The Balinese Governor decided that Bali is supposed to be first province in Indonesia to be free of Covid19. Great. Then what?  We keep on staying inside forever? 

No, there is the good chance that common sense will prevail and over time we can expect to see all settling down and coming back to normal. Astung kare / Alhamdullilah. (Local speak:  thanks heavens)

Remember? Last month I said that, given my limited understanding regarding the Covid19 details, I will in future not comment any more on virus related issues. However, the virus is still floating over our heads and likely will not go away ever.  Don‘t think too much about it.    

There is this sarcastic saying: “Don‘t worry about what people think. They don‘t do it very often.“

This time we cannot be sure of what to think about anyway. There are still too many different often contradicting opinions out there.

Every few days we hear something new.  Usually unsettling, because there seems to be hardly any scientific consent or competent institution / person, who can tell exactly what is ahead of us.

As example, in the US, small children, who were so far regarded as less vulnerable to the virus, recently have shown new other serious effects, with the corona virus in their bodies. Furthermore, reports of a new and even more virulent corona strain are also in the latest news. 

Certain is only that these days thinking about the value of life has been entering many minds. This can be written onto the positive side of the ledger. 

Before the pandemic such thoughts, if coming up at all, were not based on an immediate threat on life and well-being, therefore tended to be somewhat dim and diffused. Now we think: ‘What if I or someone I care for gets ‘it‘?‘ ‘Could I possibly join the statistical tiny group of mortalities? Oh no, not me, I am too young‘.   

Even a veteran of 90 years would be entitled to think so. 

 

A side shot here:  In my mind it is unforgivable that the American president was not wearing a mask when he addressed recently a senior group of war veterans at an award ceremony.
We should not wish our time away, but November, please come.  

Anyway, becoming aware of the incredible value of life as such, creates the proverbial silver lining around the otherwise dark virus cloud.

You are forgiven if you want to interrupt me here and remind me: “Where is the real estate information, I expected to read about on your web site?  Of the nonsense about corona I hear enough during the day, instead tell me about land and house prices, tendencies, give me advice in property matters, I need decent tips on investment“. proverbial silver lining around the otherwise dark virus cloud.

I hear you. Please hang in.   

I for one have taken my life for granted and so did most humans since Neanderthal times. But how come we rarely wonder more about the miracle of our existence?

Just only looking a little bit closer, it is already like magic that you and I won the sperm race and therefore have been born, rather than the ‘other one‘.

Next miracle:  you are looking at the screen now. Are you not feeling a bit dizzy, like being seasick?  

Really, there is good reason for an increased pulse rate, because our globe with you sitting there, is hurling with 11.000 km per hour around the sun. Wow, and not a single hair moves on your head.

Wait, you are even speeding faster than this again. Attach a seat belt to your sofa, and pull it real tight, because our solar system, that tiny section of our milky way galaxy, together with an infinite number of other galaxies is moving at about 240.000 km per hour through the cosmos.
Tell this the police officer who stops you for doing 6% over the speed limit: “It‘s not worth talking about sir“. Tell him. He will not think it‘s funny, - but it is.
Recent calculations are suggesting that some of the outer galaxies, might move even faster away from the center than the speed of light. And you just happen to be part of all the action. Amazing!

I imagine that you agree, having won the selective process to join this unbelievable journey called life is not ‘normal‘. There is no reason to think as if being here is our pre-determined destiny.
I don‘t think anybody planned to put particularly you or me on this planet. “We want a child“, the parents  said. But were they planning specially on you or me? Most doubtful.
Therefore, how come that we look around us and still perceive everything to be ‘just normal‘? 

Well, since we were born, the world around us was explained in the terms our elders understood.
Simplified and often based on belief instead of scientific knowledge and education. And part of this became the backdrop in our mind.

An example: In the early 1950‘s a small group of explorers found a pocket of Australian Aboriginals living hidden deep in the outback. They never before had contact with white people, let alone civilization as we know it. Yet, - they were praying. A wooden cross was set up in their village center.  Who told them?
Only some seasons before the explorers went there, the first morning or afternoon flights between Perth and Brisbane started on a regular basis. 
What does an airplane 10.000 m above the earth look like? Here was the answer for their new found belief and symbol. God was now coming twice a day to watch over them.

