I came across an extremely helpful company I wish I knew of when I first arrived in the UAE- its called hmerentals and is a company that allows you to rent an apartment in any area of Dubai without the hassle of visa or paperwork. They deal with all the legal issues and in effect you rent the apartment that you select from them. All they require is your usual ID. Simple. A very easy option that takes away the headache of waiting for the visa to arrive, setting up the DEWA, Etiselat/Du etc. Its all done for you and the BEST part is, you can move in from the get go. So no need to spend a fortune staying at hotels for months on end until all the paperwork is done.
hmerentals.com