Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats.
The show is about to begin. Fahan let's.
Let's get down to business. Hello everyone and welcome to
another episode of Golden Nuggets with me, your host
Sylvia El Dawi. Today I'm joined by Farhan Ali
who has sold over 4 billion worth of real estate.
He is the founder and CEO of Ever Nest Real Estate LLC
Welcome to the show, Farhan. Thank you, Sylvia, I'm very
happy to be here and I hope you'll have a good episode.
Today we're going to have a great episode because you're
going to talk to us about Off Plan, which is the hot topic
right now. A lot of people making a lot of
money. We just need to say, you know,
people have heard of the name Everness, not to be confused
with Everness Holiday Homes, who were in the press for doing some
very naughty stuff. You actually chose the name
without realizing there was a history.
Well, yeah, so it's very important to know for everybody.
And during the COVID lockdown, I actually came up with this idea
that I'm not finally travelling around the world, so I should
start my own real estate agency, right?
So I did my research and I checked with the DED department
as well. There was no such name in the
market. So about one year later, I found
out on the news and some people started calling me, you know,
including friends and colleagues.
What did you do? I said, what's happening?
It wasn't me. Yeah.
So the company somehow had the same first name, but they were
doing only short term rental, holiday, holiday homes.
So I even you know, like I got a call from Kilich Times.
Would you like to say something? And there was an article as well
where I said I have no affiliation whatsoever with this
company. And we are registered in DED as
a real estate LLC company. We do buying, selling, long term
rentals and property management. So no short term rentals.
Exactly, and I don't have any plan to do so.
So. There you go.
OK. So can you tell us a bit about
your background and how you got into how you became one of the
off plan superstars? Yeah, So very interesting.
So my sister moved here back in 1997.
So basically I had an opportunity to visit her in 2011
and I came here for 30-40 days and I saw what's happening in
Dubai. So basically, can I?
Can I? Just say if my sister was here
from 1997, my opportunity to visit would be in 1997.
Well, yes, I think I was in military school.
So basically the the schedule was very tight until high
school. I was, you know, going early
morning 5 and coming back home at 4:00.
So never even thought about, you know, leaving the country.
So basically, yeah, lucky enough to get an opportunity visit
here. I saw real estate tourism, these
two, three industries were very dominating.
And I was like, OK, I've got finance background and I'm
planning to do masters in finance as well.
So, so maybe you know, in future if I would come here, I want to
give it a try because as per my academic background, I wanted to
be accountant or chartered accountant or something.
And that's what I did when I moved here in 2013.
I started as an accountant in one of the real estate in the
very next building where my office is today.
And within six months, my focus was I'm not going to run the
books for these guys. I want to get into sales.
Is it because you were seeing the numbers that were coming out
of the accounts department? Not really.
Only the numbers. Yeah, the numbers are always
amazing. You know, you see how the guys
are making money. But I think for me it was more
like, OK, you have to go out. You know, you're networking with
different people. You're, you know, you're not in
one place because I'm not the person, you know, who would sit
all day in the office, even though my job was to sit in the
office as an accountant. But I started going out with
some agents, you know, we'll take permission from the CEO.
Can I go, you know, hang out with these guys, how they're
doing viewings and all that, that.
And I asked one of my, you know, agent, can I do this viewing?
Can I, you know, do a tour with the client?
And in few weeks I knew that, you know, I need to, I need to
try my luck and definitely not a good start.
First year was only rentals without license.
So basically I was doing JLT, Dubai, Marina, all the areas
basically which were connected to public transportation.
And I had my luck, first rental in three months in jail.
It was a Walid properties tower in GLT managed properties.
And from there I thought, you know, I will be really looking
forward into real estate as a full time career.
But again, very rough time. 1st 1 1/2 years hardly closed, 1-2
sales and 5-6 rentals. But then again, that's what keep
kept me motivating that, you know, this is the beginning and
this is not something that I wanted to do, but now I'm, you
know, getting into this. You're getting into this so.
Yeah, By the end of 2015, I was more driven by the idea of that.
You know, it's more like your business.
You know, you are responsible for everything, what you do.
And it's been amazing so far, almost nine years now.
And so at what point? So you had quite a rough start,
which is most people do tend to start in rentals, then they
might move on to secondary and then off plan or stay in
secondary or they might go up a few grades.
So when did you get your break into big money real estate?
So basically around after two years of my experience in 2017,
I started looking out for options with the, you know, like
exclusivity. I would call and I would offer
my services that look, I don't have much of a big portfolio to
manage right now, so I can concentrate on your property
very well. It's not only going to be
portals. I'm going to do e-mail
marketing. I'm going to do something
different than other agents to promote your property.
And at that time there was no Instagram, there was no social
media where you can do a property tour.
So basically I started maintaining relationship with
the building security. You know, if anybody come here
and ask, you know, is there a property for sale, just give
them my number and now we'll give them a tour.
