Buy a dog, name him "Clue", then you'll have one!

Ok, so several times in the past week I have taken part in discussions with people with their Dubai blinkers/blinders on. All of these people are long-time residents (7-15 years), are homeowners, have good paying jobs, a few bucks in the bank, etc. They come from different walks of life, yet they all have a specific commonality. Their heads seem to be up their asses. I mentioned in a previous article that you "had to have been living under a rock" not to know that the bottom has fallen out of the market. Well, since last Friday I have met 6 rock-dwellers. Completely oblivious to what is going on, complete clue balls. I think because they have been here since before the "boom" and have had the same job for 8,9,15 and 25 years. The slowdown here is so painfully obvious, it happened over night for Christ's sake. They still have yet to notice.

These are the people that believe the drivel in the Gulfnews, the rumour mill, and still believe they can rent their properties for extortionate amounts.

Just last night, one clueless wonder ACTUALLY believed that the lack of traffic is because the RTA initiatives were working. When I pointed out that tens of thousands of people had left Dubai, she "hadn't heard that". When I showed her the GN article regarding 1500-2000 residency permits being canceled daily, she commented "really, why are they leaving?" She also had not heard about the rent cap. But then again, how many Jumeirah Janes worry about that? They are more concerned with bitching about maids and nannies and houseboys.

Last Friday at a family get-together, I was happy to see some friends from Abu Dhabi that I rarely see. They have a beautiful home in Arabian Ranches that they let out to a German family for 320,000AED per year. They "aren't happy" with the tenants, and would like them out for better tenants. Apparently the tenants' child has drawn on the wall with crayons. (I happen to know when the owners lived there, their giant Mastiffs used to shit all over the floor). I'll take crayon over shit, any day.

When I told these friends about my "experiment", they were shocked. They believed the GN bullshit about higher rental demand due to lack of financing, etc. When I told them I had not got a single call regarding my "under market value" villa, their jaws dropped. They figured they would boot the Germans and someone would snap it up for 400,000 AED right away. A quick google search and I showed them a butt-load of identical properties "listed" at 250,000AED. I also let them know that that figure would be negotiable.

At the end of the conversation, they took the crayon.