Housing Allowance..? What can I get..? ish...
By ulfat.butt •
Howdi All,
I have been asked to move from Riyadh to Doha by my company and as part of my research I was hoping you could tell me how the compensation package fairs. I have been offered a Balloon figure of $86K to cover Housing / Kids Tuition / flight home etc...
Bearing in mind I have three kids, 8,4, and the youngest 3 who (fingers crossed) will be going to a reputable British School (if there is such a thing, in Doha) and ideally i'd like to live in a nice 3/4 Bed Compound Villa do I have enough money to play with or have i been done over by the bean counters in HR..?
All advice welcomed and if anyone has any villas/compounds in mind i would love to hear from you.
Ulfat
Sorry , Ulfa,.
U will be ok Ulfat.
Sleep tight alright...and wake up to a lovely day tomorrow...
Cheers...ladies...
Good night Novita...sweet dreams..
"It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid." - George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
:-)
*WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU KNEW YOU COULD NOT FAIL?*
http://www.myswitzerland.com/en.cfm/home
good night novi..sweet dreams..xxx
Ulfa ... i sent you a PM. Will off to bed now.
Ksarat , Nadt , Ulfa, Alexa whoever still awake ... Good nite all. x
I agree with Ksarat, for 15-20,000 you can get good villa.
Also dont go for apartments, kids do go crazy in apartments although the Beverelly hills towers, will have a lot of facilities to alleviate boredom.
6 months ago we looked into beverlley hills towers and we found great 3 bedroom apartments there.
Ok try now should be ok
ok just wait i'm new on here today so let me see if i can fix it
did u disable your PM? i cant send you a PM .... There is a regular QL user that used to live there, i dont want to write his name on here ... so i need to send you a PM to tell you who he is and you can ask him direct.
i am sending you a PM.
Do let me know what you want to hear and if its like that I will answer the question....
Actually does anybody know anyone that lives in the beverly towers..? it would be nice to find out what the quality of the apartments is like..? maintenance service etc..? if anyone knows of any pictures online that would be even better.... I'll also take Alexa's advice and start calling the Al Asmakh guys. There's a little part of me inside wishing that Ksarat is telling me how it is :-) I'm sure i'll find out soon enough
lol ulfat ...
This is the best english school in Qatar ....
http://www.dess.org/
And yes my son is there ... and he is half british ... (not full coloured).
Cheers for the Heads up on the british school :-) i'll remember to get the talcum powder out before I visit
newly arrival in my son's class is Indian British ... (DESS)
Well hey do I look like a Real Estate agent...naaa...LOL...and I aint taking anyone to Tinsel Town...look at the papers mate, and I am quite quite sure about you finding some accomo...trust me, LOL...
'i've also heard that coloured britishers are discriminated against during admission'.....wtf?What are they?.....
"It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid." - George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
Cheers Alexa, i've started looking at the gulf times classifieds but as I've never been to doha most of the locations and compound names were meaningless. Cheers for the list will probably give them a call from the office see what they can do :-) Night Night
so ulfat ... you can ask Sarat to get those villas for you when you arrive in Qatar. I am sure he will be more than willing to help you ...
well u can find reasonable compounds between 15k to 20k, depending on ur luck. i have three kids round about the same age as yours and we pay extra just to enjoy the luxury of a compound. kids get frustrated in flats and i suggest u go for a compound. the peace of mind is worth the money.
admission in british schools is difficult even for british passport holders as they are all full. i've also heard that coloured britishers are discriminated against during admission.
the career upgrade sounds good. do ur homework before u make any decision.
Welll people, dont mind me and my upcming language...pls dont get me wrong, this is just in relation to this post...
Are you all out of your freaking nuts and brains...whats this 20k- 25k for a decent place...geeeez people stop blabbering...thats ridiculous...step into Al Waab or Abu Hamour, or near the Sports City, tons of Villas for 15K - 18K in a damn compound a 3 B/R One...freaks, you all neeed to get your damn eyes on the ground for a moment, christ...
Again, this is pertaining to this post only...not outside the post...especially you Novi, dont mind me and ma language...its just insane to see all of you post so miserably...
