminyak. We used to visit a village in Northern Sumatra which became popular, especially with German and Dutch tourists. They loved the freedom, especially the sense of that you could run around (semi) naked anytime. Gradually we saw the women of the village bathing less in the river and other small social changes occuring. They were uncomfortable with bikini clad girls drifting by on tyres and men and women covorting together. You might need a big block of land or high fences if you want the freedom to run around naked anytime.

peterk

Location is as already mentioned the key factor in determining the price of land. We spent a few years looking for land and settled on 20 are' in the Tabanan regency. It offered us fantastic views, close to beach , 20 min drive and access to central bali, Ubud etc. We're very happy and with the high wall arround the pool running around naked is a possibility.

UluwatuWaves

Shebitme, i have heard that land prices in the Bukit are cheaper than the majority of land in south Bali. i am not talking about buying a villa from some company but rather buying my own land and then getting the building permit and having a construction compnay build the house for me to my specifications. Yes i like the idea of renting something out to make back income but anyone who has experienced renting their own properties will know that NOBODY will treat a property they way it should except an owner of that property. People who rent dont care about the property like the owner does and there will be damage, guaranteed. That is the problem with renting out places, you never get it back in the condition you bought it in. DCC, i found your insight and experience in Bali real estate market to be quite interesting. I agree that if your are paying someone "hometaker" basically to do what you would with the property while you wer livin on bali and then have this person take care of all the money, logistics, maintenance, and such of your property, that isa big postition of trust. I would want the guy to have the equivalent of a Balinese background check that way I would know if he was honest and not going to waste or even steal my money. It seems like this is a good idea or maybe not, but can you imagine moving to the USA or to Australia or somewher like that and your in the market to purchase land or property and they tell you that you can't purchase the property until you have a locals approval and his stamp on your contract. Not only that but he basically controls everything about the property and you have to give hime 10% of rental profit in addition to other fee's that you have to pay him. That is rediculous. I know bert said early that this is how it is done in Indonesia since a foreigner cant outright own land or property in indonesia. this is outright stupid since all land belongs to God and not the indonesian governement. And the reality of the matter is that this is not the case in most of the world. In fact foreigners can outright own property and land in most countries except Indonesia and thailand, unless you are a bill gates or paul allen type and have the money to talk. i am not here to bust the government of indonesia or anything but it seems like their policies are backward and they need some serious help if they want to do anything to uplift there peoples and incourage foreign investment even more so than they do now.