Getting a loan

31 Jul, 2008  Uncategorized

Thank you my dear Qatar for offering me a loan of around 1.2m QR to build a house on my land. Thank you for that land as well! However I’m disappointed at the moment. While my father entered the necessary municpality to get the document to get this loan, he was told that a new law was in place and that I had to be married to get this loan. Dum DUM DUM. Married?
For a moment I thought, “Hmmm, do I have any friends that would marry me for a week?”. I shrugged the thought off. Now the government gives us this land to build a home to raise our family. So let’s try to play a game called “What happens?”.
I go to Mr. LandCruiser.
“Sir, I really love your daughter and I would like you to give me permission to marry her.”

“What can you offer her? Do you have a home to take care of her in?”

“No I don’t, but I thought we could live in a flat while I got a loan.”

“So you’re going to put my precious daughter in some flat and get into debt from day 1?”

No no, that’ll never work out. In our culture a home is the standard. To raise a family in a flat is not.

Let’s say Mr. LandCruiser said yes. Alright, I’m now in my 9,000 QR flat; she’s got standards after all. Luckily, in this scenario, I make 20k a month (The average is much lower and no that’s not my salary, but I’m just giving a general idea here). So 9k goes on the flat leaving me with 11k. It’s 3k on bills and utilities. 8k left. I need to give her at least 2k for herself as spending money. 6k left. 3k goes back to paying the mortgage. 3k left. Food is around 1-2k now. 1k left. I’ve got 1k… to live on… that means no business for me. Nothing.

How can a person survive on just that if he’s going to have a very good life. Yes, I can live on 1k left over. I can. But why am I forced to have just 1k? Add to the fact that the 1.2m will only cover a third of my property building and I would need a loan from the bank which I’d need to pay back at a rate of 8% which equates to around 14k a month if spread on 30 years and I’m screwed!
What if I had prior commitments? What if I took a mortgage on a property to invest in.

There is no way that this can work!

The story isn’t finished. My father exploded in the man’s face. “Who made this stupid law?!” The man behind the desk smiles and points to a picture of the Emir. My father is VERY angry now. He replies, “You’re saying that the man who has brought this country development, the man who has given us free water, electricity, and land, the man who has given the Qatari people so much, is now trying to take something away from us? Don’t you EVER say anything bad about my King again”. By now, that man is cowering. He’s speechless.

The solution is to get as many Qataris as possible to write in and show how this new law has affected them. I’d suggest to expats that you get all your Qatari friends to do that by the way, if more Qataris need to rent, guess what? Rent goes up. Hint. Hint.

Alright. Let’s look back at this post. Humour? Check. Seriousness? Check. Sympathy? Check. Loyalty? Check. Fear? Check. Good, you’ve now experienced a Mr. Q emotional ride ^_^

  • Abuamerican

    I sympathize bro but I just want to buy a joint on solid land and not anything reclaimed from the sea and hence one day to be reclaimed by the sea.

    All in all you still got it good when you look at the US or the EU. No one gets land, money or free water or.. well free anything.

    I feel you but you still got it good bro.

  • Kei

    We do have it good compared to many countries but we have to go by our standards in the country we live in (or are from).

    Sadly a land doesn’t do much good if you can’t sell it until 3 years after the home is built and you can’t build a home on it lol

  • novita77

    Kei … i laughed after reading the first few paragraphs. Married not a bad idea … dont forget to send me the invite ! XXX

Freedom of Expression

    Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which the Qatari Government is a signatory of states: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any medias and regardless of any frontiers.

    The Emiri Decision Number 86 of the year 2007 on the establishment of the Doha Free Information Centre marked yet another step towards establishing a State of rights and freedom of speech. The decision stipulated that the Centre be a non-profit organization, headquartered in Doha City, and have the authority to establish other affiliated centres inside and outside Qatar. It is worth mentioning that His Highness the Emir issued a decision in 1998 annulling the ministry of information, giving birth to a new era of freedom of speech where censorship was removed from local media.