PropSpace reaches 200 Clients

From it’s humble beginning in June of 2012 through it’s steam-train climb to the top of the poll only 13 months later, one thing has always been sure: PropSpace is a force to be reckoned with. We have officially reached 200 clients and we are so thankful for the support we have received from our followers and supporters.

PropSpace is an online, cloud based real estate CRM which enables Real estate agencies and brokers to manage their leads and listings, contacts ans calendars, to-dos and contracts in a centralized location. It minimizes a user’s personal paper trail and makes his or her day much more efficient. There simply is no other product like it.

In July, PropSpace surpassed all expectations and took the lead in terms of market share in the UAE. With the highly adaptable nature of the CRM and the constant upgrades to the CRM, nothing less can be expected. We never though we would achieve something like this, but as the time passed we realized that we could turn it into something big!

To Rent or To Buy

By George Schempers

Owning our own place is the pinnacle of our dreams as expats. We start our careers in a Dubai, thousands of kilometers from our homes, with the aim of launching our careers and becoming successful, achieving more than we possibly could in our home countries. Owning our own villa means we might have a little garden, and we could have a dog, and we can drill away into our freshly painted walls without fear that we will lose security deposits, or be scolded at by a landlord. Bliss.

The surge of sales in the property market coupled with increased consumer confidence in the UAE property market has seen growth in the Dubai real estate market. But, should all the statistics being floated around in the papers drive you Arabian Business recently reported that Dubai ranked forth among the best real estate investment cities in the world showing an average growth of 18.3% between March of 2012 and March of 2013.

 

This proves that Dubai is fast becoming one of the hottest real estate markets in the world, and with the planned Mohammad Bin Rashid City there will be plenty on offer in the coming years. But, as of late the surge of demand is outweighing the supply of apartments and villas currently available causing prices to surge.

 

Looking at the numbers confirms that Dubai is a fantastic place to invest in Real Estate, but is it really as easy and safe as it seems?

 

When you are looking to buy the cost of the house should never exceed 15 times the annual cost you would normally pay to rent. Keeping this in mind, you should also not pay more than 3 times your annual salary for a house. There are thousands of villas to pick from on JustProperty.com.

 

Villas are such an attractive investment with rapid growth and large returns from rental income (if you don’t live in the villa yourself). Areas that show great potential for renting your villa would be The Greens and The Gardens with a lower cost per square meter and a higher rental income. This makes these two areas great for rental income.

 

JustProperty.com offers a rental index, which you can use to determine what the average price per square foot is in a particular area. As a buyer it is important to ensure that you are not paying too much for your dream home because it will take too long for the property market to catch up with to the price you paid, so that you can make a profit when selling in the future.

 

The fact of the matter is that most of us won’t be able to buy real estate in Dubai even if we wanted to because of the restrictions and requirements that we need to comply with in order to get a mortgage.

 

Most banks in the UAE need sufficient proof that you will be able to afford the down payments. This, in most circumstances, means you need to provide 6 months worth of bank statements, as well as a minimum 20% deposit for expats. The mortgage laws have been changing often, and drastically, for the past few months so you might well find that the regulations have changed again once you are ready to buy. And government regulation will always be a factor when investing in Dubai.

 

But, according to real estate agents, between 70- and 90% of their property sales are cash and it is not uncommon for someone to walk in with a suitcase full of cash to buy a property on the spot.

 

As an expat just arriving in Dubai you will be hard pressed to find a bank that will give you a mortgage if you haven’t already served 6 months in your current job in the UAE, and that almost certainly dictates getting a rental, and that is not a problem.

 

Renting in Dubai can be relatively easy because most banks are willing to give you a personal loan to finance your rent expense for the year if you cant afford the lumps sum in the beginning of your tenancy. And on the most part, all you need is your residency visa to prove that you are new to Dubai, and a salary statement from jour boss to prove your monthly income.

 

It’s easy and immediate and there are many options to pick from in Dubai as more and more buildings are being completed, or have recently been completed. I would just advise you to check out the JustRentals.com rentals index to ensure that you aren’t being charged too much for your apartment rental.

 

Just read your contract carefully and make sure you understand all the terms and conditions before signing the contract, and then its important to make sure you don’t drill away your security deposit into your freshly painted “rented” walls.