Ronnie294

Hey,

I am due to move to Dubai around mid March to start my new job, I have been looking at Dubizzle and property finder websites to find somewhere to rent for myself my wife and two young daughters but there seems very little choice for our budget which i dont think is too small (110000 AED/YR), is there any other websites i can use? Ideally looking for 2 bed (would prefer 3 bed) villa/townhouse with private garden, shared pool and shared gym. some of the properties i have found that meet these requirements look run down, dark and a bit dirty!

Also does anyone suffer or know someone who suffers from eczema? I am interested to know how the Dubai enviroment has helped/ made it worse i.e sun, de-salinated sea water for showering bathing.

Any info much appreciated!

mikewot

You can get a 1 bed townhouse where I live for that. Think London rental prices and up your budget or be prepared to live out in the desert.

Ronnie294

Where do you live? Palm Island? I have looked at Sahara meadows which is 3 bed villas with shared pool for 90,000 - 105,000AED, the only problem is its 45 minute commute which i would like to be less! Also looked at Layan Community which are 2 bed villas with shared gym and pool but they are max budget 110,000 however that is only a 25-30 minute commute.

Just wondering if there is any others that i may have missed! I am not fussed about living in the urban jungle of tall buildings would be happy with fringe communites!

mikewot

No I live in Jumeirah Village Triangle.
Had to google that one. Crikey it is way out past the new airport where I work!
I think you would be very very lucky to find one there at that price. My mate lives next door in Al Waha which is not populated with Emirates pilots and they're more expensive. Thing you have to be aware of is that a lot of the places on these sites do not exist, they are to sucker you in. Another agent tactic is to get you excited about a place and then say its gone but they can get you one for 20k more. You don't say where you will be working, which would help us pinpoint somewhere close to there
You could not pay me to live in one of those termite mounds in JLT/Marina/JBR with the hassle of parking and risk of catching fire. Out past Layan is Remraan and it has much better access now than before, plus they're building a road through to the top of Hessa Street. It's right next to the golf course being built in conjunction with the future president of the USA, The Donald. You can get a 3 bed flat with 2 very large wraparound balconies for 110 in 4 cheques. Mate of mine got one of those last week. Maximum walk to shops 15 mins, pool 5-10 mins.

DXBtoDOH

Just keep in mind the operating expenses for a property.

There's the 5% housing tax (5% of your annual rent divided by 12 months, which you pay monthly as part of your dewa - utilities - bill.

Dewa (water, electricity) for a three-bed flat with four inhabitants will probably cost you 500AED/monthly on top of the housing tax. For a villa it'd be even higher.

Air-con can be "free" and included with your rent or you pay for it separately. If paying separately, expect another...hmm...500 month on average, with minimal in the winter and high bills in the summer. This is for apartments as with villas you always pay for the air-con via your dewa bill or district cooling. No exceptions. As you will be limited to flats, look carefully at whether the building is "chiller free" or whether you need to pay separately for the a/c as for someone in your position it's a significant chunk of money.

Then there's internet / tv packages. Not cheap. 300 AED is about the cheapest you can get, per month, and it goes up from there.

This place is very expensive. Your choices are either a 3-bed flat way out or a 2-bed flat closer in. Forget villas altogether. The good news is that you do have options as there's a range of 2-bed flats available. Silicon Oasis, Sports City, even a few in Tecom and JLT. Frankly, it's probably better to live in a smaller place that has a lot of amenities right at your doorsteps, especially for the wife and kiddos. A large apartment may sound nice but if it's in the middle of nowhere where's there's bugger all to do/walk to they might go crazy.

Oh, FYI, you, not the property owner, pay the agent the 5% commission. And there's a 5% deposit to the landlord. Plus a 2K deposit to hook up to dewa. And another hefty deposit to hook up to the internet. And another one for the air/con if it's not chiller-free.

Welcome to Dubai!

Ronnie294

My package should be ok to cover these, I get my basic salary then 110,000AED/year housing allowance and 110,000AED/yr living allowance to pay for things like utilities, Internet, phone e.t.c! Does that help me out any?

mikewot

Don't get too focused on 'allowances', look at the bottom line. The reason they split the salary up is because of the end of service gratuity. This is based on a percentage of your basic salary which is why they split into basic, housing, personal allowance, transport, telephone blah blah. Depending on the satellite package you want I would reckon around 3000 a month would cover DEWA/chiller, landline/Internet and mobile phone.
No one checks to see if you spent your housing allowance on rent, look at the bottom line.

scrubbedexpat141

Lol. Remraan. 'Much better access now' but 'they're building a road'. Sums that place up. 110k out there is robbery.

You do know that you can use some of your basic or other allowances to give yourself 120 or 130k housing to help find somewhere more suitable?

Millhouse

110k for housing is not enough for a family of four.

To get suitably sized accommodation you need to live far out. The misses will be doing 100-120km a day driving sproglets to school and back twice a day. (i.e. 25-30km each way, drop and pick up).

On the more positive side - all skin conditions sorted themselves out here. As did the asthma. The lack of pollen is a blessing - unless you are a bee.

Standanista

Although some find that the local water makes their hair fall out

mikewot

"Forgot about that, no school buses to Remraan yet. Most other communities are OK though. Have a think about Jumeirah Village Circle.

mission

110k for housing allowance for a family man with 2 kids and a mrs....i'm sorry but that's just a joke.

You will definitely not find any 2 bed plus villas for that amount....and the ones you will, will be the ones way out in the sticks ie Sahara Meadows - this area has NOTHING in terms of amenities - your mrs and kids will go stir crazy being stuck out miles away from any civilisation.

you seriously need to go back to your employer and asked for a bigger housing allowance...otherwise be prepared to get a 1 bed aprt or a tiny, dingy 2 bed aprt.

unless of course your accomo and living allowance can be put together and hence have an overall allowance of AED 220k, then you'd be able to get a decent 2 bed villa

DXBtoDOH

Why don't you tell us your total package, inclusive of all allowances and benefits? We can then advise what's realistic for you. It's an anonymous internet forum, we don't know you, you don't know us, there's no need for the secrecy. We're not going to run into you the next day and point and laugh in your face at your measly housing allowance.

If you have a base salary that's separate from your "living allowance" then your living allowance is probably meant to be combined with the housing allowance to cover your housing expenses inclusive of utilities and so forth.

mikewot

Thats what I've been trying to say. Look at the bottom line, all this crap about personal allowance, housing allowance, transport allowance blah blah is just so much smoke and mirrors to ensure that your basic salary is as low as possible to keep the end of service gratuity down and not too much of a liability for the employer.

Millhouse

If that's the game (and it probably is), and the housing is that low then I dread to think what the salary is.