Moving to a new city can be an immense task, especially if you live far away from the location you want to move to. To help you through the relocation process and help you save both money and time, we have put together a step by step guide to ease the process of relocating to Dubai.



Step 1: Research Dubai Areas
We can’t emphasize enough on how choosing the right neighborhood is important since it could drastically affect your way of life in Dubai. For instance if you don’t drive and live in an area were no metro station is nearby, it will be very hard to commute anywhere including your daily destination such as work. Traffic also might be an issue even though traffic within Dubai is comparatively acceptable but you will still want to pay strong attention to traffic to and from your work place and other important destination. However, finding the right location in Dubai is not difficult as most new communities are well structured and provide easy access to common major roads in the city.



Step 2: Contact a Real Estate agency
A real estate agent with years of experience in Dubai’s real estate market, communities and relocation process can save you lots of time and money. We are proud to have a team of experienced team who helped thousands of families relocate to Dubai. If you give us an idea of what property type you are looking for with estimates of price, size and location, we could help you narrow down your list to few and help you with all of the legal requirement to move to your dream house or apartment.



Step 3: Prioritize your needs and wants
Once you have clear idea of how much you can afford, it is time prioritize what are you needs and wants in term of the property you want to purchase. You should ask yourself questions that are relevant to you like “Is having a school nearby a priority” or “Can you afford a house in the community that you have chosen” and similar questions. These questions could only be answered by you and will further narrow down your list of houses.



Step 4: Check family-friendliness
Whether you do have children or planning to have a family in the near future, it is important to evaluate the family-friendliness of the community you are considering. Here you must consider important aspects like availability of good accredited schools, general security of the area and outdoor activities children could use.

We have previously listed family friendly communities in Dubai and here is the list “Top 10 family friendly places to live in Dubai”.



Step 5: Narrow down your list
At this point you must have done enough research and have an overview of the pros and cons of each community and hence could narrow your list to only to few properties. This is a key step since the next step will be going to your real estate agency and along with an agent visit the few properties left in your list.



Step 6: Schedule a visit to the property
At this stage you will visit the property you choose with an agent, this is the same whether you are renting or buying. Having an agent by your side is really helpful at this stage as they will share with you ideas from a different perspective as they have years of experience in Dubai’s property market.



Step 7: Buying or renting the property
Now that you have chosen the property that best suits you, it is time to finish up with the paper work before your move. There are slight differences between buying and renting when come to payment details, here we list both.



Steps of buying a property

- Contact a real estate agency to guide you.
- Make sure you are eligible.
- Establish a buyer and seller agreement.
- Signing an agreement of sale.
- Apply for No Objection Certificate (NOC).
- Transfer of ownership with Dubai Land Department (DLD).


Steps of renting a property

- Contact a real estate agency to guide you.
-  Make sure you are eligible.
- Make an offer
- Reserve the property
- Check DEWA
- Drafting and signing the contract
- Ejari registration
- Move in permit (If applicable)


To further ease your transition we have previously written a general guide to living in Dubai as a foreigner and here is a link “Living in Dubai – A guide to foreign investors”.


If you have any questions regarding relocating to Dubai, feel free to leave a comment below and one of our leading agents will be happy to answer them.


Also comment below which city do you currently live in?