# Advice on accomidation



## Danbirch28 (Feb 3, 2011)

I am being put in a hotel for 4 weeks by my company on 15th march. After that time I need to find my own place. I have 3 areas lined up Jbr, JLT or Marina

I have seen rents are coming down and negotiable!!!

Apart from dubizzle is there anything else?! I'm thinking about not looking until I'm actually in Dubai, do landlords, agents adverse in local papers etc aswelll

Lastly for a standard 1 bed apartment, if tent is 5000 a month what would a typical electric, Internet etc cost a month (1 guy on his own)

I'm 28 from the uk and will be managing one of the fitness first clubs, if there are any fellow single ex pats male or female into sports like jet skiing etc then I'd love to start making some friends

Sounds a bit desperate I know 

Dan


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## Gavtek (Aug 23, 2009)

I wouldn't waste too much time looking for specific properties on Dubizzle or any local papers, you'll find that very few of these actually exist and you have to tell the real estate agencies what you're looking for so they can suggest properties for you and have you trawling all over the place looking at absolute dumps that they can't lease to anyone else.

If you do want to torture yourself further, you can try Buy Property in Dubai | Buy Property In Abu Dhabi | Buy Apartment in Dubai | Listed @ PropertyFinder.Ae but you'll soon see what I mean when just about every property out of the thousands listed all have the Burj Al Arab next door.


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## DubaiATC (Jun 26, 2010)

From my experience, there is a lot of bait-and-switch with the ads you'll find. And it isn't hard to spot the same photos being used by realtors who are listing completely different properties.


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## Danbirch28 (Feb 3, 2011)

I noticed a lot of the pics are the same
The Jbr area looks nice 1 bed apartment 80k but says make me an offer would 65-70k be a joke to them?!

What would monthly dewa. And Internet be roughly

You guys are awesome on here!!


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## Gavtek (Aug 23, 2009)

Please do not be worried about offended a landlord or real estate agent. In fact, I would very much encourage it. No matter what anyone tells you, this is a buyers/renters market. They wil lstop at nothing to screw you over given half a chance so don't let the friendly-act fool you.


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## Mr Rossi (May 16, 2009)

Gavtek said:


> Please do not be worried about offended a landlord or real estate agent.


^^^^^^^^^^ This 

If you cert on Marina, JLT etc you can always just go into the buildings and ask the porter. That's if they don't have a phone number on a banner outside anyway.


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## Bigjimbo (Oct 28, 2010)

Gavtek said:


> Please do not be worried about offended a landlord or real estate agent. In fact, I would very much encourage it. No matter what anyone tells you, this is a buyers/renters market. They wil lstop at nothing to screw you over given half a chance so don't let the friendly-act fool you.


What line of work are you in O knowledgeable one? Presumably saving rainforests or working for a non profit organisation? If you do then I can understand how you view a business transaction as "They wil lstop at nothing to screw you over". Most people know that they have to pay a fee to receive a service/goods. I know as a provider of service/goods that I have to be friendly and proficient ("don't let the friendly-act fool you") in order to be worth the fee. 

Of course we can always just resort to bashing people based on their profession.


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## Gavtek (Aug 23, 2009)

I work for a non-profit organisation that saves rainforests.

Real Estate agents generally work on commission for the most part. 

That means, the more money they can screw out of potential customers either through inflated rent or agency fees, or encouraging someone to rent an unsuitable property when a better property for the customer's needs is available through another agency, the more money they bring home at the end of the month.

There may be some heroic real estate agents in Dubai who sacrifice their earnings to provide an excellent service to complete strangers, but from personal experience, I would estimate the ratio of good/bad real estate agents to be something in line with the ratio of good/bad Nazis.

Now, there may be a chance he may get in contact with the real estate equiavalent of Oskar Schindler when he calls up a number he gets off Dubizzle, but I think it's only fair to warn him that it's far more likely that he'll end up marching straight into Auschwitz, or Manchester Tower (not sure which is worse).


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## Danbirch28 (Feb 3, 2011)

So which agency do u recommend?!


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## DubaiATC (Jun 26, 2010)

Danbirch28 said:


> So which agency do u recommend?!


There is probably not a single good agency (meaning the _entire_ agency consists of trustworthy people)!!

However, I have been working recently with the only trustworthy, reliable agent I have found here in Dubai and will PM you her contact information. Good luck!


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## rsinner (Feb 3, 2009)

Utilities: Maybe 200-300 Dhs a month (though the rates have gone up in 2011 so maybe 400 Dhs at the maximum in summer)
Internet: 199 Dhs for an 8 mbps connection
Television: 30 Dhs for a basic connection. 100-250 Dhs per month for various packages


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## Bigjimbo (Oct 28, 2010)

Gavtek said:


> I work for a non-profit organisation that saves rainforests.
> 
> Real Estate agents generally work on commission for the most part.
> 
> ...


lol Manchester tower/auschwitz. 

My point is that it is easy to just generalise re a job title, verses actual reality. Of course there is always truth in stereotypes, quite possibly one of which is why you hate agents (and spending money) so much.


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