In Reply to: 2 quick questions to all posted by mandy bunbury on Wednesday, 22. November 2006 at 08:27 Bali Time:
Hi Mandy,
My son has a Balinese wife, they bought their family house in Bali years ago and that's where they live. They look after their home, get on well with their neighbours and inject a modest amount of money into the Balinese/Indonesian economy. I can't see any problems with that and I don't think anyone else could either.
Everywhere in the world, people generally try to do business to suit their own best expectations and Bali is no exception. Balinese people want the best possible price for their land and the developers and agents want the best possible profit margins and commissions. Is Australia any different in this respect?
One of the main differences is the general lack of enforced environmental, heritage and building code laws in Bali and this inevitably leads to ad hoc developments. But this, in itself, does not mean that all developments are undesirable, or harmful to Bali. We keep hearing that existing clearing/building laws are going to be tightened up and enforced, but we'll believe that when it happens, won't we? Same as in Australia!
Nick of BaliBlog lives in Bali and his site is full of interesting and useful information. You'll learn all sorts of things if you check his site out each day. But general comments can never cover all eventualities, can they?
But wherever you consider buying property, honest, expert, independant, professional advice is a must. That's why you need to discuss the matter with a good Balinese notary. After all, you wouldn't consider finalising a substantial business deal with some chance new aquaintance in a bar in Bunbury, would you? But, believe it or not, some of the past posts on BTF indicate that some Australians [and no doubt other nationalities too] still get their fingers burnt by trying to do it this way.