Bali is a magical place that offers much for tourists willing to have a relaxing time away from the dull boredom of everyday life. Some of us, however, want to take it a step further by actually moving there, but that carries its own sets of challenges you will need to deal with if you want to make your life free of trouble. The following guidelines will point out a few things you will need to consider when you move to Bali:
• How much will it cost to live in Bali?
Well for the most part that depends on a number of factors you will need to consider before you move on with your plans. For starters you can decide to rent a kos, which is a typical apartment which most Balinese live in for roughly 500,000 rupias a month, which is the rough equivalent of $50. You could of course spend millions on renting a really large villa with your own cars and drivers. You can spend a lot on imported wine, fine dining and more or you can eat from your local warungs for less than a dollar for a nice local cuisine. There are opportunities for both, depending on what you’re looking for and everything in between but the greatest thing is you can find a lot of good organically grown food in local markets, you can also send your kids to local primary schools or you can use a top international school if that is what you’re looking for. There is something for everyone with the right approach. The bottom line of this is that there is no fixed answer to this question, so moving to Bali means you will need to be prepared to spend more than you may expect.
• Road sign weirdness
One thing a lot of tourists tend to do is getting lost while in Bali. The reasons for this may vary, especially since roads may change name fairly often and they will be indicated with a small print close to shop signs and may change back again. Sometimes street numbers may make some truly bizarre leaps in logic and the roads will often be closed for ceremonies as well. There are of course street signs but contrary to what most countries use they will run perpendicular to the road being named rather than on it as it is typical to western cultures.
• Rentals are paid upfront
Whether you happen to be renting out for a few months, a year, three years, twenty or more – one thing is absolute the way things are going. You may be able to work up an upfront payment followed by more later down the line, but the truth is if you plan on renting a place out for a year you should be ready to pay for it right then and there. It is a different approach but it makes sense with longer leases. There are of course monthly rentals you can work with, ones that are apart from kos such as tourist cottages and expat villas, but you will still pay about 50% over the usual yearly market price for the privilege of using them or even more during the high season. This is very important to know when you decide to deal with moving house and doing relocation to Bali.
• Alcohol is very expensive
You can find fairly cheap bear around Bali, but anything imported will mean that you will need to pay about four to five times what you may be used to around your home country. Do keep that in mind if you are used to enjoying a good drink every once in a while. Although the price may not be outrageously expensive it is still higher than what most countries may be used to.
• You can’t buy property in Indonesia as a foreigner
Under the current Indonesian law foreigners cannot own land or property around the country, although many can take long leases instead. As a popular and fairly effective workaround you have the so-called nominis system that allows Indonesian nationals to buy the property in their name but with a mortgage to a foreign purchaser that is never paid off. The nominis will take a percentage of the profits of every sale. These agreements can circumvent the law, but they never really hold up in court, so you should avoid them when you’re moving house to Bali.
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