Thread: Need some advice

Originally Posted by Ralph

... need some advice:

1. A house with a large garden in a quiet area, rent paid one or maybe two years in advance: how much in rupiah?

2. A 'pembantu' for cooking/cleaning/shopping: how much?

3. Costs of the usual Bali food, especially seafood.

1. If you want one with a pool, aim for 150-250 million rupiah/year. Be aware that a 'quiet area' might be a small, pricey property around Seminyak, or a larger, better equipped (and maybe cheaper) place further out in Umalas or other areas that you may find too isolated.

2. A pembantu will cost about 900,000 - 1.1 million per month. If you have a 'live-in', factor in food, or food allowance - typically 10,000-15,000 per day.

3. Food costs vary widely, depending on whether you want to shop in Western-style delis and supermarkets or in local markets. Restaurant/warung seafood dishes like snapper in Balinese sauce will set you back between 45,000-90,000 depending on how upmarket you want your surroundings to be. The food will taste the same anyway ;-)

1.You can find property for rent in the north with a medium garden from 15 million Rupia a year, and upwards for bigger gardens and/or pool.
2. As "borborigmus' says, but I know people who pay less.
3. If you eat in tourist places again "borborigmus" is right. However if you search out 'locals' restaurants you will be paying half that for a full fish meal with drinks. [Non alcoholic.]

Your best bet is to come here and find the area you like, then ask around, get to know the place/people. Be careful, you will be seen as rich and a source of easy money at first.

Originally Posted by mat

Your best bet is to come here and find the area you like, then ask around, get to know the place/people. Be careful, you will be seen as rich and a source of easy money at first.

Indeed, being a tourist will make the local thinks you have all the money to spend.

Northern Bali sounds good. Lovina is near Singaradja?
What do you pay for a Bluebird cab from Denpasar to Lovina?

A house with a large garden in a quiet area, rent paid one or maybe two years in advance: how much in rupiah?

If you can afford somewhere in the range of Rp 50-100 million/year, you might find something (not sure about a "large garden").

I just spent a couple of weeks looking for a place in and around Sanur. Prices here are skyrocketing as the greed virus kicks in. I looked at some 20-30 houses, most of which were of the silly (non-functional) variety and most were overpriced (IMHO). However, only today I found a very pleasant place, fully furnished (tastefully) , with 4 bedrooms, 5-6 bathrooms (?), phone, garage, hot water, a couple of AC's, satellite dish, a very nice (but small) garden, two upstairs balconies with views worth looking at, etc. About 5-10 minutes to Sanur proper. The yearly rental is Rp 55 million.

The funny thing is that I looked at this place a couple of years ago and missed out by a couple of hours of indecision. The asking price was more then, too (Rp 60 million). It was a "bargain" then and even more so today.

BTW - Denpasar to Singaraja/Lovina is quite a long trip. If I were a taxi driver, I wouldn't do it for Rp 300-400,000. Unlikely to get a fare back south. Then again, I'm not Indonesian.

400,000 seems a lot, every now and then my fiance hires (not sure where) a newish Suzuki Karimun, we pay around 175,000 per day