We ‘others‘ certainly believe to know better. Also uncle Google helps to add to our knowledge.
However, although when marveling at the stars, even maybe reading about quantum physics, still it often does not click.
Why do we not often take a quiet moment, leaning back and try to find out from the inside what this life really can give to us? To appreciate the immense value of it.
The endless discussions about life‘s meaning have not found a conclusive answer yet. There may even be no greater plan at all, other than Darwin‘s proven theory that we simply had to evolve based on initial basic chemical reactions some 14 billion years ago.
Knowing that ‘all good things come to an end‘ (a well-used speech on the eve before marriage) - why are we not doing all we possibly can to make sure we live the good life (or best possible one with all the setbacks which are thrown at some of us) in our tiny personal window of time?   

14 billion years of evolution, and here in June 2020 we are joining the universe for our short period.
(Uni Verse = one song).
Indeed, life is nothing which we can touch by hand or measure, - same like a song, right?
Isn‘t it, that valuable things which we cannot obtain, are usually given a high value by us? 
Why does life as such for many not receive this rating? Sure beats me.

… and please don‘t worry, I still haven‘t forgotten.  You want to know about life specifically in Ubud and also about land here and bricks and mortar, and if prices are coming down to half (sorry, not happening), and what is in it for you when settling here.  

Just allow for another minute. Today is not a real bricks and mortar day.

That you are reading up to here prevents you from being outside and ‘getting it‘.  Not a bad thing either, isn‘t it?

Connecting to the top. We all want to live in good health, both mental and physical, as long as possible.
The time span, however, is as we agreed, limited. At present the worldwide average is 79 years. Not to be confused with the ‘median‘ age range. The global average median age was 29.6 years in 2015 – half of the world population were older than 29.6 years, and half were younger. 

I guess all us descendants of homo erectus want the very same. Enjoy a long and happy life.
However large the numbers already, but you know there is not a single being out there exactly like you.
Someone liking sarcasm would add: ‘You are unique, just like everyone else‘.

Certainly you have your very personal goals and desires above and over just longevity and health.  

It would be most beneficial for the quality of life, if we‘d find out as precisely as possible more about those desires. These very deep rooted wishes and values, the ones which do not change over time. They determine largely who we are. 

If we are clear, crystal clear about what is particular important for us, besides the obvious wish to make it in good shape as long as possible, we then can take effective steps towards a fulfilling future.

As example a short list of such inner values could look like this:

Achievement, Adventure, Authenticity, Balance, Challenge, Commitmen, Compassion, Concern for others, Courage, Creativity, Curiosity, Empathy, Excellence, Fairness, Faith, Family, Financial stability, Freedom, Friendship, Generosity, Growth, Happiness, Harmony, Health, Honesty, Humor, Integrity, Kindness, Knowledge, Learning, Loyalty, Openness, Perseverance, Power and authority, Recognition, Religion, Respect for others, Responsibility, Security Self-care, Self-respect Serenity, Service to others

This list is based on the Deepest Values Checklist in The Power of Full Engagement by Loehr & Schwartz 

If you value humor, look for likeminded company.  If it is Compassion, why not adopt a child? 

What is it that really means a lot to you? Where you can change or add to your life style?

Imagine yourself having this limited number of years of life ahead. Where do you want to be investing your energy?  How, with who and where do you expect to live over the next years?

A good way to investigate your deeper values is to look back on your life – to identify when you felt really good and were confident that you made the right choices for you.

Obviously I cannot relate to any of your personal characteristics, because I simply do not know. 

However, health, a harmonious social life, also happiness, those three values are usually found to be in the top 5 selected values. Then our life‘s experience, personality and expectations determine the rest. 

Without any doubt, the choice of the living environment also plays a major role:  

(Here I am entering more familiar ground and a few words about Bali and Ubud will come up too ) 

Would you agree that choosing a suitable living environment will bring you *Balance *Financial stability  *Growth (also financial) *Happiness and  *Self-care?

Here are 6 values which can be combined into one to say: “Right, I trust if I find the ideal place for me to stay, I have followed some of my deeper desires.“    

Test, test. These were just 5, not 6 values. If you did not notice, it means I should better cut this short before you yawn again. 

From earlier you may remember that I was living and working in totally different environments and on several continents.  The immediate surroundings always had much impact on the quality of my life.  

