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I have been looking around this forum and have been very impressed by it.

My husband has been offered a 3 year contract in Abu Dhabi starting late feb. We know nothing about the place other than its an hour from Dubai. We have 6 days to make up our minds as to whether he takes it.

Is Abu D like Dubai?
How do we find out about renting a house/ villa for our family. We have dogs, could we bring them? What areas are to be avoided?
What are the domestic bills like, price wise?
Schooling for our 12 year old? When does the academic year start?
is it better to buy a car out there or hire one?
Are there many ex-pats living there?

I would appreciate any advice and help. I know this is a Dubai site, but I keep drawing blanks for Abu D.

Kitty,

Rnting a place in AD is slightly cheaper than Dubai. You might have to try and do a search for estate agents in AD.
Nightlife is not as good, but you still get bars and nightclubs and such.
You can rent, but in the end it would be worth buying a car. Cars are cheaper here than most places.
English schools for kids are damn expensive. Expext to pay around £6K per annum per child. You will probs need two cars!
General utility bills etc run around what you pay in the UK. Please bear in mind that the houses/flats here are somewhat bigger than those in the UK. You have a/c = electricity = expensive. To compare, make sure you add all your bills for the UK (i.e. council tax, elect/gas/water/etc).

Thanks for your reply.

So there is no local tax to pay, like we have council tax?

We have so much to consider and not alot of time to do so.

No, no local council tax, but utility bills are high. Average cost of a 3 bed villa for elec/water runs at around ARD1000 per month (£150 ish), gas on top (cheap), internet = AED200, cable TV = AED200, both per month. Tel = depends on how many overseas calls you make. Food is approx same as UK (so i have been told)

A semi-decent 4x4 car will set you back AED100K to buy. Insurance is approx 5% of the cars value per year. Fuel is AED6.5 per UK gallon.

Rent is similar to Dubai... If not slightly more expensive.

But there is no life in Abu Dhabi and only 2 malls to speak of.

lol............What do you consider life Liban?

My inquiries showed that for a similar flat to mine with all the "goodies" was slightly cheaper.

For a 100k dirhams, you can get a good (second-hand) 4x4 car, or a new average 4x4 (LandCruiser Prado). If you don't want a 4x4, you'd get a very very good Saloon.

For a family, Abu Dhabi is considered "cozier" and "quieter" than Dubai. And yes there are a lot of expats living in Abu Dhabi. As a matter of fact, I usually see more expats in Abu Dhabi than Dubai, but that may have to do with the fact that expats in Dubai usually do their "own thing" away from the rest.

I've been told that salaries are better than Dubai.

Also, AD announced that it will soon be spending approx US$26billion on new developments etc.

The traffic is not as bad as Dubai, but when all this money gets let out into the market, Ad will just be like Dubai.

kelly1966 wrote:lol............What do you consider life Liban?

Restaurants, coffee shops, malls, etc...

Thank you all for your responses.

We will certainly weigh it all up. Its suprising just how much there is to look into and consider. Especially when there is children involved.

I must admit Dubai and AD both sound like they are great places to live. Just wished we had time to go out and see for ourselves b4 we have to decide once and for all! Its worrying to think that we could make a decision we will regret.

Liban wrote:

kelly1966 wrote:lol............What do you consider life Liban?

Restaurants, coffee shops, malls, etc...

and there is none of these in Abu Dhabi????

kelly1966 wrote:

Liban wrote:

kelly1966 wrote:lol............What do you consider life Liban?

Restaurants, coffee shops, malls, etc...

and there is none of these in Abu Dhabi????

Nothing remotely similar to Dubai....

For DH50 000 you can get a good 4WD second hand (about 2 to 4 years old)- just look in classifieds on line like
www.gulfnews.com
www.khaleejtimes.com
www.dubizzle.com
Buying privately can have benefits cost wise.
Also you mentioned you have kids-get a 4wd!! Put it this way -it is like life insurance!!

Thanks for the advice.

My husband has applied for another job out there; not sure if its AD or Dubai. Its for a similar job so fingers crossed as its for more money and bigger allowances. It doesnt say how much the housing allowance is, but it does say that it will include utilities.

What do you think is a reasonable housing allowance?

Well, for a family you will no doubt be looking for a 3 bed villa as a minimum. OK, this is approx and depends on the area where you live

Rent per year: Dhs 100,000.00
Utilities: Dhs 1,000.00 per month = Dhs 12,000.00 per year

So, that makes Dhs112,000 per year, so i would negotiate Dhs10,000.00 per month. Damn, I should be a QS! hahahahahahahahaha

Telephone, internet, cable TV are out of the above, although you could include it if ya want.