Originally Posted by Norm_uk

We can't even get passports...hardly taking over are we? If all our visas were cancelled tommorow and we were given full bans we'd all go home, most without a word. Do you think immigrants in Europe would go home quietly of they were told they are no longer needed?

Originally Posted by Norm_uk

I make my own money yet in order to buy a car I need a letter from my company...what was that about slave mentality? It's not actual slavery (unless you are one of the poor unfortunates who works on a building site and lives in a labour camp) but the mentality is there...maybe we don't understand because most of us are the "house negroes" of the UAE rather than the field labourers to use the old plantation terms...

N.

Originally Posted by Norm_uk

I can answer the question of is anyone buying now...

One of the largest and oldest property brokers in Dubai is closing three of it's offices, and has already put a complete hold on new recruitment. They are also instigating a stricter policy of firing sales and leasing staff who don't meet their targets...

I know this because my ex works for them and I've heard it from her and their GM.

N.

Originally Posted by Duracell_Bunny

Glad I am not the only one thinking like this.

I say we all try to find jobs elsewhere and leave the UAE en mass. That will get them shitting bricks.

Originally Posted by bimcnorth

Not really I fear, there are loads of people from all over the world that are willing to take a chance on the UAE..The alternative is being unemployed in many cases.
The Pakistanis are already looking hungrily at this direction, and I´m not talking labour camps now but professional people, The Indians are already here and the rest of the youngsters in places like Yemen, Egypt etc are willing and able.

Not least being the Americans who suddenly seems to have discovered the area...

Originally Posted by Duracell_Bunny

Glad I am not the only one thinking like this.

I say we all try to find jobs elsewhere and leave the UAE en mass. That will get them shitting bricks.

Originally Posted by Ditzy

- There is no 'slave' mentality here. We are all here because we either have a better salary than we could in our home countries, we have a better job than we could in our home countries, or we have a better lifestyle. There is no difference in this whether we are at the top of the scale or the bottom.

700AED per month is a diabolical salary for us but for a labourer, 7,000 rupees a month is not too bad a salary, once he has worked here for a couple of years he will have enough to buy some land for his family etc - the bottom line is that they wouldn't be here if they didn't want to be - of course nobody wants to do their jobs but they do it to have a better life eventually than the life they had before they came here - if you see the conditions some of these people live in in rural India/Pakistan, then the conditions here are better, even though for us it seems wrong.

Originally Posted by Roadking

The main reason there are so many British Expats in the Middle East is that they are reasonably well educated but, more importantly, they have 1st world experience. The difference is tangible and worth the cost. Without that experience, this place would fall apart. Given that the vast majority of our American friends don't even have a passport, can't see that being a viable option.

Originally Posted by bimcnorth

To be honest I think you´ll find few places as cushioned from the global economic woes as the UAE.

Originally Posted by Ditzy

I just get fed up hearing the same old/same old, like:

Greedy Landlords: Why are they greedy? Rental demand is higher than supply - therefore prices are being pushed to unprecedented highs. It's as expensive as New York, are Landlords in New York greedy?

Why shouldn't the Nationals of this country take advantage of making some money out of the people who have come and taken over their country?

If we rent out our properties in the UK, don't we rent them out at the highest amount that we can relative to the markets? are WE greedy??

People forget that we don't contribute to the roads of this country, we don't contribute to the parks/landscaping, we don't contribute to healthcare (yes we can have free government healthcare if we want it) - but we still take every opportunity to beat the government up.

- There is no 'slave' mentality here. We are all here because we either have a better salary than we could in our home countries, we have a better job than we could in our home countries, or we have a better lifestyle. There is no difference in this whether we are at the top of the scale or the bottom.

700AED per month is a diabolical salary for us but for a labourer, 7,000 rupees a month is not too bad a salary, once he has worked here for a couple of years he will have enough to buy some land for his family etc - the bottom line is that they wouldn't be here if they didn't want to be - of course nobody wants to do their jobs but they do it to have a better life eventually than the life they had before they came here - if you see the conditions some of these people live in in rural India/Pakistan, then the conditions here are better, even though for us it seems wrong.

We are living in an economy where until prices level out a bit, yes it will be expensive etc - we need to stop thinking Dubai 'owes' us something and that everyone is greedy and out to get us!

Originally Posted by Ditzy

if that's the case, then prices will come down. It's simple economics!

But it doesn't mean that people are greedy! They are just renting out their properties in line with the market! Like we do in the UK when we rent ours out!

Originally Posted by Ditzy

Empty properties are more owned by Expats, than by Locals NL. Check out the spread of nationalities buying these properties, you will find the majority are Iranian/Russian - I can't see how Dubai Plc can be blamed for that??!

Car Registration wouldn't go anywhere near paying for the roads here. Nor would restaurant tax etc.

Anyhow, clearly, as I am the only person who thinks like this, it leads me back to my original comment of getting Dubai back to the way it used to be when everyone else leaves after they are fed up.

Originally Posted by Ditzy

But this is my point. WHY is he greedy? Because he is charging market rates for your apartment? Because he is charging you for an extra car parking space? If he didn't charge you for it, then everyone would have two free car parking spaces in a car park which was designed only for one per apartment?

Maybe WE are the greedy ones for expecting to pay under-the-market rates for everything in a (relatively) tax-free and safe environment.

Originally Posted by Confucius

I'm sure you already know the story that happens every day somewhere in the world: There is a river stream and a pack of sheep is standing on the edge waiting to pass, but, noone of them passes. Until one of them decides to go in and all of them follow...
Now that is the whole essence of the "manipulated" market rate which is in Dubai; if there are say 10,000 landlords, and out of those about 1,000 decides that they want more money for their property, just a small rumour and within 2-3 days the others will follow that pricing citing "market rates"...
There is no "market rates" in Dubai...The supply and demand equation doesn't even exist in Dubai...Try and pull the same shit anywhere else in the civilised world and the government will intervene within 2 weeks...

Originally Posted by Duracell_Bunny

Nicely put in context

I am sure the same sheep analogy can work to bring rents down. How, I do not know.

Originally Posted by bimcnorth

They got jobs as well right now I presume..

The UK economy is in free fall, Oz looking to be hit much harder than expected and the states are just bracing themselves for some huge contractions in the economy with consumer confidence at rock bottom.

So where would they go?

It´s more or less "Any port in a storm" right now..