So one of the deal which really excites me is one of the client
Emirati visited from Sharjah 1 building in Dubai Marina,
Marina, Diamond three to be precise.
And he has the security. I like this building.
It's very close to metro station, very close to the
beach. Do you have something here?
He's like, I know one agent who's got a very beautiful
property here, one bedroom around 900,000.
So it was just, you know, like a very shocking experience for me.
He came directly from the building to our office and in 30
minutes he said, OK, I want to sign the MOU.
So it included, you know, 2% Commission from the seller and
2% from the buyer. So it ended up becoming, you
know, a $10,000 worth of Commission because before I was
doing very little money, 5010 thousand 15,000 maybe selling a
property of 6700, but commissioned shared with the
company. So that sale actually was very,
very, you know, like a big turnover for me that OK, I need
to sell 2 every month, maybe three, maybe four and within
next one week, 10 days since, you know, I believe in, you
know, building relationships. I had a banker who approached me
that I have a client who's sitting with three million cash.
Do you have anything nice? I mean, what do you mean by
nice? You know, like tell me
straightforward. What do you need?
He's like, I need a good deal. I said why don't we split this
money into two, three properties so he can have more rental
income and as well as if he would like to exit in near
future, he can sell one of the properties.
Yeah, right. So I gave him a two-bedroom in
Global Lakeview for about a million.
Very good deal. And a studio in for John and
another studio in for John. And that was like a deal of
2,000,000. So basically the success didn't
happen like from 1,000,000 to 10 million.
It was all about having three deals.
And then I got another listing of a townhouse in JVC and then a
villa for 4 million. So it just kept going, kept
going. And that's where around 2019 I
got into big stuff selling full floors and then started talking
about full buildings and I definitely hit all my targets.
You've moved your way around the Monopoly board, so yeah.
Yeah, yeah. So basically that's where around
2018 I saw that the the need for most of the investors are very
like clear, they want to get into off plan and what is off
plan back in 2018 nineteen nobody would expect that your
property will be double. We were working on very regular
numbers, you know like you get into an off plan which is not a
developed location. And around that time, Maidan
area in general was announced in 2015, but nothing much was
happening there, right? So basically MBR city, they
divided into District 1, Muhammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum
city and then Shobha Heartland and Azizi Rivera.
And 20/17/18, this area was the most selling and the most hot
topic for everyone because it's just across the downtown.
And it was the first time that a gated community was coming so
closer to the Burj Khalifa and downtown district.
And this is where I was like, OK, I'm going to just sit here,
dominate. I'm not looking at JVC Marina or
all the other areas where projects are coming.
And the community was obviously one of its kind.
For the first time ever in Dubai, there was a concept of
Crystal Lagoon, man made lagoon, which is also of seven
kilometer. So it was a very, you know, like
exciting opportunity for investors as well.
And I, you know, started with this first transaction in that
community was 5 units for one of my client and then started doing
my research, my numbers and just discussing with the investors.
So secure two buildings for one of the investors.
And from there I got referrals and everybody was like, this is
a good opportunity because if we talk about number wise, 1500
dirham per square feet, you can have a Burj Khalifa view and you
can have a lagoon and you can have a world's biggest shopping
mall Maidan. At that time it was all
announced the same time. So basically that's how the off
plan started. OK.
And how did you set up Evernest? So Evernest very interesting,
like we discussed in the beginning of the show, so around
2019, you know, I've done around 200, two, 150 million times of
sale and I'm looking at most of the companies how they were, you
know, developing their strategy to to sell off plan.
And my thing was like, I always wanted to think different than
others. We are in one of the best cities
in the world. Everybody keeps saying the
safest, the best, the luxury, the lifestyle.
So why not promote the same outside Dubai?
So one of the developer, the Mac, they are very strong.
They have been doing Rd. shows since 2004.
They would set up a, you know, nice stand in Nigeria, in other
countries and they did good numbers.
So I was like, OK, I need to start going out for that.
If I discuss my plan with some of the directors or the
companies I was working in, they were not so motivated or sure
about it even though I brought them some results.
So COVID came and, you know, it was a very frustrating period
for everyone sitting at home. And that time, you know, I was,
I just started cooking some ideas.
OK, this is the time where I don't have any responsibilities,
where I know you don't need to look for deals for investors or
resell their properties. You know, not not much was
happening. So I approached the security of
the same company where I was working and I said, do you have
an space here for office? And he said, of course, you
know, COVID, we have some space left, no clients.
I said, I would like to sign an agreement.
And they were like, are you crazy?
This is lockdown period. Nobody is planning to invest.
I said, listen, I'm talking about opening a real estate
company. I'm not opening, you know, a
product which has demand now or later.
Real estate is something that everybody needs real estate in
their life. You know, this is like a long
term thing, pandemic. Or no pandemic.
You knew that there was going to be.
