How Foreigners Can Invest in Dubai Property

Hi my name is GG Benitez and i a licensed California realtor and a certified International property specialist Bridging the real estate luxury markets of Dubai and the United States and I'm here today to share a little bit of my journey and what my hopes and dreams are for you who are tuning in and listening on my episode I'm here with Ahmed ashwak who is my partner here on the ground hi ammed hi Gigi thank you for joining me today oh it's was a fun to be here with you right always we we've actually already recorded a few podcasts and I feel like I needed to take it a step backward with this one and really just share why I'm even doing this and why I'm even here across the world away from my family and embarking upon this journey so and you are a huge part of it so I thought this would be a great time for us to just sit down and kind of exp why not let's do let people know what what are we doing here what's yes so just to go back I've had a PR pharmaceutical sales for several years then started a PR firm that I've had for 15 years but a year ago as I chose to come to Dubai to visit one of my best friends zanab who lives here for the first time for the first time exactly and I know both of you cuz you and I are friends from when I was with my early 20s have always painted this beautiful picture of Dubai and both of you come coming from San Diego to Dubai telling me you got to come come come but I had these preconceived notions of what Dubai was and last year I told Dana listen let's go to Turkey together it's on my bucket list she said I'm not going unless you stop by Dubai first so very negative attitude I said fine I'll come for a few days and I came I arrived the second day cuz in America what do we always hear oh Dubai is just Vegas on steroids exactly Dubai what is it it's man-made it's fake well not when I was over there I used to get to hear do you people still live in tents do you have cars are you riding on camels yeah 20 28 years ago that's what the 20 years ago I'm just kidding I'm just kidding just kiding so yeah I I I you're lucky you got to hear the more advanced Advan exactly criticism criticism yeah so I I arrived and actually the second days I went to the alahi neighborhood which is your historical neighborhood yes and that's where it hit me there was this phrase on the wall in the fiti neighborhood and I even though I speak Arabic I asked someone to I don't read or write and I asked someone to translate it and it said something to the effect of Tolerance helps progress as Society forward and that is so true of what I felt here is this tolerance this diversity this dynamic Innovative beautiful it's a Melting Pot Melting Pot of 85% or expats more than 200 different nationalities multiple languages which English is obviously the common language everyone here but it just works and so I said okay I need to explore more what what can I do something is here from me and if I as a first generation Arab American had these preconceived notions imagine what everybody else back in America who hasn't traveled to Dubai feels and so started to to look into what are the top industries and as we know real estate is one of the hottest Industries in Dubai Dubai is the busiest luxury real estate market in the world and you this is where you come into a play so share with us a little bit about your experience in real estate G I just like yourself decided to come here on vacation and at the same time meet my mother having an imarati mother cuz my mother did not live in the US she decided to continue on living here in Dubai so growing up in the US my mother decided to live here in Dubai okay okay one day I just decided to come and visit Dubai and visit my mother obviously since she and that was your first time that was my first time yes so when I arrived in Dubai a lot of people ask me was it a culture shock not really cuz I was born in Kuwait so I was born in that envir environment what amazed me about in Dubai and remember jezy we're talking about 24 years ago when none of this glitter and Glam what you see right now which a lot of people are in love with yes I fell in love with the Simplicity of what Dubai had to offer 24 years ago because we've seen done everything in the US so there was nothing more you could show me to excite my imagination so for me to come and run away from that rat race from that hustle and bustle I was like wow I think I think I could live here it took me I think two weeks and I was like Mom exactly two weeks after staying in Dubai and you had only come with the intention for being on vacation on vacation I had no plans on living over here imagine that I hear that happens a lot by the way it does it does there's something in the air over here so remember we're not I'm not talking about the glitter which wasn't back there because a lot of people say well most people are attracted to to like you said the glitter and the the Glamorous lifestyle it wasn't that it was just how soothing how quiet how easy paced life Haron yes exactly finally discovered Harmony as you would say I would love I prefer that word yes and and was it for me I just called my father and I said Dad I'm sending you a power of attorney I'm not coming back yes sell everything I own over there because I choose not to come back because I was afraid if I do go back I might change my mind so I said Dad I'm not coming back I'm sending you a power attorney handle everything on my behalf and spent 24 years I ended up getting married here I have two boys right now and to clarify your wife is also o from America she's Mexican ameran actually my wife back then who was my girlfriend who traveled with me here to Dubai by the way she her and