Dubai Forums Dubai Expat Forums Working in Dubai

Am I missing anything?

Monthly breakdown:

accommodation 17000 ( 3bed: 200k AED annual rent)
school fees 3300
nursery 2000
car 8000 (monthly rental)
fuel 150
agency fee 2000 (24k AED annual fee)
gym 1000
elec/water 2000
food 4000
entertainment 3000
Savings 12000 (not worth if no savings)

Total monthly 54450 AED

Wow, so the 36k AED per month I have been offered is totally unrealistic if I want to save, enjoy Dubai, school my children and live in a house comparable to the one I have in the UK?

why is your car fees so high? 8K is high unless you have to drive a bmw, porsche, etc.

what's the agency fees?
gym fees run 300-400 per person or you can find better deals. 200K for housing is high since villa prices have come down quite a bit. and how much are you saving now back in london? are you really saving that much? if so then there's no point in coming out here.

Answer to your question "Is this budget accurate?"

NO

Nuzbim: cost of living sticky at the beginning of this post is where I got the agency fee and fuel figure, the villa rental was from reading many other posts where 200k was quoted for a 3 bed villa in Springs or similar. I am saving £1200 per month in the UK but would like to save more to make the move worthwhile. 8k for car also from cost of living sticky but no don't require a porsche, but a quality SUV is what I drive here so would like similar for my wife and children.

desertdudeshj: Why so unhelpful?

i've got an SUV and put down 15K dhs and only pay 2600 per month. i live near work so fuel only cost me 220 per month.

still not sure what you mean by agency, do you mean the rental? it's a 1 time fee, not monthly.

for 150K you can get a big villa in springs right now, the 2 bedroom villas are currently 100-115K, so 200K seems high and out of reality right now.

dont know how that changes your budget, as i'm too lazy to add/subtract it, but those are more realistic #s. and 2K for dewa seems high as well, for a 2 bedroom apt i'm payin 500 dhs, but the internet is what's expensive, i pay higher for higher speeds, but u can pay as little as 300 dhs per month for that.

the sticky is outdated.

Thanks Nuzbim, so helpful, your figures knocked 13000 a month off which will make negotiation much more realistic.

Out of interest, you laughed at the 3k for entertainment, what's the price of a bottle of wine and a beer?!

I wish everyone was as helpful!


accommodation 1250 ( 3bed: 150k AED annual rent)
school fees 3300
nursery 2000
car 2400 (monthly rental)
fuel 250
agency fee (24k AED annual fee)
gym 1000
elec/water 1500
food 4000
entertainment 3000
Savings 12000 (not worth if no savings)

Total monthly 41950 AED

sorry again, what's this agency fee? cause that's 2K per month.

entertainment is upto you in regards to what you wanna spend. i buy everything at duty free cause goin out is too expensive, but once a month i'll go to dinner at atlantis or somewhere nice and a bottle of wine is anywhere from 180-8000, i usually get a red for 250-350 that's plenty and tastes great for me.

what's this agency fee? cause you might be able to cut that out of your budget. and again entertainment is whateva you wanna spend.

Just did a conversion and am blown away by the wine price, well if I ever needed an incentive to stop drinking that would be it! Entertainment in UK is usually a nice meal out once a month for wife and I and a couple of evening pizza's with children per month.

Agency fee, again taken from sticky, I believe it is the fee from the rental agency for finding the villa and sorting out paperwork? If that is taken out it would be great (could transfer it to wine!)

Thanks again Nuzbim!

Everybody is not as helpfull because this topic get ccovered twice a week. No matter how rude that might seem to you but people hear are bored of salary and budget threads, I already told you use the search option and look up the threads.

Agency fees is a one time expense and is around 5 to 10 thousand depending on price of villa and how they calculate it

in that case the agency fee would only be upfront 3-6% of the rental you choose. so you can take it out the monthly budget. so for a 150K rental you'd be lookin at 7500 upfront. you can re-do your budget based on that.

beers usually cost 30-50 dhs at clubs/bars. pizza is around 40-50 per pie, and upwards depending on where you go. just so you know, drinks in Dubai are very expensive, that's why i load up at duty free, where they are US prices that i'm used to. since you're coming with family the 1st time you arrive you're entitled to 2-4 bottles per person of liquor and more of wine/beer. load up and you should be ok for at least a few months.

Thanks Nuzbim, that's incredibly useful info and will budget accordingly.

desertdudeshj, I have used the serach option and read loads of threads on relocation, living costs, salary etc hence my references to the sticky posts and where I got my figures from. I see there are loads of posts re salary but generally these appear to be from people with no clue at all asking if they can live on 12000 AED per month in the Marina and totally unrealsitic expectations, I can understand a flippant reply to that but when someone, such as myself, posts a realistic intelligent question backed up by research on this and other forums a polite and helpful would be nice, if not possible then post nothing. Stupid is not knowing the answer, stupid is not asking if you don't know the answer. Good luck to you when you decide to move somewhere unknown and need assistance.

Agency fees nowadays are around 4-5 percent. So your number for agency fees is really inflated. If you rent something for 140,000 or so, you agency fees should be around 600 aed per month

Thanks Dee70, that makes a massive difference, thanks for your positive input!

You are moving at the right time bluey. I am stuck in Canada. You're like a step above me. I'm at the Managerial/Senior level. Yet, I cannot find anything.

(small suggestion: try saving up some AED, if possible. Investment reasons. If you actually save up enough to invest in a nice house.. prices are bound to go back up. Most likely prices will be back up in 2010, and by the second quarter of 2010, Dubai will fully rebound.)

- Realtor