Expat housing, and use of the Dollar

and now

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015 … -keks.html

Expats free to buy houses in special zones.

Take care, I can see issues with the constitution.

Fred,
Would be interesting if you could extrapoliate on the comment -
'spending crazy amounts of money on a house when you can get somewhere perfectly good, but at far less cost.'

I am looking at buying in Lombok at this time with my Indonesian partner and know of the many implications of the buying process.

Cheers

Vin

Everything depends where you want to live or where you are prepared to live. There are nice gated communities away from the general expat areas which are well suited for families, with good security, large houses and less greedy landlords. These are places where relatively wealthy locals and very few expats live.

But if need or want to be very central then you may have to pay the high prices if you want a nice place to live.

Vin writes, “I am looking at buying in Lombok at this time with my Indonesian partner…”

Not to pry into your personal business Vin, but by “partner” do you mean wife, or are you planning on using the Indonesian “nominee” approach to land acquisition?  If the later, then please be aware that a foreigner “buying” land through a nominee is not considered legal unless you use a Hak Pakai lease. 

Then again you might be talking about commercial land acquisition through your PMA?

voz wrote:

Fred,
Would be interesting if you could extrapoliate on the comment -
'spending crazy amounts of money on a house when you can get somewhere perfectly good, but at far less cost.'

I am looking at buying in Lombok at this time with my Indonesian partner and know of the many implications of the buying process.

Cheers

Vin

Lombok is lovely, but make sure you have a prenup if you intend to buy.
Indonesian law doesn't allow foreigners to buy land here, and you own 50% of anything bought by your husband/wife, so you could be in a hole.
If your partner isn't your marriage partner, such laws simply don't apply, but you still can't buy alone as Indonesian law doesn't permit it at this point in time.
Your partner (assuming personal relationship) can happily buy if he/she is Indonesian, but you risk your cash if that relationship breaks down, with no legal course of action to get it back.

As for getting ripped off:
If it's priced in US$, don't even look at it.
Check a selection of similar properties to make sure it's in the right price range.

Google, "Runah dijual <area of interest>"

Hi Fred,
Jokowi plans to create rules that allow foreigners to own apartments in Indonesia.
But, the government will determine how much size the apartment, and not for land house.
we wait for the end of this November, hopefully realized.

Cheers