What is the price you are willing to pay for your dream?

Know exactly what you are saying ladies... I have been here long enough and as a matter of fact, years pass by before I realized. My choice is to make the best to the detail, here & now. I haven't bought property in UAE but love our vacation home elsewhere in an open green field size what we usually call a city in Dubai. Will I go and live there, I don't know. But I love it whenever I go there. Its away from the rush of a metropolitan still short drive from beach. Well, wishes are so many and they are interconnected. So here I am, surviving heat of this amazing sun. I guess desires are endless and so much to experience in one lifetime.

Hey ladies! We've moved this to our chit chat board :) thanks for your understanding! Because the main board is so busy?

Hey ladies! We've moved this to our chit chat board :) thanks for your understanding!

Mary..In the end, for sure you just gotta do whatever makes you all happy. If you still have 8-10 years here, that's a long time to wait to get the house of your dreams....Perhaps you can keep it when u move "home" and just use it as a vacation Airbnb rental?? We only had our house in SD for 10 years and with it basically empty for alot of the year, it didnt make sense to keep it up. Plus, the market in SD has been really high, so we struck while it was hot before it cools back down again. And that time is coming for us all. We aren't too old, I am only 45 and had my son younger, so we still have plenty of time to save and buy something later on. This just isn't the place for us to do that and with our situation having his company cover housing and car, we are just taking advantage of it while we can. Tbat said, we live in a nice hotel apt smack dab in the hub of JBR walk, facing the Palm and Blue Waters Island. So we sure as heck won't complain. But if you are staying here for 8-10 more years, perhaps making an investment for the long haul can serve 2 purposes. Your family's happiness and comfort while you're here and an income property after you leave. Could be a win-win for you! Good luck! ?

Its a great question to ponder but one only you and your family can answer. Each person and situation here is unique. For us, we have been here for 7 years. I mean my husband has.worked here for 7. Prior to this last year, I have traveled back and forth from our 'dream home' in San Diego. My husbands company directly pays for all housing and car allowances so we have never considered buying anything here. No real need to. The RE market is not stable and we have heard horror stories from other investors and friends who bought here and with a country sorely lacking any legal recourse, it's not worth it to us to risk our money in this market. My husband is a resident, so we could if we wanted; we just wont. With our son out of college and out on his own, we actually SOLD our fancy dream home in San Diego this past January and now I gave up my real estate finance job and live here full time. With that decision came no debt, no liabilites and no stress anymore and I am happy to be here with my husband as just a 'housewife' full time with the freedoms to come, go and damn well do as I please. We figured we are here for maybe 4 more years at best and our goal all along, unlike some of our other spendthrift friends here, has been to bank and save as much as we can each month. So when that day comes when we move back to US or retire to another country of choice, we can have the freedom to either buy another place or rent a house and let someone else deal with the headaches. The investment we make each month, is in our complete freedom from any debt and a stress free lifestyle here and in the future. That's a huge value to us personally. It's why we agreed to come here in the first place. A 4 to 1 increase in annual salary means he can retire earlier. But if we just spend ourselves silly buying into a lavish lifestyle here complete with a big fancy new villa and sports cars, just to impress strangers, to us, it defeats the purpose of giving up our comfortable life in beautiful San Diego in the first place. That said...if a house here will make you happier and fill that void your feeling then it may be worth it to YOU. It's not always about the money, unless it is. Quality of life has to play a factor in the decison as well. But you also need to be willing to make a financial sacrifice if markets go down as expected or your jobs happen to end or change. Again its something only you and hubby can decide. For us, right now, we are living our dream. What are both your dreams worth? If its that dream house here in Dubai, then I say just go for it. Live those years happy and content because they are gonna keep passing either way you decide.

Mary I hear you! your dream sounds like mine ..but my dream house is in San Diego. I want the beautiful bright house with amazing kitchen with carrera marble island bla bla. We are passing each year here and paying in the last 13 years millions in someone elses pocket and everyday I am dealing with terrible ac problems old bathrooms etc. But I am scared to buy because of the fragile situation in the gulf for the past years. Iran just said they MAY block the straight of Hormuz.(gulf news) that brings uprise and in it will effect real estate! Oh this is my dilema every day that keeps going on. We own a affordable town home here but its too small so we rent it. I would like to buy in Jumeirah park because of the space and it is possible to have something close to what my dream is, but I am hesitant because its a big investment to loose if the market crashes. Your not alone.

The prices are the lowest that they have been for years, it's definitely a good time to buy in certain areas. They might even go a bit lower. They are definitely going to get lower because in a few years, it's going to be too hot here to be habitable!! http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/oct/26/extreme-heatwaves-could-push-gulf-climate-beyond-human-endurance-study-shows

The prices are the lowest that they have been for years, it's definitely a good time to buy in certain areas. They might even go a bit lower.

What's the response you are waiting for? You've been here for 8 years, both you and your husband working and you didn't buy a house yet neither here nor in Canada? Which means you spent over a million dirhams on rent and are willing to continue doing so? Go buy a house! We have bought two investment houses in Canada in fact and rented them out, but here with the prices going up like crazy, inflated market, whenever we planned to do so and calculate the mortgage, inflation rate etc...it sounded the better investment to buy it else where and rent it out rather than buy here and live inside, our accountant still thinks so...but I am fed up of being reasonable!!!! Sure, go ahead and buy now. Don't wait. The prices are decreasing and will come crashing down. So excellent time to buy now. Sorry, didn't want to sound too cynical :sleepy:

What's the response you are waiting for? You've been here for 8 years, both you and your husband working and you didn't buy a house yet neither here nor in Canada? Which means you spent over a million dirhams on rent and are willing to continue doing so? Go buy a house!