Home Hunting Dubai Part 2

It has been busy for us since G came back from the USA!  We had a day for him to unpack and do laundry, and then the next day we were off again to Dubai for 2 days to search for our new home. This trip to Dubai was also a test run for us to travel with Baby L - learning what to pack, what not to pack, and generally how well she would travel.

Day 1 of our trip to Dubai started out pretty well.  Since G was already jet lagged, and I've been doing nighttime feedings for Baby L every 2-3 hours, we were both up at 5:30am and out the door on the way to Dubai by 7.  We were meeting our agent at 9am, so this gave us plenty of time to stop for gas and breakfast, as well as for me to feed Baby L and change her diaper once we got to Dubai.  We are lucky that Baby L is a great carseat traveller!  I just feel bad for her because the polyester carseat covers make her so hot.  I tried to help her out by lining the headpiece with a cotton burp cloth to absorb some sweat, but I can't really line the rest without compromising the carseat safety.  She slept the whole ride to Dubai, and had a sleepy mid-morning snack before passing out again as we ran her around the Dubai Marina in her carseat & stroller.

Baby L fast asleep as I try to wake her up to feed her in Dubai.  Even while asleep, she looks like a #grumpybaby!

We started the day with apartments - we had 4 property viewings in 4 different apartment towers that morning - Al Sahab, Al Majarah, Horizon Tower, and Princess Tower.  We needed at a minimum 3 bedrooms plus a study or maid's room.  This would allow us a master, a nursery, a guest room and a place for G to do schoolwork.  I talk more specifically about our requirements in Home Hunting Dubai Part 1

There really isn't much to say about the Al Sahab property - it could do for what we need, and it looked like all of the other Emaar-developed properties we saw back in July. Nothing particularly special, so we kept it as a backup option.  One thing in particularly that made this apartment a little lackluster was the built-in fridge/freezer was the same size as our current apartment (the tall cabinet on the right) - so we would likely end up either purchasing a second fridge or small mini-bar type fridge for drinks.  On the other hand, it has the amenities typical of Emaar properties - nice pool, nice fitness area, good community spaces and community grills, and direct access to retail and restaurants within the building.

Kitchen at Al Sahab - built in fridge/freezer on the right

We immediately ruled the Al Majarah property because the apartment was a 2 BR + Study - it was a beautiful apartment, developed by Emaar with a great view and not enough space.  The kitchen layout was actually very similar to Al Sahab, and the current renters has even put a large fridge into the study area.  The fridge-in-the-office concept could be workable if we'd had an extra room - so this one was a no-go.

The Princess Tower property was located on the 86th floor (yes. 86th!) with an AMAZING view of the Palm, but the layout for the apartment was not the more trendy open format.  Rather, the dining, living, and kitchen spaces were very closed off. The bathrooms were also a bit strange in that the master bath didn't have a shower, and the layout of the guest rooms en-suites didn't make much sense either.  The living room half-bath had 3 extra sinks!  The railing style on the balcony also made me nervous - and while I'm not afraid of heights, the 86th floor was a bit high even for me, so we ruled this property out as well.

Amazing view of the Palm from the 86th floor!  Too high for me!!!

The Horizon Tower property was a perfect fit so far! It was a 2-story flat with an incredible balcony that had a much sturdier-looking railing than the Princess Tower balcony.  The upstairs portion also had a full utility closet and pantry (in case you have late night munchies?) It has 4 bedrooms and large open living spaces that were almost like a villa, and was walking distance to pretty much everything in the Marina including a metro stop literally right outside the front door.  The real kicker was the property has a lap-pool. After our first morning of home searching, this was our front runner!

Wide open living space in the Horizon Tower 2-story apartment

Beautiful view of the Marina from the Horizon Tower Balcony

We took a quick lunch break before moving on to look at villas (houses). The floorplan in the neighborhood that G had been looking at was no longer available, so we looked at a few similar (but older) floorplans in the adjacent neighborhoods within the same development.   First was the Zulal neighborhood within the Lakes (another Emaar-development) - and for a villa, it had everything we needed.  Three bedrooms plus a study, and additional family living spaces that could be used as fitness rooms or a home office for me. Second within the Lakes was Deema, which was four bedrooms - it was similar to Zulal, but the overall floorplan was larger.  G liked the layout of Zulal better, even though it was smaller, so for the Lakes development, that was our first choice.  The nice thing about the Lakes is that each neighborhood has its own pool and playground and within the development there are nurseries, restaurants, and grocery stores.  The expats I know that live there all love it.

Recently upgraded kitchen at Zulal

More typical Lakes kitchen at Deema

We then moved on to Jumeirah Park.  We looked at a nice 3 bedroom villa with a pool.  Since Jumeirah Park is a newer development, the interiors of the homes are very nice and more updated than the Lakes and many come with appliances already installed. The downside is that the neighborhood looks like suburban Houston with the houses crammed into the lots as tight as can be. Unlike Emaar-developed properties there weren't really public green spaces, just endless rows of houses.  I also didn't love the idea of a pool with a little one at home.  We felt that we wouldn't choose to live in a neighborhood like this in Texas, and so we didn't really want to live in a neighborhood like this in Dubai when we had other options.

