As much as UAE residents love their life in the Emirates, they also enjoy complaining. Trawl any social media platform and you will find numerous complaints about bad real estate brokers. But are they really any worse than other professionals in the country? Here are a few reasons why brokers get such a bad rep:
How fees are paid
In most parts of the world, brokers help landlords rent out or sell their property. This means landlords pay brokers for this service, but in the UAE tenants tend to pay. Historically, there was a small pool of ultra-wealthy landlords that did not want to pay agents to bring them clients; in fact many tenants went straight to the building they wanted. If you have tenants paying agency fees, this affects how landlords choose which broker to work with. If you’re not paying for the service, then why care about the quality of who you use?
Lack of exclusivity
Landlords in the UAE often avoid giving brokers exclusivity on marketing their properties - something that allows sub-standard agents to find work. If a landlord exclusively works with a single broker, they tend to pick what they consider the best one. If they don’t, then any broker who cold calls them can get involved. They believe the more brokers market their property, the higher the more chance of having it rented or sold. However, this can lead to agents not spending much time on any particular unit. Consider the number of times tenants are told to 'just go to the building and the unit is open'. Ten agents may be working on the same unit but only one has a chance of closing the deal - so, it's likely the majority will not spare the time to do a viewing.
The UAE is a transitory place where many do not own their own homes. Many residents will only interact with one or two brokers during their stay here. In other parts of the world, you can find agents that have been in business for 30 years; everyone in their city knows them. This is not the case in Dubai or Abu Dhabi where turnover is high. New people to the country have no clue who is good or bad. My advice: ask for a referral from friends or colleagues before hitting the internet.
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Read more:
Why the obsession with real estate in the UAE?
Pros and cons of buying real estate in the UAE
Should buyers invest in off-plan or ready built in the UAE?
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Regulations
The UAE is a young country, therefore its regulations are continuously evolving. However, the Real Estate Regulatory Agency exam is pretty taxing and Abu Dhabi has tests to pass now too, but these do not approach the difficulty and length of qualifications in other, older, real estate markets. This again is part of the transitory nature of the Emirates: if you are in your home country and looking to be a real estate agentthen investing time and money in studying and passing exams is well worthwhile. If you are only going to be in the Emirates for a few years then it is less valuable to truly understand the laws and market here.
High turnover
The high turnover we see among residents also applies to real estate agents. I have lost track of the great staff that have left because they were a “trailing spouse” (male and female) and their partner moved on to another opportunity. This results in an endless stream of “rookies” who take a long time to learn the ropes, annoying many clients in the process. The short lifespans of UAE brokers also means little is invested in training. Companies in the real estate industry need to invest more in training their staff which will in turn will improve the standards of customer service and the knowledge base of agents.
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Read more:
Traps to avoid when buying property in the UAE
How buying a home in the UAE can halve your rent
Why property is a good investment if you take out a mortgage
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Customer service
An understanding of good customer service and business conduct differ wildly across the globe. I had a meeting last month with an eastern European, an Emirati, an Arab national and an Indian national and the attendees arrived in dribs and drabs with some up to 30 minutes late. I will not tell you who arrived when, but everyone felt they were on time. Equally customer service varies between continents, so while the broker may feel they are offering great customer service, the client may disagree.
Hiring costs are low
Real estate brokers are cheap to employ. If real estate agencies are only paying their staff commission, then they only have the visa and insurance costs to pay. If employees cost little to take on, then their employers do not take the time to select them carefully or train them. Some firms in the UAE go through hundreds of brokers a year, spending little or no time or money on their career progress.
Brokers are not well paid
Contrary to popular belief, most estate agents are not making huge amounts of money. Yes, some of the great ones are earning well, but most do not earn enough to be the main breadwinner supporting a family. This means the industry either attracts young single employees with low overheads, the less well educated or “trailing spouses” whose partner makes the primary income.
While some brokers flout regulations, deliberately mislead clients and are just generally dreadful at their jobs, others have great potential. If I had three wishes: landlords would pay real estate agents instead of tenants; regulators would take a pro-active approach in going after illegal brokers and clients would seek a referral for a good broker as opposed to clicking on pretty pictures or the lowest prices. Good performance needs to be rewarded.
Ben Crompton is the managing director of Crompton Partners Estate Agents
Juliet, Naked
Dir: Jesse Peretz
Starring: Chris O'Dowd, Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke
Two stars
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Company profile
Company name: Suraasa
Started: 2018
Founders: Rishabh Khanna, Ankit Khanna and Sahil Makker
Based: India, UAE and the UK
Industry: EdTech
Initial investment: More than $200,000 in seed funding
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Job: CEO JCDecaux Middle East
In the role: Since January 2015
Lives: In the UAE
Background: M&A, investment banking
Studied: Corporate finance
The Bio
Favourite place in UAE: Al Rams pearling village
What one book should everyone read: Any book written before electricity was invented. When a writer willingly worked under candlelight, you know he/she had a real passion for their craft
Your favourite type of pearl: All of them. No pearl looks the same and each carries its own unique characteristics, like humans
Best time to swim in the sea: When there is enough light to see beneath the surface
PAKISTAN v SRI LANKA
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Fri Oct 27, 2nd T20I, Abu Dhabi
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
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if you go
The flights
Emirates have direct flights from Dubai to Glasgow from Dh3,115. Alternatively, if you want to see a bit of Edinburgh first, then you can fly there direct with Etihad from Abu Dhabi.
The hotel
Located in the heart of Mackintosh's Glasgow, the Dakota Deluxe is perhaps the most refined hotel anywhere in the city. Doubles from Dh850
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Events and tours
There are various Mackintosh specific events throughout 2018 – for more details and to see a map of his surviving designs see glasgowmackintosh.com
For walking tours focussing on the Glasgow Style, see the website of the Glasgow School of Art.
More information
For ideas on planning a trip to Scotland, visit www.visitscotland.com
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
NYBL PROFILE
Company name: Nybl
Date started: November 2018
Founder: Noor Alnahhas, Michael LeTan, Hafsa Yazdni, Sufyaan Abdul Haseeb, Waleed Rifaat, Mohammed Shono
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Software Technology / Artificial Intelligence
Initial investment: $500,000
Funding round: Series B (raising $5m)
Partners/Incubators: Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 4, Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 6, AI Venture Labs Cohort 1, Microsoft Scale-up
WIDE%20VIEW
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Simran
Director Hansal Mehta
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Soham Shah, Esha Tiwari Pandey
Three stars
SNAPSHOT
While Huawei did launch the first smartphone with a 50MP image sensor in its P40 series in 2020, Oppo in 2014 introduced the Find 7, which was capable of taking 50MP images: this was done using a combination of a 13MP sensor and software that resulted in shots seemingly taken from a 50MP camera.
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Norway
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Zayed Sustainability Prize
Company%C2%A0profile
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