Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to the Dubai Real Estate Club podcast.
Speaker: My guest today worked in London for five years for Deloitte, where he focused on real estate for some of those world's large private equity clients before making the move to Dubai a few years ago.
Speaker: Following his appearance on BBC's hit show, Dubai Hustle, he'd become one of the most recognized faces on social media,
Speaker: with thousands of followers in the Dubai real estate market.
Speaker: But in closer circles, he's more known for his meticulous care and professionalism in dealing with some of the most prestigious clients in Dubai within the Emirates living community.
Speaker: He has appeared on some of the region's largest media outlets, speaking on Dubai real estate market, and has further shown his dedication to serve clients by also learning local Arabic languages I absolutely love.
Speaker: It's no secret my guest loves good quote and lives by the quote, Rome wasn't built in a day, but they were laying bricks every hour.
Speaker: Embodying the consistency that allowing him to become a leading and trusted agent in this market.
Speaker: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome my guest, Jake Matthews Hubbard.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: What an intro.
Speaker: That is an incredible intro.
Speaker: I feel like giving you a round of applause for that.
Speaker: Well, one of the things I do love when we start podcast now, I love that a lot of agents say, oh, I go above and beyond.
Speaker: But learning the local language and taking the time to do that, just I think I think that's so powerful.
Speaker: That's one thing that literally stood out to me.
Speaker: I think I've researched about it as one thing I was like that embodies going above and beyond.
Speaker: It's funny because I've literally just come from an Arabic lesson.
Speaker: And it's it's the biggest challenge I've ever had because I smash school or A's and A stars not to show off.
Speaker: But this is the first thing where I've actually sat down and it hurts my brain.
Speaker: Like I get to the 45, 50 minute mark and it's like, well, this is a lot to take in.
Speaker: So we were the complete opposite in school.
Speaker: So I have absolutely no chance.
Speaker: um but we're gonna come on to that um but to start off the podcast the listeners know we start with eight quick fire questions no right or wrong just listeners get to know you a little bit better and a bit of fun why not let's rock and roll so your favorite restaurant in dubai zor on the palm on the points but they just got served notice so they're going to be moving apparently i
Speaker: No, it's sad.
Speaker: My favorite restaurants there as well.
Speaker: I'm quite sad.
Speaker: But yeah, interesting.
Speaker: You have to pick one main developer in Dubai to build your dream luxury house.
Speaker: Who do you pick?
Speaker: I'm going to say the address.
Speaker: They're due to launch the address in Dubai Hills.
Speaker: I'd say it's one of the most anticipated Villa community launches.
Speaker: They've obviously done it in Marina.
Speaker: They've done it in downtown.
Speaker: This is going to be the first Villa community.
Speaker: They're renowned for high quality.
Speaker: They've got that brand behind them.
Speaker: So I'll go for the address.
Speaker: that they were the first um when i first came to the bar we stayed in the address near the fountain yeah and just that was like my first taste of dubai lifestyle it just looks like a building out of star wars like when i first came to the house like yeah i'm on another planet now and that was one of the buildings that and the quality of just the finishes is just like unbelievable unbelievable i'll go for them interesting describe the bike realistic market in one word dynamic
Speaker: I haven't heard that before.
Speaker: It's quite interesting.
Speaker: Favourite thing to do slash day out in Dubai?
Speaker: When you have a day off, obviously.
Speaker: Seven days a week, it's tough.
Speaker: You get periods off during the day.
Speaker: I think one thing I've taken for granted, Greg, is the fact that I'm from London, so I love the hustle and bustle, the skylines, concrete jungle, right?
Speaker: But Dubai has...
Speaker: beautiful beaches 15 20 minutes away and it's something that i've been taking granted for for the last two years so like we're discussing before every sunday now i go for a jog in jamiro beach 5k it's very tough in this weather at the moment but like just to absorb it take it in it's it's beautiful and that's something i want to take in more so definitely that side of life here
Speaker: Definitely.
Speaker: And to add on to that, so we obviously know me that well, but we, I do ultra marathon running.
Speaker: So every Saturday morning I go off to the mountain range.
Speaker: Really?
Speaker: About 45 minutes out with 36 other people.
Speaker: And we do long runs.
Speaker: We start at 5 a.m.
Speaker: and finish at 8.30.
Speaker: That's crazy.
Speaker: But not just that, but the scenery out there, people don't realise actually that you have lakes.
Speaker: greenery it's like there's so many families out there doing hikes and something escaping the Dubai concrete jungle you know some people love it some don't escape that people don't realize Dubai actually offers yeah access to these incredible places they just don't realize it's got everything it's literally has got everything your favorite Dubai area slash community
Speaker: Again, I slightly biased, but I think it might be Jameera at the moment.
Speaker: I think nighttime life there, beach access, of course, you can only own it if you're a GCC resident.
Speaker: But if it ever opened up like it has in Jameera Manadat, I think it's called, that's the prime location for me.
Speaker: But other than that, I'm slightly biased towards Emirates Living, which I'm sure we'll get onto.
Speaker: Yeah, we will definitely.
Speaker: The one thing you love about Dubai more than anything else?
Speaker: It feels like the center of the world now.
Speaker: And that's someone coming from London.
Speaker: It feels like everything's going on here.
Speaker: It's the place to be.
Speaker: It's the place for the future.
Speaker: It's leadership is always head ing in the right direction.
Speaker: You're not worried about where the politics are heading to next, which party is doing what.
Speaker: It's just everyone's here to better themselves and move forward and have a better life and have all these opportunities, right?
Speaker: So it's the place to be.
Speaker: Definitely.
Speaker: It's refreshing.
Speaker: Definitely.
Speaker: In your opinion, what's the biggest common myth about Dubai that people who don't live here have?
Speaker: AKA friends and family back home.
Speaker: I mean, when I left home, my family, quite English orientated to say the least.
Speaker: So they thought Jake's going to the Middle East, he going to Dubai, it's not safe.
Speaker: And then you have kind of the other extreme where, you know, you can't go out and do certain things.
Speaker: I think it is quite westernized in a way now where it has acclimatized, you know, it's 95% expats, right?
