Budget for 1 year - is 20k€ enough ?

More than sufficient.

thank you for your answer

It depends about your live style, what needs to be covered. The place you intend to stay in Indonesia, what kind of accommodation you have in mind. Transportation, health insurance, social life etc....

Tom's response is spot on.  Indeed, it depends.   

I've seen expats blow through more than 30K US in just a matter of five months.

Being Indonesian, "myjak's" response is totally understandable, and for certain, most Indonesians would consider a yearly budget of just over 300 million IDR to be a princely sum to live on...about 25 million a month. 

"Harga bule" or foreigner's price is very much alive and well here in Indonesia.  You can make all the moral judgements you want about that, but it is nonetheless a reality of life here.  Those of us expats who have Indonesian spouses have learned over the years to always send out our wife or husband for any sort of major shopping...rents, furniture, clothing, and food, etc.  On the other hand, there are increasingly more and more selling venues (like malls) where the price is fixed and the same regardless if foreign or Indonesian.  But if you shop wisely, you avoid those selling venues unless absolutely necessary. 

The largest pitfall I see among newbie expats is to fall into the trap of comparing a price here to what the expected price would be "back home."  That comparison is meaningless.  What is meaningful is only if the price is fair here where you are now living.

What I look for at first it is an apartment with two bedrooms on medan, on lombok or at worst Java/ jakarta

In essence, you're only going to find out for yourself by arriving and leaning.

One can lead a horse to water, but one can never force the horse to drink. 

Many of us could spend hours trying to advise you, but in the end, the lessons learned here in Indonesia are learned by trial and error...and for many...way, way too much error!   

kingdro9457 wrote:

What I look for at first it is an apartment with two bedrooms on medan, on lombok or at worst Java/ jakarta

This can cost you anything between $300-2.000/month, usually paying 6-12months upfront (depending where).

For long term rental you will need also proper papers, with just VoA you may not able to rent something long term.

“with just VoA you may not able to rent something long term.”

Tom, why not?

Can you point me to any law or regulation that requires a foreigner to have a residency visa in order to lease?

As rapidly as things often do change around here, this would be totally new news for me.

Ubudian wrote:

“with just VoA you may not able to rent something long term.”

Tom, why not?

Can you point me to any law or regulation that requires a foreigner to have a residency visa in order to lease?

As rapidly as things often do change around here, this would be totally new news for me.

Roy, that's why I said "may not" because I believe not all landlords/property owners are interested that foreigners on VOA renting long term.

I do not have any regulation/law about this subject in hands it is just my personal assumption.

Good point Tom, although I've never run into any landlord here whose interest in a potential lessee extended beyond a beating heart and money in hand to pay for the lease.   

And I don't think this is a Bali versus Jakarta issue either, especially with all the property development in western Java...with many leases being tendered to foreigners who spend very little time per year in Indonesia.

With property values continuously rising, year after year, it in fact becomes more attractive for landlords when what would have maybe been a long term lessee up and leaves well before the lease duration is achieved.

Roy, if someone is approaching me and wants to rent my apartment I definitely will ask first about his/her permit status. Even if there are no rules against it but I would not give it away to a person holding a VOA even the rent is paid up front for 1 year.

Difficult to get hold of this person once out of Indonesia again, there are still monthly expenses to be paid (electricity, water, cable, Internet etc) then what if some other people just moving in without you getting notified, who will be responsible if any damage or other problems come up ?

Well, we are now a little off topic but I wanted to highlight my point of view.....

Clearly we have different ideas Tom, but hey, that's OK.

In our family business we love short term leases simply because every projection we've made regarding future land values and the rental market has been considerably less than our projection.  Ten years ago virtually nobody was forecasting the property values that we see today.  And, while many are predicting that this current bubble will burst, what indicators can they point to? 

So, we love short term leases and prefer them way over long term leases.  They are far more profitable.  And, with short term leases we typically require an up front security deposit to cover things like damage or unpaid bills from tenants. 

All we require from our tenants (besides their payment) is a color copy of their passport for the police, as the law dictates.

Roy, thanks your input and nothing to argue with what you said 

But we are now talking about 2 different things, my comment was on a long term lease and not short term.

My understanding is that TO is asking for long term and not short term, if short term let's say 2 months basis on VoA it's perfectly fine and I would consider handling the same way as you said.

But if my understanding is correct and the question is for long term lease....then it is different.