"HOUSE HUNT" IN DOHA
tonight, as i sign a new contract to shift to a newly rented place, i cant keep myslef away from sharing my past three week's experience of 'House Hunt' in doha
to find a 'livable' flat / villa within 6000 rials, it cost me a fortune of petrol and phone bill.
most of the things that appear in classifieds are just virtual and not real. when they say 2bedroom flat, you shouldnt be smart enough to think that it includes a hall/living. Most of them included just 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and kitchen. if it's a part of Villa, you better be ready to go thru a passage half metere wide, tucking your head below the ACs of your neighbours and then find a brown door that leads to an asbestos shed!
Most of the partitioned villas are with just a 10 cms plywood partition in between, so that your neighbour has the previlage of hearing your conversations and you can listen to his TV programs, if not the thuds and bumps of his tiny tots on the common 'wall'. to the question "is this a brand new building?", i received many answers as "medium"... later i found out that 'medium' inlcudes building that are even 10 years old.
I went to what's written as american style open kitchen and found myself staring at a wash sink supported on two GI pipes, set up in the corner of the bedroom, leading to the bathroom. Poor America. But then you cant blame an asian agent who hasnt been to america for setting up such an pathetic 'american' kitchen.
What shocked me most was a 'fully furnished ' one bedroom in madina khalifa with kitchen and bath. it was merely a room less spacious than my car, with a table 'furnished' with kettle sugar and teabags and a bed on the floor. Me being six feet tall really had a tough time getting thru the front door.
no offence, but for a moment, i even wished i could have been born as a kabayan because most of the rooms advertised were for them.
When i thought i had found a room in a decent flat in al sadd, it had three other bedrooms which were occupied by three others, which donot bother me as i was going to have the fourth bedroom. But my freedom to answer to nature's call was mercilessly questioned when i saw a nicely printed paper with pictures of many clocks, with time and name written below each clock diagram... it said sam, sara, sally and steve has all different timings assigned for them to use the bathroom and any minutes extra is considered 'over time' and does require the permission of the next person! not suitable for me who is into advertising and might need extra minutes for creative ideas. my quest continued.
i came across arab agents who were NOT interested in telling you more about the flat as if they think some Q companies will take them all some day, I came across keralite agents who thought that 2 bedroom is too much for 2 people and suggested to take a single room, part of a collapsed villa and with neat carpet (they spent 300 rials on that to impress the customers) and even agents who advertised a villa very near to villagio and guided me seven KMs away form there.
i am not aware of the building laws of qatar but i found a lot of three bedroom flats with one bathroom! while most of the two bedrooms were empty, the 3 bedrooms in the same buildings werent available as they have been taken by real estate. some of the new buildings had rooms that wer even 2.5m x 2.5m. too small to decently accomodate a person. credit cruch might not have affected qatar but a 'space-crunch' has. in many new flats, the space was very very less. many flats just had 2 bedrooms without a hall/living and you enter the flat to a small space good enough to keep a shoe rack.
But after all, misleading ads/leads doesnt turn me down. If i earn money advertising products/companies which, ofcourse, arent as true as the ad says, then i feel my 3 weeks experience is just a tit for tat.
oops.. this looks too long. apologies
we just moved to our new 3 bedroom flat in a brand new bldg.2 days ago in Mansoura...it is only 7,000. 6,000 for 2 bedroom flat. It is unfurnished..only split AC is included...Sad thing is we have to take the stair for now..lift will be available after 6 days...we have to excercise everyday...they also have 3 bdrm. for 7,500 & 6500 for 2 bedrm. in another brand new bldg.. Just PM me for the contact number if anybody is interested...NO COMMISSION REQUIRED.... :-) (hehehe)
I have spend around QR.4000/- in plumbing , electricity etc. in a new flat. Another 5000/- for Movers. One thing is for sure, rents are not coming down anytime in the near future.
Thank you for that, I also enjoyed reading it.
And it is good for others looking for flats :)
Kismet
Nothing is more relaxing than flying like an Eagle in Heaven !!
welcome in Doha ....
I'll keep that in my mind, QS.
agreed, MD! let us move to the tent.. romantic.....:)
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“You become responsible forever for what you have tamed”. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Even for 12k to 15k you will only get poor quality especially plumbing, toilets, etc. Windows and doors are not sealing properly. For this kind of sh*t I wouldn't pay more than 1.000 QR. I prefer a tent instead.
magic, agree there are many in the low income group.
but i was making a general statement saying if you need a plush villa with spacious rooms and good ambience, then 12- 15k will fetch a good place to live.
no offence meant to people who earn 6000k. looks like either you have misunderstood me or you are twisting my statements out of context.