Speaker: So there is a mix of, you know, Western style, but of course rooted by what it's like to live in the Middle East, Islamic principles as well.
Speaker: So I think now it's a good mix and everyone's respectful for one another.
Speaker: So it's,
Speaker: yeah i think uh some people think that it's too strict out here but it's i think there's a balance of both i i completely agree and the different nationalities i actually love like we had a fire alarm a fire alarm in our building a few weeks ago and i didn't know the nationalities in my in my building everyone's outside at 10 p.m at night not not great
Speaker: But I didn't realize like my neighbor was from India.
Speaker: My other neighbor was from the Philippines.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Down there was some little rain.
Speaker: It was like, it was, I just didn't realize that.
Speaker: And everyone just gets on.
Speaker: I don't think there's any other place in the world where that would happen.
Speaker: London.
Speaker: That's one thing that obviously Dubai is built based on New York and London, like certain styles and like the roads and whatnot.
Speaker: London is very diverse.
Speaker: I think Dubai is more diverse and you see more of some nationalities versus London, but that's what makes it feel like home for me.
Speaker: Growing up in this diverse culture where you bounce off different cultures, that's a beautiful thing.
Speaker: And also in terms of the low crime rate, that's what crime is like.
Speaker: When you usually put those cultures together, there can be, you know, we see in other cities, like external issues.
Speaker: But in Dubai, just as you mentioned, it's safe.
Speaker: That is one of the things I love.
Speaker: It's safety.
Speaker: Again, we've got all these things in life, but being safe and feeling secure is...
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's underpinned by respect.
Speaker: I was at the gym this morning as well.
Speaker: And I was doing sit-ups and then my car keys fell out my pocket and I went my whole session and then I tapped my pockets at the end.
Speaker: I was like, oh my God, I've dropped my car keys.
Speaker: If you're in other parts of the world, your car key's gone.
Speaker: You'll get the cab home.
Speaker: It was just there exactly where I started my session.
Speaker: Just fell out my pocket like it was nothing.
Speaker: Everyone has that respect just to be part of one another.
Speaker: Definitely.
Speaker: And last one, what have you done to make Dubai feel like your home?
Speaker: spread propaganda to all my friends and family back home to move here as soon as possible.
Speaker: I'm always, always preaching.
Speaker: It's a slow, it's in the works, it's in the works.
Speaker: Initially I came up with my very close friend, Adam, he's also on the show.
Speaker: And then my fiance came out and joined us, he wasn't engaged at the time.
Speaker: And then another one of our friends come out and then obviously you build your connections here and we've got more friends coming now.
Speaker: So yeah.
Speaker: I think it's bringing the people with you in this, doing what you're doing there, bringing it here and trying to make it bigger and better.
Speaker: Definitely.
Speaker: Well, on to this section of the podcast where listeners will send in their questions or they send them direct on social media to me.
Speaker: I basically get them all each week and then I put the best ones to experts, guests like yourself.
Speaker: So we've got 10.
Speaker: We might not get through all 10, but I will try my best to get through them all for our listeners.
Speaker: So question one is from Fernando, which is via LinkedIn.
Speaker: i have found home in dubai and now looking to invest can you share five of the best places to invest as your first time investment property cool good question good question one that i get probably every other day if not every day i think you have to work out what kind of investor you are so first and foremost right now the off-plan market and it has been for a while
Speaker: is the place that we can get capital appreciation in the long run.
Speaker: So you pick up an asset for say, 2 million and you hope that by handover it's increased by 3, 3.5 and whatnot.
Speaker: And then you have the choice that during that journey where the property is being constructed,
Speaker: are you gonna flip it for a quick profit or you want to wait until handover and then eventually rent out that has to and then sell it on.
Speaker: So that's your first type investor.
Speaker: The other one is also investing in the secondary market and buying a property to rent it out straight away as well.
Speaker: And of course you also have the element where you buy a property that's maybe needs a bit of TLC or a lot of TLC in some communities.
Speaker: And then you do up the property, bring it back to market and sell it.
Speaker: Or again, you rent it for a higher return.
Speaker: So first and foremost, you need to work out what type of investor you are.
Speaker: We could probably go in five different avenues.
Speaker: Each of those three.
Speaker: But I think that's the critical thing is what you want to do.
Speaker: If you're an investor that's starting off, for example, my personal opinion is if you're lumping your cash into it and you're getting a yearly return that might be 7% to 8% return on that,
Speaker: then your payback period could be seven, eight years and then you sell it on and assuming it appreciates as well.
Speaker: So the best component to find, in my opinion, is looking for an area that's going to appreciate in the long run.
Speaker: And there's a lot of factors that underpin that.
Speaker: It could be location.
Speaker: It could be that's up and coming.
Speaker: It could be that's establishing close to the beaches or marina and whatnot.
Speaker: And then finding where has good, strong rental returns, which at the moment in the current rental market, because everyone seems to be flocking here, the rental market's booming as well.
Speaker: So I don't want to say you're guaranteed to get a very good return, but in a lot of communities, you can find 6%, 7%, 8% quite easily.
Speaker: So it depends what you want to do, I'd say.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: And I think the basic investment principles still apply just because Dubai is such a...
Speaker: exciting and growing place at the basic investment principles of very looking mediums long term you know yes you mentioned you can short you can short term for a quick profit but having those basic principles we had Dr. Michael in on Friday and we wrote a whole book into buy real estate he was talking about how
Speaker: yes, all these things about the market, but having those same basic investment principles and learning and not always getting too emotional, oh, the market's doing this market and losing out.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Really still applying the buy real estate market.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, myself, I own property in London.
Speaker: It gets about,
Speaker: 2-3% net returns, which compared to here, that's terrible.
Speaker: You'd want to be selling that straight away.
Speaker: So compared to your major cities around the world, it's on a price per square foot basis, Dubai wins.
Speaker: On your return basis, Dubai wins.
Speaker: And you've got to remember, we're still only about 20-odd years into this market.
Speaker: It's still very immature, and it has seen peaks and troughs, and who knows what the future is going to hold.
Speaker: I believe that we're now in a period of stabilization and we're not going to see crazy dips like we did in 08 and around 2015.
