Millhouse

I lived and worked on the Corniche. Brilliant.

Probably some decent stuff in Tourist Club area too if you look hard.

DXBtoDOH

Have you looked at Khalidya? It's the old expat area on the corniche though it's lost popularity to Reem and Saadiyat and Raha Beach in recent years. But there's a bunch of cafes and shops around including a Jones the Grocer.

WTC tower is nice and right above a small mall (dark and gloomy and never busy but has the usual chains and half decent selection of cafes and restaurants). But there is nothing in the surrounding area, it's very Arab living in 1970s towers and all the shops are the usual Middle Eastern fabric, jewellery, tailors, shoe shops.

Al Bateen has very nice apartments with water view. I'd take it over Reem any day of the week and you're not far from Khalidiya either. But it's all affluent people. Truth be told, nothing is like Balham or anything in London so don't go looking for the equivalent. If you wanted somewhere with a "bustle" then the Tourist Club area of the corniche is your best bet. Sofitel is right there and they have serviced apartments with sea view and on the other side is all the hustle and bustle of Filipinos and Indians and Arabs you'd want.

Have you considered Saadiyat Island?

dominoman

Thanks!

The "arab living" comment is really helpful. I'm going to strike WTC off the list then. Definitely the more mixed areas with some bustle will be better for me and more interesting for my wife.

Any suggestions of decent buildings in the Tourist Club area? I'd love a decent view and a balcony. I can't imagine being inside in the evenings without any fresh air.

DXBtoDOH

You will have some time in serviced hotel apartments before renting your place so take that opportunity to explore the island. You may end up somewhere you haven't thought about.

I will say that for the corniche area it really does come down to more the building than the actual location. A good building with pool and facilities and balcony and off street parking is the trick. I can't help you with names but start trawling through dubizzle and propertyfinder.ae and make a list of buildings that appeal to you. Then once on ground you can check them out and the location in person.

dominoman

I'm about to start looking for a flat again.

I now move to Abu Dhabi next month (Feb) and until now I had been told I would have a choice of company accommodation (I will be paying it myself, but the main benefit was that company accomm is paid monthly and there are no agent fees).

Unfortunately, I've just found out the company has been running down their stock and now have almost no housing available - so I will be looking privately as my back up option.

A few questions, if anyone can help:
- Are the agents on Dubizzle / propertyfinder all legitimate?
- Are there any common mistakes / things I need to watch out for to avoid being scammed or ripped off?
- How much is the agent fee, and is it always the same % amount?
- Can I negotiate on price and fees? Is that generally done, or should I take the price to be what is advertised?

Thanks!

Millhouse

Negotiate hard. And when you think have reached the bottom and they are walking away, negotiate some more.

I recently started at 150k. Then it came to 140k - one cheque. After lots of pressure, I finished at 133k, two cheques. The final deal changing from 135k one cheque to 133k on 2 when I started filling out the cheque details.

If possible go direct to landlord - don't bother with agents.

CeeBee

Would this advice be the same for Dubai (marina etc)? There appears to be plenty of empty stock at reasonable prices.

Millhouse

Sorry I wasn't clear. That was in business bay, Dubai. Loads of stock here too.

archie159

1. No.
2, Not taking your time... see below.
3. 5%. If there is an agent, probably not easy to change this, but sometimes you can find places without agents ("direct from owner").
4. YES. You'd be crazy not to. At the moment, prices in most places are dropping.

My main advice is NOT to rush into anything. Book a hotel apartment for a few months (if you agree a place for a few months you can get a significantly lower rate than if you do it by the week, for instance). Take your time, look about at the weekends/evenings, get to know the city, complete your probation period. If you see an amazing bargain, take it, but otherwise wait till you are really sure where you want to live, how much you really want to pay etc. Just be aware that, during IDEX (early Feb), hotel rates can double overnight, so ensure you lock-in the same price for the whole period (when I arrived in 2011, the hotel tried to increase my price until I showed them their own email confirming the rate for 3 months, which covered that period).

dominoman

Thanks Archie. Great advice and that has changed how I've been thinking.

I was planning to get straight into accommodation as quickly as I could to save money on hotels but I think I'll do as you say and lock in a low rate for a month or two anyway.

Only problem is that if I book for several months and then find a place I like, would I generally be able to get out of the rest of the booking period without paying a large fee?

archie159

Possibly not... but do it for 2 months up front, maybe, and then a month at a time. You cannot rent a place until you have a visa etc, so I doubt you'll want to commit to anything for at least 2 months. When you find something, you can probably delay moving in for 2-3 weeks easily enough, so worst case you should only lose a week or so's rent. Also, there will inevitably be problems once you move in for a few days, and you might well find there are no curtain rails etc, so having a hotel to return to while all this is fixed is useful.

By the way, there is a massive over-capacity on hotels also, so most are desperate for business - you can haggle quite hard. If you go for a hotel apartment (ie where you usually get a small kitchen), you don't need to spend a fortune in the hotel restaurant.

ScottJ1987

Glad I found this thread. Was just about to ask the same question in a new thread as I'm relocating to Abu Dhabi as well.

Although it's not my thread, thanks for the answers guys!