Nav_72

I have a chance to go for a converted villa - great condition - high quality finish apart from the dodgy lizard skin tiles in the bathroom - villa is big and within budget - BUT.................. its KCB and miles from Al-Yasmina, HOWEVER, the companies new office will be moving to Mohd Bin Zayed....

so pros and cons on both sides.....

Pros

Closer to my work place as of December / Jan
Cheap compared to places on island which are far far crummier......
new build and in great condition
2 mins from Airport... great if u need to fly off anywhere...
Is being built up - but dont know how quick or when the 1st corner shop will arrive...

Cons

Miles from any life - even lizards and snakes would be too scared to come out there !!!
need a car to get milk from the shops - over the bridge into mafraq.
a bit of distance from al Yasmina school and major distance from the office (currently AD Mall).

thoughts people - the agent is coming to see me later this evening....

lobby lou

its only short drive to yas from there lol xxxx

arbroath_abroad

yea its not far at all, and its virtually trafficless...I cycle up there all the time

Nav_72

So should i entertain it - my major concern is that the kids will hate being in the desert with no sign of life close by. If i was in AD Island, at least kids could go into the malls or shops are walking distance.....

dunno what to do - leave it and look ard or jus take it and stop grumbling...

busybee2

you will find it quite isolated over there you def need a reliable car, as taxis find it very hard to come over the bridge to kca let alone kcb, if its a converted villa make sure that they have the paperwork and permission to convert otherwise that may open a can of worms.

Nav_72

Well heres my thoughts - they have permission to convert - all paperwork is in order.

The place is really nice, but locality wise its not all that great - esp if a new family is coming over - not a nice thought for kids and wife moving country into a barren wasteland KC (B) which isnt built up yet and probably wont be built up for 12-18 months. At least closer to town if the the family feels a little down, they can pop down to the mall, or to the shops or go for a walk down to the local market.... No such luck in KC (b) - even KC A has a small market - and i mean small !!!

I am not moving for myself - am moving for a better life for family - living in KC (B) wont really provide them with that i dont think...... or am i being extremely naive and too negative about it all ......

arbroath_abroad

your being realistic....KCA and KCB are not good for families and meeting friends, unless of course you frequesnt a mosque

Try seashores? or more a compound type villa's. Not everyones cuppa T but we have lived in AL Raha Gardens, and enjoyed it, given its 'rabbit hutch' reports on here. Now we live in Mangrove which is great...

britchick35

well i'm not very experienced here but heres my two pennorths worth , when we moved here not too long ago i thought id hate the city always lived in villages apart from growing up where i lived in the town centre but our careers meant we were always in villages , but we drive, so you adapt , when i got to the city , i was intoxicated i loved it cabs groceries open until 1am plenty for kids to get to , we had a situation where we needed to move just company stuff and i was made a few offers and thought no way waste land compunds euhhhhhhhh!!! HOWEVER my hubby used his better judgement and said lets try we were offered an excellent deal at al raha whilst i though like you nice houses but not for me and my family, he gave me a shove and said lets get things into perspective they go to the school there , my job will move in 3 months to nearer there , mostly the company wil maintain it , its huge practically speaking its perfect, so i begrudgingly accepted i havent been in too long but its growing on me the folks are nice its pretty the kids love it they dont have a long drive to school and if the family are happy then my life is fine so you do need to look at things from a different perspective and say well we will give it a try if you dont like it one year on you can change and be looking in the meantime, if you stress to your family that you can drive most places it should be fine , i was determined to look really hard as i was sure something that was just my awkward cup of tea was out there the hunt was monotnous ( im very determined ) the family got sick and said aw mam we like it there ...the deal was done , and just to state ive been here a few weeks and i wont be moving anytime soon , so given the housing issues here maybe you need to reconsider ?By the way it stil is a better life as although it was party party party ( as much as you can with a few kids we now have to conform around school so there isnt as much opportunity to do anything more than we could in the city , but at weekends we hop in the car and off we go til when ever we like we are managing just fine...good luck with what ever you choose, im sure in the end it will be a better life than before it is for us and sometimes a change is a good as a rest ... all the best .

lobby lou

id say think of ure budget if u are havin to look at a villa share in kcb to start with u may not have many options xxxlived in kca for quite a while ...withkids and it makes me go out and do new things etc ....xx