Speaker: But it's all supplemented by the fact there's demand here.
Speaker: Everyone's moving here.
Speaker: And I think the key difference is Dubai used to be people's second home.
Speaker: Now it's their first home.
Speaker: And COVID has changed that.
Speaker: And the Dubai government has pivoted himself as the center of the world.
Speaker: Interesting.
Speaker: Just last point on that.
Speaker: You mentioned rentals.
Speaker: Obviously you've got long-term rentals, you've got a short-term rental market, which is also booming because of the amount of tourists and 19 million tourists who ever come last year to Dubai.
Speaker: Have you got any opinion on the short-term rental market in terms of Pacific areas, potentially, Fernando, if that was something he was looking for?
Speaker: Absolutely, yeah.
Speaker: So if you look at Marina, downtown, JBR, these are prime areas that,
Speaker: you know if you've never been to dubai before in palm jameer as well you ask a couple of friends i'll where should i stay in dubai they'll say i'll be near the marina be downtown near the berge so on a short-term market you'd get a fantastic premium about 20 25 and even as well you can find a good company to manage that for you where you're not even thinking about is my guest checking in at 4am do i have to go and meet them with the key there's teams that take care of all that of course it eats into some of your return but
Speaker: It's about managing your time and other aspects of your life as well.
Speaker: So definitely those areas.
Speaker: And going back to what we were discussing before, if you're looking to flip a property, you can do that in a lot of established communities like meadows, lakes, Arabian ranches.
Speaker: There's some incredible properties that come to market now that it's crazy what they're doing.
Speaker: And of course, Dubai's built kind of copy and paste this type, this type, this type.
Speaker: But now people are doing things that have never been seen before in Dubai.
Speaker: So yeah, from the flipping side of things, it's there as well.
Speaker: Interesting.
Speaker: So let's move on to question two, sent in from Michael via our podcast form, which is down below by the way, if you want to submit your question for next week.
Speaker: What are the three key predictions you would make for property prices in Dubai in 2023?
Speaker: 2023, so in the first quarter of the year, we saw price increases of about 0.6% across Dubai as a whole.
Speaker: Some communities higher than others, of course, Palm Jumeirah.
Speaker: It's been going crazy because that's the super luxury that everyone wants to buy into.
Speaker: But we did have a slowdown compared to last year.
Speaker: So if you look on average each month in 2022, it was about 0.9% increase.
Speaker: So we had that period of, you know, still growing, but at a slower pace, which I think the market needed after booming after COVID, right?
Speaker: Everyone moving here, cash being injected.
Speaker: The response to COVID around the world was injecting money and some of that cash has ended up in Dubai naturally, right?
Speaker: April saw a big increase of 1.45%, which is the highest since October last year.
Speaker: Despite that, there was 35% less transactions.
Speaker: So we're now getting to the point in the market where a lot of owners have bought their properties online.
Speaker: They're testing the market.
Speaker: It's too high.
Speaker: It's above market.
Speaker: And now buyers aren't going to just pay those prices.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: Even that's going up, it's still increasing.
Speaker: I think we're seeing a period of stabilization.
Speaker: So I think that will continue through the year.
Speaker: I don't think it's still going to be another 1% every month.
Speaker: I think we'll return back to 0.6%.
Speaker: Of course, summer slows down as well.
Speaker: So I'm sure we'll have a period there.
Speaker: Eid's coming up again, the second Eid.
Speaker: So I'm sure there'll be a bit of a slowdown there.
Speaker: So I think price-wise, it will continue.
Speaker: We might end up reaching about 6%, 7%, 8% across the year, which is a bit lower than last year, but it's still a strong market to be in.
Speaker: I think as well in terms of relating to price, buyers now acknowledging that, okay, I want to be in this community.
Speaker: I know the layouts.
Speaker: I want this type.
Speaker: There's very limited supply of the type you're looking for.
Speaker: So I think you get into the point where you look at some luxury cars, some luxury watches, naturally there's waiting list now.
Speaker: And how the buyer of course works is that if you've got a tenant in the property and no notice has been served,
Speaker: As a buyer, you need to come in after transfer and serve notice to that tenant.
Speaker: So essentially, you're going for a 12-month wait.
Speaker: And if you want to then do works to the property, it could be another six months.
Speaker: So I think the trend now is that you're not just buying to move in now.
Speaker: Of course, everyone wants it vacant on transfer to move in straight away, but you're now plotting
Speaker: Okay, I'm going to move into my home in 12 to 18 months time and thinking forward.
Speaker: And again, the prices then could be a lot higher.
Speaker: So that planning ahead could save you money as well.
Speaker: Definitely.
Speaker: And just touching the vacant on transfers, they're like gold just at the moment in the market.
Speaker: When you get them, there's a premium attached to them.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But a lot of people in buying, they will see an advert which says vacant November 2023.
Speaker: And it's tenanted, but they don't realize that just because they've issued, just because the current seller has issued, you know, the notice, you still have to do it yourself.
Speaker: technically it might be vacant on transfer never never 23 but you're gonna have to read reassure so just for I guess for buyers you know maybe just go into that a little bit because conversations I had they oh they don't realize they have to do it do it themselves yeah I think it's it's a great area of real estate and you have to take every property and each tenant each owner individually it's it's a completely different sense of circumstances so
Speaker: Yeah, as you said, you're perfectly correct.
Speaker: Upon transfer of a property, even if the previous owner has served notice, technically that notice becomes redundant.
Speaker: Now, personally speaking, I think they need a slight change in that because it's like if you sell your business, it's like the new owner has to renew all the supply contracts and that's a nightmare, right?
Speaker: But at the same time, the law is there to protect tenants and make it their right that they do have to be served notice, which is fair and clear to everyone.
Speaker: Now, what buyers can do is have a conversation with their agent, the owner, and the tenant and say, okay, you've been served notice.
Speaker: Is it possible that we can speed up that vacating date and I can incentivize you to vacate?
Speaker: Because whenever you do serve notice to a tenant, they know in the back of their mind that in 12 months time, I'm going to have to move out.
Speaker: And most people have their own things going on with their kids, work, whatever it may be.
Speaker: They know it's going to come.
