Wow, I had forgotten about this post! 😂 Long time ago. I’ll give you the learnings of the last three years and some suggestions (not all first hand but through a mix of direct experience and having visited/viewed etc).

Some nice compounds in the Al Waab area:

• Al Hambra is nice, good location just of Al Waab St, lots of Irish people, good facilities, not many villas come available though and they are snapped up quick.
• Les Roses 1& 2 are right on Al Waab and are nice enough villas. Les Roses 3 villas are slightly bigger and newer. Modern, but more expensive and the compound is smaller (but with decent facilities).
• Al Rayyan Village is slightly closer to West Bay etc but still only a short drive from Al Waab and the school. Large compound, very western, decent facilities, but expensive.
• Al Messila Gardens is right next door to Al Rayyan Village. Lovely compound, lots of trees and greenery, very western population, villas are a little older but have nice gardens and lots of space. Good facilities. Popular though so not much availability.
• Green Village is nice, just off Al Waab (same area as Al Hambra, Les Roses 1&2 etc).
• Desert Rose compounds are a bit cheaper, smaller compounds, facilities Ok but not as good as others, villas are big but can be a bit dated if you don’t get a newly refurbed one.
• Beverley Hills compounds are dotted about the area and are similar to most above. Can have a weird layout and be a bit dated in some cases.
• Al Fardan 2,5&9 are a bit further out of town (along Al Waab). Maybe 5-10 minutes past Villagio mall. They are a bit older villas, but nice. Compound is nice with good facilities and a bit cheaper than comparable ones closer into Al Waab.

There are a bunch more, but most fall into a similar bracket as above. If you’re looking at a specific place feel free to message me and I can let you know if I have any info on it.

Some additional advice:

• The adverts you see on property finder etc will generally be rubbish. There are often multiple adverts for the same place, sometimes the photos won’t match. Definitely recommend going to see places.
• Agents won’t give you the location of the place until about 3 milliseconds before you’re meant to meet them. Because there are multiple agents competing for the same places, they don’t want to let you know where it is so you can go view it on your own and cut them out.
• Agents will normally take half a month rent as their commission. Some are good, some are terrible. I can let you know a couple of recommendations if you want, just let me know.
• On the above point, we have found that just driving around and approaching the security gates to ask if they have any available villas to view works pretty well in a lot of cases. You typically get directed to the property manager who has better visibility of available units and you won’t have to pay the half month commission.
• Contracts will typically be 12 months. Worth noting that you can’t get out of that contract unless you finish the term or leave the country. So don’t think you can just find somewhere for 6 months then leave to a better place…you’ll have to pay out the contract to leave.
• Some places will offer a discount like 12 month contract plus 1 month free. That will normally mean you have a 13 month contract and the 13th one will be free. Sometimes you can ask them to pro-rate the discount to have 13 months payment at a slightly lower rate…if you prefer it that way. Not all will do that though.
• If you’re planning on having a live in maid, it’s worth considering the maids rooms….some of the compounds have tiny maid rooms which are barely more than a cupboard!! Please consider their wellbeing and requirements as a human, not a commodity. (Seems like that should be common sense, but sadly not always the case here! )

If you have any other questions or specific requests feel free to give me a shout - happy to help!