Monday, May 4, 2009

bldg 359

Posted by Kero at Monday, May 04, 2009
For two months, I poured over the property section of Gulf News. I memorized the streets and buildings of Bur Dubai. I spoke with some 30 real estate agents and went on numerous trips to open houses. Some landlords refused to lower their prices and some were negotiable because their building was old and some wait for the near perfect tenants who accepts the bigger 5 thou offer.

So here was the family's criteria: Location is Bur Dubai, full bath, with swimming pool, gym and covered car park. Plus, the kitchen will have to accommodate oven to practice my culinary skills teeehee. The first apartment we checked was located at Al Rafa. It was not full bath, but the kitchen was fully equipped. The building is old but i was ready to settle with it. Unfortunately, we paid three months advance for the villa. So it was not possible to move out until we consume the two months and get the remaining deposit.

I prayed hard no one will notice the building sign To Let hihi. Every time we go for a car wash, i check the building and breath a sigh of relief upon seeing it is still posted. But somewhere, i dreamed somebody was occupying the apartment and maybe just intuition, when we passed by again, I inquired and was told the whole building was full.

So i started another round of phone calls to real estate agents. This is our fourth time to move place so i know how dreadful it is negotiating with agents. They are simply rude making you feel there are more tenants deserving their properties. To my surprise, agents these days are accommodating. They get your name, they return calls, they volunteer to show you other properties. But darn, their prices were still non-negotiable and simply unreasonable.

A month passed and another three weeks. Hubby was losing hope we'll ever find that perfect place but i kept telling him we will find it soon. It is just there waiting for us. I prayed even harder we will come across it soon. I begged God to find us a new place where we can enjoy ourselves as a family, where we can entertain visitors, where we can accomodate people who will stay for the night.

But i was losing hope too. I could not bear to read one more property ad or call another agent. The everyday stress of driving to find the place and disappointments for such substandard apartment was mounting. I even considered withdrawing our notice to the landlord.

A fine Wednesday morning, I finished my laundry and Andreas content eating his apple, I convinced myself for one last try. I checked out the property ads and dialled a couple of numbers. I set a viewing for that night.

One ring and the agent picked up. Sounds like he was really waiting for our call. We were directed to Bldg 359 and boy it looks soo much better than we expected. The whole building is brand new and low rise. Everything we wanted was there PLUS a huge balcony overlooking the Trade Center Road down to Sheikh Zayed Road. We negotiated and thankfully the agent kept the price he told me that morning. We closed the deal over the phone and agreed to sign the contracts the following day. When I asked hubby what real estate it was, he didn't know either. I went back to gulf news property ads but i could not find where i got the number. It was not even on my shortlist column.

The timing was perfect too.It was only a week away before the month ends. Usually payments overlap for five to ten days but this one starts on April when we move out from the villa.

Maybe when it is truly meant for you, God will give it in his own sweet time.


1 sweets for Kero:

all4seasons on May 5, 2009 at 4:04 PM said...

wow i can imagine what it was like to house-hunt. good thing you got the perfect house afterall. :) we're planning to move by july too and we're only thinking of startng the hunt by june..guess with your post we should start earlier :)

 

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