DOHDUBMAN

IVe read loads of posts on here about when i move to Qatar to not bother with the agents when looking for housing but just to go out and find one by myself

Ive spent hours and hours looking on property finder and a few other sites but i was wondering how far off are the prices? I guess the ones advertised are priced including agency fees?

Could i have an example of the fees or costing?

E.g if i was looking at an apartment for 9500QAR online through an agent how much would it be without these fees? Is it a lot less?

Just trying to get a rough idea on housing

Thanks in advance

Johnnyboy11

Accommodation is easy to find in Qatar, just ask at work or drive around the City and look for compounds or advertisements. Gulf Times Classified is probably the best place to look for accommodation online.

I'd be very wary of doing business with an agent, based on lots of horror stories out here. Especially the 'Pay 10 months cash and get 2 free' scam that has parted so many from their hard earned.

[J]

gottheTshirt

You can expect to pay an agent between nothing and half a month rent. Don't pay more. The agent I use only charges the owner not the tenant. The majority of properties advertised don't exist. Owners don't answer the phone and don't turn up to appointments. I found it essential to use a good agent.

MaserMan

Standard is now 1 months rent, but as has been said before it is a waste of your money as you can do it yourself.

I had been using 3 different agents and found out that none of them had contracts with compounds as the majority of compound owners are refusing to deal with agents. So what you are paying for is a very expensive taxi service to take you around the place. The only exception that I know of is Faraden who have an exclusive contract with Danat, but I think you can sneak in the back door, however they have nothing at the moment.

The websites are only useful to let you see pictures of the villas. One of the agents I used had a website full of available properties but when you asked about them nothing was available.

I got a villa on a compound that I had been told by two of the agents had no availability, but one call to the compound manager resulted in an appointment the same day.

Fizzy_Bear

Try Maureen at Apollo properties. She does not charge commission.

http://www.apollopropertiesonline.com/

Their website is useless though, so just use it to get her mobile number.

DOHDUBMAN

Thanks guys much appreciated

MaserMan

Had a look on there and see she is advertising properties on one of the compounds that do not work with agencies and that the photos for the three bed are actually for the 5 bed. Naughty!

Fizzy_Bear

Very naughty indeed. It is not her company though. In fairness to her, she was the best agent that I met with and got me in to see places last minute. She has also been in Doha for over 20 years so knows all the best places etc.