I we both came here on vacation and next thing two weeks later I tell her hey Carla how do you feel about not going back to America do you enjoy this and she's like what Ahmed I'm tired of working my butt off I think I could get used to this lifestyle that was it both of us ended up staying over here children exactly now we have two children I have a 18-year-old son and a 13-year-old boy and I have no intentions of ever going back I hear this from so many people here I ask so many people a lot of stories are like similar to yours and me I'll ask everybody everything probably way too much than they even want me to but people come on vacation they don't end up wanting to leave people come to Dubai they want to stay they don't want to even go back to a different life style is a Simplicity I can understand that it might have been s simplistic then yes and B the rat race and hustle because this is not a cheap place to live yes first of all second of all well Gigi I I have to reconsider that point why because it all depends what you're looking for what kind of Lifestyle are you looking for in buy that's true yes sgo and you are expec the same over here but not everyone is living that lifestyle here in Dubai so it could be expensive for you but it might not be expensive for others fair and it is taxfree and it's tax most importantly it's a taxe so for the opportunities in the job market and the economy here super strong and then you're not taxed on your income look at our population today versus where it was 24 4 years ago okay but one of the main aspects that which you will agree right now was it was the sense of security and safety this is what I was really impressed and this is why I am still here today with my children even though we had a plan five years ago or was it six years ago to move back and so my kids could continue their college education and I will obviously retire back in the US but all of that has changed because the sense of security that I feel here for myself for my wife for my children I don't think I could ever get that in the US especially with now with everything goes the crime rates and with with with the job situation the homeless situation have you seen any homelesses here in Dubai no okay so all of that has changed okay now why or how did Dubai get to where it is today it's simple the rulers they're good listeners they listen and provide people what they need in this country in order to remain remember Dubai is not just focusing on tourism they just don't want tourist people to just come here have a good time and talented exactly intelligent educated creative they are attracting the smartest hardest workers and talented people from all across the world you were talking about population you had hit 3.5 million it's going to be 5.9 Million by I think 2030 I believe if I'm correct and I I'm having a lot of people from Canada start calling me about moving here moving here not just investing here but actually moving here similar stories to you talking about the safety yes which leads us into what we're doing because with that growth with that increase in the job market with it not just being the simplistic life that let's say you came 20 years ago that was a smaller place yes with the development and the growth and the economic stability and it's becoming a global business Hub where 75% of Fortune 500 companies are now have their headquarters exactly so Global business Hub a trade it's always been a trade Hub it's where East Dubai is where East Meets West right You can get to so much more of the world based here in buy of course look us and look not to forget they're already working on the urban 2040 plan4 plan exactly right the largest airport in the world bigger and better of everything they always want they they want to make sure Gigi that Dubai is going to be one of the most comfortable places for people to live and I could see that I mean I'll give you a quick example DMV for example when you want to go register your car nightmare it takes it's it's a nightmare you will literally stand for hours in Q you will not experience that in Dubai in today's time everything is gone digital digital exactly even my tickets are digital there you go speeding tickets so Dubai is always trying to create the conven lifestyle I love how you say about that the leaders listen and the leaders provide you're not the only one who says that every single person I talk to has such a great admiration and respect for the government here incredible because of what you said they they're trying to give us the best life not just for tourism but for the people that are moving here and they're trying to make it attractive and incentivized with golden Visa programs with the job opportunities with the schools with the laws in place making it a safe you can't make racist comments for example you can't make xenophobic comments to anyone with the fact that you have to figure out how if 85% are expats and you have people from all over the world coming how are we going to ensure safety and Harmony exactly Harmony which is the most important thing when you have all these different religions in one place it plays a huge Factor absolutely it works and the funny thing is I used to always hear in America that it will not work if we implement this if we Implement that you're going to upset this person you're going to go against that person's beliefs but look over here it works they have proved that it works and it's very and as a matter of fact I did a little field trip myself last weekend and I just got in the car and I drove to which is not in Dubai but the abrahamic house in ab ab yes and that is a structure that has a church a mosque and a synagogue all in the same building or