Does that mean that the people here who earn only 6.000 QR per month are 'peanuts'?
6.000 QR is the monthly salary for many people. How can they pay such low salaries?
theres a saying - you pay peanuts you will get monkeys?
how can you get anything decent for 6k?
cant blame the real estate guys for this
your budget is pretty low for starters.
if u need a plush place with good living standards be ready to double your budget
QL can make a big change.today, we have the technology
at hand. taking a picture, transfering it to you computer and posting it online is a tiny task. if QL makes it mandatory that all the posts should accompany pics, then it would have been better. almost all our fone has cameras and we can trnsfer them to computer thru bluetooth or data cable. then its easy to post online. this will bring down a lot of trouble in terms of fonecalls, and unnecessary visits! on the other hand, it will also give a boost to good properties to be rented. QL authorities.. werr r u??
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novi, American kitchen is the open concept, when there is no a full wall between a kitchen and dining room.. kind of a kitchen is NOT a separate room, but rather a part of the hall, but a nice, fully equipped part. Since it will be visible from the dining room, they insert all the appliances into the cabinets... when done right, it looks beautiful...
in qatari way, they put some ugly sink and dirty fridge in the corner of the hall..
This paints a vivid picture of how house hunting is in Doha. It takes incredible patience to find the right one.
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"We used to think that if we knew one, we knew two, because one and one are two. We are finding that we must learn a great deal more about 'and'."
- Sir Arthur Eddington 1882-1944
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sad but true! price of rent over here is ridiculous but ignored...
they fail to properly setup a commission to control house rents...
Even companies failed to provide their employees decent space to squeeze on...
Do you guys know what happened in Dubai? Why many workers are suffering from recession?
1. During the boom of dubai came along the rocketing prices of house rent...
2. Construction industry became very healthy... bringing many people to work in the industry, enabled them to keep a high demand on real estates with a salvaging high cost.
3. Rich people invested in real estates, both local and foreign.
4. 48% of the working population of Dubai were in construction.
5. Came in the world economic crisis... investors especially foreign started feeling the crunch, and tightened their belts...
6. They started laying off people... worst was putting their investments on hold..
7. Now the demand for real estates started to fall... local investors felt this as well.. so they also started to cut the budget and had to let go of some people and some projects... Look at dubai's economy right now... Look at the news...
We wouldn't want this to happen over here... because someway or another... as much as we prevent these from happening in Q. this will come, if the real estate prices wont be controlled and brought down.
The government has to step-in with the problem so we all can keep the privilege and honor to say that we help kept Q's economy boosting amidst the crisis.
We appeal to the agents and owners (which are QLers as well if not.. they cant advertise) to think about this..
Putting all the money in their pockets will only keep your family fueled in a couple of months, but setting up a just and reasonable real estate business can keep your bank account full in years..
Dont pull Q down. Lets all keep it running!
Cheers!
even though i said that was my range, i dont mind adding a couple of thousand to it. My concern is not that I dint find something in that range. I found many for 5000 as well but then not standards but privacy and cleanliness has to be sacrificed.
My concern is that many advertisers say it false and they provide facilities in which even they couldnt stay for a while. if there were basic laws that say this flat shud have minimum facilities, this wouldnt have happened.
a prtitioned villa was ok, if it gives you privacy of your conversations and as long as your next door guys conversations do not intrude thru ur wall. a partitioned villa would have been fine if it was not asbestos u wen u lie on the bed. It would have been fine if you invite a fat girl friend home and she could walk straight instead of sideways due to the narrow passage.
now here what i noticed :
at present, for 8500, you can get 2 bedroom fully furnished.
for 6000, u can get two bedroom unfurnished.. some are spacious enough but most are very small
for 10000, u can get three bedroom fully furnished, most of them spacious enough
never ever go for a partitioned villa. a sharing one would be far better than a partitioned one.
you have to give half month's commission to most of the ads you see here online and on newspapers! confirm that first. coz they tell you this only at the last moment.
if it's an indian guy, most of them need only 1000 rials as commission. good for both parties. thats around 13000 rupees.
well now about the villa i got, its four bedroom upstairs, three occupied by other three persons, and one bath attached bedroom (with tub) by me.fully furnished, a spaciuos living / dining and a 'truly patriotic american' kitchen in the ground floor, car parking inside and outside the villa, BBQ facilities within the compound, and a small swimming pool!!! and all for 3500 bucks. really nice flatmates, two indian and a british. cozy sofas with LCD and home theatre with showtime. it's like lottery!;) dont ask me location.. i will let u know wen we plan for party ;)
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Good writing...Muffy
1. He was looking for a flat below QR 6,000.
2. He did in fact find many vaccant "flats" that were inside a Partitioned Villa.
3. He didnt want a Partitioned Villa.
The kind of flat he was looking is in the 8,000 to 15,000 range!!!
