Walking Away From The Deal

Today, I was dealing with a notary for a land transaction, on a remote island project, in Sulawesi.

We were discussing the fees for creating the company, buying the land, and changing the name on the certificate, plus a few other things.

It's a process I went through several times before.

And you can tell I learned from my mistakes, because this time I made sure to get a quotation for the entire process, instead of starting it and discovering fee after fee as we go.

But this time, the quotation didn't make sense.

At all.

And it pissed me off.

This is the frustration investors often feel in Indonesia.

When you need to get something done, yet the only option you have seems so ridiculous you feel like you'd almost rather walk away from the project.

Which is what I might as well do.

The point is, being pissed doesn't solve the problem.

I can argue with the notary,

I can complain about how complicated things are,

I can blame the government for being inefficient..

But does it bring me closer to my goal?

Being right is pointless, if it doesn't get you closer to the next step.

So, after remembering all this, I calmed down.

I am human and being pissed is fine.

Then, what?

Back to the practical options:

- Trying to negotiate the rate
- Finding another notary
- Walking away from the deal