this same property and you see people going to educate themselves and to attend the different services in the different houses of worship and they made sure strategically that each building is built the same height same width to respect each so there is such a respect for diversity here again breaking my preconceived notions right CU I'm a Christian Arab and so I had different ideas of what it would be like to visit an Muslim country but in fact Dubai they don't care what you are as long as you are abiding by the laws and the rules respecting each other most importantly respecting respecting each other there's no such thing as road rage here except for you're honking your horns which causes me ra but I can't react which is funny I will just say real quickly like in the US if someone honed the horn at me I would react but here because you don't want to get kicked out so you just don't react right yes true and this all leads to what when this year ago that my heart was triggered that I want to come back and explore more and more and understanding What's Happening Here in the population spurt the tourism destination and the plan like you said the the urban plan the d33 economic plan all eyes are on the real estate market in Dubai so I connected with you because you have 18 years of real estate experience you had your own brokerage firm here and immersed myself came back spent weeks here earlier this year to immerse myself which was very important because when we were trying to explain to you that this is how it works in Dubai you did not believe it either in the beginning you were like how is that possible this how we do the this is not how we do it in the US so I was busy trying to tell you this is how we do it in Dubai you were telling me no this is not how we do it in the US so this was a very good opportunity for you to come here to Dubai and experience it first so you could take that knowledge with you and tell the Americans over there that guys this is not a sales page the market the way it works and reacts in Dubai is not in the US because completely different G you need to realize one thing you have a project that gets launched okay say there's 250 apartments in that building you have almost 6,000 registered agents and probably much more unregistered much more that are unregistered so remember when the buyers are coming we're not talking about the B the local buyers who live here you're talking about buyers that are coming from all parts of the world so imagine the chaos that's taking place I don't have to imagine it cuz I've seen it exactly you witness a launch over here how it is in Dubai so imagine everyone is fighting for those 250 units that are being launched that particular day in America you don't have that's not the case in California for example in California when something gets launched it's within the circle of the community and the residents one has just sold his house he wants a bigger house so he's coming to that particular launch so which is why one of our clients said that it takes anywhere around one year and more to sell a project but that's not the case in duai and believe it or not nothing has changed because when I started in 2002 it was a different ball game compared to what the market is today the agents today the new agents who are coming into the market or who who even joined five years ago I would say they have it made they've been given everything on a silver platter compared to because there's so much business overflowing they don't need to sell they need to sell it's selling itself exactly unlike in 2002 when there was nothing in Dubai my first question to my partner was how am I going to sell a place in the desert exactly how am I going to convince people that they they need to buy here because this will take shape yeah so they kind of visualize it exactly so so there was a phrase that I used used to use at that time and it was like something like it was selling Dubai's property was like selling ice to the eskimos and I was literally selling sand to the Arabs at that time convincing them such an interesting this will turn into gold one day I had to literally excite people's imagination GG so I I myself had to have a very good imagination in order to convince someone that everything that you see today after 22 years will actually take shape yeah how could they even trust it right even when I hear the stories about Palm JRA for example which is that how 18 years old now Pro a little bit older yes but I hear the stories about when they first even started and I don't know if you were part of that at that time was okay selling Palm J and people were like wait what do you mean a palm shaped Crescent and bronze in the an island and man-made and what are you talking about and look what happened ionic neighborhood the most iconic development in the world at that time what was the price per square footage when Palm J first launched wow I remember at that time I was selling a one-bedroom for example on the shoreline apartment a one-bedroom was somewhere around 550,000 close to $120,000 a villa where there the Garden Villas were starting at 5ou 5 million durhams which today is like 15 million Durham for example the signature Willow which was selling at 15 million is around 80 million today so that's what's happening in Palm J and now we know Palm jabal Ali is now going to be twice as big as size as palm J Island and they have learned even as successful as palm J is it is 18 20 years okay so they've learned how to make it even better right for investors true but once again investors need to keep one thing in mind that it will be a long-term investment a longm they should not expect what has taking place in today's current market in Palm