Speaker: And sometimes they might want to do it around traveling away or school holidays, whatever it may be.
Speaker: So sometimes it's just having that honest conversation.
Speaker: And I'd say as soon as you speak to a tenant, it's very clear what their intentions are.
Speaker: If they come across defensive or maybe even aggressive in some cases, they're not going to move.
Speaker: They might make it a bit difficult for you.
Speaker: So it's going to take 12 months.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: In other cases, the tenant will be like, oh, you know what?
Speaker: I love it here.
Speaker: But, you know, I would be open to a conversation if you can cover the difference in my existing price and what the market is, because it is rising fast in the sales market.
Speaker: That's a great avenue to go down.
Speaker: The other one is as well that the way to get around serving notice is for buyer, owner, tenant to speak to each other again and say, well, I've served you notice.
Speaker: I'm the owner.
Speaker: I've served my tenant notice.
Speaker: What the tenant can do is then serve the notice to the owner.
Speaker: And when a tenant does that, it stays intact upon transfer because they've locked in that we're vacating on the 31st November, we'll be leaving the property.
Speaker: So if the buyer wants that guarantee, they can do that.
Speaker: But a lot of the times we do have properties that transfer and it is just a gentleman's agreement that everyone's on the same page.
Speaker: The tenant acknowledges that the buyer's coming into the home.
Speaker: It's a family moving in.
Speaker: They don't want to ruin this and make it difficult.
Speaker: Some people do.
Speaker: We're not beating around the bush and saying it doesn't happen.
Speaker: So you do want to get these things covered.
Speaker: But there's your options to maneuver it depending on the situation.
Speaker: I think that's really well laid out because it is a gray area and it is an area that just confused buyers.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: And even tenants alike.
Speaker: But sometimes they're very, very clued up on their rights and the laws.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: So you've got to know it.
Speaker: Okay, so this question is from Brandon, which was sent to me via LinkedIn.
Speaker: I'm selling my four bed villa.
Speaker: I have no shortage of agents who want to list it.
Speaker: Shock.
Speaker: The one I liked and trust the most was charging a 2% seller commission.
Speaker: But another agent who I didn't quite like as much has said they charge no commission.
Speaker: So I have gone with them.
Speaker: Have I made a mistake?
Speaker: So to clear it, buyer legally has to pay 2%.
Speaker: Now, most leading agencies in the market pay 2%.
Speaker: Some charge more, some charge less.
Speaker: Now, I'm sure everyone's been in a situation where you go on Amazon and you're looking for a Hoover, you want your dice, and then you see the Amazon recommended choice, which is about...
Speaker: 200 dirhams 300 dirhams cheap and you think ah you know what i'll get this and then a week or two later hoover's not sucking it up properly it's you know it breaks down it's not charging well and then you're like all right i need to get a proper hoover don't do that when selling your home get an agent that knows what they're doing it's going to give you a hundred percent of their time it's going to want to get you the best result in the market and one factor that you have to consider is exclusivity with that two percent as well because
Speaker: When you've got one agent working for you in the market, batting to get you the best price, going to war against their colleagues as well, pitching it every day internally, dragging other people's buyers to the property, dragging other people's buyers from other areas saying, you need to show your buyer this.
Speaker: Those agents will realize, oh, hold on a minute.
Speaker: Jake's got a really good property here.
Speaker: I don't want that buyer to go through him or another agency and I miss out on not servicing my buyer correctly.
Speaker: So when you've got one agent that's protecting your interests,
Speaker: it deserves a fee, right?
Speaker: What industry has it in this world where if you're paying for a top service that's getting you the best value, you don't pay a fee.
Speaker: You can't do it on flights, you can't do it in meals.
Speaker: Imagine going to a restaurant and saying, I'm not going to pay for this.
Speaker: It doesn't exist, right?
Speaker: But I think the concept is that, yes, in some markets, it's just one side.
Speaker: It might be the buyer or seller.
Speaker: Fair enough.
Speaker: In Dubai, it's both sides.
Speaker: It's 2%.
Speaker: And yes, we can factor in that if you have a price you're looking for, OK, we target that price and then we embed the fee on top of that as well just to push for that.
Speaker: So yeah, I think if you're getting told that an agency is not going to charge you fees and cut your fees, immediately that's a red flag.
Speaker: And you have to also consider what am I losing out on?
Speaker: Because then it's a race to get the property sold, not necessarily a race to get you the best value for your property.
Speaker: Completely agree.
Speaker: I've never heard someone present it with that Amazon analogy.
Speaker: I might have to steal that.
Speaker: That's really, really good.
Speaker: And also you mentioned exclusivity and I did a video on this the other day about why you're more likely to achieve a higher price when going exclusive.
Speaker: Because as a buyer, when you see three listings that have the same property,
Speaker: You don't know it's the same property because every agent might have took different pictures and they think there's more demand than there is actually.
Speaker: So they say, well, if I don't get Jake's house, there's the same one on for the same price, but it's the exact same property.
Speaker: So that's also just to follow on what you said about exclusive.
Speaker: That's why I always say to people, you know, I would recommend you go exclusive.
Speaker: Even if it's no, just to, just for that exact reason, you will more than likely achieve a high premium for your property.
Speaker: Simple economic rule.
Speaker: Scarcity creates value.
Speaker: Why would you flood the market with your property?
Speaker: Every agency or most leading agencies, most of the time they have the same buyers registered.
Speaker: So if every buyer is getting sent the brochure of your property from this agency, that agency, and another,
Speaker: suddenly the buyer's thinking, hmm, is the seller desperate here?
Speaker: Do I have a deal on my cars?
Speaker: Is this a distressed sale?
Speaker: Versus when it's an exclusive agent, when it's just one, it's like you can't get this property anywhere else.
Speaker: That seller has entrusted this agent to sell his property for the best price in terms of the market value.
Speaker: So it controls the market dynamic in your favor.
Speaker: When there's multiple agents working on the property,
Speaker: That value is somewhat lost because it then becomes a race.
Speaker: Who can sell it the quickest?
Speaker: Who can pressure you the quickest to, you know, I want to sell your property because I know those two other agents have buyers coming in.
