JBR - Lovin' the Livin' Here

I decided to post the positive aspects of living in JBR for those who may consider living here, since the negative aspects have been posted and reposted. While I will agree with some of the negative things mentioned, it is always good to have a well rounded, dare I say fair and balanced, review to consider! :)

We are in our 4th year of living in JBR - we don't HAVE to live here, we CHOOSE to live here. One of my responsibilities over the past 4 years has been to locate corporate housing for some of our personnel - I've viewed apartments / duplexes in almost every tower / community in the Marina, many buildings in Al Barsha, JLT, the Lofts in the Burj Khalifa area, etc.. When weighing the pros and cons of living here, and having the opportunity to move every year if I wanted to, the pros win every time, which are:

1) We have a fantastic view of the Marina from every room in my apartment, and we start every morning with the Sunrise.

2) My teenage daughter has several friends from school living in the community, and most of her friends that live elsewhere come to our community on the weekends. They go to the beach, our pool, and spend time down on the JBR Walk or on the Marina Walk in the evening and I am not worried.

3) Our bedrooms are larger and better laid out than most other apartments in this price range.

4) We have a full size laundry room rather than doing the wash in the kitchen, where most washers are located in apartments here.

5) We have a grocery store, Starbucks, and Gym on the plaza level of our section, and our Doctor's office and hair salon are right next door.

6) We don't have to fight the traffic on the Beach side of JBR on the weekends because we live here - we can walk down to any restaurant, hotel or shop whenever we want.

7) We live on the beach.

When considering living in New York City recently, I took into consideration the salary, cost of an apartment in the city of comparable standards, the noise level of the city, conveniences and inconveniences, safety, etc., - we are staying here.

Would love to hear from others that enjoy living in JBR - for those that don't, please post your comments on the other thread!