How to find a house in Abu Dhabi - Part Two

It's now just about four weeks since my research assistant (new term for husband) located a villa for us.  You remember, the one with the kitchen that looks like the film set of the food fight in Animal House.

And it looks as if we're going to get it.

Finally.

Let's take a look at the process of acquiring this magnificent piece of real estate:

28 June

First of all, this wasn't something listed in any property database or newspaper real estate section.  Why not?  Because it was a complete disaster area.  I mean, the guys in Stalag 17 had it better in terms of living quarters.  At least they were military folk and therefore pretty neat and tidy (I believe there is only ONE military man in the world who isn't neat and tidy, and I'm married to him).  This place was so bad that even the real estate agent (who is working for us, not for the owner) didn't want to show it to us.  Eventually she did.  And it was pretty bad. Mind you, I didn't actually SEE it, or any of the pictures, until after we made the offer.

1 July

We made an offer to the property management firm, contingent on all cleaning and repairs being completed within 30 days.  At that time, if work was completed to our satisfaction, we would enter into an annual rental agreement.  They agreed.

2 July

We sent a work list to the property manager, detailing all items to be cleaned and/or repaired. 

6 July

Property manager accepted the work list.

Then we waited a week.

12 July

We asked for a progress report and were told nothing had been done.  Why not?  Because the property management firm wasn't going to start ANY work until the annual rent had been paid and contract signed and utilities hooked up.

Utilities hooked up?  I know, I know.  Apparently the way things work out in the Land of Lawrence is that the tenant has the utilities connected, the property manager does the work, and then reimburses the tenant.  Ok, whatever.

The little hiccough here was a slight (9 day) delay getting the check and contract taken care of. So we waited.  And we waited.  And we waited again.

21 July

It is entirely possible that we now have a place to live in Abu Dhabi.  (Now there's a sentence I never thought I'd write.)  In between doing all that clever consulting work, my RA will be popping around to check on progress.  So far they seem to have removed an entire dumpster's worth of rubbish from the garden, so things are looking good.

Remember, this is Arabia, so the fact that someone has removed rubbish from your house is cause for celebration.

I have to confess I haven't actually learned any patience over the past month.  But at least I've discovered that mañana is actually an Arabic word.