Speaker: And you lose that control element.
Speaker: But when it's one batting for you, we can sit down and together and say, OK, we've got this offer.
Speaker: What should we do next?
Speaker: Do you think we can squeeze the buyer a bit more?
Speaker: If I'm sitting down with an owner and I've got the offer and I know other agents are swooping in, suddenly I become a bit biased and suddenly I'm like, oh, I've got my own self-interest.
Speaker: Whereas we're on the same team working together, we'll get a better price. 100%.
Speaker: And so just to kind of answer the go back to the original question, I think we're probably both on the same page.
Speaker: You probably are making a mistake.
Speaker: It does sound too good to be true.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And you probably won't get the service you deserve.
Speaker: I think you have to look at that.
Speaker: If an agent's charging you 2% and they're getting you the price you want when you sit down together, if it's fair that you're getting what you're looking for, is it not fair that I get what my service wants?
Speaker: And again, in majority of the case, as an agent,
Speaker: it's set above them.
Speaker: Like it's above their pay grade that we're working towards.
Speaker: It's like, we're just doing what we're instructed to do, right?
Speaker: You go and buy a car, it's the same thing.
Speaker: Like it's how the system works.
Speaker: Definitely.
Speaker: And you're probably limiting yourself just that agents buy because they're not charging a commission.
Speaker: The only way they're going to make money is if they bring their own buyers to say, I'm going to get a 2% off the buyer.
Speaker: So you're immediately limiting your, how most of it are they going to be to go to other colleagues and say, Hey, bring your buyers to my property.
Speaker: I'm not getting paid.
Speaker: It's not going to happen.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: I think the best way to look at is, is there's buyers agents and the sellers agents.
Speaker: In the instance when I'm sitting down with an owner, I'm your agent.
Speaker: And if you want 100% of me, you need to give me 100% of you.
Speaker: And that's the exclusive and the 2% element.
Speaker: Because if I know that I've got an exclusive property that I'm getting 2% on,
Speaker: And I've got another property that there's three other agents working on online and probably 10 others offline.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I'm not getting a fee off of it.
Speaker: Which one am I going to work harder at?
Speaker: Of course, the exclusive 2%.
Speaker: You're going to get all of my attention to try and get this sold.
Speaker: And you also have to consider the fact that, as we were saying before,
Speaker: I'd say eight or nine times out of 10, we're selling this property with one of our colleagues from one of their buyers.
Speaker: It's not our buyer.
Speaker: I'm representing you on this transaction.
Speaker: They're representing their buyer.
Speaker: It's two separate agents.
Speaker: That's the buyer's fee.
Speaker: That's the seller's fee.
Speaker: They're two separate components.
Speaker: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker: Definitely.
Speaker: I think I think we answered the question pretty well.
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: So question four is from me, which sent in via me.
Speaker: So Emirates Living, I had to touch on it because I know this is your special area and gets you very excited.
Speaker: So Emirates Living, I said, I know it's a special area, one of the most sought after areas in Dubai.
Speaker: Talk to us through the area, properties available,
Speaker: And what makes it such a unique sought after area?
Speaker: Because it is one of the most sought after areas in Dubai.
Speaker: I'm intrigued.
Speaker: So Emirates living is made up of your springs, your lakes and your meadows and also Emirates hills as well.
Speaker: And then, of course, your neighboring communities are Jameera Park, JVT, Jameera Islands.
Speaker: Now, Meadows, Springs, Lakes was one of the first communities built in Dubai.
Speaker: So it survives the peaks and the troughs that we were discussing before.
Speaker: It's lived to tell the tale, essentially.
Speaker: So it's an established community.
Speaker: And a lot of new communities are popping up.
Speaker: And it's held that brand name that, if you mention them, they know it's a trusted Amar community that's been there.
Speaker: Right?
Speaker: I think as Dubai is growing and growing, the only way they can build is further out.
Speaker: And the crazy thing about the buyers is only 20% built or maybe 25% at the end of the year with all these projects coming in.
Speaker: In the grand scheme of things with this leadership, I'm sure they have plans to build further and further out.
Speaker: Right now, the suburbs don't exist.
Speaker: The infrastructure trains around going from Marina to the suburbs that don't exist also don't exist naturally, right?
Speaker: So we're talking about a community that right now is probably one of the most central communities in Dubai.
Speaker: So you can access Marina in about five to 10 minutes.
Speaker: You can get to the beaches about five to 10 minutes.
Speaker: In most cases, you're on Shakezide Road in five to 10 minutes to downtown in 15 to 20, depending on traffic.
Speaker: That's the caveat.
Speaker: So it's location, location, location.
Speaker: And no matter which real estate market you look around the world, what has stood the test of time is location.
Speaker: That's what holds value.
Speaker: You look at London, for example, New York, they stay in demand because they have that brand of location.
Speaker: It's the hub of the country.
Speaker: It's the hub of where to be.
Speaker: And Dubai, in my opinion, is Emirates Living.
Speaker: So that's what's, you know, essentially, if you look back in the data, when there has been peaks and troughs,
Speaker: Emirates Living has done a bit better.
Speaker: It's, you know, resisted a bit.
Speaker: It has also had its dips as well, like the rest of the market did.
Speaker: So I think, again, as they continue to build further and further out, it's just going to become more prime.
Speaker: It's going to become more exclusive to live in.
Speaker: And that idea scares me because, as I said, there's waiting lists for property and it's already quite stacked in Emirates Living.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: Yeah, that's a bit of background on Emirates living and what makes it so unique in my opinion.
Speaker: In terms of what you can get at Emirates living, pretty much anything apart from apartments.
Speaker: So in springs and some sub-communities and lakes, you have townhouses which vary from two beds
Speaker: all the way up to about 3,000 square foot townhouses, which can be three or four bed, depending if you use downstairs study as a bedroom.
Speaker: You've also got independent villas in meadows and lakes.
Speaker: They range from three bedrooms all the way up to seven bedrooms as well.
Speaker: And then Emirates Hills is your custom built.
Speaker: It's your Beverly Hills or Dubai.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I think what also makes Emirates living very unique is the fact that it's surrounded by world-class golf clubs, Montgomery golf clubs there.
