Hello everyone, and I sure am pleased to see you here again, dear Reader!

You just opened this email, which is proof that the heartless nano-critters, also known as Corona virus, obviously did not affect your wellbeing. Please keep it that way.

Right, it seems like a bit of a sombre opening to a property agent’s newsletter, talking about this miserable issue, when usually we discuss land and house related issues here and look at the sunny side of investing in Bali to make the most out of life and investment.

You know yourself, that much of what we hear and read about the pandemic needs to be put into perspective first, before those well filtered facts should be allowed to burn onto the back wall of our brain. There is just too much confusing talk out there.

A simple example -
During this pandemic, one of the safest places to be, other than having a picnic at the north pole in a snowstorm, is now Papua New Guinea.
No kidding.
In all of Papua only ¾ of a person out of one million people died of covid-19.
How on earth can the remaining quarter of a person keep going? Well, that is a matter for the ones who were better in math than I at school.

You see, Papua has a population of 8,71 Million inhabitants and the WHO statistic says that
there are 0.7 death per one million Papuanese, (Papuanians?), which means that 6 persons died there since the pandemic started. This is an excellent record. Beats about 150 other Countries, also including Bali.
Do we tomorrow possibly meet on the rush for the ticket counter, heading for Papua?

Before being inclined doing so, also let’s compare a Country with about the same population as Papua. Switzerland.
Up to mid-September 2028 people died there with the virus present, out of the population of 8.52 million.
The case number is clearly different: 238.12 people per one million deceased. (Papua: 0.7)

Now the USA. 200.000 people died, out of a population of 327.12 million. (When you read this a sad 1300 daily deaths will have added to this number).
This results in a mortality rate of 597.07 people per one million. Does this tell us anything useful about the medical facilities there? The discipline in protecting themselves and others? Is there any hint of overall poor general health? It is certainly more complicated than that.
However, the statistic says: 597.07 against 0.7.

I cannot remember which American President said: “There are lies, there are bloody lies and there are statistics”.

Shows, we have another reason to stay away from believing all we hear and see. Just Look properly after yourself, tell your loved ones to do the same, then wait and drink tea; although it is now proven, that green tea or other herbal infusions do not particularly aid in boosting the antiviral properties in humans.

Talking of humans. Did you know that we share 97% of the DNA with Orangutans? If that is so, are they also affected by the corona virus? Indeed, they are.
Next time you take a walk through the remaining forest in Kalimantan, make sure you
remember, no hugging, no kissing.

Hmmm, enough food for thought; and if you think about this all, it is sure a good thing to live in a less densely populated area. We don’t know when a truly beneficial vaccine will be available to save the more vulnerable ones among us from the virus. We even do not know yet, how long such a vaccine shot will prot

ect us then. I believe, the virus will survive our efforts to ban it from the planet. For about 3 billion years viruses already did.

They say: “no one is going to leave here alive”, which sounds like a line from a bank robbery,
but unfortunately this is the simple truth. Our choice is only to make the best and most of it. Right now it is about following the guidelines. You do, don’t you?

Indonesia and particularly Bali had not been hit extremely hard compared to other countries. It is reasonable to suspect that this is due to the fact that the population is generally young, life happens outdoors a lot, and discipline among Balinese following the social distancing guidelines was sufficient.
I like my motorbike when going around. Although I cannot see much benefit in wearing a mask then, but today almost everyone, even in cars is wearing a face mask. It is more serving as useful demonstration to remind everyone to be careful, I guess. For people who get caught without wearing a mask, a fine of 100.000 rupiah applies. (USD 7.-)
Maybe unplanned, but this regulation is protecting the poor Balinese well, as they comply because of the dreaded expense. Whereas the bare chested blonde guys on the rented motorbikes in Changgu wearing no mask are on the road to extinction?

There is a good chance Bali will continue to be relatively safe. If you plan to visit Bali, the travel restrictions are said to be lifted end of this year. Knock wood.
The Balinese businesses suffer already heavily enough, together with all those who lost their job, because indirectly over 60% of the islands income derives from tourists and visitors. Hope to see you soon in Bali to enjoy a safe stay and witness the good life getting back into gear again.

My thing is that by nature I am a hopeless optimist and do not pay much attention to most of the Corona reports. The media have the time of their life and sure are milking this cow until it falls over dead.
A healthy portion of objectivity and not getting emotionally too seriously involved with the underlying reality of the pandemic will get us through the time in much better shape.

