Mission: Find a place to live

Although I was loving my stay in the hotel that my employer had given me, I was entitled to it only for a month. I had to find a place of my own in that time.

My favorite place to live in Dubai is Dubai Marina. I was fascinated by this magnificent housing project. Despite its high cost, I was determined to live in Dubai Marina as it was 5 minutes from Dubai Internet City.

A general rule of thumb in Dubai is that it costs you 30-35% of your yearly income on housing (which is still very high compared to rest of the world). Considering the high rents in Dubai Marina and how much I wanted to live there, I was willing to spend as much as 60% of my salary to be able to do that.

It made a lot of sense to me. I was aware of benefits of living near work, as back in Karachi I lived just 5 minutes away from work, and I was spoiled. I was able to avoid the rush hour traffic, wake up late in the mornings, and be home early after work. I wanted to have the same luxury in Dubai. And I was ready to pay the higher price.

So I started my search hoping that I will be able to find an apartment in Dubai within my budget, I mean c’mon, there gotta be one apartment for me in those 40 towers, but soon the reality hit me like a bullet.

To be continued…