Speaker: You've also got the Emirates Hills golf club as well.
Speaker: So that's what's always bringing people in.
Speaker: You've got the Meadows Village, Meadows Sook, Springs Sook, more Sooks and shops than you need.
Speaker: You've got incredible gyms nearby as well.
Speaker: I've been to Fitness First in Lakes, Springs, Meadows.
Speaker: They're great gyms to go to.
Speaker: It's pretty much that everything you need is on your doorstep.
Speaker: You don't have to go outside your community unless you're going to work or going somewhere else in Dubai, right?
Speaker: And what I personally love is the skyline views.
Speaker: As I said, London boy at heart.
Speaker: The skyline views is there for me, whether it's Marina.
Speaker: In some parts as well, you can see the Burge as well.
Speaker: So it's perfect in that sense.
Speaker: So it's got everything you need.
Speaker: It is an older community now.
Speaker: and what people are doing is turning these older homes into something completely brand new and modern doing things that have never been seen before in this market and there's a lot of potential to if you're an investor as well to come in you know take these properties on because they're in a prime location they get good returns yeah
Speaker: add a bit of value to them, rent them for hire, or again, flip them and make a good profit.
Speaker: So some of those properties in Emirates Hills are just unbelievable.
Speaker: Unbelievable.
Speaker: I remember one of our friends that came across six, seven months ago, we just drove him through Emirates Hills on the first day and he was just there in silence.
Speaker: It's crazy.
Speaker: It's like something out of a movie.
Speaker: I actually went to Emmitsville the first time a few weeks ago.
Speaker: I've seen it actually going inside and we went to the Montgomery Golf Club for lunch and stuff with my wife and we were just literally, as you said, we were just driving in absolute silence just with our mouths and we went, wow.
Speaker: It's an inspirational place when you go.
Speaker: I'm sure like maybe we've got some mindset that I like to go to areas to look at that's the future.
Speaker: And, you know, there's always someone doing bigger and better in Dubai than you.
Speaker: Just the growth mindset of everyone here is just.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So if you visit Dubai, just drive on Emmett's Hills and ready to be amazed.
Speaker: That's what you should do on your first day, especially if you're a real estate broker.
Speaker: I think one final thing to add is as well that it's probably one of the most green parts of Dubai as well.
Speaker: Like there's beautiful lakes, beautiful parks, like meadows and springs.
Speaker: They have like a running circuit that you can go around as well.
Speaker: Walk your dog and get across the Emirates Hill.
Speaker: So it's like it's like you're in like a sub part of Dubai that just doesn't feel like Dubai in some ways.
Speaker: So it's beautiful there.
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: So question five is from Emmanuel via the podcast form.
Speaker: I have around 5 million AD cash to invest as a resident here, but there are so many off plan projects launching and it's a bit overwhelming to select which one to invest in.
Speaker: Any advice?
Speaker: I think it kind of comes back to what we were discussing before is what kind of investor you want to be again.
Speaker: Like, is it...
Speaker: Is it for the fact that you're going to hold on to this asset as rental income for the foreseeable future and then cash in later?
Speaker: That's one avenue.
Speaker: If that's the case, then you might want to go somewhere downtown.
Speaker: Select Group have got their Peninsula project in Business Bay.
Speaker: That's a very good one.
Speaker: A lot of them are sold out and people are already flipping them for profits at the moment as well.
Speaker: Dubai Hills also it has quite a lot apartment communities there and Dubai Hills only one third bill it's probably one of the most communities that have seen highest capital appreciation over the last 12 18 months right but then on the flip side if it's something to move into eventually like you're holding it you're renting out and then eventually move in
Speaker: You then have to consider location.
Speaker: I think you then have to pinpoint, OK, where is Dubai going to be in five, 10 years?
Speaker: Like right now, people are looking at Arabian Ranch is free, which is starting to be built and hand over.
Speaker: And there's more sub communities coming.
Speaker: And they're saying it's too far out.
Speaker: But what you need to consider is they're going to build a lot more major roads there that connect it to Dubai.
Speaker: So that's on the area that is, you know, 30 minutes away could suddenly become 20, 25 minutes or improve traffic in other areas.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And that could see it appreciate because it's more of a prime location or.
Speaker: things shift away in terms of work sense and there's more working areas in and around that area there not everyone can work in business bay in downtown or marina in the future they start moving offices out there and all of a sudden there's another office location there like you have to think about that so again if it's only 20 25 built this is still a prime location so you might get more capital appreciation in the long run inverse investing in arabian ranches free to mac lagoon so
Speaker: Yeah, it depends also what stage of your investor journey you run.
Speaker: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker: Because if you're a seasoned investor, then you might have loads of apartments.
Speaker: It might be time to get some townhouses and villas.
Speaker: Diversify.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: So to kind of summarize, it's know what model you want to basically be an investor as.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Secondly, location, location, location, as we've established.
Speaker: And looking again, as we already spoke about, medium to long term.
Speaker: You know, obviously, yes, you can do the short term flips, as you mentioned.
Speaker: But if you're a first time investor, which I think he said he was first time investor, you probably want to maybe look at the medium to short term, you know, just deciding on.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: With 5 million, you might want to diversify your portfolio.
Speaker: You don't have to invest that in one asset.
Speaker: You can maybe pick up two, maybe get a four or five bedroom in Damak Lagoons and then get an apartment as well in downtown or something handing over in Marina.
Speaker: For sure.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Question six is from Arjan.
Speaker: I hope I mentioned your name right via Instagram.
Speaker: So I'm buying in Dubai now for the first time, but continue reading negative comments and Facebook groups.
Speaker: I never had a good experience with an agent when renting here, but I want to make sure I'm getting real advice.
Speaker: What can I do to educate myself?
Speaker: and what should I be looking for in an agent when buying?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So again, there's so many brokerages in Dubai.
Speaker: There's so many agents in Dubai, right?
Speaker: I worked out the other day, it's 82 agents per square mile in Dubai.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: So there's a lot of people vying for your business, right?
Speaker: But you want someone, of course, you can trust and will give you honest feedback on a property, not going to just try and get a quick fee and then leave you and not speak to you ever again when things might go wrong, for example.