Yeah, definitely. You know, most of the things, if
we look at the history in Stock Exchange or real estate or any
other business which includes farming, when the situation is
bad, everybody's panicking. That's where a lot of people do
mistakes and they lose money. Whoever can, you know, pass
their time and control their emotions and feelings, good
times is always there, right. So started in the middle of June
when the lockdown was little bit relaxed and opened my office on
20th of September 2020, the year to remember.
We will not forget that year. Yeah.
So basically that's how it started.
And I didn't have any plan to have a big team in the
beginning. I just wanted to pick, you know,
admin stuff and few agents with the reference and also to hire
freshers and train them. And you know, it's been a
wonderful within the four years as of today, apart from my own
sales, the company had done over 3 billion of sales.
So I'm very happy with where we are going.
And the need for that company, you felt was because you weren't
really getting the support that you wanted or encouragement to
do these Rd. shows, right? Yeah.
So basically Rd. shows and as well as I saw, you know, when a
person joined real estate in Dubai, there is no training,
there is no infrastructure. I'm sorry to say, but even most
of the big companies, they might have now, but 4-5 years ago
there was no infrastructure. A person coming into real
estate, they just give him data, do the calling, go here, go
there. There might be like a two week.
Exactly. Yeah, yes.
So at the end of the month, the agent, he doesn't know which
community he's going to focus, what exactly he needs to do.
He's, you know, shaking his head and going here and there.
OK. How did you close this deal?
So basically I wanted to, you know, share my experience, my
knowledge, whoever is coming into the company.
And even though, you know, as of today, we are a team of 20 plus
out of that four people I hired, they had no idea about real
estate. I'm sure they've made more money
than the experienced one just because, you know, like I, I
made this personal goal that whoever is coming inside, even
if they're not going to make money, at least when they leave,
they say that, OK, I learned a lot and I am somewhere else and
I'm, you know, going to get some good results somewhere else
even. So let's talk about Rd. shows
then and and launching off plan. At the moment project launches,
you don't even need to get to the road show.
It's selling out on launch day. I want to get your golden
Nuggets for off plan agents on preparing for launches.
Yeah. What do you do?
So basically roadshow is not the concept.
You know when you go and the new launch is happening at the same
time you're planning an event because you are approaching
investors, some of them they have not even been to Dubai, you
know like they are coming to just get general information,
right. So I would say in order for the
agents to prepare for off plan selling at the you know,
international roadshow, you have to you have to first you know
combine your products, you know like what exactly you are
advertising before you are going.
Are you advertising that we are coming for a roadshow or you're
talking about specific developer or specific product?
Because if it is in general that we are coming from Dubai and
presenting you one of the best opportunities to invest in real
estate, then depending on the client budget and their needs,
there are always good opportunities in Dubai.
Let's talk about just launches. Forget roadshows for a second.
So just the launches that have been happening, What I heard a
stat, it was like there's a new launch every 18 hours at the
moment. So what can agents, what should
agents be doing to prepare themselves for each launch?
Yeah. I think the relationship with
the developer is very, very important.
You need to know in advance what's coming and where it is
coming and what exactly is the the plan for the new launch.
If we talk about quarterly planning now thanks to some of
the developers like the Mac and EMAR, they are sharing their
plan with their top 20 agencies that June, July, August, we will
have these launches. So it gives you a 3-4 weeks time
in advance. Let's say now we are in the
beginning of the June. Emar has shared their plans that
they will have a launch next week in the Expo townhouses and
villas and then right week after in the valley.
And then next month they will have another building in Creek
Harbor and another building in Mina Rashid.
So agents who are well focused and doing focus selling, they
know, you know, they should know in advance that I need to
prepare for these these things. And if I'm doing calling and if
I'm approaching existing investors, I need to prepare.
What is? What's that preparation Look?
Like, yeah, so this is the the point where most of the agents
are not prepared, right? They are selling the hype,
right. And if we talk about many of the
offline projects, they might not be reselling as of today with
the expectations they had when they pitched it to their, you
know, clients and they sold it. So I would say history is very
important, right? If you are talking about master
community, you need to, you know the previous phases when they
were launched and what was the price and why the developer
increased the price, What is the resale value of the specific
segment of townhouses or apartments in the similar
community. So you need to do your numbers,
you need to have a very good presentation and as well as
solid knowledge about the specific area, the history of
the developer. And then it's easy for you.
If you you know you, you get the right client and they're asking
you the questions that you have knowledge and honest answer,
then it's easy to bring them closer to a point where they can
do an expression of interest. And how deep do you go when like
do you go down to the floor plans and working out the
different unit types and comparing them?
Like how exhaustive is your preparation?
Yeah. So developers to developers, you
know, most of the developers, they seems to have very similar
layouts, right? If we're talking about
beachfront property, they need to have definitely view from the
balcony. That's what matches for the
investor that OK, I'm buying waterfront, I need a view
because if there is no view, then it means you're buying the
least, you know, cheaper option in that development.
And that's where your capital appreciation is not going to be
so high as it would be with the best view.
