# Flat Hunting in Dubai and general questions



## olivia85 (Nov 5, 2014)

Hi,

I have a couple of questions, I am in Dubai looking for a flat to rent in the Dubai Marina but I have no idea where to begin. Is Dubizzle reliable for flat hunting or should I contact agents directly? 

I also wondered which network I should buy a pay as you go sim card.

I would really appreciate any help.

Thanks


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## twowheelsgood (Feb 21, 2013)

Even if you use Dubizzle, its just a shop front for agents so you'll end up dealing with the agents in any case. use Dubizzle and Justrentals to find the property and start emailing.

personally I'd get a gmail account so that once you have your property, you can ditch the email account and you won't get spammed forever more by the realtors.

Du or Etisalat makes little difference. personally I went for Du as our company uses them.

Firstly, read the Stickies on apartments - reverse order is usually more sensible as you don't want to start in 2008 to get advice.


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## Mustii (Jul 19, 2014)

Hey and welcome, I was in your shoes not very long time ago actually up until today - I am moving into an apartment in Marina today.

I was contacting people through dubizzle every day... it was a nightmare. they are not professional they don't care, they tell you a price and when you go there they increase it by 10k telling you the other apartment has now gone. It is really bad..

What is your budget? if you have a decent budget then I would go with some of the 'professional' estate agents, I mean more some of the big name brands that still try to keep brand reputation. Another way of doing it is going to the Towers themselves and ask the security if there is any apartments available, the securities tend to work with some agents so they will refer you to one, but ask to see the apartment first before dealing with the agent to check whether you like it or not. 

I ended up finding a guy that work for a an estate agency, and he was really professional with me, he is from Bosnia and very nice bubbly guy. If you want tell me your budget and what you looking for I can ask if he has anything then pass you his number if he does?


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## omrano (Jul 13, 2014)

Mustii said:


> I was contacting people through dubizzle every day... it was a nightmare. they are not professional they don't care, they tell you a price and when you go there they increase it by 10k telling you the other apartment has now gone. It is really bad..


Actually, i was talking to a real estate agent , and he told that some times, intenionally, they put ads in dubizzle for apartments with low prices for people to call them and then they tell them that the apartment is gone, when from the beginning there were no such apartments.


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## nikkisizer (Aug 20, 2011)

Hi olivia85,

You can also try Better Homes, check out this website which you may find of use:

Buy, Sell or Rent property in Dubai, UAE with Better Homes

Good luck!


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## rhud20 (Dec 13, 2014)

Hello Can you help me out I am looking for a one bedroom on the Marina from January or even a room to share with my partner? How much are you paying and is it a nice block?


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## QOFE (Apr 28, 2013)

I wouldn't recommend Better Homes. Judging by the the ads on various websites they always tend to push for higher rents than others. Just my observation...


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## twowheelsgood (Feb 21, 2013)

rhud20 said:


> Hello Can you help me out I am looking for a one bedroom on the Marina from January or even a room to share with my partner? How much are you paying and is it a nice block?


Try looking at the prices on ..............Dubizzle and okay, JustRentals.

'Nice' is entirely subjective. You couldn't pay me to live in the Marina so my views might be different to yours.

That said, its not the worst place to live by a long way, unless you get the neighbours from hell which you could get anywhere.


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## A.Abbass (Jun 28, 2014)

Ok just my advice, I just rented an apartment this afternoon. I was targeting silicon oasis area, I saw someone recommending better homes, just out of curiosity I searched for apartments they posted in Silicon Oasis and let me tell you these prices are 10-15K over the market price.

Prepare for some weird adventures, for instance today the agent asked for a salary certificate for the owner, they want to make sure I am able to pay the rent lol


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## FourAgreements (Mar 19, 2014)

I WOULD recommend Better Homes, so I guess we each have had different experiences. I ended up with a great agent who ended up showing me 7 apartments before I finally found something I was happy with. She was very down to earth, and gave me lots of info on how real estate agents and companies work. (This industry needs an overhaul, IMO.)

I did call a few other agents and had one who actually showed me something. (Totally misrepresented the size of the apt). But generally it seemed to me they must be rolling in the dough, because they certainly weren't anxious to have our business.

I preferred to deal with only one person rather than calling all these different agents for different apartments which is the way it's done here.

I'm glad she stuck with me as I turned my nose up at the first six apartments (in The Greens and JLT). We didn't begrudge her the commission she made.

Also, the price of our apt. when it was listed with Better Homes matched the rent of similar listings in our area (Motor City) on other rental websites.

If someone wants her info, I'd be happy to pass it along.


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