# Life for Singletons in the Palm



## seanyyz (Jan 21, 2015)

I am being recruited for a job in Dubai and my employer will be arranging and paying for the accommodations. I have a price range of AED 220,000 to 250,000 and would like to get two bedrooms.

My question (and this is why I did not post it in the apartments mega-thread): Is the Palm a good place for a single guy in his thirties? I am looking at bars, gyms, restaurants, places to go for brunch.

My reconnaissance trip is next month and I want to narrow down the neighbourhoods I am scoping out. A good chunk of my trip will be spent with the employer and meeting various work related people so time to explore would be short.


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## BedouGirl (Sep 15, 2011)

A lot of people LOVE living on The Palm. It would drive me crazy personally. To get anywhere, regardless of where it is, you drive in, go ALL the way down the trunk and do a u turn and come all the way back up to get out.


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## QOFE (Apr 28, 2013)

How about Marina? If you live on the Palm you would still need to get a taxi to the better brunches and restaurants. In Marina you would have much more choice within walking distance. Just pick your building wisely.


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## The Rascal (Aug 6, 2014)

QOFE said:


> How about Marina? If you live on the Palm you would still need to get a taxi to the better brunches and restaurants. In Marina you would have much more choice within walking distance. Just pick your building wisely.


I hear where you're coming from, but marina is choked. If I was 30s (I'm only 20s!!!) I'd look at either Tecom or JLT - traffic is easier, walk to metro is easy, purely for the traffic issues I wouldn't look at Palm (Remember what happens every NYE), Downtown, Business Bay, Barsha is the same.


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## pamela0810 (Apr 5, 2010)

> My question (and this is why I did not post it in the apartments mega-thread): Is the Palm a good place for a single guy in his thirties? I am looking at bars, gyms, restaurants, places to go for brunch.


Places to go for brunch? Looks like you're going to fit in perfectly out here 

My recommendation is Downtown. If you'd like to do all of the things that you've mentioned, then Downtown is a more central location.

As for Rascal, seriously...in your 20s? You can't even lie properly on the internet


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## QOFE (Apr 28, 2013)

The Rascal said:


> I hear where you're coming from, but marina is choked. If I was 30s (I'm only 20s!!!) I'd look at either Tecom or JLT - traffic is easier, walk to metro is easy, purely for the traffic issues I wouldn't look at Palm (Remember what happens every NYE), Downtown, Business Bay, Barsha is the same.


Haaa-haaa. Did you turn into your son overnight?

I would NOT recommend Tecom. With the budget OP has Tecom would be slumming it. It might be full of bachelors, alright but the type of bachelors sharing rooms in apartments. JLT, perhaps but with that budget OP could get something swanky in Marina within a short walking distance to the free beach.
The beach access on the Palm is not a given. You might or might not have it or pay a high price for it.


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## The Rascal (Aug 6, 2014)

QOFE said:


> Haaa-haaa. Did you turn into your son overnight?
> 
> I would NOT recommend Tecom. With the budget OP has Tecom would be slumming it. It might be full of bachelors, alright but the type of bachelors sharing rooms in apartments. JLT, perhaps but with that budget OP could get something swanky in Marina within a short walking distance to the free beach.
> The beach access on the Palm is not a given. You might or might not have it or pay a high price for it.


220-250k for a 2 bed in Tecom is slumming it??????

Really?

(Son is 14 btw - I started very young)....


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## Bigjimbo (Oct 28, 2010)

The Palm is a great choice with that budget. 

Look into the Oceana and Tiara developments, as well as Fairmont residences. Avoid the shorelines. Ancient gyms, and the developer is hit and miss with their rules. Also the build quality isn't the best. Same applies for Marina Residences. 

Good luck


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## QOFE (Apr 28, 2013)

The Rascal said:


> 220-250k for a 2 bed in Tecom is slumming it??????
> 
> Really?
> 
> (Son is 14 btw - I started very young)....


You can get a 2 bed in Tecom for half that money. Tecom IS slumming it if your neighbours are flatsharing in masses (room sharing). The gyms and pools must be very busy with that overcrowding. Tecom is not a place you move to with that kind of budget.
That budget is Marina-Palm-Downtown depending on personal choice.
Greens is nice but perhaps not for an outgoing singleton who wants to have a lot of choice of restaurants, watering holes etc etc


14... You must have started very late I would say...


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## The Rascal (Aug 6, 2014)

QOFE said:


> You can get a 2 bed in Tecom for half that money. Tecom IS slumming it if your neighbours are flatsharing in masses (room sharing). The gyms and pools must be very busy with that overcrowding. Tecom is not a place you move to with that kind of budget.
> That budget is Marina-Palm-Downtown depending on personal choice.
> Greens is nice but perhaps not for an outgoing singleton who wants to have a lot of choice of restaurants, watering holes etc etc
> 
> ...


Ah OK, I get you, your command of the written English language is poorer than Karolina12's :boxing:

If I was given that budget though - and it wasn't use it or lose it, i'd still get something half the price and use the balance to fund the Ferrari - well, Aston at my age LOL.


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

Listen to Rascal.

Do you have the option of saving from your housing allowance?

You're single. You can easily find a 2-bedroom in a nice building in the Marina or Downtown or the Greens for 150K and save the rest. Use it to fund lavish weekends in the Maldives or African safaris. Or build up your savings portfolio. I've always lived within my housing allowance and despite the temptation I don't have any regrets (looking at the pile of savings in the bank or planning my next holiday). 

