All is good?   I sure hope so, the grumbling of Mount Agung has these days been replaced by the noise of thunderstorms and many Ubudians are forced to spend afternoon hours under a roof, which usually involves a relaxing coffee break. Indeed, all is good.

Just as a reminder for the few among us, who look concerned into the sky, wishing that the next lightning is not hitting the house, - not to worry.   You remember from the old school days, that earth acts as minus pole in the lightning, sending the electric charge indeed from the earth up into the clouds and not the other way around which is what it actually looks like.
Now, traditionally Bali villas and -houses do not have a cellar, deep foundations, or underground lines, therefore they do not attract this energy exchange. Welcome old news, we can relax and pour another cup.
We are just chatting away here, right?  After about one year of monthly light-hearted talk about all sorts of things, property related, or not, no one expects only seriously focussed topics from these letters any more.
Except next month.  We will in December professionally check out how a house vendor can get the most money out of a sale, albeit we hope this is not you.  Why would anyone exchange the good life into the unknown?
In any case, selling, renting, buying, discussing villa management and more, -just come in.
You will soon find out if you can trust our acquired bit of wisdom regarding legalities, local knowledge, trends and expected price movements, as well as administrative, taxation and immigration issues.   If we are not 100% sure ourselves, - the colleagues at Ubud Property can point you into the right direction.

However, this month the idea is to look into safety around your home, -but there is no need to madly rush into the topic. Have another sip first and then, later on, more on home security.

Still on the issue of coffee, -  who can explain why there are more and more Kopi Luwak Agrotourist places popping up, many on the slopes to Kintamani? Who drinks all the brew? Is it you?
I did try myself, same as you would have done. And I commented on the taste: "nice" (that’s the word I chose for the waitress lacking anything smarter). I sure am no expert. Wouldn’t even be able to tell Robusta from Arabica.
Do you also have, whilst sipping such strange brew, to think about the digestive tract -production chain? It is not my field of expertise to comment on food aesthetics, but I suspect after getting used to Kopi Luwak each afternoon, the temptation to sample daily morning urine for health reasons comes to mind next. (brrr).

Just a minute ago we could visualize a relaxing peaceful (ordinary) coffee- or tea hour on the veranda, despite rain and thunder.  Without doubt this is for many of us one of the valuable moments in a day. However, it is known that only balance makes for appreciation of good times.  Therefore, for the sake of such balance and also because we did not take a stupid pill, we still do remember that our time is not only made up from wonderful events.

For demonstration:  Christmas is right around the corner and some of us will leave their Bali homes over the holidays. Happy travel plans!  But it may be wise to think of the possibility that others might appreciate the occasion of an empty home to visit there uninvited, which enters in the police report as ’breaking and entering’, or in Bahasa: ’maling’.

There are likely some people out there who would want to enjoy a similar comfort as you do, without putting in the hard work.  We know just from TV and Youtube only about robbers and thieves and worse. Thankfully this is almost exclusively happening where we came from, but still, - you never know …

An open door, for instance, screams "I’m tired of my brand new awesome iPad." A dark house in the evening sends a similar message and a veranda without oversized sandals may serve as invitation in multiple dialects.

The average thief in the USA steals about $ 1.725.-  worth of property.  In Bali, particularly outside densely populated areas, this figure is often just expressed as ’one or two chicken gone, together with grandpa’s shirt on the fence’. How lucky we are in comparison!

But you never know …

Before the above mentioned coffee get’s cold, let’s quick run through your options to try to keep our possessions where we believe they belong-

Like to admit to it, or not, a depressing fact is, it’s actually not that hard to get into most houses. The risk of being seen breaking in is more of a deterrent than a super lock at the gate, and since most residential theft happens in broad daylight, that risk is not an overwhelming one.

The real problem is that most homes have weak points, and seasoned thieves are pretty good at finding them.

According to police statistics, seasoned thieves in Bali are few and far in between, and that one of this rare species visits your home is less likely than snowfall in Bedugul, but again, you never know ...

Because we do not want to wise up one day when it may be too late, here is what most of us can do or have already done to make their property safer –

Have a SECURITY SYSTEM.  Installation either by a reputable company, or if you like a bit of a challenge, buy one (maybe check out ACE) and set it up yourself. There are wireless systems, which are only requiring about 1 % of Edison’s keen spirit and understanding of technic and electricity.

Alarms seem pretty foolproof.    Install. Activate. Remember to turn on. The thing with alarms is, they happen after the fact. Somebody has already broken in, has probably already taken whatever small valuables were closest to the door and has gotten away by the time you opened your bed sheet, found your glasses and adjusted them on your nose.

In this way, an alarm is mostly about peace of mind. If you want an alarm to really protect, the criminals have to know it’s there before they target you. That means displaying that unsightly notice with the alarm symbol on it, and displaying it prominently outside the house. Printing in Bali is cheap. Get a warning sign designed and printed on to a sticker, which goes into a front window or where best seen.  Take two or three on the occasion, because they will fade, having less visual effect soon.

Also, let us be sensitive when doing so.  Any such sticker should read in English first, and then underneath, because … you never know, also in Bahasa.

When people keep it hidden so as not to disturb landscape aesthetics, would-be thieves don’t know the home is any less desirable than the house next door, and the alarm is only an after-the-fact security measure.  The lesson? Alarms are most effective when they’re most obvious.

Make your home look occupied.

It’s obvious, if the house looks occupied, which thief would be brave to try his luck? 

