My Own Home takes you inside a reader-owned property to ask how much they paid, why they decided to buy and what they have done with it since moving in
While Rashmi Prabhakar Kalra’s husband had originally wanted to buy a property in their home country of India, Ms Kalra saw an opportunity investing in UAE real estate.
A qualified lawyer, Ms Kalra moved to Dubai the year before the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, just after they’d got married, and they rented accommodation in Al Barsha. But then they had two children and decided to take the plunge and buy.
While Ms Kalra wanted to continue living in Al Barsha, as she loves how central it is, she couldn’t find a suitable home for sale, so she looked nearby and found the perfect Dh1 million, two-bedroom JVC apartment. They love it so much, they're already planning to buy a second property in the area soon.
The National takes a look around.
Please tell us about your home
The layout is well-suited for our family. The best part about the home is the balcony. It’s huge. We can sit and enjoy our tea or coffee there. We don't often have backyards or front yards nowadays, so big balconies are a plus.
This home has a really good vibe and it’s properly made. I love cooking and my husband loves eating, so I needed a kitchen that is either fully closed or at least semi-closed. This is a semi-closed kitchen, and they've utilised the space so well.
They have created good space for storage, plus we have two bedrooms and there's one maid’s room. The previous owner had converted the maid’s room into a storage room, so that works really well for us. We are using it as a pantry as of now, but when I plan to shift my son to another room, that will be his room.
When did you buy it?
We bought the property in September, after my daughter was born, for Dh980,000 ($266,810) – and in December we got an offer for about Dh1.3 million. We were looking for two years. I really wanted a property in Al Barsha, but I don’t think there were a lot of properties on sale there, so we went to the nearest area.
We narrowed it down to JVC or Silicon Oasis – those were the two shortlisted areas I wanted to move to.
Why did you decide to buy?
Because rents are skyrocketing in Dubai. I have always been a person who feels like wherever you're living, you should own a house there, no matter where you go in the world.
Plus, Dubai is one place, when you move here, you cannot move away. It's so safe, the people are so good, plus you get to meet so many communities, so many people from different countries, and they all live together. It's very nice. I really love that my kids get to grow up in such an environment.
Why did you choose JVC?
Firstly, it’s close to Al Barsha, plus the gentry here and the locality. They have parks and schools. My son’s school is about four minutes down the lane, so it’s very good. It was a villa community, but now there’s a lot of construction going on here and very good properties coming in.
I also really like this area because it’s very close to Sheikh Zayed Road. It’s close to Al Khail.
What facilities do you have?
Only a spa is missing. We have a swimming pool, a gym, plus the corridors are like a play area for the kids.
There is no separate play area, but I really like the building. It's very nice. They have huge corridors, so the kids play there, and the other tenants and owners are really good with kids playing in some areas of the building.
What renovations did you do?
We painted, of course. I wanted to do some panelling, so we did that. We put some mirrors here and there, just minor things.
I changed the washrooms a bit, adding storage. The bathrooms are huge, but I needed storage inside.
Is there anything else you’d like to change?
Maybe I'll renovate the kitchen a bit. But that's it. I'm really happy with my house right now. And for a family of four, this house is absolutely amazing.
How long do you plan to stay?
I really love this property. I don't want to move out of it soon, because I feel that my kids will be fine growing up here.
Now we've bought one property here, we’re planning to buy another property in maybe another year. We’re searching for something small, maybe a townhouse or villa. We will rent it out, stay here for a bit, but in the future it’ll be really good for us to have a townhouse here. [The buying process] was so smooth here, plus I got into the laws and they are so clear about everything.
Since we’ve moved to JVC I've seen a lot of townhouses and they're very nicely built. So, I'll be going for JVC only. I don't want to switch my areas again and again. If we get a good price, I’d also look at Al Furjan. If the Metro doesn’t come here, that would be our second choice.