J will take place immediately in Palm Ali so so we know that Palm was very successful which actually Segways into some of the other differentiators between when you started real estate then and what I'm learning about what probably one of the most attractive features of real estate in Dubai is now which is the creation of the Dubai land Department in rira and I had attended the international property conference back in February when I came to Dubai and had heard the greatest Minds on the stage from around the world that have come here and have said that it's a constant strategy that Dubai has in place of looking 10 20 years in the future about how to learn from any mistakes in the past and after the market crash in 2008 that's just what they did they sat down got these Brilliant Minds together and said let's look 10 20 30 40 years in the future and let's make sure we reduce these problems one of being that flipping was so uncontrolled because that attributes for example to a bubble risk so share with us about the creation of dld and how that really changed how you did Real Estate before I came into play CU all I know are the safety measures and the safety precautions of a very transparent and regul ated real estate market by the government well Gigi after 2008 obviously these investors who had a bad experience due to their own bad decisions went back to whatever countries they came from and they started telling other people obviously that no you should not invest in Dubai because the market is not regulated I got scammed or the developer who I purchased with has fled the country which by the way it did take place there were a hand full of developers who basically did not deliver took the money and flee the country so when the Dubai government saw that these issues taking place obviously we were not in it for the short term Dubai obviously always has a long-term Vision they do very strategic same thing with the investors the investors also need to have that same longterm Vision we did not want flippers anymore in the market so which is why the entity of rira the land Department which is run by the government had to be formed in order to secure the investors from not being scammed by what had happened prior to 2008 and let's talk about a few of those so rra by the way stands for a real estate regulatory agency yes under the dld but you can still flip here but what Dubai now does is that you can only flip after holding for a certain period of time whether it be a year or 40% in so that they can control that supply and demand and the price and make sure it's not contributing to a bubble RIS correct which was one of the biggest issues or factor that caused the crash and the bubble because the prices were extremely exaggerated I mean to a point where say I have a I'm a client I just bought a a 1bedroom apartment for $400 $100,000 I would literally 4 days later try to sell the same unit for $130,000 and there was no one there to question that seller so which is why the prices were so inflated so exaggerated that when the market did crash the most exaggerated projects took the most beating biggest hit Palm J was one of those projects because majority of the owners over there the investors had exaggerated their price to a point where it was not justifying the per square footage price and that's where a bubble risk comes into play and that's we can talk about how Dubai still considered a fair by by the UBS bubble Risk Index that actually report just came out but I want to touch something important even though you cannot flip the way you used to you still can and if you compare it specifically to America an off-plan project which means under construction project which is very popular here in Dubai you still can sell here you can in America yeah in America can without penalty which was very surprising to me when I found out from you yes I noticed a lot of Agents don't know that here so that's another huge benefit so you're obligated to hold it until it's complet three to 5 years for whenever it's completed so your money is tied and let's say there is an increase in price for square footage let's say you want to cash out on that capital S on De money pretty much yeah and in it so you can't make moves for 3 to 5 years whereas in Dubai an off-plan yes if you put your down payment down and then once you meet that threshold that's set through the developer and managed by dld yes you can't flip it take that capital appreciation and we know this our clients we won't talk about specific numbers but they're very happy that a lot of times they're just putting one payment maybe in their second payment the deposit their second payment and they're flipping it correct so that's one it's it's controlled it's managed but it's still possible which is why by the way it's very important to see who you're dealing with as far as a developer developer and see what the rules are Developer is very important who are you buying it through not necessarily saying that there's a problem with other developers because they're all following the same law and regulation so as far as any investor feeling that if they are not investing with a semi government development they might have a risk of being cheated or scammed mhm no such thing could ever happen here in Dubai so which thank you that leads me to the next Point actually when we talk about the differences of when you were working before the development dld and the creation of rira where the developer was able to collect the money and flee the country yes thank you because this is another very important topic that Americans and foreigners want to understand about the safety of their money that when they are in an off-plan payment plan with a