[davidlah]

Just some food for thought with recent discussions abt buying properties in Indonesia.

You might want to think about:

1. Previous Ownership of land title. If it is in dispute or dubious, the new land title is in jeopardy and all the buildings on that land. Some half finished buildings in Indonesia are results of unfinished disputes due to previous ownership of the land title. The previous sellers of the land to the developers may not be the legal owner. If the land is previously a slum areas, you might deal with multiple ownerships.

2. Rupiah is always under pressure, whatever capital gain is offset by rupiah drop in value.

3.Same like China, maintenance is a big problem. Whatever new common facilities will be broken and not repaired for a long time.

4. Law always changes, and implementation of laws are not strictly followed at local level.

5. Renting out in batam is not attractive given rupiah interest rate and devaluation tendency. As such, it is then better to rent from batam owner than to buy. Given the proximity of Batam to Singapore, buying and renting out Singapore properties be it hdb or private apartments and then using the proceed to rent and live in batam is a better option. If you have extra cash to buy and fully paid an additional batam property, you are better off buying a small studio or even a 3 room hdb flat on the outskirt of singapore with additional loan, and then using rental proceed (whole unit or rooms) to cover that loan and use the remainder to rent in batam.

Some food for thoughts to avoid all the hassle of ownership of anything in Indonesia. Cheers and enjoy. Go to enjoy and avoid all the hassle and headache. Being an owner and a landlord in Batam is not very easy, albeit possible.

Have a cold beer. Cheers.