The 6K market is "horded" by the Real-Estate Mafia. Note:
"i came across arab agents who were NOT interested in telling you more about the flat as if they think some Q companies will take them all some day"
Well I didnt get this part:
"when they say 2bedroom flat, you shouldnt be smart enough to think that it includes a hall/living. Most of them included just 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and kitchen".
One can always convert one of the bedroom into a hall.
So Muffy did you finally find a Flat?....or you had to compromise into giving up your "standards".....lol
Hi novita77... this sounds crazy, but I'm not even sure what they mean by an American kitchen!!! Maybe I've been gone from America too long to know the difference LOL! The two that I was shown looked different from each other.
Ohhh god how true...Im still facing all the same...just have to leave my accommodation by end of march n im tired of dez all tngs...god help me out just lyk u:)
thanks mandi for the explaination of American Kitchen ...
"Everything in this book may be wrong." Illusions: The Adventures of The Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach
fee. When you pay, your ad is genuine and dont want to lose the customers
I hope that the rules applied in the real estate offices on the West and not each one can act as an intermediary in the period after the formal, as we now see ateacher, engenier, government employee etc... working as agency
Owners are very stupid, because they are only dying for money
mufy, thanks for the nice writing.. that's what exactly i am saying in all my posts about rent in qatar.
1. whatever is advertized and whatever you see is not exactly the same, rather completely different;
2.” american kitchens” are actually kitchenette in the corner of small hall, about 1mx2m;
3. agents still cannot differ "flat" from "part of villa".. or don’t want to..
4. announced locations are very uncertain. "10 min driving from Villagio".. you end up at the end of Garrafa, which has nothing to do with Villagio whatsoever..
5. rooms are small, sometimes dirty and stinky
6. Furniture is so cheap, i cannot even imagine who is producing this kind of crap..
.. i can keep talking about it forever..
Yeah, and about “2 BR” flats… Once some agent brought me to the flat with 2 rooms in total (was advertized as 2 BR flat). I asked where is the second bedroom? The answer was: That’s what we call 2-BR flat IN INDIA…
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“You become responsible forever for what you have tamed”. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Fantastic writing. Brought a smile to my face. Have you considered sending this to the local (or otherwise) papers?
I would venture that an American kitchen is one with a stove (with exhaust hood) and oven, a refrigerator, dishwasher, built-in microwave, a double sink (preferably with garbage disposal), lots of cabinets and a table that seats four.
Mandi
jolena, what is american kitchen?
You made me smile LOL You're right about the American kitchen part... I'm American and was shown 2 places with so-called American kitchens and they didn't even resemble anything I've seen back home. I'm not sure what the selling point is about calling something an American kitchen anyways...
for telling it how it is :)
i think no one can do alteration or partition unless have owner approval.
yesterday I saw the humiliation of new villa.Living area with grt ceiling work is partitioned and now it has become bedroom,arch shape entrance with really gorgeous glass window, this corner is now converted to Kitchen.
Guest toilet with twin wash basins,granite platform, all the accessories were well selected (by the owner) is now
toilet for the Studio apartment within the Villa.
On first floor I have even seen how powder room is destroyed.
Stupid Owners they allow partitioning which is destructive and ugly. 10 families living in one SLUM VILLA
Good writing, bro. And i'm glad you found a place to stay. For me, KSarat was very helpful and he helped me find a place. Glad that you found a place too.
Nice writing mufy, thanks for sharing! Glad you found somewhere eventually. It's reading things like that which make me glad our accommodation is sorted out by the wife's company.
most of us haave gone through the same pattern. Important thing is we should not give up until get something suuitable. it took me four months but thanks God now i am satisfied.
Now i probably go thru again in the same situation since planning to find a new place when my contract due! I just wish that things like this Gov nor Company will pay attention to the needy of expatriates/employee before they bringing them here for work or atleast be realistic & honest to tell u how things goin on here a crucial finding good place to live for so anyone can do some remedy before they landed here & suffered??? Not to mention a million miles away from ur family back home is also a torture!
well said! you r right , its a nighmare out there!! I am moving today and have experienced all of the above!!!
What a night mare, from a regular house hunt to the perfect ' haunted house deals'
LOL @ 'American Kitchen' and 'Creative Ideas' ...
rms..!!
That was ridiculously ridiculous and I thought the bathroom thingy was funny. Oh well, that was the before bits. Glad you found a 'livable' habitation.