Dubai Forums Dubai Expat Forums Dubai Expat Help Forum

Hi all.

I'm new to this forum, and I'd be grateful for any advice that can be offered.

I am in the early stages of applying for a management job in Dubai, and I have so far had one telephone interview which (I think) seemed to go well.

I have a wife and 4 children - 2 of which will be going to school.

I would need a 4 bed (minimum) house/villa - ideally 5 bed, in a nice family area.

I'm not too bothered about closeness to the office and I appreciate the traffic congestion issues.

I'm budgeting 80,000 AED for my 2 children's education (the youngest 2 of the 4 have a few years to go before they go to school).

What I would like to know is:

How much will I need to rent a 4/5 bed villa in a nice area?

How much would I need to purchase and run a 7-seat car?

Also,
Is it common practice to ask for assistance with accommodation costs? And what about relocation costs?
Are company cars given as a perk as in the UK?

From this information i'll be able to guage what kind of salary and package I can ask for.

We'd love to have the opportunity to work in the UAE but will only consider coming over if we can live 'comfortably' without having to struggle.

Any advice/recommendations will be gratefully received!

Many thanks
Paul

Any thoughts anyone?

Regards
Paul

Hi Paul,

I am also new to this forum and going through a similar process at the moment. I have at least gone one step further and been to Dubai for an in-person interview. My main goal while there was to find other expats and talk to them.
When searching for villa's, have a look at www.gulf-news.com in the classified section. The same would apply for buying a car too I guess.
Another website I found recently was dubizzle.com, but it seems to be going through some teething issues at the moment.
I know what you mean about living comfortably there. On the surface my management position offer looked awesome, but you'll find that after digging around the costs like property 'rates', groceries, phone and internet costs, that awesome package may not look so good any more.
My current offer (which I haven't accepted yet) did not include housing, but it was divided into basic salary + housing allowance + transport allowance. They're provided housing allowance would not cover much to support my family comfortably (one child + wife).
My two cents. I know it wasn't much, but I'm new here also.

Oh yes, forgot to mention that my offer included repat costs that provided for a 40ft shipping container + 150kg airfreight, + one return flight home to NZ each year for the entire family. Go for those options if you can!

Thanks suomikiwi. Could any of the regulars here (or anyone for that matter) give a thumbnail/one-line description of the various areas, or point to where in DF this could be found?

For instance, in my hown town of Birmingham, UK, I would list:

Edgbaston - exclusive large houses plus large student campus
Selly Oak - students
Solihull - fairly upmarket
Aston - fairly downmarket

(apologies to anyone from Aston!)

I'm just trying to get a feel for where are the student areas/UAE national areas/expat family areas etc etc.

Thanks
Paul

http://www.bhomes.com/searchbymap.aspx

The purple area is still being developed. Each zone obviously has some variation, but in general the orange zone (jumeirah etc.) is most expensive, followed by the red, green then yellow zones.

Ignore the bad programming which has mixed in some English counties though!

Thanks a lot.

Paul

Hi Paul,

I too am looking to move to Dubai in a few months. I am going out there for an interview in the next few days.
I have discovered that YES rent is expensive and if you can get it included in your package then you will be better off.
I have a wife and 1 child and would like a 4 bedroom place (villa or apartment) but I feel this will be difficult to obtain. Rent seems extremely expensive.
I will let you know how I go when I view some places.
In summary, I was very excited about the opportunity when it first came up (they contacted me) but I am feeling less positive now. Hopefully this will improve with our visit.
Gilly

Hi Gilly,

Man thanks for your reply, and please let me (and the rest of us) know how you get on.

Regards
Paul