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I'm thinking seriously now to buy an apartment, rather than spending money on increasing rent, moreover I think I'll stay in Dubai for few years ahead.

As of current, which developments do you know that offer:

* in Dubai (I don't want to commute to DIC from Ajman/RAK!)
* budget <1 million (financing)
* completed or almost completed units (mid of 2008 when my current apt ends) because I can't afford yet to rent plus pay for installments.
* 2 BR apartments else 1 BR with big space like 100m2 (I can make partitions for my child's room)

I checked some developments on newspaper:

- Intl city (Greece cluster, etc), they have only max 1BR?
- Jumeirah Village (are they completed?)

Others, I don't even bother to check because either they are not completed or 1+ million. Any other suggestion?

Secondly, about investor/residence visa when buying the apartment. I heard that it is given when all the payments are done. Is it true? Means if I take 10 years of installments then I'll get the visa by then? means I have to work my a$$ off for the next 10 years to make sure I won't get fired/banned or my employer won't go bankrupt? That's risky.

But if I could get financing from bank, I assume the bank will pay full and I'll just pay the installments to the bank. That way I could get the visa immediately. Can someone confirm?

you wont get 100% mortgage in Dubai, the best you will get is 90% but average around 80% so on 1 mill dhs you are going to need at least 100k Dhs Deposit. Then factor in costs to the agent/land registry etc.

You will struggle to find a 2 bed for 1 million near DIC.

You will not be able to partition, all developments have clauses concerning structural alterations or major works within a development.

THe residence visa is sponsored on completion, it last 3 years and costs 8000 Dhs renewable every 3 years (this is Emaars cost). You will also have to pay a deposit for your family of a further 10k Dhs and then obviously their residency fee.
.
The bank will not finance all the extra's like fee's and visa's.So in addition to your deposit you may need to factor in another 50k approx

I'd say that sports city is about the closest you will get to DIC with that budget.
I am surprised that arnie didn't mention this already

check out discovery gardens from nakheel (close to ibn battuta mall) you might find something within your budget.

benwj wrote:I'd say that sports city is about the closest you will get to DIC with that budget.
I am surprised that arnie didn't mention this already

Arnie has a thing against DSC, anyway the 1 beds are already over the 1 million mark.

MaaaD wrote:check out discovery gardens from nakheel (close to ibn battuta mall) you might find something within your budget.

Someone told me the other day that Discovery Gardens was only for rent from Nakheel, don't know if it is accurate or not.

sage & onion wrote:

MaaaD wrote:check out discovery gardens from nakheel (close to ibn battuta mall) you might find something within your budget.

Someone told me the other day that Discovery Gardens was only for rent from Nakheel, don't know if it is accurate or not.

Not accurate.

Also with respect to the partition you can pretty much do anything you like with most developers that's non-structural to the apartment, and putting up a false wall or partition is classed as non-structual. Removing a wall on the other hand is.

discovery gardens 1 bedrooms are 1 million for 1000 sq feet of space. a mate of mine just bought one there

arniegang wrote:You will struggle to find a 2 bed for 1 million near DIC.

You will not be able to partition, all developments have clauses concerning structural alterations or major works within a development.

THe residence visa is sponsored on completion

Ok thanks, noted on the extra costs.

I know I won't find any nearby DIC, even for 1BR under 1M.
As far as it's in Dubai is Ok (or max 1 hour commuting), but certainly not Ajman or RAK, unless there's a super highway bypassing Sharjah . Abu Dhabi is not a choice either, to wife's office and child's school.

For sure partitions would not be permanent (wall), it would be temporary (wooden board, curtain, etc).

The visa will be given on completion even if it's not paid in full (balance on financing)? But here's what I got from International City website: "# the Owner has completed the final payment". I'm still not sure.

benwj wrote:I'd say that sports city is about the closest you will get to DIC with that budget.

I thought Sports City is not ready yet? And I think it's above 1M for 2BR. So is Discovery Gardens.
And how about Silicon Oasis, is it completed?

Silicon Oasis has some parts done, but i think its mostly commercial offices rather than residential. But you shouldnt be asking on here you should be checking out bhomes.com, dubizzle.com, gulfnews, etc .. use those sites as a benchmark for prices and then when you set your self on a certain development start looking for that specific one in as many sources as you can. And make sure you bargain, some owners will go down a couple of hundred thousand dirhams.

As for the visa, your finance company will have paid the full amount to the developer upon completion so you will be eligible for the visa on completion.

Look at Jumeirah Lake Towers.

A couple of months ago you could get some decent properties for around 1 million. Betterhomes were running a financing deal with one of the banks for the Saba towers.


Worth checking out.

Chocoholic wrote:

benwj wrote:I'd say that sports city is about the closest you will get to DIC with that budget.
I am surprised that arnie didn't mention this already

Arnie has a thing against DSC, anyway the 1 beds are already over the 1 million mark.

Wow. Thats getting expensive.
They are advertising them from 100,000 euro overseas.

xty wrote:And how about Silicon Oasis, is it completed?

Due for completion in August.
AED 875 per sq. ft.

Chocoholic wrote:

benwj wrote:I'd say that sports city is about the closest you will get to DIC with that budget.
I am surprised that arnie didn't mention this already

Arnie has a thing against DSC, anyway the 1 beds are already over the 1 million mark.

Is anything finished there yet Chocs?
It should go up more once people start moving in.

The "special" not-named-after-country buildings at IC have 2-bd apartments. I'm happy with the ROI on my Persia place. 12% rental returns and 25% increase in value in only one year. My last tenant was also happy since she worked at JAFZA and took her 20 mins to get to work supposedly.

The 3-yr visa only kicks in after handover. Nakheel charges 7k (or 5k plus a trip to Kish/Oman/etc). You cannot work on that visa.