MJC

Got a couple of options for the next 6 months, been offered a 4 bed villa in either Lakes or Meadows, anyone got any suggestions?

Mrs. loves her Choo's etc. need somewher a bit glam darling, both seem to fit the bill - apart from Palm they seem to be much of the same....

????

M

LakesLassie

The Lakes is a mix of detached villas and townhouses from semis to blocks of 6. The Meadows are all detached villas. The Lakes has more facilities like the club which has pool, gym, restaurant etc and membership is included in the rent. The Meadows' facilities aren't finished yet.

Although the houses in the Meadows may be larger, from what I've seen the workmanship isn't such a high standard, although I can't comment on the new Lakes houses available from May this year.

The Lakes is a smaller community and is more established, purely because it's older. I like it here, but would probably like the Meadows just as much. Not much difference really.

Sorry, that probably didn't help you at all! Best thing would be to come & have a look.

MJC

Thanks LL,

I'll be there Thursday - Tuesday so I'll be checking them out then, I guessed from your name you'd be able to help....

Catch up soon.

M

DubaiExpat

I live in the Lakes too It is more established and greener because it is older, and it is smaller and doesn't feel as 'spread out' as the Meadows. We like it here and so do most people that visit. There are more facilities as LL said. I really can't think of anything I dislike about the place
Oh and yes it has more glam factor darling

W10

is it difficult to find properties in the Lakes? I never see them advertised for rent?

And out of interest. What is the rental cost like there? I'm presuming it doesn't remotely resemble the prices quoted on the Emaar website.

DubaiExpat

You never find them advertised because Emaar leases them themselves and there are normally waiting lists for almost every single villa in The Lakes. An exception are the brown Hattan villas, they are freehold and the individual owner is free to do whatever they want with them, rent them out or live in them themselves! Generally speaking, the Forat townhouses are the cheapest at Dhs77,000 for a 2 bed, starting at Dhs 85000 for a three bed up till around Dhs 100 000 for the biggest three bedroom townhouse.
The Zulal townhouses are similar inside, only a different external appearance and they have a few floorplans you won't find in Forat. It starts at Dhs85000 again up to Dhs 130,000 for a lakeview semidetached. The Deema detached villas start at Dhs120000 for 3100sq feet up to Dhs145,000 for a 4000sqfoot lakeview villa.
And the Hattan Homes start at around Dhs180,000 till the mid Dhs200,000 range for the largest with a golfcourse view.

I noticed they have new model homes on display for the new phase that just finished, named Maeen. If you are thinking of moving you can go and have a look at those ones, both townhouses and villas but the next phase won't be ready till June.

Hope this helped you!

W10

thanks...

when I emailed them via the website they said they didn't deal with rentals!

Tami2

Hi DE,

I have a question, but I'm not sure how to ask it without sounding really bitchy.
When we were in Dubai over the last couple of weeks we went to the Meadows to see a property that was for sale. After driving through an endless maze of streets, we finally came to the little box among all the other little boxes that was for sale. Now, maybe it was just the style or cultural difference of the owners (Afghani, they said) but it was humid, dark and depressing inside. Also, the quality and workmanship of the fittings was horrible.
The question is, do you think we just hit a bad villa, or are all the villas in the Meadows like this, dark and poorly made? Also, this family was having a pool put in, I assume to make the place more marketable, but the "garden" although quite large, was just a dry, bare patch of sand and dirt. It was very depressing and we pretty much decided against the Meadows at that point.

Are the Lakes more homey? You said they are more established and greener, which is good, but are the villas there the same boxy style as the Meadows?

Sorry, I really don't mean to come off snooty, but it just wasn't what I'm accustomed to or hoping to find.

DubaiExpat

Hi Tami, no don't feel bitchy or snotty ofcourse you can ask these things!
When you buy an Emaar property, you are always given a bare patch of sand and dirt which you need to beautify yourself, so I wouldn't worry about that. Unless you buy in the secondary market from another individual who may have decided to put in a garden himself, a patch of sand is quite normal.
There is a big debate about The Meadows around the dinner tables in Dubai. The Meadows 1, 2, 3 and 4 were quite good in workmanship and build quality, but after that it simply went downhill I find. Tami, what happened was the price of cement went up just after they had finished building Meadows 1-4, meaning they had to delay all their other projects as well like The Springs and Meadows 5 - 9, so when they did finally build these ones they cut corners and generally rushed it. Personally, I would advise buying only in the Meadows communities I mentioned above if you really want top quality finishes, externally. Inside the home should be fine though, I think you can always make the inside of any home very nice and comfortable no matter how bad it looks on the outside.
Now as for the style, it does come down to personal preference. A lot of people do think The Meadows is quite boxy, if you think they are boxy wait till you see the Arabian Ranches villas they finished constructing recently :scared: I don't quite understand what the architects were thinking when they designed some of these villas! The Lakes detached villas aren't as boxy as The Meadows as the design externally is different. I think all the established greenery everywhere in the Lakes might 'distract' you from focusing on the villa design. Personally though I think the design of the Lakes townhouses and villas are much nicer and less 'angular' to the eye. Have you considered Green Community? www.up.ae/gc and check the pictures. They are nice and we have a place there we are renting out at the moment, they are much much bigger than the Meadows and much cheaper, and the style is like a Mediterranean model town, very nice!
I do share your frustration, we are trying to buy a house for us to move into and live in and some of the architecture is really quite tacky we find. Jumeirah Islands, still under construction, we were tracking this house we quite liked, we thought it looked quite nice, until they started adding these rather tacky-looking terrace and window fittings and it looks so ugly, and they finally finish painting the house this awful mustard yellow colour!
If you think you can wait till around 2007 I would look at Mirador in Arabian Ranches which we are doing now, they are Spanish themed villas and the show villa is very nice, not as boxy as some of the other ones! http://www.emaar.com/new/projects_mirador.html

Good luck, if you need any property help feel free to ask me, I don't charge and I probably have information overspill what with all the property researching I have been doing the last two months!