JamesandTamsin

Hello fellow expats

I am moving to Doha, Qatar in just over 5 weeks (flight booked for the 29th) and I was after your experiences on accommodation.
I’ve looked about the forum and not found details on where fellow expats live in the emirate so was wondering if people would be comfortable with responding to the following questions so I can get an idea of the geographic spread of people I will probably like to interact with when I get over there…

I was thinking along the lines of:

City;
Doha
Location;
TBC. I’ve been looking at many locations as West Bay seems V expensive. From Gharrafa to Salwa Road. I’ll be based at Suhaim Bin Hamad Street
Property type;
Villa in a compound preferred – 3 bedrooms or more.
Furnished / Unfurnished;
Preferably furnished / part furnished
Cost per month (QAR);
Budget 13,500 QAR
Family type;
Myself, My wife and my 9 month old Son
Age (if you’re not too shy);
33
Why did you chose this property;
We want to feel like we’re settling into a community rather than in an apartment (hotel)
And advice / experiences?;
I’m sure I will have some soon!


I’d imagine this would go some way to helping others in the future? Of course it would help me immensely. I will also fill this out myself when I manage to find somewhere for my family but until then I have put some responses in case it helps.

Thanks

James

JamesandTamsin

166 views and no responses which leads to three plausible conclusions;

1: no one on this site actually lives in Qatar (doubtful)

2: People are private about the details of what they pay for accommodation / age etc.. (possible)

3: People are being lazy (most likely)

If anyone could take the time to respond I think it’d be useful for future expats considering where to live. (also for me )

Johnnyboy11

City; Doha
Location; Al Salatha
Property type; 2 Bed Apartment, furnished, with utilities and internet
Cost per month (QAR); 8k
Family type; Alone, wife and 3x teenage kids in the UK
Age (if you’re not too shy); Too shy
Why did you chose this property; Central and relatively cheap.
And advice / experiences? Make money, save, then leave.

P18PPS

City; Doha
Location; West Bay Lagoon
Property type; 5 Bed stand alone villa, unfurnished, garden (gardeners), private pool
Cost per month (QAR); 23k
Family type; Me, wife, kids age 2,6,9,16
Age (if you’re not too shy); 42
Why did you chose this property; size, location, garden, pool.
And advice / experiences? enjoy where you live or this drags you down and everything seems shit. Get as much thrown in for the total cost as possible, get a pool heater its too cold 6 months of the year otherwise.

britexpat76

City;
Doha
Location;
Al Sadd - Central location can walk to restaurants and supermarkets can get a cab 24/7 and its 10/15 Riyals to most places.
Property type;
2 Bed Apartment, Unfurnished
Cost per month (QAR);
FOC. Wife works for the Government
Family type;
Myself, My wife and 2 cats
Age (if you’re not too shy);
37
Why did you chose this property;
We didn't, but now we have all the official wedding papers in Arabic they will upgrade accommodation to 3 bed apartment or Villa.
And advice / experiences?
Get involved - Don't get caught in the must save/stay home trap I see way too many miserable people in.

JamesandTamsin

Great tip about the pool heater - it's not something I had thought about. Thanks!

Apparently most of my colleagues live in West Bay, or The Pearly but I'd need to add to my accommodation allowance to live there which I'm not convinced about. Do you rate the area?

James

P18PPS

Don't rate the Pearl - its Ok to have a bit of food every now and again and to walk around but it has a long, long, long way to go before I would think about living there.

I do like the Lagoon it is quiet and lots of greenery with all the parks and tennis / basketball / football courts. Cars don't (usually) race around it and it is big enough to meet lots of people. It is getting more expensive though and I think we have a reasonable deal for the place we have. It is not too close to the shops / restaurants though so driving is required still.

All in all I am glad we live there.

MaserMan

City; Doha
Location; Al Rayyan Village
Property type; Villa in a compound, Unfurnished;
Cost per month (QAR); 25k
Family type; Myself, My wife and two children
Age (if you’re not too shy);
Why did you chose this property; Excellent compound and as far as I am concerned one of the best in Doha with proper security, centrally located for work, school and golf club.

As Britexpat said don't get caught in the trap of the must save at all costs as you will end up miserable and complain about everything. Get out and socialise, will take a little time to build up a network but it is worth it in the end.

