If you’re buying, renting, or selling a property in Dubai, you need to have a good estate agent on your side to help make the process go smoothly. As a growing city, Dubai has no shortage of real estate agents, which can be a little daunting.

Broker’s don’t usually get a great reputation in the society and rightfully so. Buying a property in Dubai can be a piece of cake, provided you have the services of right broker.

Around a year ago, one of my client referred his friend (let’s call him Mr. A) to me. This gentleman wanted to buy a property and budget was decent enough.

The idea was to buy an apartment in Dubai, rent it out for a few years and then sell it when time seemed right.

Little to my knowledge, Mr. A was not only working with me and viewing properties but along the way, he was taking consultation from another broker as well.

Now, there is nothing wrong with having a second/ third opinion, it can be helpful and give a new insight to you sometimes.

Two weeks down the line, Mr. A informs me that he has put down deposit on a property that he saw with other broker. Astonished and surprised, I was for sure. But, hey that is part of the business.

For sure the preposition offered by other consultants resonated more with Mr. A.

Intrigued by nature, I inquired what kind of deal he got. Turns out, it was an under-construction property. Projected to be ready in next 12 months.

The other broker had convinced Mr. A that since the property is under construction, the price is not very high and such properties always appreciate in value either near to completion or at the time of completion.

How much can the property appreciate in value, one might think? Now, here is a common Dubai property scam response you will get when asked this question.

Any property at the time of completion will appreciate at least 15% in value. Wouldn’t you want your investment to appreciate 15% in just one year time?

Now, the hope of 15% appreciation is the honey dripping. What makes a person’s mouth drool is the fact that you don’t even have to pay 100%. Since there are so many developers offering post hand-over payment plans in Dubai.

You can probably pay about 25% of property value and take possession in many cases.

Wouldn’t you want to make 15% profit on 25% down-payment of a 2 million dirham property? But what is the guarantee of something like this happening?

Since booking amount was already paid, which is non-refundable, there was nothing that Mr. A could do to get out of the deal. Fast forward, one year later. Mr. A approached me and asked to hire my services in selling his property.

Where is that broker now? Wouldn’t he want to earn commission again by selling the same property to a new buyer? Asking all these questions was useless as I was aware of the reality.

No broker could sell this property at 15% premium, let alone at the cost price.

But why is that Arshad? You may ask. Well, Mr. A bought the property at a price which was already 10% higher than the market price (thanks to the extended 7 year payment plan).

On top of that, property prices dropped by 5% in one year as was the trend since last two years.

Now, instead of making a 15% profit on the property, Mr. A will have to sell it at a 15% loss because market has already dictated its price.