Last Saturday at 8pm-ish I had a missed call from the guy. 8:05pm-ish my door bell rings. Standing on my doorstep are my landlord, his daughter and his potential new tenants. WTF? The theatrics of his apology for the intrusion were annoying and amusing at the same time. Of course I was going to let him and his entourage see the place, I have no desire to hamper his efforts to re-rent his property. So I had a bit of fun with him first to make a point, gave him a stern scolding for such inconsideration, squashed his feeble claim that he HAD given me notice (a missed call 5 minutes ago doesn't count!), made him squirm a bit and concede the folly of his ways. Then I let them in.
In coming over unannounced, my landlord didn't do himself any favours. I'm sure his insolence did not go unnoticed by the prospective new tenants. And perhaps he didn't realize that in its normal state, my living quarters are less than tidy as any of my former room-mates can attest. Plus, I had already started packing. No word on the outcome of that viewing.
In parallel with the closing of the International City chapter, I have been seeking out a new place to call home. A former colleague recommended her managment company, Better Homes. Their website is very user friendly, so that's where I started. I decided on some criteria (budget, amenities, location), scouted out a few prospective neighborhoods and fired off some emails. Within a day, an agent called me back and we met to view two of her listings in the Burj area, a building called "8 Boulevard Walk". Both apartments were acceptable but having barely begun my search, I wanted to see a few more and look around in the Dubai Marina, which was one of my top choices. She had no listings there so I contacted one of her colleagues who did.
Another generalization about people I have made here is with respect to those in the real estate biz. Again, this is not an absolute statement but leasing agents rank right near the top of the asininity scale along with taxi drivers, lawyers and arab men on the volleyball court. Better Homes must have a quality control problem with their agents, I got more of a response from their customer relations department asking if I had gotten a response from the agent assigned to my query than I got from the agent herself! As time was quickly passing, I called the agent again. She "wuz gunna" call me and started in on a long, lame story about how terrible her week had been ... kids were sick, car broke down, client stood her up, blah blah blah. On the apartment front, she claimed that the listing I had enquired about was gone (gee, sorry 'bout your luck) and there were no others (Bullshit. Like I said, the BH website is stellar and I saw 6 or 7 other listings that seemed like good candidates), tried to convince me to increase my budget (and by extension, her commission -- hose the ex-pat!), pushed to show a place in a neighborhood I had no interest in (where exactly IS 'The Greens' anyway?) and promised to call to arrange a viewing. Needless to say that didn't go anywhere.
Getting back to the first agent, I decided to take the first apartment we saw, a 1-bedroom on the 20th floor with a view of the Arabian Gulf (and the construction site below but I can live with that) and so far this agent has been excellent. The week has been consumed with negotiating a fair price, paying the deposit, arranging cheques, arranging utilities and packing packing packing (but nothing on the scale of what was required last year! I'm still indebted to all those who helped me ... you know who you are!)
The agreed upon price is at the upper limit of what I was budgeting and I will now have to invest in furniture of my own so the costs will start to add up if I'm not careful. I waffled a bit about this. Despite the downward spiral of the rental market, this is still an expensive city. Perhaps I should look for something cheaper? In a lower-end district? Maybe even stay in International City? Wait a few months for rents to go down? But on one particularly foul drive home last week, the decision was sealed. I had cheaped out in going to IC a year ago and at the time, it served my purposes ... but I want out. I will pay the price and enjoy the view! We will sign the rest of the papers tomorrow ... insha'allah.
Photos from the listing on the Better Homes website (not necessarily my exact unit but same building, very similar):
Many, if not most, rental units in Dubai do not come with an equipped kitchen. Tenants buy their own appliances. In this building, the kitchen is equipped with appliances c/w dishwasher! Oh how I miss my dishwasher!
The view. Ahhh the view! Yes, that is the Arabian Gulf in the distance. I must admit, this did factor into the equation and tipped the scales in favour of this [more expensive] apartment. I justified this to myself by saying I will further reduce my latte intake so as to off set the extra cost! And it is 10 minutes from the office, so instead of being 35 minutes late every morning, I will only be 5 minutes late! Every little bit helps!
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