Posted by Agung on Wednesday, 7. October 1998 at 09:14 Bali Time:
In Reply to: real estate posted by Denise Kurg on Tuesday, 6. October 1998 at 21:08 Bali Time:
Your section on the laws and regulations regarding "owning" property in Bali is very factual and mostly correct as far as I can see. However, it is possible to obtain longer lease agreements. I just was able to get one recorded and approved for a thousand years by carefully working in wording regarding "pewaris" which is a less specific Indonesian term for descendants, i.e. spouse, children, their children, etc. I combined my own legal training and understanding of Indonesian laws with a great attorney in Denpasar to come up with what is in effect, a thousand year lease.
I strongly disagree with your building cost estimates. I just bought a super home north of Ubud designed and built by the architect who recently redid the lobby for the Amandari Hotel. He is a noted Balinese International style architect, a fine sculptor and painter as well, I Wayan Tengal. This home, which is just 1,000 square meters, or just over 3,000 square feet was purchased for under $30K U.S. It has three bedrooms, 1 and 1/2 baths, marble floors, amazing sculpture, a superb garden, house temple a tea bale etc.
With average daily wages for construction workers at Rp 20k (U.S. $2.00) and incredibly cheap building materials...(the white marble floors in my house was purchased in Denpasar for Rp 95k per square meter!) there is NO need to spend 300k U.S. to 1.5 million unless you are building a house the size of a hotel!
Believe me, if you sent me a check for U.S. $100,000, I could build you a 4,000 square foot house with a great pool, totally furnished with superb quality teak furniture and excellent quality art (not the tourist junk) on a really nice piece of land in the Ubud area that would be eligible for a story in Architectural Digest!