So my specific preparation when I am, you know, preparing for a
new launch, like I said, I'm doing the history study, the
master plan study, what's coming in next as well.
And as well as the size. If you're getting a cheaper
price for this launch than the previous launch, you need to
understand, is this because of the smaller size or is this
because the building is not upfront in the water, it is in
the second or third row? Or is it far from the amenity or
far from the, you know, public transportation?
All these key factors, they matters a lot.
And if you understand the, the idea why the, if you can justify
the price to your client basically, but I would say like
if you can justify it to yourself 1st and then you know,
you can definitely go forward and discuss it with your clients
and whoever is in your pipeline. Because until unless you don't
understand the product, then it's definitely not easy for you
to to pitch it to your clients as well.
And you and you touched on something that's really
important is the relationship with the developers.
So how do you Farhan, manage those relationships or nurture
the relationships? What do you do?
So since I you know, I've been selling off plan from 7-8 years
now, I would say specific developers.
I, I tend to work with the the the same managers for a longer
period of time. There is an is you know when you
crack a deal with someone from the developer, you understand
their you know. The way they.
Operate. Yes, exactly.
And with an experience agent for myself, you know, like if I have
a client for an off plan, the client is 70% prepared by me
already. 30% job should be done by the developer, which is where
the relationship matters. How you know he's presenting his
company? What are the time frames to
finish the down payment to sign the contract?
How good is there, you know, like CRM system that the clients
if they have any inquiry in the future, he will understand.
So basically I would say in order to have a very strong
relationship with the developer, you should stick to the
developer and make sure you have very good numbers.
You're getting priority at the new launch as well as you're
getting very good after sales agents who would call specific
relationship manager once a month that I have a client, he's
not going to pay much attention to be honest.
So even if you don't have a client, you should call your
relationship from the developer and you're asking what's
happening, what product you have, you know, is there an
inventory? Is there any, you know, unique
selling point you can share with me based on, you know, your
experience? So it all depends how active you
are with certain developer and that's how you will improve your
relationship with the. Developer.
I mean, of course, it's kind of like what comes first, the
chicken or the egg? Like, do I have to sell a lot
with this sales manager before they take me seriously or how do
how am I going to even get going to get through the door?
So what would you say to someone who's really trying to get in
with a particular developer? What would your advice to them
be? I think it's not really about
selling big. Then you will get respect and
you know good relationship it. You should define yourself as an
agent to the relationship manager as well.
How? How, how good you are with the,
with the knowledge of their products.
If you have done the training with the developer, most of the
developers now they have their own Academy, right?
They want to share the new agents, who they are or how they
started, what they have achieved, how many units they
have delivered, how their products are reselling in the
market, how their communities are, you know, providing a
lifestyle to the, to the, to the tenant or the landlords who are
staying in their communities. So when you are sharing these
positive things with the relationship manager, he will
put more energy that this guy. He knows my product.
He's already, you know, like not selling the project.
He's selling the company, the lifestyle, the history,
achievements. They have done, yeah, okay.
And then you mentioned that 70% of the client prep work is down
to you, 30% is down to the developers themselves.
So in that 70%, of course, apart from knowing about the project,
about the amenities, about the pricing and so on, what else do
they need to know? What else do you need to be
prepared for? I think it depends the time
frame that you are along with the client.
You know, if you if you just you know, I got a prospect
yesterday, it's not going to be easy for you to justify
everything yourself, your experience, your history and
your client dealing and your portfolio management.
And This is why agents do mistake.
They get a lead and they're already you know, you know, I'm
very honest. You can trust me.
I'm going to get you the best, you know, this and that without
having the, you know, like a face to face meeting given that
the person have not seen you over the phone.
You're promising too much. I mean, I immediately don't
trust anyone who says trust me. Yeah, yeah.
So this is where, you know, like you, you need to come with
experience. You're if you're talking to
someone you have not met in person, right, You need to just
share the basic stuff. You don't have to over promise,
You don't have to oversell anything.
The reason why he registered his interest for a community or a
specific project, you need to ask him why you are interested
in investing in, for example, is it waterfront property or a golf
course or a normal project around, you know, in the city.
And from there you understand what's his need.
He's looking for his personal use or he's looking for his
investment. Then you can ask him, have you
done any other investment in the similar area?
What makes you, you know, so sure that you are picking the
JVC or John or Business Bay? What are the reason, you know,
behind your idea of investing into this?
And if he says I don't know, you need to tell me, then you
definitely share all the advantages and disadvantages of
that location or the developer as well as since we are brokers,
we are allowed to sell anything in the market we want.
So you need to know the history, which are the good developers,
how they're after sales, how well is the maintenance and then
you can share these things and then leave it on him.
Give him a time to answer immediately or after, you know,
a day or two days, he comes up with an objection.
But if you have said you know things that doesn't make sense,
he's not going to answer your call the next time.
