Tuesday, May 05, 2009

A villa in new DXB

A house in The Greens, an Arabian Ranch.
If you want to own it and not merely loan it
You'll need to come up with a million or more
In cash or a mortgage whose rates make you sore.

There is a catch!
Where?
Buyer beware!
Why should I take such care?
Because the rules keep changing,
Fair or unfair,
And you'll find yourself tearing your hair.
Despair!



At first we were promised a visa with freehold
And then after buyin', it turned out they was lyin'.
No visa? No phone; no electricity.
Small wonder that expats were starting to flee.

Give them six months!
Six
Months at a time
Residence should be fine,
Then send them on vacation.
Smile and don't whine
'cos the problem is yours and not mine.
I'm fine!



If you own a freehold apartment or villa
Your maximum stay's just a hundred'n'eighty days.
Then leave for a month, save up dirhams two grand
To buy a new visa to live in Sandland.

You wonder why
I
Don't buy Dubai?
My, how it goes awry!
Oh, the confusion,
'til from on high
Comes a missive that should clarify
Just why
To buy.


Bye-bye!

The original music and lyrics, by Ted Dicks and Myles Rudge, were made famous in 1965 by Ronnie Hilton.

]}:-{>

7 comments:

hut said...

You better believe
That many believed
And now they must leave
In a rush before bailiffed.

modern said...

So true.
There must be a real political power struggle away from view. Between the traditionalists (who don't want any expats around) and the contemporaries.

Dave said...

And through all of this Dubai's reputation as an equitable place to do business & purchase property goes further and further down the gurgler.....

Why oh why?

Seabee said...

Nice one Mr Goat :-)

My thoughts exactly Dave -consistently doing precisely what's not needed for Dubai to be successful in the future.

Anonymous said...

I suspect some official had a look around to see what the rest of the civilised world was up to. Australia, for example, where you can buy 'certain' property if you have the cash, but you can only stay for 3 months and then must spend 9 months outside the country before they will let you back in. Similar rules apply in the US. Most places won't let you buy at all. We take the benefits European Union for granted.

Anonymous said...

Except nobody is expecting the US economy to be hugely dependant on foreign residents for the bulk of its population.
Dubai and the Emirates have a population that doesnt come close to filling the massive numbers of housing units available.
Unless they are prepared to gift a couple of flats and a villa or two to each Emirati, what on earth are they going to do with all this housing??
Particularly when they constantly change the rules for freehold visas and essentially reserve the right to withdraw them on a rolling basis.

Unknown said...

Dear Goat --This comment has nothing to do with your inspired lyrics, but I'm taking advantage to pass along to you a link to a goatish article which you simply must see:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/01/google-rents-goats-to-replace-lawnmowers-im-not-kidding/ The further links to articles are also worth the time. Of course when I saw this, who but the Grumpy Goat immediately popped to mind. Best to you and Beloved Wife! Miss you.

 

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