Welcome to an episode of Golden Nuggets Tea and Tails Season 1,
powered by Husby, served by Maria.
Welcome to the show, Maria. Thank you.
We've got a few things in common.
Yeah, our age group for one. Yes.
And we're both London girls. Yeah.
You've been here for 17 years. Yeah, I've been here 7 years.
So you've got a decade on me. Yeah.
Do you see yourself ever going back?
I did go back for a bit and then I came back and it's one of
these places. Dubai, honestly, I feel like
it's a drug. It's sort of, you know, you
leave. I think everyone, especially
like, say, British people, they all think, yeah, I'm going to
leave. And you leave and then all of a
sudden you're back again. Yeah.
Pulls you in like a magnet. It's one of them kind of places.
What's the difference? You feel like what?
Someone's sitting here, sitting there in London, thinking about
moving to Dubai. What would you be saying to
them? I'll pretend to do their
homework because I feel like there are many British people
moving over here. Yeah, that have never even been
to Dubai. Yeah.
I think it depends if you're coming on your own or if you're
coming with a family. I think if you're coming with a
family, really do your homework because schools.
Expensive. Expensive.
Medical insurance is expensive. You know where you're gonna
Rents have gone up, you know, if it hits peak, all of that, you
know, yes, we do have a lovely lifestyle weekend, but we all
work really, really hard here during the.
Week, Yeah. And we've got to come with that
kind of entrepreneurial mentality.
You can't come just to coast. No.
And I've always said it, and I will, you know, I will stick by
every word that I say. In Dubai, we work bloody hard.
Everybody. Yeah.
No matter where you come from. What culture.
What? If there's there's no such thing
as 9 till 6:00. There's not, no.
Seven days a week, Yeah. And there's no help, you know,
like there's no social here where you know.
If. You've got no.
Money as in, if you've got, if you run out of money here, you
go back, you got back. There's no help.
As in there is too much help. There is too much we get.
Spoilt with services available. 100%.
So like Korean box for example, you don't even have to drop
anything. Do you don't get that in London?
Apparently what you what they do in London is they order Ubers to
deliver something, but I'm not. Sure, that Uberseas.
Yeah, but the Uber driver, I'm not sure would come up to your
apartment to collect it. Yeah, I'm downstairs coming drop
it off exactly. But you know, massages, I'm a
big fan. Cleaners just got one app.
Just live I mean. You can get up in the morning
being your PJS and stay all day and not leave the house and
you've got everything done. Everything's done for you.
We are really, really spoilt. We don't get treated like that
in London. We do everything ourselves or
UK, you know. So crime is an issue at the
moment. I did go back in the summer.
I didn't, I mean, I didn't really walk around with
expensive stuff or jewelry or anything like that because of
the. Yeah.
Media attention that has been given, but it is happening.
It is happening. And you do double lock, triple
lock your doors at night. I mean, Sylvia, we are both from
London. We've lived it, you know, we
both did our schooling there. We born there, despite our
ethnic backgrounds, we've lived London and London life is hard
as well, you know, and I do feel sorry for the, the Society of
kids there. Mm hmm.
In, in this day and age, it's tough.
It really is tough, you know? Especially if you fall into the
wrong crowd. Yeah, 100%.
And you know, schoolings, you, you living in certain
unprivileged areas, you know, people perceive that London is
central London. No, London is North London, W
London, East London, all these other deprived areas.
I'm not saying they are, but. You've got your grimy pockets
and you've got your. You know, and it's tough.
I think it's really, really tough.
And I totally understand why young people want to come out
here in Dubai and I don't blame them, but I do think they are
sold a full stream. I, I really do think that a lot
of companies out here are selling them the dream, you
know, recruiters or and I've got friends that are recruiters and
I think they know because so many youngsters are here and not
everyone is making it. You know, they come out here and
they think that they can, you know, do really well and they
can, I'm not saying they can't. They can grinding, working
really hard, putting the hours in, putting the effort in and
not spunking their money at the weekend.
Unfortunately, some of them do. And I don't blame them on one
side, because you're only young ones, right?
Feel like you're on your holiday?
Yeah. But it's so important to sustain
the lifestyle here, you know, because you need a car, you
need, you know, nice clothes, you're going out to see clients,
you know, just going out to eat. It's it's hard.
But I think people do, especially when they come from
the UK, they might probably allow themselves a year, six
months to a year to do that, you know, to have that lifestyle.
And I think they should and they should enjoy it.
But then at some point, you've got to just decide to knuckle.
Down. I think that's OK if you've got
money with you or your families are supporting you and they know
that you're going to have six months to a year for a bit of
fun and you're learning, grinding eventually and then
take you to the next level. But there are a lot of
unfortunately other people that haven't got that kind of help
that come out here and want a better life and deserve to have
that better life, you know, but it's, it doesn't come easy.
And I think the markets right now are saturated,
unfortunately, with agents and people in general.
