Popular areas to live in Dubai for expats.

Hi guys! Welcome to my vlog. One of the most popular questions I receive on my channel is where to rent an apartment for expats in Dubai. And today I'm here with my husband Denis. We're having breakfast. He's an experienced real estate agent and I decided to ask this question. Hey guys! I think I found my favorite duplex. Go and check the full tour of this luxury property on my YouTube channel. Hi guys! So, can you please tell us what are the best areas to rent an apartment for expats? Okay. There are no specific areas that an expat should choose but obviously they need to take into consideration the budget that they have. And for how long are they coming here because if they want just to come and test the city and try to find a job here, there is no reason for them to apply for a one-year contract. But the most popular areas, not the best areas for expats because each and every one has their own specific requirements, but the most popular areas for example is Dubai Marina. It's very popular. It has a very good connectivity to the main roads. There is a metro and you can go to the beach. And the infrastructure there is incredible. You have a promenade, you can walk over there and the skyscrapers. Very beautiful place. Another popular area can be for example GLT, Dubai Hills, JVC. There are quite a lot of them. The only thing that an expat should do is to do some kind of research before coming to Dubai to check the prices. And whenever you check the prices, like on the portals, just keep in mind that the price is usually mentioned for the entire year. And some lenders are okay to accept quarterly payments. Some of them expect to get payment every six months so you need to pay it in advance. In the rare cases you need to prepare 12 checks which is very unusual but some of the lenders now accept 12 checks as well. How you can do this research? You can open the portals where the listings are. I'm usually using Property Finder. It's a quite good portal so you can check the prices in Dubai Marina, in JVC, in GLT, in Dubai Hills. And there you can check what you can afford, where you can afford to stay. Like JVC for example is more affordable than Dubai Marina. If people don't have an opportunity to rent an apartment, what are the short-term options they have? If it's a single person or even if it's a couple, they can always rent a room in the apartment. It's like sharing, on a sharing basis. And if you want to check this option you need to go to Dubiso and over there there are a lot of listings and you can pick and choose different areas and different projects as well. For this I can recommend GBR as an option because you are next to the beach and there you can find quite affordable rooms and they are spacious. And what are the documents required to rent an apartment in Dubai? Can you do it straight away once you move to Dubai? If we're talking about the long-term rent, no you can't because you need to have a residency visa. Without residency visa you will not be able to connect the DIVA. The DIVA is utilities like electricity and water. And the landlord will not allow you to stay in the apartment and keep the utilities under his name. So that's why you need to have a residency visa before you can rent something on the long term. For the short term you just need to have a passport and you need to pay the money to the landlord. Or maybe if you decide to stay in a hotel you can stay in a hotel with your passport and the payment. And what other costs besides the rental costs are involved in renting an apartment? Like you said DIVA, internet. If you rent a room on the short term there are no other expenses. Everything is covered like internet, electricity, water, AC. For the long term yes you need to pay for utilities and as well you need to pay commission when you are renting the property. And you need to pay as well security deposit. So commission and security deposit equals to 5% each. So total 10%. It's an extra cost that you need to pay when you're renting something. But your security deposit will be refunded back to you after the expiry of the contract in case if you left the property in a good condition. So this is something that protects the interest of the landlord. As far as I know most apartments are rented out without furniture. So again it's an additional expense. Yes of course. You need to keep in mind that mainly in Dubai property is rented without the furniture. And you need to take a furniture. We have IKEA. It's quite affordable furniture. And here it's difficult to say how much you need to spend because it all comes to the special preferences of Pacific people. During the lockdown many families prefer to rent villa or townhouse in Dubai. So what are the best areas they recommend? The hottest area right now is Dubai Hills. Because it's something new. It's built by the best developer in Dubai. Like the biggest one, Imar. And it has a very good connectivity within the city. So Dubai Hills is the main area where people are focusing now. But it's very difficult to get the townhouse at this moment. Alternatively there are a lot of options in so-called Dubai land area in Arabella, Casadora. There is a project in Chama but they are a little bit further from the main part of the city. So the main area, the best one is Dubai Hills right now. So can you tell us please once again what are the best portals, websites people can use to find an apartment? So for the long-term rent I'm usually using Property Finder. You can find the link in the description, I believe. I will leave everything in the description. And if you're looking for the room, for the master bedroom, if you don't want to take an entire apartment, you can find listings on Dubiso. There is a specific section for the rooms. You can find a master bedroom, regular room all over the city. And this is quite efficient for people who are just coming here and they need some time to find something. Obviously if they are single, if it's a family, maybe it's better to stay in a hotel. And for the hotel you can check booking.com and as well there are alternatives for the long-term stay on Airbnb. And this can be an option as well for people. Thank you very much. It was very useful. So guys, I will leave all the links in the description below. If you have any questions, ask them in the comments. And see you in the next video. Bye-bye.