Speaker: So definitely, of course, narrowing that down in a very competitive market is going to a trusted agency that has won awards in the market, is known by people around the buyer that have worked with them before.
Speaker: You can go and Google, look at the reviews, how many five-star reviews do they have?
Speaker: And you can then even pinpoint it down to the individual broker and see, okay, can I find their presence online or what have they done in the market?
Speaker: A lot of agents have social media presence.
Speaker: They've got, you know, Instagram, LinkedIn.
Speaker: Quite quickly, you can look at someone and see, okay, are they active in the market?
Speaker: Do they have a lot of listings or, you know, have they got a good feedback from the clients they have worked with?
Speaker: How long have they been in the market?
Speaker: And I think one thing you have to take into consideration from a rental side is a lot of brokers come in and start off in rental.
Speaker: So they're learning the ropes, right?
Speaker: And that can be a good thing because like they want to work hard for you to learn and they've got bills to pay as well naturally as well, right?
Speaker: I think it's about having an honest conversation and finding out, okay, what's their rapport like?
Speaker: Can I get on with them?
Speaker: Do they have some nows of what they're speaking about, right?
Speaker: And then going from there, I think suss them out because you can find that agent that just rents you a property that...
Speaker: is with a terrible landlord and they're lying to you and they're not willing to give you the facts and then you're stuck with a terrible rental property and you call them up and then they're not answering the phone they're no longer in the market they're back home wherever they came from so yeah sure and just to just first put the question in terms of educating yourself obviously going as you mentioned see this immediate presence but also
Speaker: educate yourself on the market, listening to podcasts like this, there's other great podcasts about Dubai.
Speaker: And also like wherever you're buying, make sure you, I would say, go on the DLD website and look at the transactions in the area and just obviously, yes, you want to trust the agent that I'm going to say, but also try and do your own due diligence where possible to maybe put questions to him.
Speaker: Hey, I saw these transaction figures.
Speaker: What, you know, are these accurate or can you provide me with more accurate figures and
Speaker: doing your own extra step, I guess, if that's something you are worried about.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker: I'd agree.
Speaker: Question number seven is from Chelsea, not your favourite football club, who is the person, via the podcast form.
Speaker: We've received notice that our rent is going to increase, but I want to make sure we are not getting ripped off.
Speaker: It's our first time renewing rents in Dubai.
Speaker: What is the maximum a landlord can increase the rent on a renewal?
Speaker: Cool.
Speaker: So first things first, the timing of when they're instructing you to raise the rent is crucial because it has to be over 90 days before the end of the lease.
Speaker: If it's within the 90 days, you have the right to renew at the previous market rent.
Speaker: Now, things are moving quickly in the rental market as we discussed previously.
Speaker: technically you go on the rear index calculator and you put in your title deed information like details of the property and it will say to you the maximum that an owner can increase the rent by and a lot of communities now the prices have gone up so if you've been renting it for two three four years
Speaker: then yeah, your price is likely to increase, but it'll be capped at a certain percentage, which that calculator will tell you varies between communities.
Speaker: In some communities, the calculator is not representative.
Speaker: So for example, Lakes is a prime example of that because you have a mix of townhouses and villas as well.
Speaker: So a three bed townhouse could be a really small one, 2,200 square foot, 2,400.
Speaker: And you can also have a three bed that's about 3,500.
Speaker: That index calculator will look at and say they're three beds, three beds.
Speaker: So it might actually work in your favor in that sense.
Speaker: However, another thing you have to be careful of is the fact that if the landlord knows that he's getting really below market rent, then he could instruct a valuation to come out and they can say what the property is worth and then they can actually take it to market level.
Speaker: So if you're a tenant, you don't want to tell your landlord that.
Speaker: But if your landlord listening, then you could also work that out as well.
Speaker: Well answered.
Speaker: There's a lot like that goes into that for sure.
Speaker: know for sure but the basic is you know if you're worried you might be in overcharge or something and they haven't done the valuation as a tenant i said go to the index calculator put any details and get the figures from there i think as well what you have to look at and this is something that i'm getting feedback from a lot of my clients now is that and it goes back to what we're discussing with the notice that if
Speaker: If you don't, if the landlord, for example, doesn't like the renewal, the rent he's only getting and he's like, right, I want to sell the property, I'm going to serve the notice.
Speaker: And then you as a tenant know you're going to move out, right?
Speaker: Just quickly go online and look at what your property is now renting in the market for.
Speaker: And in a lot of cases, it could be two times the amount you're paying.
Speaker: So like sometimes it's about being fair and saying, you know what, the market has risen.
Speaker: The calculator is saying that I don't have to increase, but the landlord might give me a difficult time.
Speaker: You might start selling.
Speaker: I've got viewings going on now.
Speaker: I've got to manage that as well.
Speaker: And like that stress, I think sometimes it's a case of being like, you know what, the market has gone up.
Speaker: I love where I'm living.
Speaker: The pain and the sake of moving, I can't be bothered for it.
Speaker: I'll pay a bit of an increase because that's the market we're in.
Speaker: Because if it does come to the fact where you have to move out, you're going to be paying a lot more and the hassle of it as well.
Speaker: And if it does get to the 12-month point, you won't get an incentive or anything to do that.
Speaker: So it's something to consider.
Speaker: Me and my wife literally just had that on our rental.
Speaker: And I was very impressed with the landlord increase.
Speaker: I was like, yep, not a problem.
Speaker: Because I know with the market, how much they're actually renting for now from when we started to rent.
Speaker: And ours is well lower.
Speaker: It didn't increase by that much.
Speaker: I was like, yep, I'll sign that.
Speaker: I think when you're a tenant or you're looking in the market, you assume these landlords are out just to make your life hell and take as much money as possible.
Speaker: I've met so many clients that just say, I love this tenant.
Speaker: Like I wouldn't charge them more.
Speaker: Like I look after them because they look after my property.
Speaker: And like it's a mutual relationship, right?
Speaker: Definitely.
Speaker: Definitely.
Speaker: So question eight is from Rohan, which is via LinkedIn.
Speaker: We've been living in the marina, but now making a move wanting a villa slash townhouse.
