Bali marketing loves a 20% yield. Bali reality pays well too — but it pays people who do the arithmetic with all the terms included. Here's the honest spreadsheet, row by row.
Gross yield: the headline number
Gross yield = annual rental revenue ÷ purchase price. Revenue = ADR × 365 × occupancy: a villa averaging $250/night at 70% occupancy grosses ~$64k; against a $450k purchase that's ~14% gross. Both inputs move: well-located, well-run villas on this coast sustain 65–80% occupancy with seasonal ADR spreads (see the demand calendar); mediocre ones sit at 40% wondering why. General information, not legal or financial advice — verify everything with a licensed Indonesian notaris and advisor.
Net yield: the number that's yours
Subtract the operating stack: management (typically 15–25% of revenue), OTA commissions where used (15–18% — one argument for direct booking), staff, utilities (pool + A/C are real), maintenance reserve (tropics eat buildings — budget 1–2% of asset value yearly), insurance, licences and rental income tax. Honest all-in operating ratios run 35–50% of revenue, putting our example at roughly 7–9% net — the range serious operators quote before wine.
The leasehold adjustment
Leasehold returns must amortise the term: a $450k villa on 27 years 'consumes' ~$17k of principal annually against your net income — unless appreciation and extension terms offset it, which on supply-limited coasts they historically have. This is why extension clauses (guide) and location scarcity aren't legal trivia; they're yield inputs.
Questions that expose fantasy projections
Ask any seller: trailing-twelve-month revenue by month (not projections)? ADR and occupancy separately? Operating costs itemised? Wet-season months included? Platform mix? A seller with a real business answers in a spreadsheet; a seller with a render answers in adjectives. Casa Infinity Seseh — the live leasehold listing answers with its trading history — which is exactly the standard to hold everyone to.