And I think it's obvious when you're pushing a particular
developer that may be paying a higher Commission than the
others that comes across, don't you agree?
It is one of the the reason as well, because like I said,
social media is now very visible to everybody.
Most of the clients, they know how much agents are getting paid
out of their deals. This is where they wanna work
with the right person that this person deserve to make this much
money out of my idea of investing in real estate.
And that's where I think a broker should be more open with
the client, introduce yourself, your services.
Just don't tell him, you know, I'm going to get you a good
unit. You give him your history that I
have worked with 30 clients, 40 clients in past that I have
managed their portfolio, I've managed to resell their
properties at a particular time with my advice, with my
research. So I'm going to provide you
after sales service. I'll be, I'll be notifying you
with the development of the construction.
I'll be notifying you if there is any other project in the same
area and what's the price difference.
So basically you're trying to, you know, not only sell him, but
you're trying to present him the whole idea that I am working as
a not as a broker, but more more like a, you know, a business
person that I will keep you updated with everything and I'll
be managing your property, renting your property.
Even though I think I would say the agent should offer extra
services without extra money, you know, because these things
are not so much time consuming. Even if it's opening a company
for a client, you should be in touch with some consultant that
you can call them and introduce your client to them and they,
you know, do the things for them.
Interior Designer. Yes, Golden Visa helping with
the you know, setting up a family residency and bank
account. So basically you need to have
360 degree solution for your clients which makes you more
stronger than comparing to other agents in the market.
And a lot of off plan agents, of course, a lot of it is kind of
crystal ball type work. Like you have to predict what
you think is going to be the rental income.
You have to predict what you suspect the capital appreciation
will be. How do you come up with these
numbers as a finance guy yourself?
Yeah. So basically this is very
interesting for me, right, where because most of the clients they
invest in real estate because of the numbers.
So history is there, right. We have DXB interact for example
from couple of years now. Tool is very nice.
You have history of each and every transaction, building
apartment number and all that. Even though there is some
fluctuations where the clients are, you know, arguing, OK,
you're asking 3,000,000 for example for a property, but the
transaction there are maybe only three or four transactions that
are around 3 million. Some of them are higher than 3
million and a lot of them are lower than.
This is where you need to explain him.
Maybe the lower floor you know, or the view, or the.
Layout what this does. I'm in a couple of WhatsApp
groups and it's been going off today over there's a feature on
Bayou which shows you what the transaction history was for a
particular unit and everyone's in the group is going off like,
no, it's not. You should not know what the
unit number of the, the property that's being listed.
You should not know the transaction history.
And it's like, well, hold on a second.
It's is it OK for you as as an agent or an agency to predict
what the capital appreciation will be, but hide the history,
You know, OK, maybe it was purchased a year ago, 2 million
less than it's on the market for now.
But that's a you're seeing the bad side of it.
But actually that's a great example of what's been happening
in Dubai and surely that will encourage people to continue
buying here. Yeah.
So this is. Where a very interesting things
come to my mind where a lot of agents are actually putting it
up in terms of, so basically if we look at the capital
appreciation, right, since 2007 when the offline concept started
here, the way was not developed, prices were different every
year. We see a lot of infrastructure
development, right? But post COVID, Dubai has a lot
of marketing itself. We were the first one to you
know, secure and control the COVID and as well as if we look
at the the the investors since the beginning of the development
of the city, most of the investors are expat or many of
them, they don't even live here, right?
The capital appreciation concept came into market after COVID.
First of all, for the luxury segment and as well As for the
gated community. Many of the stand alone tower,
their prices were seems to be same as pre COVID, right?
So now how we are predicting the number, right?
If we look at the waterfront segment, you have one of the the
most expensive area in Dubai, which is Palm Jumeirah.
The prices have gone up to five, 600% as well, right?
Four years ago, a garden home with the 7000 square feet of
cloth was around 10 to 15,000,000.
Maybe if it was upgraded or it has, you know, a little bit
extra space inside or nice interior could go for 18.
But today nothing in the market is less than 6070.
So that's three, four times more.
But agents are selling the same idea.
Look at this property and comparing it with the with an
area like Dubai Land. You can't compare Palm Jumeirah
with Dubai Land. You cannot compare downtown with
the JVC. You cannot compare Marina with
the any other area which does not have the same lifestyle or
the similar kind of developers that are showcasing their
properties. So how I predict capital
appreciation or number, Even though my team is very much
aware every Monday we discuss these things, OK, this project,
they ask me questions, OK, For example, now a lot of developers
in JVC, they are selling their product minimum 1500 per square
foot. So they are asking boss, what do
you expect? How much capital appreciation?
I said let's be realistic. You know JVC always had a price
between 800 to 1200 million per square feet for one of the
longest periods 7 years. But then if you look at the
ready property, they are above 15 to 1600.
And this is the concept in Dubai, your off plan should be
always 510% lesser than the ready market.
This is very important for most of the developers.
