Our very own oasis

Now, I don't want this to sound like gloating (!), but having our own pool at home is heaven! Now that the temperatures have risen and it's easily over 40 degrees every day and mid-high 30's at night, having a chilled pool to jump into at the end of the day is lovely. A lot of the communal pools that people have access to are not heated/chilled, so in the summer it will just feel like entering a very big bath tub. We had major issues getting the heater/chiller to work (we are now on our 4th unit) and then we had issues with getting the temperature right (how did we ever cope I can here you thinking!), but now it's perfect. So, I reckon we should get good use out of it all year round.

...yep I can feel the vibes coming over the internet superhighway - I can tell you are really pleased for us...not! :-)

Our villa in Al Reef

I just took a few pictures of our back garden at Al Reef. I’ll do some of the inside next. We have got pretty much the smallest garden on the whole complex I reckon, but it will do for us.

The pool has had some use over the last couple of weeks while we had some family over and Caroline is now not working full time. It’s good weather now and nice to sit outside in the evenings in some cool air. Just need to keep to mosquitos at bay!

Al Reef Villa

Well after a week of phoning endless agents, visiting numerous villas and making various offers, I think we have finally secured a villa in a development called Al Reef. Al Reef is located next to the airport (although not on the flight path) and is a nice community development. We have had quite a stressful week trying to get things sorted, especially as it is next to impossible to get a straight answer from agents as to what is available at what price etc etc. The developer, Manazel, has an office there where you can arrange to rent directly. If you want to give this a go - good luck! Frankly, the guys in the office are next to useless, don’t have keys to half the properties and never get back to you on your questions. If you can get any sense though, they are probably the cheapest option. Many agents are also working the development, some of which are offering the villas at the same price as Manazel, others higher. We have made probably 5 offers this week, which have either been turned down for various reasons (e.g. “the owner has decided not to rent the villa now” - yeah, bollocks. “The owner will wait only a maximum of 10 days before you move in”. “the owner is holding out for a higher price” ) or never had an answer at all.

Finally today we have placed a deposit with Pink Properties. I know of stories where this has still not been the end of the story and the property has still been lost - so it’s fingers crossed. Although I think you ultimately pay a little higher for a property through Pink (as I think they are pretty shrewd and more commercially savvy), I can’t complain about the service, so hopefully all will be well.

So the next stage is to get hold of a contract, have my company raise the 2 cheques (6 months apart) that they require, pay a 5% commission to Pink and arrange our move in. To secure the place we have had to agree to take immediate occupation after contract signing, so we will end up with a few weeks overlap with our existing apartment. We go on holiday to China next weekend (more on that to come) so we wanted to have everything signed, sealed and delivered before we went - otherwise we would have had a very stressful 10 days when we got back. It is a pain though, because it will mean I will have to pay back to my company the money for the overlap - but c’est la vie.

In parts of Abu Dhabi the housing market is a little less hectic, and in Dubai it is so laid back it’s almost comatose! Al Reef however has proved to be a very popular location with expats and demand is high. Therefore it is a case of taking what is available at the time, with only minor negotiation, otherwise they are getting snapped up pretty quickly - at least the 5 beds which we wanted. I think there is much more choice of the smaller villas.

So, fingers crossed and we may be moving in soon!

Housing Hamster Wheel!

OMG we are on the move again!! Aaagghhhh! This will be the 5th property we have lived in (4 here) in less than 2.5 years!

The full reasons for this will be revealed in the fullness of time, but basically we can get a 5 bed villa with a small pool for not much more than we are paying now. Whilst this does put us back out in a desert community, it is one that has a nice feel to it and will not be isolated like Khalifa City or Mohammed bin Zayed City, where we were when we first moved here. The development is largely expat owned and nearly 100% expat populated. We already know a few people that are either already there or are planning to move there. It will be really nice, finally, to have some useable outside space for relaxing or hosting BBQs etc. - just normal stuff like we would do at home that we have missed here to date. So if you know us here, expect an invite when we move in!

It does mean of course that we are once again going through the rigmarole of meeting with agents/developers, agreeing rental pricing, how many cheques they want (many still want the full years rental up front here - some accept 2 cheques. In Dubai now, it is common to give 12 cheques - such a different market there) etc etc. We just want to get the whole discussion done with and agreed, so we can then move on to stage B - raising cheques and signing contracts etc. Stage 3 will be organising removals and then transferring utilities/phone services - this can be a whole new set of issues and roadblocks!

We must be mad! ..........