You know, everyone is doing everything, you know.
And so you came out 17 years ago, Yeah, to become a real
estate. Agent No, I came out here in a
very different. I came out here with a family.
I was married. I was very lucky I didn't have
to work at that time. I had young children.
My ex-husband had a really good job, he was in the banking
sector. So I did live a very lovely
life. We lived in some lovely
locations of Dubai and yeah, I made some great friendships that
I'm friends to this day. And there was less people back
then, Sylvia. It was different, You know,
Dubai was a much different place to what it is now, but it's
better. I miss the old times and I think
anyone that's been here a long time will probably agree with
me. But on the other hand, it's been
great to see the growth of divine and the changes so.
What was what was endearing about the early days?
The early days, less people. Which means less traffic.
Less traffic. Less because the traffic is
horrendous now. We were just talking about it.
Just I think everyone kind of knew everybody.
For example, you know, I started my journey on the Palm, which
I'm, I love the Palm. It's a special place for me.
But you kind of knew everybody. Like all the Brits, you just go
down to, you know, wherever and you, you.
Just knew everybody was at the time.
Oh my God, I was used to. Oh God, what was it called?
The one on shoreline underneath 'cause that's where we used to
live in Building 3, now Sultana the.
Yes, hold on West 14 like near West 14.
Before then of the little parade shoreline, what was it called?
Help me someone. In the comments.
But yeah, it was like a little pub there.
I've forgotten. It will come to me in a minute
but you know, everyone used to live, all the Brits used to come
and you know the banking world used to live on shoreline and
so. It was a nice little community.
Yeah, a nice little community and you knew people, you knew
each other's families. Now there's so many people that
come and go, you know, you just don't really have that.
But that's life. That's like going back to
London, isn't it, If we go back. Things do change.
No, they don't. Well, they, you're right, they
don't. They say they are.
But what I'm trying to say is, you know, it's sort of here.
It's standard, isn't it? So people tend to move out.
So in terms of what's changed, I guess lots of things have
changed, you know, more schools. I remember before there was like
a few nursery schools and around the Jumeirah area.
Now you support for choice, more supermarkets, more of
everything. Yeah, yeah, you know, and and
normalize. And the other thing I will say
is back then, when I came in 2007, when you went out, you
went out. It was so glamorous.
You know, now it's become really sort of super casual.
Yeah, which I like as well. You know, you could go out with
a nice pair of jeans trainers, you know, Whereas before, years
ago, Oh my God, that just would not.
Happen. You have to really dress.
Up, really normalise and I, I feel like me and my friends that
have been here for a long time, we talk about this a lot, you
know, that saying how nice it is just going out with jeans and
T-shirts. Yeah, no one really gives a
shit, you know, so it's quite nice.
And so when, when did you get into real estate?
What? Year was I got into real estate
the last four to five years. It's something that I've always
wanted to do. The reason being is when I was
married here with my husband, we bought quite a few properties.
So we doubled in, you know, in the UK and here.
I also did a little bit of interior designing, which I
absolutely love. So, yeah, I've always, I've
always loved homes, you know, and even myself, I back home, I
buy, bought, sold, you know, and the reason why I wanted to do
real estate is for me, it's, it's not just about the money,
it's the freedom that comes with it for me, the flexibility and I
feel for me, I'm very I have the knowledge and experience of
Dubai. You know, I'm not just new.
I can sit here and talk about any areas, OK, There are a lot
of new things, you know, a lot of new cities and if you call it
cities, like for example, Dubai S the new airport, but I educate
myself and I read up about it. But the old Dubai, you know,
Jamira, the Palm, the meadows, springs, all them areas, I could
be sitting here and having a conversation with anyone and it
it just all comes to me because I've got friends that live all
over Dubai, so and So what? What lessons has been in real
estate taught taught you Oh. My God.
Characterly. Hardens you as a person.
Character I, I honestly think anyone doing this job, I think
you really, truly find who you are because it's so testing,
Sylvia. What was your most testing?
Oh. God, so many.
So many. But your patience gets tested.
I mean, I haven't got much patience, if I'm honest anyway,
but I've realized that obviously you can, you can become anyone
if you really want to. Patience, calmness.
I've learnt to be calmer. I've learnt to, well, try to.
Yeah. I just think lots of little
things really. Challenges, a lot of challenges
dealing with different people, different nationalities,
different cultures. That's very challenging.
You know, it's not like for me and you, it's really easy.
We're sitting here, 2 girls from the UK, from London.
We talk about the same things. We've probably been to the same
places in London. So it's really easy.
But then sitting there talking to someone that maybe English
isn't their first language, it's very, it's hard, you know, and
you've got to really slow things down and be understanding.
And you have got a tale to tell about different languages,
haven't you? Oh God.
Instalment of Tea and tales for that story.
But tell us why you moved from London to Dubai if you did.
Yeah, in the comments. Thanks.