This morning I phoned an Australian woman at Lovina Real Estate with whom I had arranged previously to inspect one particular property - see www.lovinarealestate.com. She sounded all terribly busy but thought she might squeeze me in around 9.30 am and would I know where to find her office? Squeeze me in? I had come several thousand miles to see one specific property and emailed her about it previously, and she thinks she might possibly squeeze me in? No 'welcome to Bali', no mention of picking me up! I think the only culture she ever got was out of a yoghurt tub!
I took a bemo, got off at the wrong spot, and walked another kilometre to the real estate office. Was met by a hard-faced Australian woman on the wrong side of 50 who certainly didn't get much change out of me after I had worked up a sweat walking for half-an-hour under the hot sun. I told her to hone her PR skills - and walked back out again!
The real estate chap I met yesterday, Eugene from Canada, didn't seem too flash either. He came in an old car that he said he had had to rent and I felt enough pity for him to reimburse him the Rp.150,000 for the car hire. Having only one property to show me - the Lovina House at Kayuputih - he suggested we'd go up to Banjar Hills and see where I will stay for the next five days. What a beautiful spot! Panoramic views that make you want to sit and look for ever and it makes you feel - literally - being on top of the world! I shouted Eugene and the driver a nasi goreng and a bir bintang before heading back down to the coast.
I doubt these real estate "agents" sell more than one property from one year to the next - if that! It's all supply and no demand! As for buying a hotel-type property to make money out of, forget it!!! The place is full with half-finished as well as completed but abandoned and rapidly decaying hotels, and the ones which are still in business, are doing it tough.
And instead of "investing" in such a place, I could rent myself a bungalow for the next fifty years (if I lived that long!), be waited on hand and foot, and still have change left over from what it would have cost me if I had bought the place - and I'm not even counting the ongoing maintenance costs and all the hassles that go with owning a property!
It seems that Victor in Cameroon is reading this blog as well! Hello there, Victor, and a pretty postcard from Bali is on its way to you! As is to Chris in Kamloops in the icey wastes of Canada. Chris, I had a couple from Quebec on the bus. Instead of sporting the maple leaf, they displayed the royal French fleur-de-lis. Told them I had never heard of Quebec! And 'oui-oui' means a toilet stop in my language! Bugger them! They want to opt out of the Commonwealth, they can go and get!
I'm getting a lot of swimming done (well, floating-about anyway!) last thing at night and first thing in the morning. Sometimes as early as 4 o'clock! I feel physically and mentally very well and relaxed. The tropics certainly agree with me. And I sleep wonderfully: all I have to do is lie under the fan and listen to the geckos and I'm off to dreamland!
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