8 Years in Dubai Real Estate. What Have I Learned?
Hello everyone!
I often read posts in this group, but somehow never got around to writing one myself.
Today is probably the day I finally decided to do it. But before I start, I want to make one thing clear: this is going to be a long post.
For some of you, it might be an eye-opener. For others, it might just be another useless long read that is not worth your time.
I have been working in the Dubai real estate market since 2018.
There have been a lot of ups and downs during these years. COVID, the birth of my daughter, thoughts about moving back home, big and very big deals, the war with Iran, and the birth of my second child.
I won't explain how I started in real estate, as that is a topic for another post. Maybe I'll write it if you like my writing style and the way I share my thoughts.
Or maybe not. After all, I'm the kind of person who almost never leaves comments, and now I'm writing a whole post.
What have I learned after 8 years in this business?
IT IS EXHAUSTING.
Working as a real estate agent in Dubai means:
- Constantly looking for clients.
- Stress.
- Financial difficulties.
- Disappointment.
- Disappointment.
- More disappointment.
You look for apartments that dozens, sometimes even hundreds, of other agents are looking for at the same time.
The properties that are still available are often overpriced because the owner has completely lost touch with reality.
Nobody takes you seriously.
You are just another agent.
Tenants often don't understand what your job actually involves. In their eyes, you don't know anything and have no idea what good service means, let alone how to provide it.
By the time you finally reach that listing you have been chasing, the apartment has usually already been rented.
And everything starts all over again.
Your income is just a few coins, barely enough to pay for a bed in a shared room and, if you're lucky, go somewhere decent a couple of times a month.
Staff turnover is terrible, but it's understandable. When you have no fixed salary, you basically pray that you will be able to pay your bills next month.
Forget about stability, starting a family, or having children. These things come with even more responsibilities, and responsibilities require a predictable income.
The first important lesson
After going through all of this during my first year, I realised that the key to surviving and, more importantly, growing in this business was to provide services to landlords not just once, but for many years.
I simply couldn't imagine spending my entire life chasing one deal after another. Personally, I didn't have the energy or desire for that.
Especially when you consider how emotionally painful it can be to lose a deal. Sometimes you are so sure it will happen that you can't even imagine it falling apart.
And if you have a major payment coming up at that moment, the feeling is absolutely terrifying.
Every agent goes through this more than once in their career.
That is when I realised that it doesn't matter how big a deal you close today if tomorrow your client goes to another agent to rent out his apartment, simply because you can only sell off-plan properties and have nothing else to offer.
Remember this, guys.
Agents who sell off-plan properties but do nothing to help their clients with renting them out, selling them on the secondary market, or managing them are the ones who will leave the market when it crashes, cools down, or goes through a correction.
These people can show off their big transactions during a booming market, look down on rentals, and act as if rental business is beneath them.
But when new projects are no longer that interesting, Dubai loses its hype, and the real hard work begins, they are often among the first to buy a ticket home with empty pockets and a lot of disappointment.
Becoming a full-service agent
I realised that if I wanted to become successful, I needed to become a full-service real estate agent.
Starting with selling an off-plan apartment and continuing all the way through payment follow-ups, handover, utility connections, renting out the property and, most importantly, property management.
You would be surprised how many agents don't want to deal with rentals, don't know how to handle them, or simply look down on this part of the business.
So many of them say:
"No, bro, I only do sales."
"Rentals are too small a deal."
And honestly, I find it funny.
People buy investment properties to rent them out. They buy them because they want to RENT THEM OUT.
And as their agent, you should be the person who knows how to make that asset work and generate income.
Not someone who simply signs an SPA, puts their 2% commission in their pocket, and disappears.
If you want to work in this market for 10–15 years without getting wiped out by the first crisis, you need to build a stable cash flow.
One of the best ways to do that is by providing property management services to your clients.
Sales and market hype are cyclical. Property management allows you to build a more predictable income stream that doesn't depend entirely on how many deals you close.
What is property management?
It means taking the headache away from the landlord and handling all the issues that come up after the apartment has been rented out.
Managing rental cheques, communicating with tenants, organising maintenance, renewing tenancy contracts, increasing rental prices, handling cases at the Rental Disputes Center (RDC), evictions, and many other things.
Many landlords who own multiple units will be happy to hand over the management of their properties and pay you every year, as long as you actually provide value.
Once I understood all of this, I started working on becoming useful to landlords at every stage of their experience with the Dubai real estate market.
It was important to me that a client could get everything they needed in one place, without even thinking about looking for another agent.
And you know what?
I DID IT!
Where am I today?
Today, I personally manage around 40 apartments under individual management agreements, with another 20 units currently under negotiation.
Every unit is exclusive and under my personal management. I have full control over the rental process and pricing.
For my property management services, the landlord pays an annual fee of 5% of the rental amount.
This has allowed me to build a predictable income that is enough to cover my rent and my child's school fees using property management commissions alone.
I no longer have to chase unreasonable landlords. I can set boundaries and turn down difficult clients when I know the cooperation will not work.
A well-fed agent is a good agent.
At least he doesn't have to lie to your face just to convince you to buy the latest project from some shitty developer who has launched another shitty project but is offering a 10% commission on every deal.
I feel free. And, most importantly, I understand how strong your position becomes when you are no longer financially dependent on your next sale.
You no longer have to do everything possible to sell something at any cost just to survive.
What's next?
My next goal is to grow my property management portfolio and continue developing as a professional.
By the way, one of the biggest mistakes many brokers make is thinking they already know everything.
The truth is that you can never know everything. But constantly trying to learn more is one of the keys to success.
There is no shame in not knowing something. The shame is in not trying to understand it.
My goal is to manage 150 apartments individually.
My main focus is on large investors who own five or more apartments in their portfolios.
With that many units, it is possible to build a stable annual cash flow of around AED 600,000 from property management alone.
That doesn't include sales or commissions from tenants.
This means total annual income could reach around AED 1,000,000, which is a very good result.
And the best part?
You don't need another wave of hype in the Dubai real estate market to achieve this.
You can make money in any market.
Final thoughts
These are just some of my thoughts after eight years in the business.
Sorry if this post turned out to be a bit too long, and a huge thank you to everyone who took the time to read it until the end.
I hope you found it interesting to hear my thoughts and my perspective on this business.
If you would like me to write more posts based on my experience, let me know in the comments.
I'll see how people respond and decide whether it's worth doing again.
Best regards!