I grew up in a flat 20 m below the incoming propeller airplanes near Tempelhof airport in Berlin/ Germany. Those early years of my childhood meant noise, noise noise. How can you concentrate on doing homework? Then there were those nights when I almost froze my ears off due to the lack of money for heating up the oven.  In the mornings often my breath was frozen on the wallpaper. 

Later I was living and working on a small island in the Carribean, next to Martinique. Mild weather all year round. 

What a gorgeous landscape! A housemaid, a gardener, who doubled up as fisherman took care of my needs. Lobster, Oysters, right from my pier, visiting the Creole girl‘s ballet, surely the prettiest humans on earth, much diving and sailing. Also plenty of my favorite pastime wind surfing. Sheer bliss and Heaven!    

And all only because I decided once: “You deserve better. Time to move.“

There are choices, right? These extremes made clear to me: To hell with life‘s stepping stones which are in the way!  Start hopping!  Even two ahead, one back, will eventually get your there.

What a delight it was, being able to choose tranquility and peace, and in the next moment being able to switching to entertainment and social life, without having to travel far.  

With this we finally come to Ubud. 

Is Ubud possibly the best place to live?   Let‘s see.

Many say yes, and for me this applies too, but Ubud is still far from perfect:  No grand opera here, no big city flair, no mountain range to ski, clogged streets.  You may have some more and other objections, probably all justified.  

However, weighing the good and the ugly, the scale appears to tip clearly towards the positive. How else to explain that the stream of seasoned and smart immigrants who want to live here, part time or for good, does never stop?  Even now in corona times UbudProperty receives emails like: “as soon as we can come over again, we would like to inspect property No. UL. 216, VL. 145, TSL. 114.

Maybe it is the wide variety of available experiences mixed into a most enjoyable environment, friendly locals and this rich practiced culture, unlike any other place on earth, which is acting as magnet. 

The fresher climate in comparison to the coast comes just as a bonus.

You see, for example the other day at lunch in a restaurant in Ubud‘s main street I noticed from my table that a lady made ballpoint pen notes in a book, which looked brand new. I suggested she better ask the waitress for a pencil instead. Turned out she was French.  “Ce n‘est pas important“ “Oh, doesn‘t matter, this is a book I wrote myself, I am just editing the text for the next edition.“

The title was: ‘God is a woman‘. Real interesting people you can meet in the day.  

Not common in most other places.

I wonder what you already did experience here.  More books such like Eat Pray Love could be on the market, I guess.

So here you go – you can live 20 minutes in the countryside, up where the climate is moderate, with open views, fresh breezes, all peaceful and calm, at prices which are reasonable. From there a short ride to Ubud, and a colorful lively world is around you. You can live halfway from Ubud to the coast and both different worlds are still within easy reach.

I like to include here a drone photo, which our talented IT lady Dira recently shot of a client‘s property.   

The house in the image is for sale. If you like living Bali-style, this is what awaits.  From there to Ubud –  takes about the same time than finding out which letter of the alphabet is not in any number from 0 to 99.    

Try : One, two…

What if your inner values tend towards - Social Harmony, Friendship, Commitment and Openness, maybe you would want to live in a villa complex as part of a community where people are looking after each other? In Ubud it is all there.   

There is probably a place whispering your name right now.  Just tell us about your requirements.

Then see what life and our listings have in store for you.  

Right now at UbudProperty we see vendors which are as uncertain about the future as we all are, some may need to downgrade their lifestyle to adjust to the new economy. 

The buyer once again is king. 

A great time to look ahead, trust that eventually all will be back to as it was. But also - ‘Carpe Diem‘ (cease the moment).  

If we look back thinking of adding to our assets: ‘Should have bought when land on the beach was cheap as chips.  Should have picked up the cheap house which needed renovation and sold later at a premium, should have seen earlier that Ubud is becoming a Mecca for immigrants of all walks of life…‘

Right now again is a very good time to purchase. The kids will be laughing, when they hear what you paid 

in 2020 for that lovely place.  And you will smile about the capital gain since.

Because I touched more on live style values today than on capital gain.  Why not combine both?

There is no law against making money without moving a finger.  Renting out is and will become increasingly popular.  

All over the world, property transactions are done via Notary offices and are supposed to be legalized there with the buyers and seller‘s original signatures on the paper.  

