Which compound??

Hi can anyone offer me some advise regarding which compound to choose. My husband is looking at 2 villas one in the Grove and the other in Salman homes both in Hamalah. They both look lovely but am just wondering if anyone lives in either of these places and what their experience has been.
My main criteria is a family compound with other kids around for my 3 boys to play with and good facilities.
Thanks
Jessica

Hi Jessica,

I know both of these compounds , we viewed the Grove when we first moved here but rentals were higher then but I know famillies have recently moved in after it being empty so long as they have reduced the price. It has a great community pool, gym etc and my yoga instructor teaches there twice a week . I think it is still quiet but famillies are now moving in.  There isn't really a garden and if you gave a dog it would be a problem and the grassy areas are Astro turfed. Modern & big compound and very close to BSB.
I have a friend that loves living in the Salman compound and says it has a great community , she has two boys at BSB. They have their own pool and a great community pool and other facilities. It's not as big a compound as the Grove but the houses inside seem bigger ?

Both great compounds, especially if people start filling up the Grove. Be aware that the show house in the Grove looks fantastic but ask to look at an empty house, big difference . Funnily enough there were 4 famillies that all landed here last September and we all liked the Grove but back then they were asking 2000 plus per month! We could've all been there !
Best of luck,

Nicola 🌻

Nicola

Thanks so much for the feedback. Really looking forward to settling on somewhere and getting over there.

Jessica

No problem, it's a pleasure and I remember it well. Luckily, I had a good friend that lived and taught in Bahrain for 10 yrs that did a lot of the ground work for me.

We stayed in Fraser Suites when we first landed, they were great and attached to Seef Mall which helped in the early days!

Nicola 🌸

Both are very over priced - you can get a much nicer villa for a lot less money if you travel over the causeway and move to Janabiya or Saar. Both are more local to expat clubs, facilities, cinema's etc.

Thanks Josnuggles.
Do u have any recommendations for nice family compounds? A lot of the places my husband has seen have no communal facilities but did offer lovely houses and better value for money. But Id really like to have a compound where my boys could make friends. I'd live to hear of any recommendations so I could steer my husband in the right direction

Hi. PM me your budget and all info. Like how many bedrooms etc. You obviously want unfurnished if you are bringing a container with you.  Ages of kids too please

Hi Jessica

I was also house hunting in Bahrain recently. The Grove was nice, lovely finish to the interior. If you haven't found a property PM me.

Cheers

Andrea

The Grove is nice but stupidly over priced. Rooms are small compared to other places too.

Thanks for all the advise. We decided on Salman homes in the end. Really looking forward to getting there and settling in

Nice compound, good area. Little bit of maintenance needs doing to those properties so push your landlord hard with a huge list of work to be done. Including painting throughout, cleaning curtains, doing the garden, cleaning windows etc etc etc

Thanks Josnuggles that's a good tip we sure will

Literally make a note of every single thing you see that is wrong and insist they fix it (plus new locks on all outside doors)

We had an army of about 40 guys in our villa the day we agreed to signing. They were painters, electricians, pool maintenance, carpenters, locksmiths, gardeners, window cleaners. You name it and they will fix it.

Remember negotiate, negotiate and more negotiate. We got BD400 a month of our rent by chatting up the landlord.

Has anyone heard of Yara Gardens? They are new and in Saar. I really liked them.

Hi

Yes we also looked at Yara gardens. I think owned by Kanoo. We chose Wasmia gardens also owned by Kanoo.

Good luck

Are those new also? Is it true that Saar is where they do the tire burning and demonstrations?

Hi, yes Saar is an area which can be near to protests which can involive tyre burning etc. Which may lead to road blockages.

Ok thank you!

Let's get this straight

1. Kanoo is the best landlord in Bahrain and no Wasmia isn't new but all his compounds look new as they are highly maintained

2. Saar is NOT a troublesome area!! I am sick and tired of people saying it is. There are tyre burnings at one crossroads and it stays that way. There are numerous back roads you can take to avoid going even remotely close. I have lived in Saar for 2 years and I've never had a traffic jam expect when the highway is blocked. If there are tyres burning then there is huge sand area around it. Just drive around. You can tell if there is a fire anyway due to the smoke so just choose a different route.

Is there any nice villas that I can rent that are nicely furnished? My husband wants to now if there's a map of Saar?

There are some lovely fully furnished villa's. There isn't really a map of Bahrain - well not a good detailed one like our A-Z. Best thing to do is just to go to google maps. Use Sar (Saar) Ave as a guide and also Ave 13 & Ave 27. Different parts of Saar, you can then zoom in and take a look around

Apologies to Josnuggles, I did stress 'which may' but of course it's only a diplomatic opinion. I frequent Saar often.

Nicola64 wrote:

Apologies to Josnuggles, I did stress 'which may' but of course it's only a diplomatic opinion. I frequent Saar often.


Sorry Nicola it wasn't just your post. I've been on this forum for over 2 years and everyone slates Saar, especially those who don't live here and have maybe passed by once or twice.

They do it all the time and it makes me so angry because they don't actually know what they are talking about. I wanted to point out to new expats as well as the old that Saar is absolutely fine and it's where the majority of expats live

Hi, Does anybody know who the landlord is for the Grove?

[email protected]
This is Coryn's email address for the grove

NMY Prive wrote:

Hi, Does anybody know who the landlord is for the Grove?


Royalty

Hi Josnuggles, i am reading about the prices are too high for grove back a year ago, is a single story 4 bedroom villa exclusive 1,500 monthly reasonable in your opinion? CBRE says its the set price....

In my opinion you shouldnt pay more than 600 BD for semi +exclusive villa with 3 bedroom in Sara or budyia area .

I believe its very easy to know about rents of villa in bahrain or any property

egarti wrote:

In my opinion you shouldnt pay more than 600 BD for semi +exclusive villa with 3 bedroom in Sara or budyia area .


Really??? Many places go for BD1200 plus - not Budaiya but Saar is a great area to live. You can get places for BD600 but they are old, tatty and have bad maintenance.

PS this post is very old.

PPS Prices for the Grove are fixed and have reduced recently. I believe they have a waiting list. CBRE are the agents for that property

I pay 750 inclusive for my 3 bedroom large villa with a decent garden in an older compound.
Maintained well and they are quick with maintence too.
Near Saar

Hi,  we are moving from Kuwait to Bahrein and me and my family are looking to live in a nice friendly compound with children. We are planing to live in Saar area, just because they will be going to BSB and I wanted something close to the school. Can you help me please?

Hi CC73,

There are plenty of nice compounds in Saar, Hamala and Janabiyah close to BSB. You can check for villas on various websites, however these can be misleading and don't always give you a fair reflection of the accommodation or compound. Your best bet is to get here and then get hooked up with a decent real estate agent, who should be able to show you a wide variety of options to suit your requirements.

Do not be put off by the comment above regarding the distance to "the heart of Bahrain", wherever that might be  :/ , as Bahrain is a pretty small island so getting around is no great hardship, though downtown and the main highways can get pretty snarled up during peak hours.

Happy hunting.

Thank you Mythril. Will do just that. 😊

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