Confessions of a Real Estate Agent - May 2017

When buying a property in Dubai for investment and/or “Buy to Let”, it is important to understand why one building stands out from its neighbours and attracts buyers and tenants who are prepared to pay a premium to live where occupancy levels are always high and where your property is an appreciating asset that is consistently earning you an income.

Every community or suburb of Dubai offers the investor and the tenant a wide range of prices and rents and it will be no surprise to learn that the best kept buildings in those areas demand the highest purchase prices and the highest rents.

It’s not always about location as in other cities, here you can have neighbouring buildings with similar size apartments and views and yet have massive rent and price differences.

I am currently sitting at my desk in the Dubai Marina and here you will find some glaring examples of how different properties fare.  A 700 sq. ft. one bedroom apartment in Select’s West Avenue with a view of Sheikh Zayed Road is renting for AED 110,000 per year and is not expected to be available for more than a few days. Less than ten buildings away, you will find a similar-sized apartment in Marina Diamond 6 renting for AED 70,000 and this will probably take time to find a tenant.

Dubai’s tenants are on the lookout for value for money which does not necessarily equate to only wanting to rent the cheapest properties in the best location. The majority are astute and well informed when deciding where to rent and they demand a property which is regularly maintained, secure with modern designed living spaces, ease of parking and top of the line facilities such as well-equipped gyms and temperature controlled pools. The buildings throughout Dubai that offer these features are the first to rent, have the highest occupancy levels, and are always at the top end of the rental range within their community.

We have recently entered the competitive Dubai rental market by setting up a Leasing Department and it is important that I highlight some of our USPs that will assist us standing out in the market as a trusted partner to both landlords and tenants.

1. Snagging/Inspection service on new properties where we manage the entire process on your behalf, for example, by reporting any faults and following up with the developer to make sure that those faults are dealt with as quickly as possible
2. A professional photographer takes a set of high-quality pictures for your property for use in online and print advertising.
3. The property is advertised on Dubai’s main property portals as a featured listing where possible – links will be sent to you
4. We assist where possible with the connection of DEWA (Electricity and Water), Chiller and Gas, where applicable
5. We provide you with regular updates in writing on all enquiries and viewings
6. If preferred, we can be the first point of contact for the tenant and we will contact you only when it is necessary during the next two years
7. We manage the renewal of the Rental Contract at the end of each year free of charge
8. We deposit all cheques into your account
9. When the tenant vacates, we inspect your property, report on any repairs that are needed and obtain quotes for those repairs for your agreement.  We then make sure that the property is cleaned and prepared for the next tenant

We acknowledge the competitiveness of the market and to reflect this fact, we are determined to offer an exceptional standard of service focusing on building strong and trusting relationships through authentic communication, offering excellent marketing via a variety of channels, using professional photographers and copywriters whilst guaranteeing absolute transparency and consistency throughout the entire process.

None of this is easy to achieve in a tenant-agency relationship that in terms of contact time is both brief and superficial.  In comparison, landlord-agency relationships are built over a much longer period of time.

Tenants, through past experiences, expect landlords to be largely unresponsive to their needs both in the short and long term. The agency’s position between these two naturally antagonistic contract partners becomes more significant in clarifying expectations and holding both parties to account.  Tenants rightly demand a high level of service at all times whilst landlords tend to change their levels of responsiveness in line with market conditions.

Our main goal is to ensure that the brief spike of intense engagement between the agency and the tenant at the start of the rental process does not become flat-lined but continues over time, albeit at a lower level of contact.  In this way, tenants and landlords can no longer spring surprises on one another, thereby facilitating peaceful and calm lives for both parties.