We (me, DS7, and DD3) have just joined my husband in Dubai. We're in a serviced apartment at the moment, but are looking to find a home as soon as possible.
We went to look at a few places yesterday and are finding it hard to know how to juggle the pros & cons.
One place we looked at had one school with available places close by, is an established community with a good selection of restaurants/cafes and small mall. There are communal pools and reasonable playgrounds within walking distance and it's a quiet peaceful area. The house was a bungalow, but we found the viewing a bit off-putting because the tenants were still in situ, and three of them were in their beds, so we felt a bit awkward and found it hard to look around and pay attention to the house. My husband found the strong cooking smells in the house very off-putting and thought it was a bit shabby. On the other hand, it was fenced and had a reasonably green garden area.
We looked at a couple of other places in a newer developments - these ones also had issues with build quality - some minor things and one major issue with an iron gate off it's hinges, private pools that were unfenced, etc.
We like the idea of a private pool, but worry about safety and cost of fencing and maintenance. We liked the bigger two-storey layouts of the new places, but wondered about the impact of being further away from schools. There were no communal pools and playgrounds are pretty basic (one slide), so if we chose a villa in this area without a pool there wouldn't be any other option for recreational swimming close by.
I'm just a bit flummoxed by the options - I suspect for someone who's just moved to Dubai being closer to schools and in an established community might be easier to adjust than being in one that's still establishing itself? Does anyone have any ideas what we should prioritise??