But if we look at some of the new communities were launched
last month, I've no one to name the developers to be personal
with them, but you could find a ready town house little bit
cheaper than the the new one. So now whoever invested there,
if if somebody could invest with me, I'll it would be a personal
reason. I don't have cash.
I want to get into a new community where I can pay in
four years. But if somebody can afford, you
could better invest in a ready property if it is 10 percent,
15% more than off plan because that's a normal price for a
ready product because your rental income is immediately
there or it serves you the purpose of not waiting 2-3 years
and you can see it. It's ready exactly right.
So, yeah, based on history in the area, based on what are the
rentals in the current market and how many units are going to
be delivered in the same area in particular time, you need to
know this as an agent. You know like in Dubai land, I
would say in next 2-3 years we are expecting around 15 to
20,000 townhouses and villas. The Mac Lagoons itself, more
than 67000 townhouses and villas are coming in 2025, six and
seven. You also have townscale, they
launch a few clusters. You have Oasis by IMAR, they
launched maybe two clusters now around 1000 units.
So all together you need to understand.
So based on this we can predict, but looking at the the Dubai in
terms of economy, we are doing really good contribution in the
economy in terms of you know like helping.
There is no tourism, no oil money.
There is real estate as well. People are injecting money
because they have seen what we have delivered.
And I believe that we are moving towards a very good program soon
with the help of the government, that we are planting more trees,
we're opening up, you know, with the new parks, new areas where,
you know, like a lot of other amenities are there in terms of,
you know, lagoons almost in every community now shopping
mall is coming, not a small like pavilion, but a really good size
mall, if we look at the live example, Dubai Hills Mall.
So it is a good thing for other developers to look at it.
And that's how you, you know, you get capital gains when you
have a lot of infrastructure within your projects.
The thing that makes me laugh. Is all the hype going on about
the new airport like, OK, so it's great to have a new
airport. It's going to be the largest in
the world, I think. Did they say largest in the
world? Yes, they are talking.
About it, yes, but then how? Quickly the agents then started
saying right buy property here next to the new airport and I
was like hold on a second, let's look at some of the major cities
in around the world. JFKI mean that airport is in the
middle of is it Queens or something?
Terrible area. You look at London Heathrow.
OK, I own a property that's not too far from Heathrow,
Brentford, Ealing, but you've got areas like stains and, you
know, terrible area. Nobody buys next to the airport
because guess what? Airport airplane noise.
You know, it's it's quite disruptive.
There's a lot of traffic. So it's the Dubai spin on we
have a new airport, new airport invest.
Next to the airport, yeah, there is a bus invest.
Into the airport you'll. Have a lot of profit.
See I think if I am selling there, which I did, I think this
would be a reason in the middle, not the first priority to invest
right? Just like you said Heathrow.
Heathrow is how long it takes you to get to the city centre.
Like the nice area. Brompton Rd.
Half an hour, 40. 5 minutes. 45 minutes.
Right. So as of now, you can leave from
downtown to the upcoming new airport in 45 minutes as well.
Well, to be honest. It takes me from Marina to
downtown sometimes 45 minutes these days.
You know, I think that's where the.
Government is also planning, there was an article a few weeks
back, 20 minutes city. They are having a lot of
development plans for the metro, a lot of flyovers and tunnels
inside the you know, the the crowded area, which will
definitely make the traffic calm down a bit calm.
Down a bit. But yeah, we're talking about
the way SI think. It's not only about the airport.
The government have a little bit bigger agenda than the airport.
There is also a commercial city in pipeline which is not
announced yet, similar concept to Business Bay or Media City
where you will have a lot of commercial towers that will
create a lot of jobs. You know, already you have VIP
industrial area, you have Jabalali free zone, you have,
you know, a lot of big companies manufacturing logistics.
They are their setup is there. So it will not only you know,
cater the the tourists who are coming at the new airport, it
will also help the people who are you know, working in those
areas. They don't have to drive 3040
minutes to come to JVC or Alfuzzan.
They would have opportunities to, you know, live closer to
their work and as well as I like it because we're not building
stand alone buildings. As of today, whatever launched
in Dubai S is a master development and we have many
success stories in Dubai. If we look at master
development, you know, to start with the meadows and springs,
one of the, you know, first freehold communities in Dubai,
they are well established today. People have made a lot of money
from the rental only, you know, and then Arabian Ranches and
then slowly, gradually a lot of other communities in Dubai
Island. So all the developers, they have
learned from their history, what they have done, what was missing
in the community. So a new master plan coming in
any part of the city. It is loaded with school, with
the hospital, with shopping mall, training traffic, lakes
and many, many things. But another reason why should
you go out the city and invest into new development is also the
price per square food now price in general.
On Sheikh Mahmud Binzai, the road along the global village,
you have one of the luxury community Al Burari.
You can't compare it with the others because of its you know,
like you know, specialty, uniqueness, you have, you know,
amazing lifestyle. But overall it is somewhere
around 1500 to 1700 Dhirampur square feet.