Because of present travel restrictions some Balinese Notary‘s accept that the signing by the overseas party, for example signing a power of attorney for a nominee, can be witnessed per video and this digital file and hardcopy document then be sent by courier to the Balinese Notary. Nothing to stop you looking for your future home and castle now, and when it suits, sealing the deal.

For obvious reasons rarely does someone buy a property unseen.  However, exactly that happened over the last ‘corona-month‘, and not only once.

This proves that some buyers ‘have had it‘ and want to move asap, locals from Jakarta and foreigners alike. It also shows that UbudProperty is given a fair portion of trust.  Thank you, dear Clients. 

However, at the very least get a competent person in Bali to ‘eyeball‘ the properties of interest to you, as long as negotiation space is still extra flexible.  Some month later the vaccine may be out, people take a deep breath and try to get back to normal in all their affairs, - including the pricing of their places for sale. 

Our office will arrange for inspection with owner or tenant and usually on that day we also try to set up similar properties to look at.  Then comparison is possible and the buyer gains understanding of what is important to know about legislation / tradition / local characteristics, etc.  Things to mull over until visiting in person is again doable.

Also, if I‘d live somewhere else on the planet, I may be now concerned about the long term economical aspects affecting my life. In Indonesia, a Country which is not in the limelight of the global trade war, we are reasonably safe from such surprises.

Maybe, if wishing for a steady and balanced life, a friendly place with friendly people, no heating cost, low living expenses, low taxes (if at all) and a place where by tradition the older generation is well liked and respected, -  if this dream would need a heading it may read ‘Ubud‘.   

From a recent blog about moving to Ubud  -

I realized how conservative I was when we first arrived in Ubud. Ubud has a tendency to make liberals feel like Dick Cheney on arrival. Things here lean to the left, and often lean a bit too crazy. Things here are often described as “Ubudian,“ a word I have added to my lexicon.

I am beginning to feel more like we fit in here each day, even though there are moments when the liberal side of Ubud catches me off guard. I recently saw a white woman driving her motorbike down one of the main roads, in flowing clothes and dreadlocks, with no helmet. She seemed to be talking to herself while using one hand on the top of her head, making a move like she was sucking her brain out of her skull, repeatedly, while driving down the street. At first, I just thought “how Ubudian,“ until I realized she had someone on the back of the bike and was obviously describing something to that person. Still, at first she kind of looked crazy and it made me realize that there are all types of people living here.

We have started to make friends. We no longer feel lonely as we get together with people for dinner several times a week – probably more than we did back in DC.  We also run into people as though we are locals. Eric has his laundry ladies. He has a “parking guy“ in front of our favorite Padang. We are welcomed at Anomali Coffee and numerous restaurants where the staff recognizes us. We run into people on the side of the road that we know. I saw a friend at the salon when I got my hair cut. I welcome that feeling of recognition. I like the small town feel.
I guess that leaves the last thing we have learned: We are moving to Ubud. After reexamining the expat lifestyle while considering big cities like Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, and Hanoi, and after saying a few short months ago that I need a big city, there is something about Ubud that just makes sense.

After our first 2+ months in Ubud, I was ready to leave. This time, I am afraid to leave. I don‘t want to leave the bubble. 

Sure, we all have a different background and not all of Ubud‘s features attract everyone.  But then please show me the perfect place. I am open minded. However, I looked myself in several countries and here I am.   

To me Ubud is close to perfect for already 18 years.  Yes, at times I need to remember and experience the former life in the big cities, but it doesn‘t take long that the feeling creeps in: ‘want to be back home again‘.

The idea of all the talk above was to remind you of your right, even obligation, to take best possible care of your good self and your loved ones.   If you are in the position to move and search for the good life, ask around –   chances are the name Ubud comes up a lot, not merely has to remain a dream in the clouds.

Please forgive me.  Today you read three bags full about life‘s thrills and values, and nothing about construction elements, recommended building style and -material or such, but - 

I‘ve reached that age where my brain goes from “You probably should put it different.“  To  “What the hell, let‘s see what happens.“ Maybe some of the above got you thinking…  

For real useful practical advice you can email/ WA our staff.  They come from many different fields of experience and knowledge. Most importantly, it seems they like what they do and will indeed be happy and proud to help you with their professional answers.   

Why not try?

 

With kind regards from

the team of UbudProperty – yours Ray