Frankly, the difference between a 150K and 250k property really isn't that much, certainly not to justify the extra 100k. Dubai is not a big city and it's convenient to get around by taxi after hours so picking from the Palm or Marina or Downtown comes down to which is closest to your office more than anything else. The beaches are always just a few minutes away from any of these areas. 

If you really care about a hoppin' social scene then the Marina is the best. Palm has a lot of holiday lets and as it's expensive you don't necessarily get that many singles. There used to be a number of shared flats with western singles in their 20s but many of those have been pushed out when rents went up. The singles you find on the Palm now tend to be balding bachelors/divorced men.


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## QOFE (Apr 28, 2013)

The Rascal said:


> Ah OK, I get you, your command of the written English language is poorer than Karolina12's :boxing:
> 
> If I was given that budget though - and it wasn't use it or lose it, i'd still get something half the price and use the balance to fund the Ferrari - well, Aston at my age LOL.


Oh, dear me. It's one of the disadvantages of being multilingual, innit. Or is it perhaps the "Suriname syndrome"? I shall be spelling out things more clearly in future just for you Rascale, Mon'Ami.

Are you sure you're still at Aston age? This might help you pick a suitable car for you. Find the Right Vehicle for You | SeniorDriving.AAA.com

Apologies OP. :focus: Let us know if you have further questions.


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## twowheelsgood (Feb 21, 2013)

BedouGirl said:


> A lot of people LOVE living on The Palm. It would drive me crazy personally. To get anywhere, regardless of where it is, you drive in, go ALL the way down the trunk and do a u turn and come all the way back up to get out.


You drive about half a mile before you can turn, then another half mile before you can next turn. It's nothing compared with driving around the perimeter of many estates. 

Anyway, the Palm isn't really a thirties/single place. It has s few bars, a few beach clubs and s gym in every other block open to residents as part of their apartment deal. It's not remotely like the Marina and the OP would get bored quite quickly. It's also quite family oriented with the beach clubs.


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## INFAMOUS (Apr 19, 2011)

With that budget you could live in the Khalifa downtown, Limestone House DIFC or similar- Perfect for a 30's single guy and central to all the options.

Soon there will be The Address Residences and many other new residential buildings coming up.


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## Malbec (Jan 2, 2014)

If I would be single... Downtown that is! Yes, Marina is nice but in/out can be painful at times. Palm is nice, especially the Fairmont Residences. Good location too, very easy to get in/out most of the time, better than Marina I would say. If you care about easy in/out you don't want is to end up on the trunk's end, which is Dream Residences (hands down best apartments I saw on Palm) next to Rixos.


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## seanyyz (Jan 21, 2015)

The prospective employer originally thought I would want a villa but from reading the posts and other stuff it seemed an apartment was better for a single guy hence the budget. The guy from what will be my department who is recruiting me seemed to think the Palm was the best bet but from what you are saying it sounds like there is a borderline consensus on the Marina. I will see whether if I go a bit lower on the housing budget they will let me have the difference as base pay. I also don't need to the school fees that were originally proposed so I am trying to get that traded off as a slightly higher base pay. I think there may be some resistance to having me get more than colleagues.

They are eager to hire because the position has been unfilled and my field is very small so there are not a lot of candidates.

Is it building cooling in the Marina?

For some reason I am not really irritated by freeway traffic but I find it more irritating to be barely moving close to my home on a regular road.


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## twowheelsgood (Feb 21, 2013)

You don't have a budget for a Palm Villa. 

You are looking at 300k+ more to cool it. 

Rentals are ludicrous there and most are empty 50 weeks per year.


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## seanyyz (Jan 21, 2015)

I don't think the villa they had in mind was in the palm. it was when I said apartment they thought up the Palm.


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

The Palm is district cooling, which means you need to pay separately for your air conditioning.

The Marina is not district cooling, which means your air conditioning is included as part of your rent and is thus "free". The notable exception is JBR, which is district cooling.

Downtown is also not district cooling except for one or two newer towers, so check this out carefully if you look at apartments in Downtown.

I'd suggest that you look at Emaar apartments. They're generally considered premier buildings with high quality maintenance and specs (by Dubai standards). Al Majara and Park Island in the Marina are very nice, as is the original Emaar 6. All of Downtown is Emaar although one or two of the newer buildings were actually built by other developers. Southridge, Burj Residences, Burj Views, Standpoint, Burj Lofts are all good Emaar buildings. 

As for school fees, like you I qualify for school fees but as I have no kids it's a moot point. School fees aren't meant to be a substitute for salaries but a compensation for the lack of proper state/free schooling in Dubai. People have no choice but to send their children to fee paying schools. So while my coworker makes, on paper, more money than I do because he gets school fees for his children, at the end of the day he's no better off. You can try to negotiate a higher salary because you have no children and thus need no fees, but it's not something I would heavily push. If there's a sense of resistance from the company, let it go. My company accepts school fees as part of the overhead expenses in employing people, just like health care. In my ten years in Dubai it's been very rare to hear of people getting higher salaries because they have no kids and need no school fees.


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## BedouGirl (Sep 15, 2011)

Also, you never know - you may need those school fees one day


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