Saudi ArabiaTopic Title: Any recommended Compounds for Riyadh - July availability
Author vimspal
Date Posted: 11/2/2007 2:06 AM
Just wanted to know about the compounds which will be available at 30,000 SAR a year.. can go upto 36.. fully furnished and yes.. safe ..
Author CCIE
Date Posted: 10/18/2007 8:17 AM
hi aussieicon,
u may help me in this. i am also looking for a compound in the same area. i asked about Kingdom Compound, but unfortunately, it's fully booked!
can u please contact me on my email: [email protected]. you may help me in this terrible task!
thank you in advance
Author robbbaxley
Date Posted: 7/21/2007 3:33 PM
I would like to thank everyone for their helpful replies!
Unfortunately, it looks like I will no longer be going to Saudi.... The company decided they would try to cut the agreed upon salary in half so I walked away from that contract. I am working on couple of other contracts (one in Kuwait the other in Bahrain) so maybe this will work out in my favor in the end.
As soon as I know something, I will probably be in one of those forums.
Thank you again for all of the help! ;)
Author aussieicon
Date Posted: 7/19/2007 2:41 AM
I don't know who is telling you that you can't rent anything for $1500 USD per month but that's nowhere near true. The USD, as you probably already know, is multiplied by 3.75 to get Riyals. That's SAR 5625 per month. That is more than enough to get a SUV or a very nice town car. You could even buy an SUV with that much allowance per month. We have a Mazda 6, which isn't fantastic but it only costs us 2200 SAR per month. We had friends that were renting a Mitsubishi SUV and that was only costing them 3500 SAR per month. So I'm not sure where people get the idea you won't get anything for that amount. One important thing to note is that SUVs are usually reserved only for family men. You didn't say in your original post whether you are coming alone, or accompanied by a family. There are ways around that - as you will see when you get here.
Now in regards to the compounds, yes, most of them are full to capacity at the moment. But July/August is also the time when many people are leaving. We are on Kingdom Compound and I personally know upwards of 10 couples/families that have recently left. I'm sure there are many more that we don't know about. Your best bet would be to put your name down on the waiting lists of your favourite (or preferred) 3 or 4 compounds and then, in the interim, accept whatever you can get.
The best three compounds, in my opinion, and in order, are Kingdom City Compound, Arizona Compound and Al Hamra Oasis Village. Other stand out ones include Cordoba, Eid, Villa Rosas, Al Yamama and Arabian Homes.
What you will get for your $3000 USD a month, which equates to just over 130,000 SAR per year, depends on what status you are, again. If you are single, you can get a great place on any of the compounds. If you have a family, you will be more challenged to find something suitable. You'd definitely get a 2 bedroom place on Kingdom for that - but three bedroom places start at around 150,000 SAR per year.
Author kazushi
Date Posted: 6/25/2007 9:06 AM
Hi,
Unfortunately the top compounds are full and there is a very big waiting list... I've been trying to locate additional accommodations for coworkers with no luck...
Compounds like Al-Hamra, Cordoba and Arizona can cost up to 85000 SR per year for a single bedroom apartment, villas go much higher...
You can probably find a nice sedan for 1500 USD, but mind you that you will need an Ikama in order to rent.
If you plan to stay in KSA for a long time, it might be better to consider buying a car instead of renting !
Author robbbaxley
Date Posted: 6/20/2007 7:48 AM
gmack,
Thank you for your reply, unfortunately arabian-homes.com sent an e-mail to me that they only have limited availability, so I don't trust that they will have a villa when I need it. And as for my $3k/month housing allowance offer, I have brought up this issue with the company and they are quite firm on this offer.
Author robbbaxley
Date Posted: 6/20/2007 7:32 AM
Hello,
No, I have lived overseas for several years, in both the ME (Egypt recently & Saudi in the 'old' days) and EU (mostly Germany) but I don't have any current info on Saudi Arabia. I am trying to get as much info as possible because of the way the $$ has tanked. I want to make sure I don't loose money!
My problems with finding a villa in a compound is that I have sent e-mails to everyone I could find on the internet. Only one (!) has any openings...and that makes me very nervous. The villa that claims to have openings is www.canaryvillage.com. It seems to be ok, but is a smaller compound and does not have all the services (no bowling or theatre for example) I would want.
I have now found decent prices both on rental/lease/purchase vehicles so I feel confident on that front.
******************
Now for me go give a little back to the ME expat community:
I have read this forum and noticed several people complaining about lack of English television. From my experience in Egypt (and I know the same is available in Saudi), here are 3 satellite services, that when combined, offer a decent variety of American & UK channels. They are:
http://www.showtimearabia.com/Default_en_gb.aspx
http://www.starselect.com/home.html
http://www.orbit.net/SetLanguage.aspx
When combined, you will have a nice selection of about 75 channels for around $100/month (as of the last time I did this). Personally I felt this was a small price to keep informed of what was going on back home and to help stay sane... ;)
Author robbbaxley
Date Posted: 6/17/2007 11:46 AM
Bueller? Bueller?
Author gmack
Date Posted: 6/16/2007 10:58 PM
try
* http://www.arabian-homes.com
i did some research for the same reason. Possibly moving to Jeddah this summer. my offer was $4,000 which should be enough in Riyadh for a compound villa.
i'm afraid that $1,500 isn't enough for an SUV.
Author aka
Date Posted: 6/15/2007 5:33 PM
Hello Robb, my husbands due in Riyadh in August ive just researched compounds for him . Type Compounds Riyadh into your search & it will come up with a few villas & the rental charges . A one bed villa starts at about 27,000 Saudi Riyals per year thats furnished . Not sure about the car , but it sounds like more than enough to cover your car lease . We are thinking of shipping his over from the UK as it was originally purchased in Dubai .
You seem to be covered on the villa rent too . Have you lived abroad before ? They can try to get away with certain things on the package front ,but i think the packages are better than they used to be due to the current situation on security out there .Also try www.najaco.com
Good Luck ! aka.
Author robbbaxley
Date Posted: 6/14/2007 12:37 PM
Anyone?