There are several ways:   Use a timer switch to turn lights on and off at irregular intervals. These timers come mechanical or electronic.  In any case, connect a low wattage lamp with an LED bulb, so that the power consumption is minimal.  A 3-Watt globe will do very nicely. After a power failure or electrical work for which the power has been switched off for some time, do not forget to adjust the timer again.

If you travel, you can buy in Singapore airport or home improvement shops a small device, which simulates a running TV.  Different colored LED lights are flickering and casting a TV simulating changing pattern on the wall.  Again, cheap on power consumption (5 - 15 W).  Expected life span:  more than mine. In daytime leave the radio on.

What about a Guard Dog?

Great idea if you have a garden and someone to look after the garden and the dog, when you are away. Make sure doggy loves you and your family. It will then make the appropriate noise, when someone uninvited comes to your home.  I bought a German Rottweiler, named Brenda, from a breeder in Rhenon. Her voice would frighten a grown-up grizzly bear.  People from surrounding islands are usually seriously worried and anyway do not relate too well to dogs. The point is early warning. Once you understand your dog’s language any dog, large or small, which is accepting your home also as his castle, will do.

Unfortunately, a dog is less effective as a first line of physical defense.  A juicy Cheese Burger, stuffed with rat poison would still be regarded as great present  and "I’m loving it’, - unless we made the effort of seriously training our Bello to the point that he does not accept any food from others.  Looking around, I don’t have friends who would be that serious. After all this is life in paradise, right?

Keys

Can you imagine? Coming home and those rotten keys are hiding. Maybe under all the shopping, maybe in the kid’s backpack, when we said: hold this for a moment".  In any case – keys are not there, it is dark and it is raining.

Wouldn’t it be nice to just put the searching off for the time when we are out of the dark and in the house?  Wouldn’t it be great, if we placed a second house key or example inside a potted plant?

Potted plants are a great place to hide keys. Just put your key in a waterproof plastic bag or container and bury it in the plant. Thieves are unlikely to look in the dirt so it is a very secure place. Also, it won’t move around like a key hidden under a stone possibly can. Do not do that doormat act, or hiding the key up there on the door frame. Even I would search there and I am harmless.
In fact, the only pot-plant-drawback is that you will get your hands dirty when retrieving the key.

Inside the hollow leg of a piece of patio furniture is another good idea. If you have patio furniture with hollow legs with end caps that can be removed, take the end cap off and put a key in there. It will be there whenever you need it.  Now I leave it to you to rummage in your own imagination for more good hiding places.

Because you never know …

Keep important mobile numbers in large type on a wall and enter them into your contacts in the mobile phone for quick access. In case of a robbery, the following numbers should be called (in order of importance): hamlet or town kampung headman (kepala dusun), banjar head (klian adat), closest neighbor, village security (kepala pecalang), BIMAS (village police), village chief (perbekel or lurah), KAPOLSEK (head of police sector). Get as many of these local officials’ mobile numbers as you can so you or another family member can call them even in the dead of night. If you live in a villa complex, get the personal mobile phone numbers of all day and night watchmen (satpam) charged with guarding the premises. Test the numbers and keep them up-to-date.

Because the statistics say, ’you’ll probably never need this’, that doesn’t mean you don’t owe yourself or your loved ones such precaution.

A watchman

The best form of protection is a day or night watchman /satpam, (who get’s his sleep in day time). You can choose the expensive option of hiring a fully trained satpam from a security company, but you can most likely find a competent and trustworthy person living in your own kampung or banjar (neighborhood communitiy) that would agree to a salary that would be much less. Plus, there’s the added benefit of gaining more respect for giving back to your community.

Leave it to the Professionals

A number of real estate companies in Bali that rent and sell high-end villas also manage properties. Their responsibilities include staffing, checking the property for damage and upkeep, pool and garden maintenance, and financial management of rental income while owners are away for the short or long term. They can also arrange, at a salary of Rp1.7 million to 2.0 million per month, for a watchman.

Ubud Property (www.ubudproperty.com, tel. 0361-970-888) offers this complete top-to-bottom villa management service. Contact Pak. Agung (agung@ubudproperty.com)

Know your staff

One effective way to reduce risks is to maintain a harmonious relationship with your domestic staff. This is serious business, because staff members work inside your home, maybe sleep with your children and are trusted with the safekeeping of people and all items. Some robberies and thefts have at their source a disgruntled staff member or one who has a dubious background. Keep photocopies of your staff’s national identity cards (KTP) and their photographs. Obtain details of their next of kin and home address.

Visit them at their house or kos (boarding house) to verify that they actually live there. Meet the family, their parents, grandparents. Discretely ask their neighbors about personal histories. All these measures serve to lower the temptation to steal for any staff who may be having a difficult time. Make sure before hiring, meet the family.

We can make it a blown-up science to secure our home against intruders –  adding foil to re-enforce the window glass, buying a CCTV-System and a loud siren, having motion detectors setting off light at every corner - and still, maybe one day something happens despite all those efforts.  You really never know… To be safe then, simply run out and make a racket of noise. Assemble the family at the before agreed meeting point. Get someone to look for help. Maybe those earrings will be gone, but then - the kids would not appreciate this style anyway. As we expect, these things, same as an accident on the street, are only happening to others (cross fingers), but you never know… hati-hati is the way to go.

The rain has stopped. Let’s go out and have a bite in town. Problem – where best to go to? Sooo many choices . . .   Holy dooley!

Ubud is really something special, right?

Cheers from the entire UbudProperty Team