Project C , Cimalaka
One day, my friends who knew me a lot, asked me what investment that very interesting but friendly to be purchased? I replied to them, âLand Investmentâ.
So, why land investment ? In my opinion, it is obvious that land investment almost never make a loss; for instance, we already know that in Indonesia price of land almost never falls, except some circumstances that destroy the land like the yearly flood in Jakarta. In addition, The inflation (the rise of price) of Indonesia counted to 8.36% in 2014, but the price of land grows much higher than that. So, First, inflation never steals your money if you transfrom them into a Land. Second, beside the price that never fall, Â land can turn into a productive field that gives you bucks every year, or in simple way, you may grow a plant above it and sell them; for example, you could make a Palm Oil Plantation, Teakwood (Kayu Jati) Woodland, or Paddy Fields.Â
Next, maybe itâs personal taste of mine, but I love to invest in Land because simply you have the rights to do anything with it. For example, Iâd love to stay like one or two hours when Iâm checking the condition of the land and no one can complain about that âș. In addition, I love the natural beauties, I love the view of soon-to-be harvested yellow paddy fields, forest, rivers, and antyhing that looks natural. Honestly, there are still a lot of explanations why land investment is one of my favorite investments, but itâs better to tell it later.
By the way, last month, I got a phone call from my assistant in Jatinangor, Sumedang. Actually he was my gym trainer but now I recruited him to be one of my business staffs. He told me that there was a land that will be released in Cimalaka, Sumedang and the price was relatively low. When I heard the price of that land, I was shocked and simply could not believed that for a moment. Because, compared to the land in Majalengka which is farther from Bandung and cannot be reached with car and motorbike, it was 40% cheaper (sorry I canât tell the price here hehe). After some discussion to my mentor and another experienced entrepreneurs, I decided to survey the land.
I went on April 12th  which it was in the middle of Publich Health Department rotation (I was placed in Surade, Sukabumi) and Family Medicine rotation (I was placed in Leuwigoong, Garut) because I didnât have any available time and if I didnât go on that day, Iâll never been there. I hit that place by driving my Car (Accord, 2007);However, it was my biggest mistake on that day. The road was not that good and quiet far from the City of Sumedang. In total, I took almost 2 hours from Jatinangor District , so it was almost 3 hours from Bandung. The terrain is very slippy and sloughy, it was very dangerous to drive a Sedan on that terrain. Actually, my staff already reminded me that it is better to drive SUV.. but I didnât have time to borrow my Mom or Brotherâs SUV in Jakarta so that I didnât have any choice back then. I feel guilty to my car because it hit its bottom part for more than three times -.-. When I drove on that moment, I just want to arrive to the destination very soon.
one of the obstacles : kuda lumping blocked the road (photo credit : me)
After a lot of obstacles (sorry for being hiperbolic); such as, slippery road, heavy rain, a kuda lumping exhibition which was blocking the main road, and long journey, finally I arrived to the ownerâs house of the land. People know that I donât like a small talk, so i just ask how much is the negotiable price and the nett price. However, there was a risk on this project, it was the legalization of the land which was not good, the owner only has SPPT (Surat Pemberitahuan Pajak Terhutang) or Tax Letter from the Government (some expert property players will be saying: âit was Letter Câ), but yeah I know people canât complain if the price is relatively cheap. Actually, I already dealt with similar situation before and concluded that legalization can be processed if we had a letter from kepala desa (head of the village) and camat (head of the Cimalaka District). Nevertheless, the owner guaranteed me that he could help me to obtain the SHM (Sertifikat Hak Milik). Then, I decided to take the risk.
long way to go , bro! (photo credit : me)
After that, he asked me to see the land that we were talking about. It took 15 minutes by walking to reach the land, but because it was located on the hill, it made me feel like a decompesatio cordis patient (shortness of breath). The land is divided into four areas in the SPPT: first 100 tumbak (1400m square) is fully grown by teakwood (kayu jati), second 100 tumbak (1400m square) is relatively plain and just some weeds grow on there, third 100 tumbak (1400m square) is similar to the second, and the last part is 130 tumbak (1820m square) , half of it grown by pepper trees (actually this was my first time to see the pepper trees / pohon lada). So , in total there is 6020 meter square available to be acquired.
pepper tree / pohon lada (photo credit : me)
When I was on the top of the hill, I saw the view to the bottom, and it was amazingly beautiful. I was overwhelmed by the view of paddy fields, river, and green forest. I started to think that it will be a good to develop not only agrobusiness but also a recrational place. In addition, my staff gave me advice to make a restaurant or recreational park including fish pond, saung, and good foods. So we could sell the great natural view and the privacy or silence which people donât get them in a City. We can attract students or business people to have a meeting here. Moreover, The land which I planned to buy also has a water springs that used for all paddy fields on that area, which is why, the soil is very fertile. The pepper trees that I told you before was a good example, it was grown well without any factory fertilizer, just natural.
Beautiful, the view to bottom from the hill (photo credit : me)
The good news is, the land has two accesses , first is the road which Iâve taken before, and the other one was only 100m to the main road. So If Iâm going to make a recreational place, I would like to use the another access for the road, it is more simple and people donât have to walk uphill about 15 minutes from the place to park the car. After we finished to see the land, we went back to the ownerâs home and started a discussion. Our discussion went well, and I agreed to buy the first 100 tumbak(1400m square) for the first investment and declared that Iâll buy the others if the legalization process of the first  go well. Honestly, at first, Iâm going to make a Teakwood Woodlands(Hutan Jati) because it was only the things I know very profitable until the farmer at Cimalaka told me something. He said that itâs better to grow a pepper plantation or trees, because the soil is suitable to that plantation and proved by good pepper plantation on last part of the land which I told before. Moreover, the price of 1 kilogram pepper is good (Rp 350.000,00 / kg) and one tree will give us 1 to 2 kilograms per year. One tumbak (14 meter square) will fit to 5 or 6 pepper trees.
Me with Staffs (photo credit : land owner)
Me with the land (photo credit : my staff)
Well then, letâs do the simple math analysis : 430 (tumbak) x 5 (trees) x 1.5 (between 1 to 2 kilograms) x Rp. 350.000,00 x 1 year = Rp. 1.128.750.000,00 . As you can see, the number is fantastic but I believe it will be not that easy and instant. Actually, the farmer told me that we have to wait 2 years until the pepper tree grow completely and ready to be harvested. We also have to keep the trees from pests as well. After that, the trees can be harvested once a year.
We reached the agreement (photo credit: my staff)
In short, with the quiet wide land, weâre going to make a pepper plantation and recreational place. So, weâll have 3 investments which is the pepper plantations, recreational place, and the land itself (see why I love land investment). I hope this project will be done soon and Iâll be happily to inform you the progress as soon as possible. Bismillah!