# Buying A Home In Dubai



## Solomon42 (Jun 6, 2013)

I and my wife will be moving to Dubai shortly and we are plannng to buy a 4 or 5 bedroom house in Dubai. We dont need to be near schools etc. I have talked to various brokers about the best areas to buy but we continue to get very mixed feedback. The following are the areas that we have shortlisted. In the brackets, I have put some negatives about each which people have told us.

1. Meadows 

(some people say that traffic is too much particularly getting on the Sheikh Zayed Road, the houses are much older and lastly some areas are having salinity problems because of rising ground water levels etc, use of Sheikh Zayed Road frequently incurrs high Salek bills)

2. Arabian Ranches

(some people say it is too far away but the good thing there is the traffic is light there and you dont need to use Sheikh Zayed road a lot)


3. Victory Heights

(Some people say it is too new, unestablished and sponsors are a private company and can be unreliable)

I would appreciate some honest advise from people alreadyliving there. I am getting very confused.

HELP

Solomon


----------



## Chocoholic (Oct 29, 2012)

The Meadows area is an older community and depending which sector you look at the quality of construction can be very different. Some of these places are literally crumbling. I used to live in the Springs - loved it!

AR - pretty much the same story.

VH - has some lovely places. Those who say it's 'too far' don't know what they're talking about. You hop straight onto the 311 and are in the centre of Dubai in 15 minutes. It's next to Sports City which is now coming up nicely, also Motorcity which is a nice established area and Arabian Ranches in also close by.

You could try looking at The Villa - it's got established and new clusters. The facilities aren't built yet, but it's a very nice community. A little further out, but again easy access to a main highway means you're in the city centre in around 20 mins.


----------



## ziokendo (Jan 7, 2012)

Honestly I believe you spoke to the wrong people if you have the money to buy a property in the meadows but are concerned about Salik bills, worst case scenario if you really move around a lot with two cars and always take SZR, the salik bill will be totaling at 2-3 kd per day, is not something to worry about.

Especially from Emirates Hills you have good access to Al Khail road.



Solomon42 said:


> I and my wife will be moving to Dubai shortly and we are plannng to buy a 4 or 5 bedroom house in Dubai. We dont need to be near schools etc. I have talked to various brokers about the best areas to buy but we continue to get very mixed feedback. The following are the areas that we have shortlisted. In the brackets, I have put some negatives about each which people have told us.
> 
> 1. Meadows
> 
> ...


----------



## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

The Meadows is, what, eight years old?

If you're worried about the Meadows being too old in just eight years you'll have to worry about age with any community in Dubai.

Construction standards are mediocre across the board and all communities will suffer from similar maintenance problems. 

The Meadows is best from a location perspective. Easy access onto Sheikh Zayed. If you spend most of your time in Media City/Marina/Ibn Battutta you won't go through a salik toll. You can easily take the back road to Al Barsha where the Mall of Emirates is and avoid the salik gate by MoE. 

Arabian Ranches is probably better built than the Meadows. It is more removed from the activities. 

Victory Heights is coming along. It's the newest of the areas mentioned. I don't like the design of the villas but that's my subjective view. 

Of all the areas I'd go for the Meadows due to its proximity and access to amenities.



Solomon42 said:


> I and my wife will be moving to Dubai shortly and we are plannng to buy a 4 or 5 bedroom house in Dubai. We dont need to be near schools etc. I have talked to various brokers about the best areas to buy but we continue to get very mixed feedback. The following are the areas that we have shortlisted. In the brackets, I have put some negatives about each which people have told us.
> 
> 1. Meadows
> 
> ...


----------



## Solomon42 (Jun 6, 2013)

Many thanks. Highly appreciate your honest comments. Tese are very usefull.

Regards

Solomon




Chocoholic said:


> The Meadows area is an older community and depending which sector you look at the quality of construction can be very different. Some of these places are literally crumbling. I used to live in the Springs - loved it!
> 
> AR - pretty much the same story.
> 
> ...


----------



## Solomon42 (Jun 6, 2013)

Thanks Very useful. I was misinformed that the Salik Bill would be about Dh.100 inimum with two cars. How is the traffic on SZR? Is it easy to get out of Meadows?

Solomon




ziokendo said:


> Honestly I believe you spoke to the wrong people if you have the money to buy a property in the meadows but are concerned about Salik bills, worst case scenario if you really move around a lot with two cars and always take SZR, the salik bill will be totaling at 2-3 kd per day, is not something to worry about.
> 
> Especially from Emirates Hills you have good access to Al Khail road.


----------



## Solomon42 (Jun 6, 2013)

Many thanks for your help. I take it you prefer Meadows and dont think Traffic is a big issue.

Thanks

Solomon




TallyHo said:


> The Meadows is, what, eight years old?
> 
> If you're worried about the Meadows being too old in just eight years you'll have to worry about age with any community in Dubai.
> 
> ...


----------



## raybar (Apr 14, 2013)

Dear Solomon,

I see that you have received mixed reviews already about brokers, friends and people in general. I was in the same situation as you when I moved to Dubai from the US, at the end of the day what it really matters is what location fits your budget better and your lifestyle. I am a villa specialist in Dubai and would love to meet you and share my experience when i first moved and what some of my clients have decided in similar situations as mine and yours.

Richard


----------



## ziokendo (Jan 7, 2012)

Solomon42 said:


> Thanks Very useful. I was misinformed that the Salik Bill would be about Dh.100 inimum with two cars. How is the traffic on SZR? Is it easy to get out of Meadows?


You can't be billed more than 32dhs per day for salik tag (if I recall correctly), after is free: and anyway really I can't see a situation where a normal person would need to cross so many times the gate.

Stay assured that almost everywhere in Dubai traffic and transit times are like one fifth (20%) compared to the amazing traffic in Kuwait (i understand from your flag that you are currently living there, apologies if I am wrong), you very rarely have that kind of traffic gridlocks except on SZR during office in/out time from the most popular/cheap areas (sharjah) to jebel ali, and only if an accident happens.

This is because you have several alternatives roads (SZR being often the faster but with Salik) and efficient public transportation in Dubai.


----------



## Chocoholic (Oct 29, 2012)

As I said used to live in the Springs - same location as many of the Meadows. Getting in and out is ok. Can be very slow obviously during rush hours and at the school run times, as there are several schools in the vicinity.


----------



## saraswat (Apr 28, 2012)

ziokendo said:


> You can't be billed more than 32dhs per day for salik tag (if I recall correctly)


The maximum is 24dhs , 

@OP most if not all of the places you mentioned are accessible via Al Khail road which basically runs parallel to SZR in Dubai and doesn't have any tolls, maybe a bit of a workaround, but if you want to avoid the tolls you can.


----------



## alcolls (Aug 22, 2013)

raybar said:


> Dear Solomon,
> 
> I see that you have received mixed reviews already about brokers, friends and people in general. I was in the same situation as you when I moved to Dubai from the US, at the end of the day what it really matters is what location fits your budget better and your lifestyle. I am a villa specialist in Dubai and would love to meet you and share my experience when i first moved and what some of my clients have decided in similar situations as mine and yours.
> 
> Richard


Raybar - could you PM your contact details, I'm in a similar situation and would appreciate a chat about your villa expertise as I'm struggling to decide which area is best for my wife and I.

Thanks


----------



## confused.dom (Jul 29, 2011)

I believe the cap of 24 aed for salik was recently scrapped.

Dubai drivers count the costs as RTA scraps daily Dh24 Salik cap - The National


----------

