When Rajesh Pujari makes a decision, he doesn't dilly-dally around it. From an impulsive buy in The Springs to renovating it almost overnight, everything Rajesh does is spur-of-the-moment, from the heart. "Two years ago, my business was doing well. At the same time, I met a woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. The only missing element was a house of our own," says Rajesh, who was given a window of under two months to find, furnish and remodel the house before his new bride moved in.
Rajesh set about his mission the best way he knew, browsing through the classifieds sections of the newspapers. "Eventually, I stumbled across a real estate firm who put in the extra hours, knowing the limited time I had." As Rajesh had lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Sharjah until that point, he decided to move all the way to the other end of Dubai, an area he calls the "city centre".
"The Springs is the ideal location to live in," he says. "The Metro's almost completed, the new Jebel Ali airport will be 15 minutes away when it's finished, many malls are close by and when driving to work in Ghusais, I go against the traffic."
However, his new house happened by default, he explains. "My agent first showed me something in The Meadows, but it wasn't working out. Then we looked at an apartment in Jumeirah Beach Residence. The price was okay, but the views weren't. I knew that nothing but the best would do for my wife."
He then came across a two-bedroom villa in The Springs. Being too small for what he hoped would be an expanding family (the couple now have a eight-month-old son), he decided to look for something bigger. "The agent finally found me a three-bedroom villa in Springs Phase One that seemed just right. It was cosy, without being too small. The handover process took less than a month."
At a price tag of Dh2.4 million, Rajesh initially planned to pay for the villa through mortgage-financing and approached Tamweel to help him finance the property. However, a few discussions down the line, "I realised that I didn't need a home loan and I could make a cash payment to the owner and this sped up the process considerably, he says.
Gaining possession of his first property was a moment Rajesh will never forget. "I came to Dubai ten years ago on a salary of Dh3,500. I never thought I'd one day be living the Dubai dream that I'd only heard of in the past."
Today, he's the CEO and managing director of Rawaat Group, an international firm that deals in interior design and shop fit-outs.
Once Rajesh had the keys in hand, it was a race against time to get the house remodelled and furnished prior to his wedding day. "I worked day and night along with the interior design team from Rawaat Group to create a home that's a fusion of two cultures, representing my wife and me." Elements of feng shui (representing his wife's Chinese heritage) and vastu-shastra (representing Rajesh's Indian background) are strategically positioned around the house to bring good luck.
A tour of the house reveals plenty of remodelling work on the walls and ceilings. "My first stop had to be Emaar to get approval for my layout plans," says Rajesh. "After submitting the blueprints of what I wanted done, and getting the necessary approvals, a team of architects from my company went about extending the kitchen, creating feature walls, making a circular false ceiling in the master bedroom and putting up a glass wall between the kitchen and the living room." In addition, Rajesh asked his team of interior designers to create what has now become his favourite element in the house a corner water feature. "Based on vastu-shastra principles, having a water feature in the house brings in good luck and happiness," he explains.
"The only element of the house we're not overjoyed with is the lack of a swimming pool. As our garden area is too small to install a pool, I decided to invest in another property at Dubailand." Rajesh recently put his money into a Dh4.4 million, five-bedroom luxury villa with a private swimming pool in the Palmerosa development. In addition to this, he's about to get handover for an apartment at International City.
Fact: Rajesh bought his three-bedroom villa for Dh2.4million. tip. Get approval from your developer prior to remodelling your house.