Our Story

Balimoves Property was founded in 2013 by star-crossed lovers Widi Astrini and Tom Jarvis.

Widi has a depth of experience in hospitality, taking her across the world and across Bali, managing cruise ship decks and beach club opening teams. She began her career in property while completing her law degree, and saw a need for an agency that operated in a different way. Tom came to Bali in 2008 to help develop a fair trade ecommerce platform with the IFC/World Bank. He has a background in digital marketing and a love of design and photography.

Balimoves is our family business. Our team are our family, we all work together and for each other to ensure our customers feel comfortable, respected, and taken care of. We're growing and getting better every day, and we all feel like this is just the beginning.

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We're a fully licensed agency with valid SIUP-P4 and members of the Indonesian Real Estate Association.

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Clarity and Direction

Have you ever stopped to ask for directions in Bali? It probably didn't go as expected, and it could have turned into your greatest adventure.

The thing is, when it comes to getting from A to B, most people don't mind a little adventure, a shortcut, or a detour. When it comes to finding a home for your family, realising your retirement dreams, investing your hard-earned savings, or understanding your rights and responsibilities related to property, most of us need a guiding hand from somebody who knows the way, not a shortcut from a part-timer.

There is a range of information and opinions out there in terms of what is the right, safest, cheapest, best way to move to Bali, find the right property, and learn to live in this unique culture and environment. Everybody has different wants and needs, everybody has had a different experience, everybody has a story to tell. But not everyone understands YOUR position, your priorities, your worries. Most people are excellent talkers and terrible listeners. And that isn't helpful in the best case. In the worst case, it can be dangerous.

What you'll find in Bali is that everybody is an agent. As soon as they know you're in the market for property, they're your best friend. But the majority of 'agents' you find on social media, even if they have a website, logo, reviews, aren't licensed. They won't even do the bare minimum for themselves to operate legally. So what makes you think they have the inclination or capability to go further for you? We've done everything the right way from day one. It was most definitely the difficult road, but it was the high road. You won't find anyone in Bali who will tell you that we ever put ourselves ahead of our customers. We're known for keeping people on the straight and narrow, for distilling the sometimes bewildering amount of advice you get into something safe and actionable. Sometimes we have to give people bad news, but it's better than giving them false hope. This is how we've operated since day one, and slowly but surely, we've found a network of customers who appreciate our approach.

Sanur First

We decided from the very beginning that we would focus on the Sanur market because we know and love the area, we live here ourselves, and we take pride in the community we belong to. We don't pretend to know all of Bali the way we know Sanur. But we are confident we know Sanur better than any other agency, and in that knowledge comes both opportunity and security.

As we grow, as Bali develops, we have started to look up the east coast towards Klungkung and Karangasem, but we will never leave Sanur, and we will never operate in areas that we don't know or wouldn't want to live ourselves (Canggu/Umalas/Seminyak). We couldn't provide the same level of service in a place we wouldn't want to live ourselves. Our knowledge and our service is what separates us in this crowded market.

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Meet the Team

If you are looking to buy, rent or sell home in Sanur, or if you're living in the area, chances are you'll end up running into one or two of us. Just in case, here are the usual suspects.

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Widi and Tom

Founders

"Neither of us grew up dreaming of careers in real estate, and we both were wary of the stereotypes that come with the industry. But as with many things in life, things sometimes just fall into place. By 2013, I'd lived as an expat in Bali for five years and (thanks to Widi) learned how to survive and thrive. I'd also grown up as an expat kid, an oil company brat, and understood the school systems, the expectations, wants and needs of many of the families who come to live in Sanur and other parts of Bali. Widi has a natural ability to put people at ease and explain foreign concepts in a simple and digestible way, and had added solid legal credentials to her breadth of customer-facing hospitality experience. She'd kept me out of trouble for years. We both knew and loved Sanur. All of a sudden, we found ourselves in a unique position to help people like us settle into a place that we knew well and loved living in.

Fast forward to today, and we feel like we've really built a community here. Our two daughters go to the same schools and activities as our customer's kids. Some of their teachers rent with us. We've built a network of local and expat resident landlords and vendors. We've built long term relationships with key partners - notaries, legal service providers, visa agents, architects, and technicians for any type of problem we may encounter in a property. We're often invited to ceremonies, weddings, and other events from this network, an important part of strengthening business and social ties, but also a really nice way to see a different side of Balinese life."

Dewayu Balimoves

Dewayu

Rentals Agent
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Ahmad

Listing Agent
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Asri

Villa Manager
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Agus

Operations Manager

Balimoves HQ

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