developer that that first of all first of all before a developer can even start to sell their off-plan yes there are precautions in place in that that they have to have 20% correct the value of of the value in a bank account they have to basically prove their financial stability correct and they have to fully own the land as well fully own the land yes this is taken away that fear of someone taking that money and jumping on a leaving and that your money when when an American or Canadian is wiring their payment plan for that off-plan it is in an escrow account that is managed by the government correct and that the government sends a representative to the construction site to make sure that things are coming along as planned before they release your money correct so these precautions are now in place thanks to this dld and rra so you have flipping is is controlled now still possible but controlled yes you have your money is safe because it's in an escro account managed by the government you have the semi-government owned developers which already have very established reputation but even if they're not they're still all controlled because all real estate transactions are monitored by the government correct right so and that's one of the reasons G you have most of the foreign money coming to divide because I always believe and I always been telling that to most of my International investor you should always take your money to a country that welcomes expats foreigners it is very important to do that why because you do not want to be stuck in a foreign country that's not persistent with its laws and policies where they're constantly changing not for the better but for the worse and Dubai is constantly figuring out how to make this a safe haven for foreign investors with their incentiv such as taxfree no taxes here on capital appreciation no property taxes we didn't even touch that no property taxes your ease of accessing your money back should you decide to sell I me this question is asked me all the time oh no your money's wired right back as far as long time as as it takes for that money to go through bank to bank it's sent back to you so the safety is covered right so when we talk about why du I it's a safe investment yes capital appreciation opportunities conservatively speaking we're looking at about 10% correct okay rental returns long-term 7 to 9% short longterm let's try to be a little bit more conservative and I always like to be on the safe side without exaggerating prices I like to stick anywhere around 6 to 8% on annual basis still significantly higher to us and Europe and Canada of course which we're hearing about right now Airbnb which is another topic where unlike the us or Europe we have zero restrictions on Airbnb compared to the crisis now Airbnb is facing in America right now and in Europe so what are the numbers for a short term shortterm once again I will be very conservative because I'm sure you've had a lot of numbers thrown at you 18% to 24% 12 to 15 is what I have found exactly that would be my conservative significantly higher in Ultra Prime luxury locations if we talk about depending also on a very prime location which people need to understand not every location in Dubai is meant for Airbnb which is a another misconception here in Dubai based on which agent that buyer is dealing with because at the end of the day remember Gigi most agents want to sell if they've not been long enough in the market they have no ethics or morals they're just looking at that sale so they will tell the client what he wants to hear not what he should know which and Ahmed that's where you and I differentiate ourselves exctly that's what separates us from them because there are and and not to not to put anyone down but I have noticed coming from the United States well first of all I'm a publicist everything is relationship based for me correct and I come from pharmaceutical sales everything is relationship based but I notice in Dubai and I think it's because it can be considered like a transient almost people come here they try to make it if they don't they might have to go back home right so you have a lot of people like agents that I talk to and developers offices I swear by the time I came out here they were already gone yes the turnover is extremely high really high so it's there's a transactional type of relationship versus long-term relationship of how to guide and investors on that long-term strategy that we were talking about from not just purchasing but we want to walk you through what we offer is almost a coner style service of an international tax attorney an international accountant a property manager to help manage your Airbnb your Airbnb or your long-term rentals the marketing for that property management you don't have to get on an airplane and come out here exactly okay everything mortgage lender we have this all figured out we didn't even touch about the fact that now you're able to finance proper we're a One-Stop shop GG at the end of relationship based most importantly relationship based because brand and our name is important to us and what we are doing that's different than I believe any other real estate agency is doing is helping guide foreigners specifically Americans and Canadians on how to invest in Dubai and make it a successful investment and how to be really pleased in a long term when is the time to sell when is the time to take that profit and flip it into another property where as you stated where are the neighborhoods based on our specific client and customers goals what they're looking for whether they're looking for that short-term or long-term cap or they're looking for a passive income through rental returns or they're looking