Dubai Forums

jayzed

I'm moving to Dubai very soon and will begin property-hunting. Am I likely to be able to find a 3-bedroom villa in Jumeira for around Dh180K? I see the occasional at this price in Gulf News but most of them seem to be over Dh200K, which is beyond my means. I'm not looking for something flash, just a...

jayzed

Mashaal, you say you used to live in Jumeirah... when was this? A couple of years ago? I honestly don't believe that anyone can rent a 3-br villa there for anything close to 150K these days. But if you can find one, let me know! I'd be interested in hearing more people's opinions about Satwa. xty, y...

jayzed

My office is in DIFC, so Satwa/Jum 1 would be fairly convenient.

Chocoholic, I know such things exist - I have a friend who pays 70K for a fabulous place near the beach in Umm Suqeim. But realistically, that kind of situation is extremely rare and I'm not counting on getting that lucky!

jayzed

I know this question has been asked many times before, and having checked the archive and other sources I think I know the answer, but just want to make sure I've got it straight. My understanding is that the employment law in "onshore" Dubai does not apply to Free Zones and therefore the ...

jayzed

There are a lot of questions about cost of living/salaries on this forum, but obviously there are vast differences in people's age, experience, qualifications and expectations. In other words, no standard benchmark. A lot of the questions come from people moving from the UK, so I'd be interested to ...

jayzed

Xander, I'm afraid I can't offer any suggestions as I'm still in the process of moving to Dubai, but we are going to be in the same position, so if you do find anyone please PM me and let me know! I will do the same if we find someone. You might try posting this request on the expatwoman.com boards ...

jayzed

My contract (with a company in the DIFC) has a pretty standard non-compete clause that prevents me working for a competitor for six months. I'm not planning to leave immediately but may want to switch jobs at some point in the next year or so. Because I work in a pretty specialised area, I would alm...

jayzed

Thanks for your responses. As far as I'm aware, when I'm working in the DIFC, the issue of an official labour contract in Arabic lodged with the department of labour does not arise - my employment is governed by the DIFC Employment Law, not by UAE/Dubai labour law. Please correct me if I'm wrong! Th...

jayzed

Any opinions on the best banks to hold a current and/or savings account with? Any bank have particularly good/bad customer service? Any account have particularly useful or cost-saving features?

jayzed

Thanks for your replies. I've gone with Emirates/MEBank (for no particular reason - my conclusion was that there's not a huge amount of difference between the leading local banks).

jayzed

Scotsman, If your company is providing 2/3 of your rent, then I think you're doing pretty well. These days it's increasingly common for employers to provide no accommodation allowance or just a token amount that bears no relation to the current cost of renting. Weigh up your tax savings against that...

jayzed

Okay. I want to know who are the two people earning more than 60K, who do you work for, and are they hiring?

jayzed

Habibi, you're talking about a tax-free salary range equivalent to £65k to £100K at current exchange rates. Dubai may well be on a par with the UK in terms of expense, and in some respects is more expensive, but you should still be able to live a reasonably comfortable life on less than AED40K a mon...

jayzed

What proportion of your annual income - or of your combined income if you're a couple - do you spend on rent? Would be interesting to know if this is for a flatshare, own flat, own villa etc and in what part of town.

jayzed

Oh bugger, I seem to have missed the all-important 40% to 50% option! Apparently I can't edit the poll now. Maybe a forum moderator can do it?

jayzed

Thanks!

jayzed

So, the one thing we were slightly worried about when we signed the contract to rent our house in Umm Suqeim was the fact that there was an empty lot behind it, and we were worried that we might end up with a construction site next door. Well, guess what? We started moving in today, and so did the b...

jayzed

A year, really?! Good grief. I was thinking along the lines of 4-6 months.

jayzed

Please don't depress me any more! Besides, I should think that with rents the way they are at the moment, the owner of the plot is rolling in spare cash.

jayzed

NX6, if you're an educated professional I don't think you'll face problems here. It's true that there's a pretty polarised social hierarchy, which is certainly to some extent based on people's race and skin colour. However, I would argue that the key status differentiator is wealth, not race. For ex...

jayzed

But you can't get broadband without having a home phone line, right? Or am I missing something?

jayzed

I know this issue has been discussed ad nauseam on these boards, and I've asked a similar question in the past myself, but trawling through the archives it seems that everyone has a different answer. Anyhow, let's give it another go. I work for a company in a Free Zone (DIFC). I've only been here fo...

jayzed

But if you have an Etisalat connection?

jayzed

I had to make this choice about four months ago (when you got AED7.2 to the pound sterling) and opted for sterling. It's obviously worked out fairly well for me so far - at current rates I'm effectively getting an extra AED15K a year, which is nice. I also have the slight advantage of hedging as tha...

jayzed

How come? When I try to apply for an Alshamil connection, Etisalat wants to know my home phone number.

jayzed

cosmicbaby, it's not a bad offer by local standards, but you'll definitely need your spouse to be earning as well. The suggestion that you'll be paying around AED100K in rent is way off-beam. Assuming you want three bedrooms for a family your size, you'll be paying AED135-150K out in Mirdif or Warqa...

jayzed

You will be right next door to Ravi's. What more could you ask for in life?

Seriously, Satwa is a fairly funky place by Dubai standards, though traffic is pretty bad. If I didn't have kids (and therefore wanted somewhere a bit quieter and greener) I would happily live there.

jayzed

Get them to offer you a job in Beirut instead! You'll have much more fun...

jayzed

Zoe, if you're British it's fairly easy to get a second passport. Just ask your employer to write a letter stating that you need to travel to Israel and to other parts of the Middle East for work purposes, and you can get a second passport issued no problem.

jayzed

Stay put in HK. There's no way you can live comfortably with two school-age kids on that salary, unless your spouse also works full-time and earns the same (and even then you won't be saving much). If you put my name into the search function you'll find another post I made to someone in a similar si...

Dubai Forums

jayzed - Posts

Where can I afford to live?

No employment ban in Free Zones?

Cost of living Dubai vs London

Non-compete clauses - enforceable?

Best bank account?

Poll: What proportion of your income do you spend on rent?

How long does it take to build a house?

Free Zone and employment bans

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