I am Indian and my husband, Leslie, is English. We got drawn into the purchase process after years of fence-sitting — we have lived in Satwa and prior to that in Umm Suqeim. The fact that our property is now probably worth half of what we paid for it is a little unsettling, but not catastrophic. I am an interior decorator, stylist and writer, and we have lived in Dubai for nearly 30 years, with no immediate plans of leaving, so it does not affect us too much.
We are not looking to invest in any other areas in Dubai at the moment as we bought our Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT) apartment purely as a place to live and not as an investment — we have done that in the UK and still own property there.
The investment procedure in JLT was very simple and streamlined. There was minimal red-tape and the Dubai Land Department was very efficient in dealing with the transfer process. We bought through a mortgage and we found it hassle-free. I understand that the mortgage market has also loosened up somewhat over the last year.
We bought our home as a finished property. Since I knew I would be living in the unit, I wanted a ready one that I could see, so there were no surprises later. That probably was the wisest thing we did. Friends who bought off-plan have in quite a few cases burnt their fingers, with some projects being stalled and others unlikely to ever take shape.
JLT allows pets, which is a huge bonus for dog lovers like us. The community has evolved in a very positive way despite what the critics have said over the years. We have a supermarket, a pharmacy and a dental surgery all in close proximity, not to mention restaurants and various eating outlets. Parking is ample and there is a very well-equipped gym and swimming pool attached to the building.
We are reasonably lucky that the service charges we pay at JLT are not over-the-top compared to fees levied in other developments. Having said that, it is definitely not cheap. We have a very strong tenants' association for the building with a full-time manager employed to make sure that the master developer, as well as the developer of the building, are doing all that they should be for the rates charged. The key to controlling service charges is professional management, and this should be budgeted for, as the savings accrued using a full-time manager far outweigh their cost.
The prices for ready properties seem to have stabilised over the past six months to a year. Anyone who intended to make a distress sale in the wake of the crisis would have done so by now. Those looking to sell probably have no need to go below the prevailing rates, or have opted to hold onto the units and rent them out. But property prices are so comparatively low now that it makes sense to buy for anyone who has a long-term view of living in Dubai.
I would advise prospective homeowners to watch out for loopholes in sales agreements. For instance, check that the square footage cited by the developer or property agent is actually correct and does not include common areas like lifts, which can happen in some cases.