Oh, and before I totally forget - we ought to discuss Things-Bali and here comes the connecting link -

One of UbudProperty’s clients emailed me with the following thought.
Quote.
“Hi Ray! My feeling is that some Government Officials use this situation (of course upon certain investors, suspected Chinese and large Corporation requests), to dampen Bali tourism property, such as hotels, restaurants, etc. to get all them to the market for sell and probably after extending another term take over for a penny. Do you have this observation, any such request already presented, or not yet?” End of quote (Thank you, M.)

What are your thoughts on this? You do not have to be a follower of conspirator theories to come up with such way of thinking. It seems that right now indeed some kind of feeding frenzy seems to develop.
Astute investors see that many unfortunate local citizen or businesses cannot repay their debt to the bank or support their families and are forced to sell assets.
Of course, we in our office notice the trend, because increasingly we are asked to help with a quick sale.
Now, as prospective investor, with an outlook to the future of normalisation and continued steady price rise for property, what would you do?

The options are: Say “I do not want to take advantage of the people in need, offering now their property or business at a rate under the market value”, -which seems ethical, but in my mind is pointless-
or to think “well, better they can sell to someone, and prevent that the bank is taking over, which would result likely in a poorer net outcome for the vendor”.
I leave the answer up to you. Just saying. But this is what happens these days.

You see, I am already for some years enjoying my retirement from active work in and on UbudProperty.
I am living in Tegallalang, which is about 20 minutes in normal traffic up north from Ubud.
Occasionally I already thought, ‘one day maybe you want to be closer to the conveniences of town, maybe should have a smaller property there’. Well, now is the time for me to go shopping. And I do.
A blessing in disguise presented itself.
Is it tempting you try your luck as well? Just email: info@ubudproperty.com

I am anyway happy to take some funds away from the bank. The reason: Banks are evil. The devil must be laughing each time a customer opens the doors.

Think about it. A person takes out a loan or a mortgage to buy property. The money received is of questionable value, because printed on paper with ink worth about 6 cents per bank note. In most cases there is not even the cheap paper slip involved. Virtual money is the word. No backing of any value required anymore, like in the old times when dispersed currencies had the equivalent of gold sitting in the National Bank’s safe.

Now, If the property holder (not owner, because the owner is still the bank) meets financial difficulty, as many do this year, often loan re-payments cannot be done. In consequence the bank is forced (by shareholder’s interest and statutes) to repossess the property. Money, which has been generated from hot air by the National Mint or the electronic trade, now is exchanged with a real asset for the bank and taken over by the already wealthy ones.
Who wins, who loses? Where are fairness and ethics in the system? You do not need to favour socialists or communists to start thinking that this should work differently…
Isn’t it advisable to keep those real assets in real hands of real people? Maybe this is where the word real estate originates from?

Right now could be the best window of opportunity ever! Buying or long term renting will not be as low priced ever again.
It is not that all vendors call us and reduce their listing price, but we see that today some are open to real noteworthy discounts, when it comes to the bargaining phase.

Naturally, a buyer wants to see what he/she is getting, before committing pen to paper and the money to be sent to the Notary.
Of course, the blocked flights to Bali are not helping any to have a personal look.
But there were already a few buyers who came up with their answer, because
UbudProperty is known for an unblemished reputation in giving correct and objective information. If something is poor or faulty, we don’t say “this can be easily fixed”. We say: ” look, this is poor or faulty”. Full stop.

Prospective buyers learned that our property descriptions have no sugar coating. If an access path is for motor bike only, you will not read: ’30 m long access from the main street’. You will be told “1.5 m wide path, motorbike only”.
Of course, any seriously interested buyer can ask for additional documentation on a selected property. Getting more photos, even drone shots or –videos. At times we take a local trusted friend or acquaintance out, who is asked to survey in person and report their observations.

Sure thing. When travel bans are lifted and Bali returns to normal, eyeballing the intended purchase is much preferable. But then, knowing there are people to trust and lean on in times when a healthy profit can be made, it may be worthwhile thinking this option over. Actually more so on land lease or purchase than on villas and houses. With such complex objects you need to be there, although it is known that upon house inspections the buyer knows within the first 8 seconds after getting out of the car, ‘that is’, or ‘is not’ the one.
8 seconds only! But still you have to involve your experience, logic and emotional side among other senses to figure out if you would go any further.

Still, the one fact remains valid -

Making your money on the buy, not the sell;
this is true in any investment, whether it’s real estate,
business or the stock market.

But who do I talk to? You know yourself what is best in your situation and what your plans are. However, we are here as a tool to help you getting what you want, and that tool is really quite a sharp one. Just try … it’s free.

In any case, stay fit and healthy
and maybe talk again in a few weeks?

Yours truly, Ray for the team of UbudProperty