James’ wife is Balinese, born and raised in Sanur. Her family have deep connections that extend across the entire local community. James’ little boy was born in Sanur and he is happily growing up with sand between his toes and long walks with Dad.

James met his Balinese wife whilst working in Jakarta, Indonesia’s mega city. After 12+ years living in Jakarta and having spent the vast majority of his life in big cities around the world, he had an increasing urge to “make the dream a reality” & relocate to Bali, the Island of Gods.

At the start of Covid, in 2020, he took the plunge and commenced his Bali Land Hunt. He quickly zoned in on Sanur, a relaxed beach town that he first visited as a toddler in the early 1980’s.

James had no doubt Sanur was the right choice for their family home.

Why? Because it has the perfect mix of gorgeous scenery, a laid-back attitude, top class facilities and infrastructure, a 24/7 holiday town feeling, good schools, hospitals and the list goes on.

For James, Sanur is the perfect oasis for daily life.

James’ land hunt was far from simple… it was very painful! They had a lot of specific requirements and he didn’t understand the local real estate market at all.

To find “the one”, he had to build a colossal network across 300+ real estate agents and view 140+ plots of land.

It took 4 trips from Jakarta to Bali and countless hours of hard work & research to find the perfect site. Once the right land was identified, James had to learn quickly “how to actually buy real estate in Bali”.

The local negotiation process is highly unique, the asking price is often driven by an owners feelings and personal circumstances, not market data and comparables. There are also a lot of critical legal due diligence items to cover off and understand.

After purchasing their 500m2 plot of land in Sanur, the next step was to build their family dream home. This proved an epic challenge, it was the height of Covid and James’ budget was limited.

To cut costs, he had to learn all local construction techniques, buy all materials himself and manage all the workers – in Bahasa Indonesia – throughout an 18 month build. He finally got the result!

Since then, James has dived deeper into Bali real estate, hunting out and buying investment land in Amed, North East Bali, an up-and-coming tourist hot spot that remains very natural and unspoilt.

James’ passion for property began in his early 20’s, when he started his career as a real estate investment banker in London, financing large-scale commercial property deals.

At the same time he bought and sold various apartments in London and Mexico and developed his “itch” for real estate. As his Balinese mother-in-law says “land is the only thing that can’t be produced”.

Now, many years later, as a Sanur resident and possessing a lot of first-hand… hard earned local property knowledge, James likes to use his experience, daily life Bahasa Indonesia skills, fully comprehensive sales agent network & deep society connections to help others find & buy their slice of paradise in gorgeous Sanur, Bali.

We know how difficult it is for anyone based outside of Bali that wishes to buy their dream property in Sanur, Candidasa, Ketewel or Saba. Don’t worry – offload all the hard work to us! We make sure the Buyer finds & buys the best property possible.