Just ask yourself, why would you buy when the charges may be as high as 100k per year for maintenance…
Homeowners in The Cove development in Ras al Khaimah could each face service bills of more than Dh100,000 (US$27,226) a year because the developer must rely on generators to provide power to the luxury resort.
That is more than the average cost of renting a villa in the emirate, which has been beset by acute electricity shortages.
“If they are running the airconditioning during the month, they are having a bill of Dh3000 to Dh4000 a month,” said Ashraf al Agamawy, the manager of the project, which includes a five-star Rotana Hotel.
“We don’t get electricity from the Government and are running over eight diesel generators, which is very expensive.
The Cove in Ras Al Khaimah
It costs me about Dh2.5 million per month.”
The Cove was launched in April 2005 by Orascom Hotels and Development, one of Egypt’s largest developers. It comprises 78 apartments and 188 villas, 75 of which were sold under a form of timeshare agreement with the Rotana Hotel.
Under timeshare agreements, owners are allowed to use their villas for a maximum of four weeks a year…SOURCE
Another example to how sad and disgusting the property market here has become…
Thirty eight families will find out later on Sunday if they are to be evicted from their homes in Discovery Gardens after paying a year’s rent upfront to a brokerage firm which turned out not to be the landlord.
Everyone who is involved in this story is an accomplice:
Corporate Business Solutions (CBS) – I hope they find the owner and leave him/her to rot in jail
RERA – for lukewarm reaction and not taking a strong stand with the real victim here
Meraas – for choosing to blame and go after the victims, not the culprit
RE agents – for blackmailing tenants for their commission money back in return of waiving liability.
Here is my question: If the brokerage firm in question (CBS) was not the landlord, how did they have keys to the units and managed to handover apartments to tenant to move in and officially register DEWA and all? Something doesn’t smell right here at all ..
I hope that everyone mentioned above sleep warm and cozy in their beds at night knowing that they can be responsible for throwing out 38 families in the street. Sick.
Dubai residents are moving house to take advantage of rental bargains in the city, estate agents said yesterday.
Tenants who were previously reluctant to change homes due to a shortage of accommodation, and a lack of rent caps in new contracts, are now seeking better deals as their leases near expiry.
Some are even willing to walk out on existing contracts and sacrifice deposits in exchange for homes that have become cheaper since the completion of thousands of apartments in Jumeirah Lakes Towers, International City and Discovery Gardens.“People are moving from one part of the city to the other, especially those who rented at prices very much above current market rates,” said Rose-Marie Kilzi, the leasing director of Great Properties, a Dubai-based estate agent.
“They are looking around about two to three months before the contract expires to see if they can find something cheaper.”…SOURCE
02/08/2009 11:27 PM | By Mariam M. Al Serkal, Staff Reporter
Sharjah: The trend to illegally share accommodation is declining and more apartments are becoming available on the market.
Despite the availability of space and the drop in rents, new buildings in residential areas are still not filling up, especially in Al Ta’awun and Nahda.
“People are still making many inquiries about the availability of apartments but they are not being materialised. There has definitely been a decline in new tenants because many are waiting until April to see if the rents fall further,” said a real estate agent who declined to be named.
A two-bedroom apartment in Al Ta’awun that used to cost Dh85,000 per year now costs Dh73,000, and a two-bedroom apartment in Al Rolla dropped from Dh55,000 to Dh40,000 per year.
The municipality has also detected a decline in the number of residents found violating the rules of shared apartments as people are adhering to the rules.
“Last year we were always fining people who were sharing their homes illegally and the numbers were rising every month. But in the last three months, the average number per month has gone down by five per cent,” said Mohammad Al Ka’abi, security section manager at Sharjah Municipality.
In 2008, the municipality found 250 apartments that were housing families and bachelors illegally although the number of violators could not be disclosed. In 2007 around 1,400 people were caught sharing accommodation in more than 100 apartments…
Prices of residential and commercial property in Dubai are predicted to plunge this year by up to 50 per cent and 40 per cent respectively as the real estate market reels under pressures of a correction sparked by weak demand, findings by a new market research show.
Residential rents of both apartments and villas are also forecast to drop by 25 per cent while commercial rents are poised “to fare even worse,” according to the report by Landmark Advisory, the research wing of a Dubai-based property company.
“Apartment prices will fall on an average by 20 per cent, with individual declines ranging between 10 and 50 per cent depending on the development. Average villa prices are likely to remain relatively stable with up to 10 per cent average drop with lower quality units bearing the brunt of these declines,” the report said. Villa rents are expected to fall on average by 25 per cent with low quality units hardest hit.
According to the report, residential prices peaked in October 2008, fell through to December, and continue to fall. “Assuming that the current downturn will affect prices in line with historical average of 35.5 per cent, then Dubai’s average price floor will fall from a peak Dh1,556 to Dh1,000 per square foot.”…SOURCE
