# Varied questions from a newcomer



## dingobingo (May 11, 2014)

Hey folks,

I left blighty summer 2013 and moved to Spain. Plan to move to Dubai in the summer / autumn this year. I have some questions for you good people.

1)	I have the option of moving in July or November. I have been in Dubai in July....how painful will apartment hunting be? I figure I can get around with taxis between different areas and buildings, or the metro, but would I be right in assuming the vacant apartments are going to be hot hot hot? I did some property viewing in Cordoba, Spain last August and it was 42'c - I felt sick at times, it wasn't fun.
2)	Will prices and availability fluctuate between July and Nov? I.e. harder to find something during the cooler time of the year?
3)	There appears to be endless availability on places like Bayut and Dubizzle, but prices are increasing. Purely down to demand?
4)	Any issues with using Bayut? I haven’t seen it mentioned or recommended as yet.
5)	Is it possible/easy to walk from JLT to the beach?
6)	On the Palm – is the beach open for residents of any apartment building there or do you have to be in a shoreline building to be able to use the beach?
7)	I will be setting up a freezone company and using the residency visa that accompanies that. 6 a) Do I HAVE to rent an office? 6 b) Once I have my residency permit is there a limit to how much time I do or don’t spend in Dubai? I.e. could I get my permit, then spend several months of the year in other countries (not enough to become tax resident there)?
8)	How’s the internet these days, I last read up on the state of the net in Dubai in Sep 2012. Any improvements? 
9)	Is international city really that bad? Anyone here live there? If I wanted to play it safe and get something from air bnb for a few months in IC whilst checking out neighbourhoods to then pay for a year rental, is this a bad plan?
10)	Any alternative for cost effective short term rental to air b n b?
That’s it for now, thanks in advance.


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## dingobingo (May 11, 2014)

Should I split these into 10 different posts with relevant titles? I just didn't want to flood the forum with 10 posts. How come there are no sub folders / categories on this forum?


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## Ogri750 (Feb 14, 2008)

dingobingo said:


> Hey folks,
> 
> I left blighty summer 2013 and moved to Spain. Plan to move to Dubai in the summer / autumn this year. I have some questions for you good people.
> 
> ...


Hope the answers help to some degree


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

1)	I have the option of moving in July or November. I have been in Dubai in July....how painful will apartment hunting be? I figure I can get around with taxis between different areas and buildings, or the metro, but would I be right in assuming the vacant apartments are going to be hot hot hot? I did some property viewing in Cordoba, Spain last August and it was 42'c - I felt sick at times, it wasn't fun.

It's probably easier finding a place in the summer as many people leave, there's more availability, and while it's hot it's not impossible to survive in the heat. We all do  But November would be an easier introduction to Dubai if you think the heat is problematic for you.

2)	Will prices and availability fluctuate between July and Nov? I.e. harder to find something during the cooler time of the year? 

People rent apartments every day of the year. As for rental prices who knows what will happen to the rental market between now and November. Only the gods know. 

3)	There appears to be endless availability on places like Bayut and Dubizzle, but prices are increasing. Purely down to demand? 

Demand AND greed. Please keep in mind that so many of the adverts on Dubizzle are for the same apartment for as many as 5-6 agents may be offering the same unit. 

4)	Any issues with using Bayut? I haven’t seen it mentioned or recommended as yet. 

Never heard of anyone using bayut to find a place. As long as the agency is properly registered with the local authorities you should be ok. But be careful of rental scams. 

5)	Is it possible/easy to walk from JLT to the beach?

Yes. Depending on where your apartment is. If you're in front of a metro station then it's a perfectly doable walk. But long when the weather is very hot. 

6)	On the Palm – is the beach open for residents of any apartment building there or do you have to be in a shoreline building to be able to use the beach? 

Shoreline residents only. But residents of other buildings can take out a membership, I think. Golden Mile (opposite Shoreline, facing the Marina) has no beach access. 

7)	I will be setting up a freezone company and using the residency visa that accompanies that. 6 a) Do I HAVE to rent an office? 6 b) Once I have my residency permit is there a limit to how much time I do or don’t spend in Dubai? I.e. could I get my permit, then spend several months of the year in other countries (not enough to become tax resident there)?

Once you have residency/visa there's no limit to how much time you spend outside Dubai. The visa is good for three years. I do think you're required to maintain office space in the designated free zone, but in at least one free zone (Knowledge Village) this can just be a desk in a shared space. Lots of freelancers are based at Knowledge Village for this reason. 

8)	How’s the internet these days, I last read up on the state of the net in Dubai in Sep 2012. Any improvements? 

Censored and fine. All undesirable material (sexually, anti-Islam etc is blocked. 

9)	Is international city really that bad? Anyone here live there? If I wanted to play it safe and get something from air bnb for a few months in IC whilst checking out neighborhoods to then pay for a year rental, is this a bad plan? 

IC is cheap and unpopular but it's fine for a few months. There are western expats who happily live there. Quality definitely varies from cluster to cluster. It's a good place to live cheaply to save a lot of money, the one big downside is that the traffic in/out during rush hour is terrible. 

10)	Any alternative for cost effective short term rental to air b n b? 

Dubizzle. Room share in villas/flats. Some are geared to short term tenants, with a 3-month minimum requirement.


