auzdafluff

I'm curious.

My tenancy is up in the middle of October. I'm definitely not staying where I live now; the lifts are painfully slow, poorly programmed, the parking situation is a nightmare, and if I have to sit in one more traffic jam caused by that stupid roundabout in JLT, I'm going to scream.

Anyway, how soon do you start looking when you're moving flat? I'm seriously tempted to move in September, this flat gets on my balls that much.

Blue Cat

I would say three weeks before your tenancy is due to finish, the building I used to be in behind Wellington School is nice, very quiet.

the_red_sheep

Start online now and going into places after Ramadan. But, don't tell agents that your tenancy doesn't expire until October, tell them you want to move in 2/3 weeks otherwise they'll be even more difficult to deal with. This gives you time to decide on which area you want to be in, then which building/s, and then what unit type/s. That way closer to the time you can just wait for the right apartment to come up and jump on it straight away.

Bahtatboy

+1.

When I moved at the beginning of the year, the most productive part was visiting numerous buildings / developments to find the pros and cons of each. I started off looking at 3 developments (Disco / Marina / JLT), narrowed that down to Marina, and then started looking at various buildings there--in the event there were very few that suited me. If I move again, I'll probably take at least 2 months looking at buildings, and then leave 3-4 weeks at the end to try to nab what I want.

Oh yeah: and don't telling the agents the truth. In fact, probably the best way to look at each building is just to wander in, security normal let you look round and see any empty apartments.

auzdafluff

Yeah, that's precisely what I was thinking. Spend two months looking at buildings and then rank them, spending the last 3-4 weeks trying to nab the best one.

I already have an idea of the building I want to live in. My friend lives there, and it's brilliant. Free gas, a/c, internet, huge swimming pool, secure (it's the only building I've been in where as a white westerner security stops me and makes me sign in), free storage room etc.

But I also want to get an idea of what else is out there. I've learnt a lot about what to look out for in the two years I've been here, and I don't want to get screwed over by having to panic when I only have weeks to go.

winter

i know people will laugh, but I will suggest it anyway, Habtoor residence, it's a good location, no dewa, no ac, good pool, security is very good, just make sure you don't get an apartment that looks out onto the construction site. an apartment over the pool, you hear no noise. Just a thought, easy to get to SZR in the morning

auzdafluff

I hadn't considered it. I'll be working down in Downtown next year, so it's not as stupid an idea as you might think.

That said, I want to avoid high floors like the plague. You think "ooooh, look at the pretty view", then end up spending most of the time with the blinds down to either stop neighbours from being able to look in, or to cut down on the heat coming in.

I'd rather just get out of the building quickly.

winter

It's only 4 floors, which is why i like it, Habtoor House is only 2, neither are over looked

the_red_sheep

Plenty of empty apartments in Downtown or Business Bay still. Claren Towers have just opened, not been into them but looks decent. Prices have been pretty stable for a while as well, from 65-70k up for a one bed in Downtown, and you might manage 50-60k for a one bed in Business Bay. Issue with Business Bay is the lack of roads, shops etc and that is doesn't yet easily link through to Downtown. Plenty of the buildings in both look onto nothingness and most if not all have central a/c so closing of the blinds is optional.

auzdafluff

I'm hoping to avoid central ac if I can. Some of my friends have horror stories about capacity bills.

the_red_sheep

It's covered as part of the service charge though, so not billed to individual apartments directly.

auzdafluff

Believe it or not, but there are landlords who shift the price onto their tenants.

winter

With HR or HH, there is no individual landlord, it's a management company, asteco, for the two buildings, so free dewa and ac, and no, i don't work for them , apart from the obvious demolition of the metropolitan, it still is a central location, just doesn't have all the nice things like nearby shops etc. Depends what you need from an apartment.

commander

Is the pool still full of hookers or have they moved on to pastures new?

I wouldn't call it a 'good' pool...its a pool, nothing more. Iused to swim there every day, but I think it was the lure of perving at lebo and russion sluts wearing next to nothing rather than the quality of the pool of facilities...oh and the free membership I blagged.

Ethos83

If you want a low rise building in a central area I would have thought the bleedin' obvious answer would be the Greens. Nice community too.

The Greens is an Emaar community and as such there are no separate a/c charges passed on to the tenants. Any ac usage is included as part of your rent since the landlord pays for the ac out of his maintenance fees, and the landlord, not the tenant, pays the maintenance fees. The buildings have one internal ac system which isn't separated for each apartment so the amount you use is irrelevant.

It's buildings that are in district cooling schemes that you want to avoid. JLT, Disco Gardens and Business Bay are district cooling and the tenant pays for the ac separate from the rent and dewa.