JamesandTamsin

Thanks all for the replies so far. It seems my budget won't stretch as far as I thought!

I've seen a 4 bed villa in an Abu ham our compound within my price range so plan to check it out when I get over there. Anyone had any experiences (positive or otherwise) with Tyrsis Real Estate?

James

Fionap99

City; Doha
Location; Al Messilah, Al Rayyan Rd
Property type; 3 bed Villa in a compound, Unfurnished;
Cost per month (QAR); 16k
Family type; Myself, Hubby and our 14 month old
Age (if you’re not too shy); 35
Why did you chose this property; fab compound, one of the greenest in Doha, brilliant maintenance, proper garden and v central

z66p65

Hello everyone,
My husband has been offered a job to work for the Hamad hospital in Doha and will be starting in summer. We'll hopefully move soon after. We've been told that we're most likely to get an accommodation in Barwa city. The only school that seem to take admissions it the moment is Newton International Academy in Barwa city.
So I was wondering if anybody out there has any feedback about the hospital, accommodation area and the school mentioned, please? I'll also appreciate if I can get your opinions whether to ship over our furniture from UK to Doha or is it better to buy new/second hand there?
Many thanks
Z

martyw1985

I currently live in Barwa City.
It's quite nice, one of the few places with grass and open areas to walk and/or relax in. The place isn't quite complete, we are still waiting on the supermarket to open and such like, but I don't think it's too far away. Another nice thing is that fibre optic broadband is also installed here and available from Vodafone.
The nearest mall is the villaggio mall, and is about 20 mins by car.
My apartment came fully furnished, and the furniture was relatively nice, and rugs were provided. Furnishing is a personal thing in my view though, so it's really up to you.
The school at the moment I believe isn't open? But one of my work colleagues has registered his children there, Newton is generally seen as a good school here I believe, as their other campus has a waiting list
Hope some of that has helped
Martin

z66p65

Hi Martin,
Thank you so much for your reply. We were quite worried that the area would be a building site with so much development going on in Doha. Would you be able to tell me if the utility bill are included in the monthly rent, please? And how far/ how easy is it to commute to Hamad hospital from there, please? Are there any bus routes to use?
Sorry to bombard you with so many question!
Many thanks
Z

martyw1985

Hi Z,
Well if you are viewing outward of Barwa, you'll see construction.
The whole of Doha is more or less 1 huge building site! But I view into the middle, so I see the grass areas, and have one of the schools and such visible from my place.
No utilities are not included in the monthly rate (I know if you hunt enough you'll find a place with it included, but is usually at a premium!), the water here is chilled, which is unique! The air conditioning is through a central system (although I still haven't put it on yet, my apartment is generally quite cool). The internet, I have through Vodafone as they supply fibre optic. Water, cooking gas (we have that too!), and air conditioning are a flat fee with residence company I believe, with electricity to be arranged directly with Kahramaa.
Commuting here I've found is all a matter of time, I work in the airline, so if I have duties early in the morning, I'm not so bad, but anything in the normal working hours out here, getting around is slow and chaotic! If it is the general hospital, its around 15-16km away, and will be around 20-30 mins on a quiet day, I would suggest and hour otherwise. The route to it is fairly simple, although does require passing through some roadworks near the apartment, but then it is on to the highway.
Public transport is a bit difficult, I think there is a bus route past here, but rarely see a bus, and public taxis are very rare to see here (despite their HQ being less than 5 minutes away), most people I know are in direct contact with a driver who they can call to get them around, some charge same as public cab, others add a little on (they usually work for one of the limo companies)
Don't worry about the questions, sorry for taking so long to reply, and if anything needs clarified, please let me know
Thanks
Martin

martyw1985

Thought I'd chuck my one in

City; Doha
Location; Barwa City
Property type; 3 bed apartment, fully furnished
Cost per month (QAR); 7750 (park view)
Family type; Myself
Age (if you’re not too shy); 28
Why did you chose this property; Low rent, close to work, nice clean community, far less likely to have problems getting to work on special days when half the roads are closed in city, plenty of space for visitors (I get many most of year), easy to get to places as next to E Ring and near Doha Expressway