Speaker: We are pre-approved up to 7 million AED and have three children all at school ages.
Speaker: We haven't started viewing yet, but any good recommendations on the best family areas within Dubai?
Speaker: There's loads.
Speaker: But maybe your personal favorites.
Speaker: So obviously I get a lot of buyers that like I'm open to communities and then you go on a tour of Dubai and they're like, actually, I like this one.
Speaker: So I think you have to kind of do a bit of homework before or once you've started doing some viewings and actually pinpoint where you want to live, right?
Speaker: So given this family, right?
Speaker: Schools, it could be three different schools.
Speaker: It could be two schools.
Speaker: It could be one school.
Speaker: Definitely the kids come first, right?
Speaker: You need to think about what is the commute like in the morning because Dubai morning traffic isn't getting any better at the moment, especially if you're going on Hessell and Sakeem.
Speaker: Shout out those roads.
Speaker: Those are terrible at the moment.
Speaker: So yeah, definitely being in close vicinity to the school that your children are attending.
Speaker: And then you have to also consider yourself how far away is your office?
Speaker: Is it in downtown?
Speaker: Is it in Marina?
Speaker: Do you have a remote working model?
Speaker: Is it hybrid?
Speaker: And then factor that in there.
Speaker: So you might get a sweet point.
Speaker: So again, that's the question.
Speaker: It could be further up.
Speaker: Your kids go to school and you might want to be there.
Speaker: So definitely focus on the community where your kids are prioritized first, right?
Speaker: I think to give you a top three, of course, I'm biased.
Speaker: Emirates living for me comes first.
Speaker: Who would afford it, right?
Speaker: Because obviously you're close to Marina.
Speaker: That's where you were living before.
Speaker: It's probably the next step that a lot of buyers do have coming into a townhouse or villa community, as we discussed.
Speaker: Up to 7 million as well.
Speaker: 7 million is a good budget.
Speaker: It's not an excellent budget anymore.
Speaker: Maybe last year would have got you a lot more money.
Speaker: And that's the other consideration you have to have is the fact that
Speaker: you're not going to get as much value for your money in terms of the property and the size you're getting, the plot size in a more prime location.
Speaker: And if you value a bigger house and a bigger plot, then yeah, it might be a consideration to go out further in Arabian ranches, green community, victory heights.
Speaker: These properties are a lot bigger.
Speaker: You get bigger plots, more privacy in some cases and golf course views for the same money.
Speaker: So it depends what you're willing to compromise and sacrifice on.
Speaker: if you can go through that 30 minute commute and go for a route fantastic you're going to get a lot more value for money in arabian ranches and i think the sweet point at the moment for me is to buy hills because it's center of arabian ranches and emirates living easy access to hessa easy access to get to downtown as well it kind of feels like the center of dubai whereas emirates living is kind of the prime location to be quick so yeah it depends how much you value convenience for me
Speaker: if I had the opportunity, I'd put convenience first because I, I value that extra 10, 15 minutes that I don't have to sit in a car, you know, AC on, it's hot in the summer.
Speaker: That's my personal opinion.
Speaker: But for you, you have to work out where is your sweet spot.
Speaker: Good answer.
Speaker: Final question.
Speaker: What's your one bit of advice for someone thinking of investing in the buy real estate market?
Speaker: Why haven't you already?
Speaker: That's a
Speaker: It's a very good answer.
Speaker: Why didn't you last year when you said prices were going to drop?
Speaker: Why are you not now because you think prices are going to drop?
Speaker: That's usually the answer that I'm waiting for the market to dip.
Speaker: That's your thought process why it hasn't.
Speaker: Then let's take a step back.
Speaker: I have this conversation every day, right?
Speaker: Okay, what makes you think it's going to dip?
Speaker: I've been going up for too long.
Speaker: It's not rational.
Speaker: What says it's going to dip, right?
Speaker: Oh, because it dipped in the past.
Speaker: Okay, past doesn't dictate the future, right?
Speaker: Now, a lot of the data is pointing to the fact that given the population increase that's projected by 2030, they want to essentially double the population.
Speaker: Where are they going to live?
Speaker: They need more houses to build right.
Speaker: And yes, there is an element that you have to consider.
Speaker: OK, if they're building more, then there's more supply.
Speaker: Then prices will come down.
Speaker: There'll be less demand.
Speaker: But if there's still excess demand, then prices are just going to go up, continue to rise.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And we're at that period where Dubai isn't a stabilization period.
Speaker: It's slowly increasing.
Speaker: It's not rapidly increasing as we discussed before, but we could be entering a point of the market where it's mature.
Speaker: And you look at a lot of people now since COVID, the world has changed.
Speaker: They're working remotely here in Dubai and they're getting paid in GBP or USD and they're doing these hybrid roles.
Speaker: They're waking up later and they can work wherever they want.
Speaker: But people choosing to live here because you can find ways to get tax-free income.
Speaker: You've got the sunshine.
Speaker: it's a better lifestyle right as we've been discussing so yeah first and foremost is being committed to invest what you want to get out from it right and it's doing it now because if the market keeps rising then your assets going to increase and you're not going to pay a higher price later down the line good answer i like it
Speaker: So thank you so much for coming on.
Speaker: Before we end, where can our listeners go and find you to ask questions or, you know, just follow you and your journey in Dubai?
Speaker: Pretty much every social media app you can think of.
Speaker: But my main ones are Instagram.
Speaker: It's JakeMH underscore.
Speaker: I'm on LinkedIn as well.
Speaker: Jake Matthews Hubbard.
Speaker: I'm on TikTok.
Speaker: JakeMH underscore, I think he is.
Speaker: I'm pretty sure that's the same as my Instagram as well.
Speaker: And if you're in certain parts of the world, you can catch me on TV as well, if you're lucky.
Speaker: and now podcasts and now podcasts as well and i'll leave the links below for all your social media channels so you'll be able to go down below and follow jake and his journey which is you know really in dubai for a few years made a massive impact in this market so thank you so much for listening and as always if you got questions for our next guest there'll be linked down below to the podcast form or you can send them to me directly on social media thank you so much for tuning in and i will see you on next week's episode