Nice kitchen with appliances at Jumeirah Park

For our final stop of the day was the Meadows, again an Emaar development.  We looked at 3 different villas, all very similar to the villas in the Lakes but a bit more dated.  All would work fine for what we were looking for, so I opted to skip the last showing so I could feed Baby L and change her diaper.  It was a long day for her and me both (10 properties!  Well, only 9 for us since we skipped the last one and let G take pictures), and we were exhausted.  G drove us all to our hotel in the Dubai Marina, and after ordering room service, all three of us crashed around 7pm.

Typical kitchen/living space at the Meadows

This is what happens when I shower and leave the two of them alone.  He turns her into an Ewok.

Poor Baby L had a hard time sleeping - when the air conditioning kicked in, it blew right on the spot where her travel bassinet was sitting, so she woke up every 20-30 minutes until I could find a new spot for her in our room.  I finally settled on putting her bassinet on the luggage stand - I was nervous about it at first because I was afraid the straps might not be sturdy enough, but I figure if a luggage stand can hold someone's 50-lb piece of luggage, surely it can hold my less-than-10-lb baby. After that, she slept like a dream for most of the night with the exception of one major poopy blowout at 4am. I was changing her diaper after feeding her, and she shot poop all over me, her changing pad, and the sofa we were sitting on. My startled shriek woke G up, and he took over cleaning up Baby L and the sofa while I showered. He's such a great dad and husband. :-)

Baby L in her travel bassinet / diaper bag!

Day 2 had a lazy-er start than Day 1, with the exception of the morning poopapalooza.  We didn't have a long drive to make, so G and I took our time getting ready and took turns having free breakfast at the hotel so we wouldn't have to pack her up and bring her along.  We met our agent at a development called The Green Community about 20 minutes from my office in Jebel Ali.  We looked at 3 amazing properties at The Green Community - all either 4 or 5 bedrooms with exterior maid's quarters (i.e. office and music room for G AWAY from the house) with really nice yards, open living spaces, and in one case a pool that could actually be used for swimming laps.  We had almost talked ourselves into liking the Green Community with all its...well GREEN space...until we drove back into Dubai to look at more apartments in the Marina. The daily drive wouldn't be horrendous, but we felt that if we were going to have the chance to live in a big city on expat assignment we should live IN the big city - not 20 minutes away.  The Green Community, while beautiful, was cut from the list.

Lovely pool at the Green Community

HUGE Kitchen at the Green Community

Back in the Marina, we looked at 5 more properties in 4 locations - Emaar 6 (the oldest Emaar development in the Marina), Marina Quays, Trident Bayside, and 2 properties at Marina Promenade. All of the properties with the exception of Trident were Emaar developments.  Baby L and I skipped the first stop at Emaar 6 - unlike the apartments we looked at before, this property was a villa.  These are rarely available because they're the best of both worlds - a standalone villa with a garage in an Emaar community with direct access to the Marina walk and tons of shops.  G took video and photos for me - the hard thing for this property was access to our private garage involved several flights of stairs, which would be challenging with a baby.  Otherwise, the villa was great.

Our next stop at Marina Quays was also fruitful.  The owner was in the middle of renovating the flat, and it was similar in layout to the property at Al Sahab but stunning view of the entire Marina and newer finishes.  We crossed Al Sahab off the list in favor of this flat.

Stunning and unique view of the entire Marina from Marina Quays

After the Quays, we checked out Trident Bayside - and this flat was gorgeous! The flat was very modern with some high-tech security not one, but TWO built-in refrigerator/freezers.  G was in love with the kitchen, for all the storage space - in fact the entire flat was very western in terms of how much cabinetry and storage it held.  Trident moved right into second place behind Horizon Towers on our list of priorities! We asked our agents why the non-Emaar properties were so much nicer at a similar price, and we learned that it really is the amenities - the Emaar developments are so well thought out and great for families that it's difficult for the non-Emaar developed properties to compete.  So a win for us if we can snag one of these nice flats!

Our final stop was at the Marina Promenade, the newest of the Emaar developments.  It was interesting to go from the oldest to the newest in one afternoon and see the difference in the base finishes and layouts of the apartments.  The community spaces in the newer development are not as big or spread out, however the apartments are better laid out and with more updated finishes.  Fair tradeoffs because the apartments are priced similarly - although everything in Dubai is negotiable. :-)  The two properties with the Emaar amenities were not enough to overtake our top two choices, but were definitely a solid 3rd and 4th place if we were unable to come to terms with our higher priority properties.

Custom built-in cabinetry at one of the Marina Promenade properties

We had a short talk with our agent about limitations and language that needed to be included in the lease per my company's restrictions for allowances, and we made an offer on the Horizon Property.  After two days and 18 viewings, we were worn out!  Baby L was fussing, G was still jet lagged, and I still had general mommy-fatigue and soreness from still having not fully recovered from delivery.  We headed back to Abu Dhabi, hopeful that we would get what we want...and on our way home, we came to a verbal agreement with the landlord!  We aren't holding our breaths because we haven't finalized the paperwork yet, and we're hopeful we can come to full terms in writing this next week.  Cross your fingers it works out for us!

#grumpybaby on the way back from Dubai to Abu Dhabi