My Dubai Rent takes you inside a reader's home to have a look at what they pay each month, see who they live with and ask what they like and don't like
When American couple Brandon and Kimberly Rowberry moved to the UAE in 2016, they had six school-age children. Their eldest had already joined a university in the US.
Living in a house where the children could walk to school was always the top priority, says Mr Brandon, chief executive of Aster Digital at Aster DM Healthcare.
American family pays Dh170,000 for villa near school in Dubai
With four boys and three girls, now aged between 14 and 24, going for after-school activities such as football, theatre or basketball, Mr Rowberry says it was “impossible” to drive them back and forth, even with a driver.
"So, we always looked for a house that was within a 200-metre vicinity from their school," he said.
The family now live in a five-bedroom villa in Al Barsha with two of their children, Alis,16, and Sawyer, 14, within walking distance of the American Community School.
How much do you pay for rent?
When we moved in last year, the annual rent was Dh155,000. But recently, the landlord hiked the rent to Dh170,000.
What is the best part of living in the community?
The best part about the area is that my children can walk to school.
Now, only the youngest two live with us as others have finished school and are studying abroad.
When I moved to Dubai last year, we were keen to live somewhere very close to the school so that they can walk back and forth.
This area is also in the city centre and we have easy access to the metro, shopping mall, gym, and other amenities.
We are a scooter-riding family. All of us have electric scooters and we avoid travelling by car wherever possible. Barsha is a great area to ride around.
Where did you live before and why did you move?
We relocated to Abu Dhabi in 2016 after I got a job with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
Our first house was in Al Bateen and was just behind the American Community School where all the children studied. So we did not have to worry about their commute. We moved to Dubai after I got the job at Aster.
How did you find the new house?
When you want to live close to the school, there is actually not a tonne of choice.
Once we decided which school the kids were going, I started combing the area myself. I went to a bunch of compounds, spoke to security guards and found this five-bedroom villa.
What touches have you made to make the place feel your own?
Everything that you see on the wall is souvenirs from our family holidays. We travel a lot and have collected masks from Madagascar and Nepal, frames from Philippines and Thailand, to mention a few.
We also never shipped anything when we came to the UAE. We have a rather easy way of furnishing our house.
We found an expat family that was leaving the UAE and bought all of their stuff without cherry-picking what we want. It is hassle-free for them and us too.
What would you change about your home if you could?
I wish we had a bigger backyard. I would love to have one that is big enough to have a barbecue party. That is one thing I would have loved to change.
