Everything an Australian asks before buying in Bali, answered in public.
Ownership and tax, the questions sellers avoid, our own build records, and research nobody else in this category publishes. Where an answer is not settled, the article says so.
Bali property FAQ: 60 questions from Australian buyers
Every question we have actually been asked, answered in one or two sentences, with links to the long version.
How to vet any Bali developer, including us
Twelve checks, in order, with the answer that should worry you attached to each. We score ourselves at the end and we do not score full marks.
What we learned when Magic Story ran late
The delay, the decisions behind it, and what changed on La Casa Española II because of it. The story nobody else in this category publishes.
What Australians actually search about Bali property
1,322 live queries collected for the Australian locale. Legal questions beat yield questions 3.7 to 1, and almost nobody answers them.
La Casa Espanola I to II: what changed in phase two
Phase one sold out fast. Speed of sale tells a buyer nothing. Handover dates and the list of things we changed tell them something.
Tropical Loft: forecast against actual, month by month
The only rental return in this category that is verified by a third party, with the weak months left in.
Gross vs net: what a Bali villa really returns after the ATO
From gross rent to what lands in your Australian bank account: management, maintenance, Indonesian tax, vacancy, and your marginal rate.
Who checks the concrete: Pak Hari
Quality control on our sites has a name and a face. Here is what he actually checks, and what he can stop.
What a buyer actually gets on handover day
Keys to a finished Magic Story villa, on video, on 7 August. Also: the folder that comes with them, item by item.
How to check the zoning on a Bali plot before you buy
Where to look, what the codes mean, and why this became mandatory after 48 structures were removed in Bingin.
An Australian owner, one year on: Brisbane to Tropical Loft
Twelve months after handover: what the rent covered, what broke, and what they would do differently.
Can you legally rent out a Bali villa as a foreigner?
The short-stay licence is issued to an Indonesian citizen. That single fact decides the whole structure, and most sales pages skip it.
What happens at the end of a Bali lease
Twenty-five years sounds long until you own year nineteen. What the extension clause actually promises, and what it cannot.
SNI steel, WF 150 beams, H-beam 200 columns
What the Indonesian standard mark means, why we name the sections, and what an off-standard bar costs later.
Can you sell a Bali villa? The resale question nobody answers
We checked 27 competitors. Not one publishes a documented resale. Here is what the exit actually looks like.
The waterproofing that adds 20 per cent to the concrete bill
Fosroc Conplast in the mix, Fosroc Concure on the surface. The buyer will never see either, which is exactly the problem.
Australians cannot get a mortgage in Indonesia
No local lending for foreign buyers on leasehold. It changes who the buyer is, and it changes what a payment schedule has to do.
Canggu or Uluwatu for an Australian buyer
Two markets, two risk profiles, two different buyers. Side by side, with the disadvantages of each stated rather than implied.
Can you retire to Bali on Australian super? The arithmetic
Run the numbers before the brochure does. Often the honest answer is no, which is exactly why this is worth reading.
Area guide: Bingin and Uluwatu
Cliffs, surf and the strictest zoning story on the island. Where the green belt sits and why it decided our own site selection.
Area guide: Canggu
The busiest rental market on the island, the most saturated supply, and the traffic that decides both.
Area guide: Pererenan and Cemagi
Where the Canggu buyer goes when Canggu is full. Newer supply, thinner infrastructure, and the zoning question that follows growth.
Why the slab never touches the ground
Piles cut off exactly 60 cm above ground, sixteen pool excavations in 48 hours, and the reason for the gap under the floor.
Area guide: Ubud
Inland, cooler, and a completely different rental business. Also the area where the view you paid for is least protected.
Area guide: Seminyak
The mature market: established infrastructure, established rates, older stock, and the least room to add value.
Area guide: Sanur
Calm water, older guests, the island's medical hub, and the strongest long-stay market for anyone thinking about retirement.
Nothing matches that.
How we build
5 parts · read in orderArea guides
6 parts · read in orderHow this is planned
The buyer guides →The demand that already exists
The questions Australians ask most, answered without mentioning us.
What sellers stay quiet about
Licensing, leases, resale, mortgages, tax. Checked against the source.
What only we can write
Delivered projects, site records and our own research.
The long tail
Area guides, comparisons and sixty questions with short answers.
Twenty-four planned pieces in four waves, plus the series. The first wave answers the question Australians ask most, which is whether they can buy at all. The third is the material only a developer with delivered projects and published documents can write. Anything still unverified appears in [brackets] rather than being smoothed over.