Ok Ok Honest Opinons now..where could it go wrong??

[jimmytwoburgers]

Hi Everyone,

There are so many postings on here saying Dubai is dead and you will lose money etc etc i would like an honest opinon of my situation

Been to dubai twice recently and love the place, thinking about buying an apartment there. I would use the apartment as a holiday home, i get a lot of time off work so would get a lot of use out of it. My UK job could be touch and go in the future, but if it does end I would get a good redundancy payment and i may then look for work in dubai - so the apartment could turn into a home (although this is a long way off)

On the losing money front : I won't buy off plan, I will buy a finshed apartment. I understand property prices could go down - i have lost 20% on the value of my UK property but its my home and a long term thing so who cares. So how else could i lose a lot of money? I would be looking at an apartment at roughly 500k AED - so not in the high end.

The only thing that worries me - are the huge service charges a few people have mentioned....are they all quite high or are they coming down?

So where could it go wrong??

Thanks for your help

 

[rkolinko]

Hi there,

I did few posts earlier on the whole "Dubai dead" topic. I am not an agent, I do pure research on real estate in Dubai.

With your budget of 550k you can possibly find a decent apartment it just depends on your preference. The service charges vary and are paid per sq ft, for example.

If approximately you have a maintenance fee of 15 AED/ sq ft in your building and your 1 bed apartment is 850 sq ft you will be paying = 12,750 AED per year.

This is for maintenance of community areas and not your apartment maintenance, such as plumbing, a/c repairs and servicing. Think of longterm maintenance fees on this unit.

Financially it breakdown as this: how many times you come to dubai a year VS how much it would cost to rent an apartment short term VS buying in the future when prices are projected to drop further VS renting now then buying VS renting and keeping rest of money in a bank with 5-6 % interest. If you can make all these calculations you might see a better solution financially.

Either way, its a lot to think about and its not an easy decision, good luck .

Cheers.
Rus

 

[NwAli]

well where could you go wrong ??
let me guess

** if some one wakes up in the morning and decide he does not like the idea of giving freehold area and takes it back

** rising electric N gas N pertol N Maintenance N chiller charge N Muncipal Charge N Residency Rules N Id Cards N wut else changes did i see in the past six months
yeah da biggest killer average 3 traffic fines a month reason unknown.

still i feel its a safe peace nice country to live in and think it will turn around one day -- ??

 

[eyeC]

it could go wrong for geopolitical risk ,region rich with oil any conflict can be serious

it could go wrong if you buy and the market oversupply is not controlled and managed properly further declines can be more than expected...

better buy villa and not apartments because of relative oversupply and price per sq ft almost same.

prices are cheap relative to other countries in the region ,countries with lower level of infrastructure and facilities , safety,income ,GDP,...etc (big plus buying in dubai)

wish you well and hope you make the right decision :elefant:

 

[eyeC]

new rules are in the making could effect maintenance charges (New Dubai Strata Law) search Google for related articles.....

or read below

Dubai real estate update: Strata Law - the transitional period, Clyde & Co international law firm