<My sincere Apologies for being totally Harsh...>
Cheers Rachela, i expected it wouldn't cover everything which is why I had pretty much decided that I would cover the cost o the flights if i couldn't get my employer to dish out the cash :-) looks like the options I have are:-1) Nice 3 Bed Apartment in a Tower2) Off compound villa - but nice3) On compound villa but not very flash, no facilities, below average area, middle of no-where Would that be an accurate summary..?
If you pay QR 20k/month for housing, that will leave you less than QR 80k annually for school fees x 3 PLUS flights. IMHO, not enough. Now, if you could get them to provide accomodation, and then give you say $50k US for flights and schools, that might be more reasonable.
Cost of housing is really quite extreme here, so you/they should take that into acount.
Good luck.
Ulfat ... 20.000 K will get you in a nice Beverly Hills tower apartment. With swimming pool ... and walking distance to the City Centre shopping mall.
Alexa, i understand what your saying I am currently in Al-Hamra in a 2 bed apartment paying around 110,000 which is nothing compared to what i've seen in Qatar but then again there's nowhere else to move. Simply put Riyadh is full to the brim.The shopping malls are great here but i'd give my right arm to be able to get to a Cinema without having to apply for an exit visa :-) Plus moving to Qatar gives me a Career upgrade. I don't expect the same level of luxuries but all I want is a nice sized house for the family and a secure communal area for kids to play. Gym would be a bonus. Can you give me any pointers which compounds may be suitable, you obviously know what we have here any recommendations that are realistic....? I have seen people mention compounds in other threads but there is no chance of even getting into them...or should I focus on a rented apartment in a serviced block...? P.S. Rent is going up something stupid here as well in the last 12 months I have seen some places double in price.
hi nadt , i just tell Ulfat to budget 20K to 25 K.
me think you should just ask your employer to pay :
- Housing
- Schooling
- Medical
- Flight
then ask for salary.
At Alexa ... hope your wish come true soon xxx
hiya novi..can we swap houses since you pay cheap..lol...
15,000 - 20,000 will get you a villa in a compound....
If you want more wider range in picking the house .... i would say 20K to 25K. To be honest i really lost touch with the housing market nowadays. We havent move house for 7 yrs now ... and we pay really cheap rent.
Have a look at this ads from the local paper...
http://www.gulf-times.com/mritems/streams/2008/4/30/2_215793_1_255.pdf
Thank You Novita, Casanova, the company will give me $85K for the whole year to cover accomodation and tuition fees for the kids, I can spend it as I whish. For example I could home school the kids and spend all the money on the house....not sure I would do that but the option is there. Novita what are your thoughts for QR 15-20K per month is that stil not enough for a compound villa..? if not what do you think is the current rate for a 3 Bed Villa in an Above Average Compound..?
Ohhh... then its fine but i believe u have to make some adjustments with your housing requirements....
“Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.”
Martin Luther King.
ulfat ... you should come here first for look see visit ... see the school and show your face in person to the school.
I'm a bit confused....
The salary package you are getting is $86k/month or its yearly package...???
“Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.”
Martin Luther King.
Sorry the $85,000 is not my salary, its to cover housing, tuition for 3 kids and maybe flights but i'm happy to pay for that out of my pocket.
I was looking to spend between QR 15-20K.With regards to school all the kids are British Passport Holders so I was banking on that helping. We are currently paying around QR 35K per child for the British School in Riyadh so it looks like might be able to save a bit there.
Your Monthly salary is QR. 26,158.333............
Dont even think of that... a Three bedroom Compound Villa will cost you more than your total salary...
“Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.”
Martin Luther King.
how much is your budget for housing? QR 15.000 only will get you a 3 bedroom villa and not in the compound.
reputable british school? you lucky if you can get a space for your kid/s. School is a big nightmare now for newly arriving expat in Doha.
Yes there is a reputable good british school that call DESS, but they wont even entertain you if your kid/s not holding any british passport. Leave alone taking the application in.
Kid/s tuition in DESS starting next september will cost you QR 8500 a term and will go up at least 10 percents each year.
Do research carefully ... before you decide with anything.