So This is why the new communities are coming up with
one thousand 1100 Dhirampur square feet.
This is around 3040% less than the ready communities or
communities which are more closer to the city.
So this is one of the reason as well because these communities,
they were 4-5 years ago at the price which we are, you know,
launching the South area. So you need to also history,
like I said, you know, do your study, check what was the prices
in these areas and why they are more now because there is less
availability for ready to move in #1 #2 like if you know, like
you said earlier, if you can see something already, it's going to
cost you a little bit more than what's planned for, you know,
coming up in 3-4 years. And you touched on a good.
Point about you're dealing with foreign buyers, different
communication styles needed, so how do you adapt to each
different nationality type that's coming in to invest so.
I think we'll cover this thing in our roadshow topic, but since
you, I will elaborate in a way that you ask me multiple
nationalities you're dealing with.
You have to study each and every country where you are doing your
promotion. Even if the customer lands from
somewhere in Africa and you have never been, you don't know, you
got just got a lead in your, you know, from your company.
You need to go in Wikipedia search about how big is the
country, how many people are living there?
What are the taxation rules there?
You know what's really good on? On YouTube, you can just type
in. Let's say you're talking about
Nairobi. You can type in 24 hours in
Nairobi, Yeah. And there's so many videos.
Videos that you. Can so.
Just try and get to understand. That's understand and as well.
As you know, do research on online, what are the real
estate, you know, looks like there?
What are the, you know, like benefits for the people who are
investing in there and why, you know, what are the reasons that
made them feel like, OK, I want to invest outside my own country
as well? Like maybe they're democracy.
It's not stable. There is tax, there is security
issues. You know, or just, you know,
like everybody wants a piece of Dubai.
So you need to identify the reason and that's how it gives
you advantage that you should know a little bit about their
culture, about their financial market, about their economy,
about social activities, what they are missing.
So you can offer them and you can do a comparative analysis
and pitch them the right ideas. Why to invest here?
That's one of my key factor when I'm dealing with different
nationalities and if you could have an opportunity to travel
there for holidays, which I like to travel.
I've been to more than 70 countries myself, so I can come
up. I was there.
I've seen how it is and all that, you know?
So it's, you know, natural, naturally.
You know, your body language is giving them answers about their
needs. And you can do really well, much
better than other agents who don't want to do research.
Yeah. Well, let's talk.
About roadshows then yes. What's your What's?
Your blueprint for a successful roadshow.
I think roadshow. It has become like a, you know,
sole typical practice from every single developer.
They have hired business development managers, general
relationship team, They come and call you, let's do a road show.
And trust me, most of these guys working in developers without
prior history of doing these events.
When you ask them, OK, what's the plan?
They said you tell us what's the plan.
So imagine a billion dollars worth of developer, they don't
know how to execute a road show. They're asking the agency.
You do the marketing, we will pay for the venue.
That's venue. Can anybody can pay venue?
It depends on country to country.
If you're going to UK, your venue may be three 4000 lbs for
two days, but you need to prepare for roadshow and a
perfect, you know, planning for a roadshow would be just like I
messaged you, you need to study why people are interested from
UK in Dubai. Yes, because of taxes, because
the real estate market is not doing well or they have, you
know, certain other issues, security, security and all that.
But then again, it's not only about these.
I, like I said, many people, they come on holidays in Dubai
and they fall in love with the city and they're like, OK, this
is very organized. I wanna invest some of my money.
So you first of all, you need to come up with a plan where you're
setting up a budget for your marketing and you're picking the
right venue. Like if you're going to UK or
Europe, make sure you're very close to the subway, you're very
close to the public transportation because traffic
is crazy in these places. And people, you know, when they
know, OK, I'm going to drive 45 minutes.
I'm not going location, the venue and the marketing budget.
And then you need to pick the right advisors who must have a
lot of knowledge about off plan and as well as you know that
they should know the the the basic things about the country
they are flying into for roadshow.
What ideas and what sorts of benefits will hit the, you know,
the customers that they will be very, you know, willing to to
make a decision of buying an off plan.
But it helps you if you can have, you know, a certain kind
of test, which is, you know, you should have a network of some
real estate agency there and you could, you know, ask them how's
their market, why people are selling, panicking, whatever is
happening, right. And once you figure out, OK,
this seems to be a good location, but I will add one
more thing. You can also check with the
developers what nationalities are buying and if certain
location the British are buying, you know waterfront projects,
then you must go to London and offer them waterfront project.
You know. So this is how you do it.
But once you are at the event, there is something very
important. Most of the agencies, they do
marketing, the leads come in, they just send AVIP invitation,
walk into the road shows. But there is no qualification,
right? So I've done more than 70 Rd.
shows myself and even as a company we have done 40 Rd.
shows. I've sent my agents, they have
also learned from their experience.
Qualification of the buyers is very important.
How do you do? It you can ask.
