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Hello all,

I'm getting annoying with all my questions, I know! Ah well! I was wondering the following:

I'm moving to dubai in january and wanted to know how much money I will need to live decently and cover my living charges until I secure a job.
I will be living with friends for the first few months so I don't have rent to pay. I'll also be looking at a real estate broker/agent job, so I'm probably gonna need a car (although i have heard some firms will pay for your car), a cell phone, I'll pay my own food obviously. I'd like to go out about once a week or so. I have already bought a completely new wardrobe including suits, shirts, and whatever else I will need for work. I'm also getting a new computer. After all this paid and my flight ticket paid I will have about 14 000 AED left. Do you think this is sufficient? If it is, how long could I survive on this money alone (just planning for worst case scenario!)

Thanx for your insight!

Khaled

You could live quite well on this as you are not paying rent. A car will set you back about 1700Dhs a month (you might get a car with your job or an allowance towards one, but you would have to buy your own) A mobile phone about 300Dhs for a reasonable one, SIM card 160Dhs from Etisalat (don't get a Du as they don't have full coverage yet).

If you want to eat and drink out, you can expect to pay 200 - 300Dhs for a meal with wine in a reasonable hotel restaurant. Shwarma from a stall is 5Dhs for 2!

Just try to spend as little as you can, there are many diversions here and many other ways that they will relieve you of your hard earned cash.



Knight

Dubai Knight wrote: SIM card 160Dhs from Etisalat




Knight

Well, its cheaper now a days..ABout 90 to 100 Dhs.

If I figure right... you plan to come down to Dubai and look for a real estate job?????

I don't mean to dent your plans but you might need to check out on some interesting but important news doing the rounds.

Many of the property related businesses are right now going slow on recruitment. In fact I hear that some of the big guys have laid off people. A friend of mine who is a supplier of office furniture to one of the big developers just told me that they canceled orders for about 200 work stations that were to be laid out in 3 months. The job scene does not look hot in the RE sector.

So I suggest you have a long chat with your friends in Dubai before making the long trek here.

On the issue of cost itself, since you will not have to bear rentals, you should do fine with that kind of money so long as you have basic living in mind.

Cheers... all the best to you.

i agree things are not looking good for ppl in the real estate sector.

I do realize that the real estate market is not doing very well in Dubai, and some might even think I'm stupid to go work there when I already have a well paid job here, and that I could also work as a real estate agent here where the market is doing well. However I have committed to this move, and I've done so well before these economic concerns emerged. I'll be getting a one year leave from my job, so worst comes to worst I can come back to my position, or else I can come back and work as a real estate broker. I've always wanted to live where it's hot and sunny and I need a break from Canada, so I'll just give it a shot and take it from there.

There are also a few points to be considered:

-The bad economy and increasing regulations will remove lots of real estate agents from the market, gradually increasing the number of deals per agent as the market recovers.

-When positioning yourself, would it be on the job market or the stock market, make sure you lay your foundations when the market is down and everyone else is running for the hills. Then when the recovery kicks in you will be in a prime position to capitalize on the opportunities that come around.