My Own Home: Couple get Dh3 million offers for bargain Dh1.3m property

The value of Payal and Nimit Sethi’s home has more than doubled since 2020

Payal Sethi and Nimit Sethi bought their villa for Dh1.3 million in 2020 at the Springs in Dubai. All photos: Pawan Singh / The National

The property was originally a two-bedroom villa, but they have added an extra bedroom and have three bathrooms

The couple live there with their dog, Burfee

The living room

The dining area

They have planted many trees in their garden

The guest room

The renovated entrance gate

The kitchen

The master bedroom

Family photos on display

A bathroom was added on the ground floor

A lot of work has gone into the garden area

My Own Home takes you inside a reader-owned property to ask how much they paid, why they decided to buy and what they have done with it since moving in

Less than a year after internal audit head for Noon.com Payal and Nimit Sethi, founder of pet store and grooming business Pet Patio, got married in 2019, they bought their dream property in Springs 4 in Dubai for Dh1.3 million.

It was already a few months into the global pandemic and prices had steeply dropped, so they took the plunge and spent a further Dh250,000 on renovating the place.

Today, they live in the three-bedroom house with their three-year-old poodle Burfee and they are getting offers for more than Dh3 million all the time. But they are reluctant to sell because they are just so comfortable where they are.

The National takes a tour.

Please tell us about your home

Nimit Sethi: We have three bedrooms and three bathrooms. We are very blessed to have a spot where we’re not backing into any other house, as it backs on to a road. So we don’t have anyone peeping in our garden.

We are also blessed to have good neighbours who don’t interfere or complain over little things.

The best part is they’re owners on both sides, so our neighbours won't change until they end up selling the house.

Why did you decide to buy?

Payal Sethi: We were renting a one-bedroom place in Downtown before, but when we got married we were looking for a bigger space.

We were in two minds about whether to rent another property or buy, and then Covid happened. We started seeing that the property prices were going down and we knew we are going to live in Dubai for the long term. The only risk was, would the prices go down any further?

But we’d always had our eyes on the Springs. Earlier in 2020, the prices were steep here, but then, come July or August, we started seeing the dip.

At the time, no one was letting us in the houses for viewings. Thankfully, Nimit knew someone who managed to give us a glimpse of this house. The tenants who were living here were very sceptical of people coming in, but they agreed to one viewing. I still remember the masks were on and we had to make our way around in one line and just go up, down, then out again.

We just managed to get a feel for it, but that was enough.

Nimit: Also, in the back of our heads we knew we were going to renovate this house completely. So whatever state it was in before, it didn’t really make a difference to us.

What renovations have you done?

Nimit: We did some extensions in the living room. We converted a maid’s room on the ground floor to a bathroom. There was also a powder room as well as a laundry area, which we converted into a guest bedroom.

We revamped all the bathrooms upstairs and completely changed the floorings. We also opened up the kitchen and put in an entire Ikea model.

Payal: We also did a lot to the garden. Before it was just concrete and artificial grass, so we ripped it apart and added natural grass.

My grandmother contributed a lot. She planted some trees that are now fully grown. We have some drumsticks, we have a pomegranate tree and there’s also a lemon tree.

We grow a lot of vegetables as well, such as tomatoes, aubergines and green chillis.

It’s an L-shaped garden and it’s a very nice area for us. Winters are amazing, when we sit out in the garden. We also do these barbecues and parties where we can easily accommodate about 50 people.

Why did you choose the Springs?

Payal: Access to the Springs is amazing. You are close to Sheikh Zayed Road and Al Khail, as well as the Marina and Barsha Heights. All the vibrant places, yet the Springs has its own quiet and calm environment.

Here we’re right next to one of the biggest lakes, so the evening walks are amazing. There’s a lot of walking space around here. There are also a lot of nice community malls and some dog parks.

It’s one of those communities that cannot be replicated in terms of the location, and that was really key for us. And, just generally, all the facilities are nice and clean, and we have a lot of friends here, so it’s the perfect choice for us.

We love this house so much. We always want to preserve it. We keep getting these offers of people really wanting to buy, but we just don’t have the heart to sell it.

Are you planning to move anywhere else in future?

Nimit: We actually just bought another four-and-a-half-bedroom house in Al Furjan that will be handed over by the end of the year. It’s like the most upcoming and in-demand area right now. It’s just about five miles away from here and connected to Sheikh Zayed.

Payal: We’re still contemplating whether to live there or rent it out. We are so used to the Springs now and this house really is sufficient for us at this point.

Also, with the rental prices in that area, we could make a good amount. So we’re thinking we’ll rent it out to start with and then we’ll see, hopefully if the family grows and we need more space, then we move there.

Have you seen a financial difference between renting and owning?

Payal: Before we got married, we were both renting our own places. I’ve been in Dubai since 2012 and Nimit has been here since 2008. All these years we invested in renting and if we would have even picked up one studio, we might have owned it by now.

When we got married, our main focus was to stop investing in rented houses and get our own home. If we look at the savings now, we would have rented this house for Dh200,000-plus per year, whereas we’re paying about Dh90,000 for our mortgage. So, we’re living in the Springs for half the price we would have paid if we were renting.