On the move again!

We have decided to move... again! This will be the 4th home we have lived in within 2 years!

Rental prices have softened in Abu Dhabi somewhat. There are many developments, on and off the main city island, that are now being completed. So, that together with the number of people that have moved to Dubai to take advantage of the massive drops there, has meant that the supply and demand balance has shifted slightly. Last year we paid 200k AED (c.£36k) for the annual rent on our 2 bedroom apartment. At the time this was not a bad price for the area, pretty average. When I discussed the price for the coming year with the building owner (bear in mind that there are about 70 flats in our building and this is probably not the only property he has - how rich must he be?), without any haggling on my part he offered us 150k AED. So that sounded better. Armed with this info I thought we should check out some other buildings around us, still close enough for Caz to walk to work, but that might have that most elusive of treasures in this part of town - a parking space! And guess what - we found one!

The map below shows where we are going......




It is the “Al Mansoori” building, named after the owner and his business, whose offices are also in the tower. It is still a 2 bedroom apartment, but it is bigger, with a full sized “Maid’s room” having it’s own en-suite, rather than the cupboard allocated to maids in our current block (not that we have a maid!), so you could pretty much call it a 3 bedroom. There is a swimming pool on the roof of the building and also a small gym. But the best thing is ... I will have an allocated, numbered, completely dedicated parking space in the underground car park! Yippee!! All-in with fees 174k AED + 4k deposit.

More for less. Bargain.


Roll on April 29th!

Walking

It's nice now to be able to just walk out of our tower block and walk around the city. I waited today until the sun started to go down and then walked around our part of what is called the Tourist Club Area and then on to the Corniche. There was nice breeze off the gulf on the Corniche which made it quite pleasant.

Here's some pictures I took ...

Mina Tower (our apartment block)

I'm sure you wouldn't get away with a company name like this at home!

Around the Corniche

They even make the subways pleasant places

A view back from the Corniche showing our location and where Caz works

Sun going down over LuLu Island

Opposite of apartment, Shiraz Nigits!

Office desk

When we moved we had to sell my office desk because it was just too big for the room I now have (which is meant to be a maid's room and I definitely feel sorry for any maids who actually have to live in such a small space!). We priced up desks at IKEA and the cheapest at the right size was Dh399 (£72). I noticed, however, that by our apartment block there are loads of carpentry shops that seem to be making furniture and other items. I found one guy called Asif (!) who offered to make what I was looking for for Dh325, he said he would make itin 2 days and deliver it. His workshop is just across the road from our tower block.

It came, as promised on the day he said. I just wanted something cheap so it's just in MDF, but it's functional and will be fine. I probably won't bring it home with me, so it will do for now. Below are pictures of Asif's workshop, a clip of them carrying it over to us and the finished product in situ.