The playbook.

Yes. Dubai has designated freehold areas where foreign nationals can own property outright, and leasehold areas where they hold a long lease instead. Most of the communities international buyers know (Palm Jumeirah, Downtown, Dubai Marina) are freehold. Which category a specific property falls into is a matter of record, and it should be confirmed on the title before you commit rather than assumed from the community's reputation.

A Dubai purchase runs from offer, to a signed Memorandum of Understanding with a deposit, to a developer No Objection Certificate, to transfer at a Dubai Land Department registration trustee office. Most of it can be handled remotely, with a power of attorney covering the steps that need someone present. A cash purchase of a ready property commonly completes within about a month; off-plan and mortgaged purchases take longer.

Budget for roughly 6 to 7 per cent above the purchase price on a cash purchase of a ready property. The Dubai Land Department transfer fee is 4 per cent and fixed; agency commission is conventionally 2 per cent and negotiable; and trustee, developer NOC and title deed fees add a few thousand dirhams between them. Mortgage costs are additional.

Ready property gives you an asset you can inspect and rent immediately, at a price that reflects both. Off-plan gives you a staged payment plan and the possibility of buying below completed value, in exchange for delivery risk and no income until handover. Which is right depends less on the market than on whether you need the property to earn from day one.

Service charges are the annual cost of running your building, charged per square foot and set per project. In Dubai they range from single digits per square foot to well over thirty, and they come straight off your rental income, which is why a gross yield quoted without them is close to meaningless. Get the actual figure for your building before you buy.

The UAE Golden Visa is a long-term renewable residency, and one of the routes to it is property investment above a threshold set by the authorities. Holders can generally sponsor a spouse and children. The thresholds, the conditions attached to mortgaged and off-plan properties, and the documentation all change, so the practical answer is to have a licensed immigration adviser confirm your position in writing before you buy on the strength of it.

Choose the community before the property, and choose it around the school run and the commute rather than the show apartment. Most families who regret a Dubai move regret the location, not the home. Rent for the first year unless you already know the city well. It is far cheaper than buying in the wrong place.

Housing and schooling dominate a Dubai household budget, and both vary enormously by choice, the same family can spend very different amounts depending on community and school. Utilities, transport and groceries are broadly comparable to a major Western city. The costs people underestimate are school fees, annual rent paid in few cheques, and the cost of running a car in a city built around driving.

The UAE does not levy an annual property tax or a personal income tax on rental income in the way many countries do, which is a large part of Dubai's appeal to international buyers. That does not make a Dubai property tax-free for you: your liability generally depends on where you are tax resident, and that is a question for an adviser in your own country, not for a Dubai brokerage.

Dubai's prime communities divide roughly into waterfront (Palm Jumeirah, Dubai Marina), central (Downtown, Business Bay) and family-oriented master communities (Dubai Hills Estate, Arabian Ranches). Waterfront and central buy you location and liquidity at a price; master communities buy you space, schools and quiet. The recorded transaction data for each is on its community page.