to move here in a few years how many clients do we have that say look we want to get in the market now and we're EV eventually going to transition Our Lives to move there so get us in an area that has a good school district cor for our kids so this is what we're trying to do and this is what's really unique about our offering and this is what I've been very excited about this journey for the past year of really coming here and understanding why Dubai and then how Dubai and then taking that information back and I'm so lucky that I have you because a there's that trust factor of us being friends for three decades now I just aged us family friends and our families are friends and knowing each other very very well knowing that you have the experience I have the American mentality as far as the what their desires are and what makes it easier Jesy for us to work together is because we both come from that American mentality we know exactly what they want we know exactly how they want to be treated and like you mentioned me coming from the hospitality industry that customer service is a crucial point for us that drives us me being in the hospitality industry being a Hospitality major so it was never about the money it's the joy the satisfaction we get by providing exactly by making people happy that just gives us everything I like to go above and beyond for my clients because we've always been taught it's about relationship building relationship and and it's our brand and it's been really exciting to to learn to help educate others it's been an amazing journey I believe it's still only the beginning yes but I'm very proud of what we're doing the feedback for the clients that we've already sold to has been incredible cuz they're already making money so they're happy true and and I thank you I thank you for allowing me to explore my dream of visiting Dubai through real estate as my vehicle helping demystify Dubai not just in from a real estate but from a greater scale a on a greater macro Vision to my people back home and I look forward to what the future holds for for us for our investors for our families and to continue to be that bridge between the Americans and the Dubai real estate definitely yes jit the the feeling is mutual because it's been a while I've been trying to tap into the US market but like I said if you're not physically there to explain to them how it works it's very difficult to reach out Dubai right now it's a buy and sell Market no one has the time to educate anyone you've seen that right now nobody for example when you go to a developer's office agents don't have the time to sit with you to tell you everything from A to Z or how or why or here's here's an accountant here's a lawyer here's this speaking because a lot of the American investors don't understand that and they have made comments such as that that's not how it works in America we want that customer service I'm the buyer I'm the client totally understand but unfortunately you need to realize a developer has only a handful of Brokers agents and time they cannot sit an hour with every agent that walks through or every phone call they get so if you're a buyer you have that deposit check ready that's who they're paying attention to that's what they're paying attention to but if you're expecting an agent to sit with you over the phone to discuss every little detail and expect to explain to you how things worked out 18 years ago versus now it will never happen and that's where you come in the picture so it was a perfect timing for us to collaborate with each other because now you could take that time and give them that service that that they demand because at the end of the day it's a lot of money they're talking about putting it across of course so of course they want to feel comfortable and I understand that you understand that I would want I would expect the same thing too ex cuz if I was in their shoes trust me I would be like this doesn't make sense how can I wire this amount of XYZ money across the world not knowing and what do you mean taxe people don't even believe sometimes the taxe and and so yes and that's why we started what we're doing and that's why I wanted to start this podcast series and this YouTube series is so the top asked questions by these investors I'm able to address them and I have a series of experts that I've tapped into from mortgage brokers to property managers to a financial concierge that helps set up businesses even corporations here to members of the government and the dld and rira you and I and and talk about all of these questions that people ask a lot of and so I hope that people will tune in I hope they will appre knowledge and continue to reach out and ask us what other questions they want to know because this is what I'm doing I'm investing the time and uncovering those those the answers and providing it to them and helping guide these investors on this journey with us so thank you Ahmed pleasure is mine thank for people that are tuning in and listening and who have helped support me on the journey I'm going to put out thank out thank you for my content creator Omar who's been helping me create Aon who helps me with my beautiful artwork and my team at realy Executives back in San Diego who my broker that you met came all the way out here Terry Dylan and it was our first time leaving the UN pleasure meting it was her first timeing and she's super supportive and and my associate Mike a that's been really supportive my husband who's supporting me on this journey most importantly who's like just okay G if this is your dream do it so I thank you and I'm excited for the future and with that I would say please like subscribe share make sure you're episode MO.