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## vantage (May 10, 2012)

i did house hunting in early July.
It's perfectly doable. Don't listen to the moaners.
It is quieter, too.

it is a myth that you can't walk around outside in the summer. Take water, and duck into an air conditioned bus shelter for respite, if you need to.


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## telecompro (Apr 4, 2013)

vantage said:


> i did house hunting in early July.
> It's perfectly doable. Don't listen to the moaners.
> It is quieter, too.
> 
> it is a myth that you can't walk around outside in the summer. Take water, and duck into an air conditioned bus shelter for respite, if you need to.


I was the exact same..walking around in the 50 deg heat during July last year.


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

Ah, just remembered something.

July is smack dab in the middle of Ramadan this year. Pretty much the whole month is Ramadan. Which means:

1. No drinking water in public (but you can still do it quietly and privately where no one sees you). I drink water in my car (discreetly) during Ramadan and never had any issues. 

2. Everything slows down during Ramadan. This means visa processing, dealing with agents, some landlords may not bother putting their units on the market till after Ramadan and so forth.

If you're coming in July you most likely won't get your visa ready for a few weeks or a month, so you can't rent an apartment.


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## vantage (May 10, 2012)

TallyHo said:


> Ah, just remembered something.
> 
> July is smack dab in the middle of Ramadan this year. Pretty much the whole month is Ramadan. Which means:
> 
> ...


This is very true, although a good PRO can get it sorted.
It will all depend on your employer


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## Stevesolar (Dec 21, 2012)

vantage said:


> i did house hunting in early July.
> It's perfectly doable. Don't listen to the moaners.
> It is quieter, too.
> 
> it is a myth that you can't walk around outside in the summer. Take water, and duck into an air conditioned bus shelter for respite, if you need to.


Quite right - but don't drink your water or eat anything (including chewing gum!) whilst you are in the bus shelter - or you can get fined!
Cheers
Steve


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## dingobingo (May 11, 2014)

Thanks for this everyone - super helpful

I'll be self employed which means my boss will be crap at everything hehe.

RE International city - which clusters are the better ones (and less smelly)?

Great to know RE Ramadan - I'd not have thought of that. No one can drink in public during the day?

How long is it to walk from the JLT metro (either one) to the beach at a moderate (not brisk) pace?

Good to know RE shoreline - I was thinking of golden mile and then walking through to the beach! Correct me if I'm wrong, looking top down on satellite view, are the shoreline apartments the ones either side of the right hand roads? Or just the buildings on the very right on the beach?, and are the golden mile apartments the ones overlooking the left hand roads? There appears to be some apartments further up the trunk or maybe they're hotel buildings? One has a massive pool, just before the boats (as per google maps image).


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## Stevesolar (Dec 21, 2012)

Hi,
International city - I don't think you would like any cluster there!


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## Fat Bhoy Tim (Feb 28, 2013)

International City, Dubai's very own cluster-****.


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

RE International city - which clusters are the better ones (and less smelly)?

England cluster is apparently the worst. Yes, I'm offended. The best cluster is CBD, in the centre. The apartments are slightly better. 

People pick on International City all the time and the place does look a bit run down in areas, every now and then there's a noticeable stench from the nearby sewerage plant, but it's cheap, it's no more/less safe than other areas, and there's a bunch of good Chinese restaurants in China cluster and Pakistani/Indian in the other clusters. A lot of companies house their workers in International City (service sector workers) and they're usually quartered 2-6 to a room. So it helps to check out the building carefully. CBD is more family oriented and less problematic than other clusters may be. 

Great to know RE Ramadan - I'd not have thought of that. No one can drink in public during the day?

From morning prayer to evening prayer. It'll be quite odd. Go into the mall food court just before evening prayer call and look at all the people with their meals in front of them, waiting, and it's illegal for them to touch the food because of an arbitrary time measure. Most coffeeshops are still open only for takeaway (yep, they'll blacken the windows so no one can see inside, are staffed by Filipinos, but it's still illegal to drink in the shop so you have to take your coffee out into public into full view! Most restaurants will be closed during the day but there's always a few around that are open and carefully screened off. Honestly, it's really not bad, the Iftar buffets are decent, it's just the hypocrisy that makes it annoying.

How long is it to walk from the JLT metro (either one) to the beach at a moderate (not brisk) pace?

15-20 minutes.

Good to know RE shoreline - I was thinking of golden mile and then walking through to the beach! Correct me if I'm wrong, looking top down on satellite view, are the shoreline apartments the ones either side of the right hand roads? Or just the buildings on the very right on the beach?, and are the golden mile apartments the ones overlooking the left hand roads? There appears to be some apartments further up the trunk or maybe they're hotel buildings? One has a massive pool, just before the boats (as per google maps image).[/QUOTE]

Looking at the aerial map, Shoreline is the first two parallel rows of apartments on the right hand side, one row backs onto the sea and faces the entry boulevard, the other row faces the entry boulevard and backs into the middle of the trunk. Golden Mile is the single row on the left hand side of the Palm, just behind the land side of Shoreline. The other buildings at the top of the trunk are all apartments or hotel/apartments. More expensive. They all have pools, but only the two big "V" shaped ones have beach access.


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