[Stevie_New]

Hi All,

We (wife & 7yr old son) are moving to Dubai at the start of March, I will be working near the Dubai Media Centre / Business Central Towers. We have read through the forum, and have gleaned some great info already. I have a couple of specific questions that I would really appreciate some input on

We want to live in a villa (3 Bdr) as opposed to an apartment. Our allocated budget for housing is 120k per year, which I know is a little low. I am OK with traveling to work, although I would like to avoid the bottle-necks I hear about. So I wanted to know what are the areas we should be looking at? One key to this is proximity to a reasonably priced school - non profit would be our preference - trying to keep cost of school down to around 20k. Is Mirdiff OK? Saw the notes re the air traffic noise, but other than that? Curious what a peak hour trip into the office would be from there. We are enjoy the outdoors, what are the parks, etc, like in that area? I am a road cyclist, would this area be OK for that?

If there are any other areas that our desires look like matching to, let me know.

Lastly, can anyone advise as to whether furniture prices (specifically beds, lounges) in DXB are high in comparison to Oz / Europe?

Thanks in advance...

 

[Chitty]

Hey Steve,

I lived in Dubai for several years before moving over to France with my French wife.

To answer your question, personnally I don't think that Mirdiff would be a good place to live if you are working over the other side of the creek, although since they introduce the electronic tolls on Garhoud bridge Sheik Zayed road apparently is not as busy as it was before. I would recommend that you look at areas like "the greens" or areas closer to the free trade zone of Jumeriah as this is where your office is based. Travel time can range from a quick 30 min to a hot sweltering 3 hours. There are other routes you can take like the new link road which you may find will take you 1 1/2 hours.

As for the cost of furniture, hey there is Ikea, so if you are an okay self assembly DIYer then that is a cheap option, but generally I found that prices were cheaper in some of the other neighbouring Emirates, especially Fujeriah (main prot city on the West coast) so it may be an idea to take a look at prices there and compare them to those in Dubai when you come to buying. You can also usually get good deals if you take a look in the papers as ther are always expats leaving and selling off furniture which you can pick up for next to nothing (I picked up a leather 4 pice loungr suite like this for only 1000 AED about 300USD). In general I think the prices there are a little lower than they are in France.

MAKE sure that you get a place with good A/c's and fans coz the first two summers that you spend there will be a big shock to your system 30°+ at night is not uncommon during summer.

I really engoyed my time in the UAE and there are plenty of things to do all the time and it is truelly a lot nicer to have the sun than this cold white stuff we currently have here in France.

 

[Chitty]

Ahhh forgot to say that mates of mine used to live in Mirdiff and they really enjoyed it, except when the antanov cargo jets took off. They said the entire house used to shake and they were actually expecting a plane to come crashing through their lounge at an moment. Although after two or three years of this they got so used to it the never actually used to hear the airtraffic.

 

[Stevie_New]

Hi Chitty,

Thanks for the info, will have a look at the Greens area,

Regards, Steve

 

[Melody]

...
We want to live in a villa (3 Bdr) as opposed to an apartment. ...

Hi,
I have a suggestion regarding the location to live. There are relatively new villas at the Gardens close to Ibn Battuta mall. They are decent looking villas in a good cultural mix neighborhood. Also about 15 minutes to Sheikh Zayed Rd (including the traffic). I can't help you with the prices though, but they are affordable.

Cheers!

 

[dreamingdi]

You can get some reasonably priced villas at the springs these days, and is near media city

 

[Free_Spirit]

I strongly believe anything that have an easy access to Emirates road is traffic-free, ie Mirdiff, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Arabian Ranches. Have doubts about Greens, I heard there is traffic to get out of there.

 

[Elphaba]

I strongly believe anything that have an easy access to Emirates road is traffic-free, ie Mirdiff, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Arabian Ranches. Have doubts about Greens, I heard there is traffic to get out of there.

Yes, traffic in & around The Greens is horrendous during peak hours and school pick-ups especially. A constant source of complaint for anyone whe has to travel through there.

-

 

[mobe]

120k... You'll get a great deal for 3 BDR apartment in Bur Dubai...