This became almost a weekly ‘event’:  Someone new to us comes into the office and asks our advice. "Sure", we say, "we are here to help". The person – let’s call him Peter, just to make the story easier to read-, starts telling his story. "Well, I would like to sell my property. I have lived on it for a few years now, but the time has come for me to move on and I’m ready to go.  A bit of a problem is, I need to sell soon, because I don’t know if and when I may come back."

"So far we understand", we would say, "and you would like to do that through us?"

"Yes, I would like to, but there is some sort of a problem." Then comes the cue to the story we unfortunately almost know by heart now . . .

“When I came here 8 years ago, I met a man –let’s call him Wayan- , and Wayan became my friend. We had good times together and after a while when I told him I would like to buy (lease) some land to build my house on, he was more than happy to help me find something. And he did, a beautiful piece of land not far from town. He said “easy”, he would help me find the notary and fix the bureaucratic ‘stuff’.

I was happy he would help me, because although I had been here a while, and spoke some Indonesian already, I was a bit overwhelmed by all of that. And truth be told, I really trusted him, and he seemed to know well what he was talking about.”

Peter continues to explain the story, although by now we already suspect where this is going  -
"We agreed on a price with the owner and a time frame of 25 years. All of the papers were handled correctly (or so it seemed) and the transaction was made. I built my dream house and lived there very happily for the time. Time went by and I didn’t have frequent contact with Wayan anymore, but when we did meet, all was fine and smooth. Until a couple of months ago, when I decided to tell him I want to sell my land. I had inquired about land prices around the place, and I realized the land prices had risen almost 400%! I explained to him my (family) situation, and that I needed to get the documents and all to re-lease my land. That is when the problems started. A long story in short. -It turned out the man I had leased my land from (Nyoman) had sub-leased the land without the permission of his brother, who is apparently the true owner of the land. There is no land certificate to prove otherwise and the bottom line is that Nyomans brother found out that I want to resell the land. But he wants me off his land. He wants to lease out the land himself. I have so many problems now, I don’t know what to do. Can you please tell me how to get out of this mess?"

Throughout our years of mediating in the buying and selling process of many properties in Ubud, we have come across an interesting list of problems similar to or even worse than this. One day we had a man come to our office, who had thought he had bought a beautiful flat buildable piece of land, only to realize he had bought plot B, a ‘nice’ plot on the slope.

These things still can happen, but can be prevented by choosing to involve someone who is proven to be truly trustworthy, experienced and knowledgeable in Indonesian law, local administration and customs.

Why on earth would people still want buy land without the expertise of a certified agent?

We have found that common thinking is -

1. “Well, the agent is taking too much commission, which is increasing my price”.
In almost every purchase in Bali, there is commission involved. If you friend has a friend, whose brother  sells something, your friend will get a commission on that, usually 5%   a n d  anyone else who is connected to the deal too, which often means that the vendor has to factor 10 or up to 20% commission into his sales price.                                                                                                                                                 

This is standard procedure all over Indonesia.

The question is, what are you paying it for? For a tip on where to buy land? Or on everything else involved in completing a legally profound transaction? Also, remember, all our prices listed on the website are negotiable (like anywhere else in the real estate world). A good agent assists you to achieve fair pricing. When you realize what you pay for, it may be the best 5% commission you have ever invested into.

2. Thinking that they know the area, and it’s ‘rules’
This is a very common perception, especially by people who have been here for a few years. They may know a lot, and that’s great, but everyone has their specialties.  Ours is Real Estate in Ubud.

3. Thinking that if any problems arises, they can ‘buy’ themselves out of problems

Although this might be possible in some cases, wouldn’t you rather prefer not having any problems at all?

4. Not asking for second opinions or doing any background checks, completely trusting into the expertise of probably well meaning lay persons.

We understand that in the excitement of finding the plot of your dreams, for ‘this amazingly low price’ you want things to go fast. It feels like there is no time to waste, or someone else might grab this opportunity. Yes, we understand, and again that’s why all of our listings are checked before we take them on.  All their legal documents are scrutinized and family backgrounds reviewed, so that no last minute mistakes can come up or dormant problems are overlooked.

If there is ONE tip we would like to give people before buying land, - please, pretty please make sure that you have asked several notaries before you make a decision to work with one. Also, go to the land department and check the land certificate details (coordinates, land status, size, shape, boundaries, access, ownership history, etc.)

However, if you feel that you are better off to have a walk in the rice fields or sip your mojito in Monkey Forest Road instead, select an established local Realtor. The ones which are in business for many years must have something going for them, and let them do what they do best. By the way, as a buyer you do not pay any commission. It is the vendor who does.

Sometimes people ask us why Ubud Property is well established and made it to be Number one in Ubud, being well liked and with an unblemished track record of 100% safe and uncontested property transaction over 10 years since opening.

We can see that often long after the purchase, clients come back in, just to say ‘hello’ or even drop a small present or so for our staff.  Maybe they feel, we are about more than merely doing business together.

We are also aware of our reputation of never attempting a ‘hard sell’, even on occasions outright saying, “sorry no, this property is not ideal for you, because . . . “

There is more – such as our own legal department, and a team of professional ‘scouts, who are pre screening all properties before we even accept the vendors sales proposition.

Then, we have more interesting properties to offer than anyone else,  

- but still it is you, the client, who has the final say about their experience in dealing with us. 

By all means, call, email, check us out.  We are very much looking forward to hearing about your plans and expectations and in the process surely can avoid the plethora of possible pitfalls we were looking at before.