Them basically 3-4 things before you send them an invite.
Have you been to previous Rd. shows in the same place?
And if they might say yes, you can say, OK, how was it?
What did you like? Are you already negotiating on
some product? Maybe they're not so much
willing to open up to you and share.
Why do you care? You know, but as well as how
much is your budget, how what kind of down payment you have
ready with you and as well as you know, have you been to
Dubai? Have you, you know, like been to
Dubai and exposed to some developers and locations?
And this is how it gives you an idea if he's answering, yes,
I've been to Dubai. I like this project, this and
that. OK, wonderful.
Come, let's have a chat and we'll discuss your, you know,
your need. But if you're just getting a
lead and saying, hi, thank you for signing up, this is your
invitation. Come, the person comes and say,
OK, what do you have? And you are, you know you're
flying and going there for limited period of time, 48
hours. You don't want to sit two hours
with the customer who is not ready.
But he's saying up front, I want to buy next year.
So you also need to know how to handle this kind of customer.
You can be honest with them. We are here for 48 hours, from
8:00 to 6:00 PM, 10 hours. We have this very short time.
We want to give it to the people who are actually ready.
And yes, let's keep in touch whenever you need something.
When I'm back to Dubai, you can write me, we can have a Zoom
call, we can discuss your thing. So basically preparation of the
venue, the marketing, the budget, the sales advisor you
are sending and the qualification is very important.
Then you can rely on having good results and talking about the
results we have. Even like me personally, I've
converted one of the Roadshow clients in 2019 to a 400 million
grams worth of an investor. Wow.
So you, you never know who you're going to meet, you know,
Yes. So this is something
interesting. We're still doing it and I'm
looking forward to do a lot of events in the future as well.
OK, amazing. And I'd like to finish on your
advice for people entering the off plan market.
So as in not agents. I'm talking about homebuyers.
Homebuyers. Both the.
End user off plan buyer and the investor off plan buyer.
The brand is very. Important.
Yeah. And the finishing and the
location and as well as it's, you know, if it comes with the
bonuses like you know, you have a lot of retail downstairs
coffee shop where you know, you can do work from home.
As well as I think the value for money is very important for end
user because most of the end user product are more expensive
than the investor product. And the reason is that the
attention to details the quality.
So end user should go for good locations such as downtown
Marina, JBR and if they're talking about from the lower
point of budget you should go in a community better than a stand
alone tower or concept of small living and the.
Top tip from Fahan Ali for the off plan Investor investors.
Top tip, you should go ahead and buy in the under like
underdevelopment areas such as Dubai Island is your topic right
now, as well as any master plan coming in Dubai Land or Dubai
South. And if you are a fan of an
apartment, for example, like you should go for maritime, you
should go for Creek Harbor because that's the new downtown
location, vehicle location, which is not developed, which
has still margins #2 that company that has a very good
history delivering on time. And the last thing I would
definitely mention is if you can hold it, because we are not
going to deliver you the same kind of gains that we did in
2021 and 2022. You got to keep patience because
we are coming back to the reality of real estate, which
means. Which means.
That you need to give a little bit of time which can be two
years to three years and you can really enjoy benefits of this
investment. So for an end user, an investor
both. Lastly, I would like to mention
the accessibility to the project.
You know most of the agents, they will promise you that they
can deliver you the unit, but if they are not prepared in
advance, they don't have a strong relationship with the
developer and they didn't ask you to put an expression of
interest at the right time or made a decision at the right
time, you're gonna miss out on that opportunity and any other
opportunity coming next to you. You will be confused because
once you miss a very good opportunity then you are all
over the place. But Dubai got you.
We still have good options and you should go for off plan.
But how do I know? That whether the agents got a
good relationship with the developer or not, there are
certain reasons. You can search about the company
he works or even you know, you can like maybe check their
ranking at RERA. They've got three stars, 4 star
transactional history as well as Google review helps and as well
as you can ask for their social media because if somebody is
successful, they might have something to offer.
I know it's personal. Some people don't like to show,
but all these things it helps you to, you know, to stand out
in the market. You might have your link tree
where you have your history, your introduction if you don't
have make one, OK. Top tips from Farhan Ali.
Thank you so much. Feel like I got a one-on-one on
off plan and road shows and yeah, that was really useful.
Yeah, I. Am glad that you know, I got an
opportunity to share my experience and as well as you
know, the the things were discussed about real estate,
which can help the agents or the clients and hopefully I'm
available in the market and please put my Instagram account,
we'll be right down. Here in the comments because I
in the. Comments I missed out on doing a
lot of social media content, but my team, my wife, everybody
pushed me do a lot of social media.
I'm like, OK, I'm gonna go on podcast I'm gonna show, you
know, the the world. That's what do I have to offer
from content. Content is king now, got stock
is king and content is king, Stock and content.
Both are very important, yeah. Yes, brilliant.
OK. All right.
Thank you very much. Don't forget to like, share and
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