My Dubai Rent takes you inside a reader’s home to have a look at what they get for their money, how much they pay in rent and asks them what they like and don’t like. Click here if you would like to take part in the series and show us why your home is so special.
Ana Elisa Seixas and her family bought their own home in Dubai but continued to rent a villa in another part of the city after falling in love with the community.
The Portuguese marketing professional, who works for a sports brand, has lived in the UAE for 21 years, and spent much of that time in the Umm Suqeim neighbourhood.
For the past seven years, Ms Seixas, 45, and her family have rented a four-bedroom villa there, paying Dh250,000 annually.
She showed The National around the home that she shares with her husband Catalin Marin, an architectural and travel photographer with his own business, their eight-year-old son Ethan and the family cat, Gruffy.
Please tell us about the villa
We have four bedrooms, an office, and a closed kitchen. It used to be an old-looking kitchen, but we wrapped it so it looks more modern and personalised.
We have a double garage and each villa has its own private garden that then opens up on to a community garden, so we have the best of both worlds.
The highlight is definitely the community garden where all kids play together like the old days.
Why did you choose this place?
We moved in when Ethan was about one, so around seven years ago. And we have been living in the neighbourhood for around 15 years.
We love everything about it, except the price. The fact that it is an old villa with unique architecture and charm, and the common garden where all the compound kids can play, are some of the many reasons we love it.
We have been super lucky to have great neighbours who have become friends, so it is a very special community.
What made you opt for this area?
It still has “old Dubai” vibes, an authentic feeling to it that really makes it feel homey versus some of the new communities. We are close to the beach but also close to Sheikh Zayed Road, so can easily access the rest of town.
We also love the diversity in terms of the families who live in the area; from Emiratis and old timers like us to newcomers to Dubai, coming from so many different parts of the world. We have been living in this area since forever and we absolutely love it.
What do you pay to rent there?
We are currently paying Dh250,000, which is almost 70 per cent more than we were paying last year. But the truth is that this is “home” for us, so we decided to try to make it work.
It has been really hard to watch all the villas in the area more than triple their rental prices since we started renting in this area. So many families have moved out because of that, and most of the landlords are destroying the old villas to give space to modern townhouses. A lot of the architecture and charm of older times is slowly disappearing from this area.
How have you made it your home?
After having our kid, we felt we wanted our house to be not just “a rental”. We felt we needed to finally create a space that felt like home, a true family space that reflected who we are and what we love.
As passionate travellers, we love our map, highlighting all the places we have been to. Nothing feels better than sitting at our table looking at it, planning our next travel adventure. We drove from Dubai to Romania a few years back as a couple, and last summer we drove from Dubai to Portugal together with our son.
We also love our yellow cabinet, containing a souvenir from each of the countries we have visited, which now has more than 100 little trinkets.
We have added LVT flooring, a hybrid between wood and parquet, and wrapped our kitchen – a value-for-money way of upgrading the villa without feeling we were spending too much on someone else’s house.
And of course, on the walls we have some of my husband’s photographs. We probably should have more of them, but we always struggle to decide which is our favourite to go on the wall.
We tried to keep the bedrooms simple, but with a warm tone that makes us feel relaxed, and Ethan absolutely loves his teepee tent and Lego displays.
And because we have an extra space on the ground floor we transformed that into my husband’s office so we can edit photos etc.
What amenities do you have?
The beach is within walking distance. So is the cycling and running track at Kite Beach, which is the perfect recharge for our weekends. Months pass by without us using the car on weekends as we are always going around the neighbourhood on our bikes.
We have been fortunate over the past couple of years that several small independent restaurants have opened, places like Sagra, Freedah, Gecko and Hugo’s, and we keep going back.
Not to mention our favourite coffee shop, SKMD on Kite Beach. We have been going there since Ethan was three months old and they treat us like family every time we visit.
The area is midway to everything; close to the beach, a 15-minute drive to school, and close to the main malls, which, as I work in retail, is convenient.
What would you change about living there?
I want the old rents back. And traffic has also become really bad over the past couple of years. What used to be a quiet neighbourhood now is full of cars avoiding the traffic on roads like Beach Road and Al Wasl.
But we feel very confident about the plans the RTA has shared for the area. We are looking forward to seeing changes being implemented, including more cycling paths. It would be our dream to bike more often to school.
Are you planning to stay there?
We have lived in Dubai for 21 years and we’ve been lucky enough to live in the same neighbourhood for 15 of them.
We would love to continue to stay here. It really is our home and our child is definitely happier having such great friends in the compound and being able to have such a beautiful garden to play in every afternoon after school, away from any screens.
The community we have developed together with our neighbours is truly special. We wouldn’t want to change that for anything else.
Have you thought about buying property?
Yes, and we have invested in Dubai real estate. We bought in Arabian Ranches and initially planned to move in ourselves.
But because we love our current community so much, we ended up just renting it out and staying in this villa. We still feel that the benefits we get from staying in this area and in this villa make it the ideal place to call home.
