Unfiltered Real Estate Talks — Episode 2
The Client Who Thought All Real Estate Agents Were Liars!!!
A client reached out to me after watching one of my real estate videos on Instagram.
He is Asian and currently lives in the United States. The video he had seen was about a branded property on a private island in Abu Dhabi. Naturally, when he contacted me, I called him to understand what he was looking for and to give him more information about the project.
During our conversation, he told me that, in his experience, many real estate agents in Dubai and Abu Dhabi had been giving him incorrect figures and higher prices because he was living abroad. That was his perception, and I completely understood why he would be cautious.
So I told him very clearly:
“I believe in being transparent with my clients. I will give you the information I have, and you can independently verify the prices through the developer and official sources.”
We had one or two meetings discussing the project he was interested in. Eventually, he asked for some time to think about it.
I said, “Of course. Take your time.”
A few days later, I followed up for his feedback.
He told me that he had spoken to some friends and decided he was no longer interested in that property.
However, he then told me something important:
He was looking for a retail unit in either Abu Dhabi or Dubai, with a budget of around AED 2 million.
So I went back to the drawing board.
I researched the market, looked at available opportunities, and eventually found what I believed was a very interesting retail investment in the Reeman area of Abu Dhabi.
For those who are not familiar with Reeman, the master development was originally developed by Aldar, while other developers have acquired plots within the wider development to launch their own projects.
The particular developer I was dealing with had retail units of approximately 32 sqm, 41 sqm and 62 sqm. And this is where I saw an interesting investment opportunity.
Reeman is primarily a residential community, and many of its buildings are relatively low-rise. More importantly, retail space is limited, and not every building has retail units.
In real estate, scarcity can matter.
If you have a growing residential community but limited retail supply, well-positioned shops can potentially benefit from that imbalance.
The pricing I received was approximately:
AED 32,000 per sqm for the cash offer
AED 50,000 per sqm for the payment-plan option
So, for example, a 32 sqm retail unit would work out to approximately:
32 × AED 35,000 = AED 1,024,000
under the cash offer.
Under the payment plan: 1,120,000
32 × AED 50,000 = AED 1,600,000
The project was scheduled for handover toward the end of the year.
I also explained to my client why I considered the cash purchase particularly attractive.
I told him that, based on comparable rental evidence I had found in the immediate area, I believed a 12% rental return was achievable.
And when I say that, I don’t mean I pulled a 12% ROI figure out of thin air.
I had a real example.
There was another 32 sqm retail unit just one street away, developed by a different developer. It was already completed and ready for occupation, and the asking rent was AED 160,000 per year.
Interestingly, a colleague of mine had a client who wanted to rent that exact shop. The tenant was prepared to pay AED 160,000, but in two instalments.
The landlord, however, wanted the full amount in one payment and did not agree to the two-payment structure.
That example gave me a useful real-world rental benchmark.
So I shared it with my client.
Same approximate size.
Same area.
Similar positioning.
Comparable quality.
And, most importantly, an actual rental figure rather than simply a theoretical ROI calculation.
Again, I told him to take his time.
And again, he spoke to his friends before making a decision.
Eventually, I followed up.
His response was:
“They jacked up the prices. My friend told me.”
At that point, I asked him a simple question:
“Is your friend a real estate agent or an investor in Reeman?”
He initially asked me why I was asking that question.
He explained that his friend owns multiple businesses in the UAE and has been living here for many years.
And I completely respect that.
But owning businesses and living in the UAE for a long time doesn’t necessarily mean someone knows the current selling prices of every project, every developer and every available retail unit in a particular community.
So I told him:
“Your friend and I both live in Abu Dhabi. Let me meet him, and we can go to Reeman together. We can verify the numbers I gave you, check the project, look at the location and compare the prices. After that, you can decide for yourself whether it’s a good investment or not.”
I wasn’t asking him to trust me blindly.
Quite the opposite.
I was asking him to verify.
He saw my message the following day and replied:
“The numbers you mentioned are incorrect. I am not interested. Thank you.”
And that’s where the conversation ended.
But this experience left me thinking.
Earlier, this same client had told me that other agents were giving him incorrect information because he was living abroad.
I told him from the beginning that I would be transparent with him and that he could independently verify everything I told him.
Yet, when someone else told him that my numbers were wrong, he accepted that information without first verifying it with me, the developer or the market.
And that’s the part I find interesting.
Trust should never mean blindly believing someone.
Whether you are dealing with a real estate agent, a developer, a friend or even a family member, you should verify important financial information.
But verification needs to work both ways.
Now, I genuinely don’t know whether the other agents this client dealt with previously were actually giving him inflated prices.
Maybe they were.
Maybe they weren’t.
I wasn’t there, so I can’t judge them.
What I do know is that I spent considerable time researching an opportunity, checking comparable properties, understanding the retail supply in the community, locating the units on the master plan and presenting the numbers to him as transparently as I could.
And ultimately, he was entitled to say no.
Every client has the right to walk away from an investment.
As an agent, I can provide information, research, comparisons and professional advice.
I cannot make the decision for them.
But there is a difference between being cautious and being unwilling to verify anything.
If you don’t trust an agent, that’s completely fine.
Ask questions.
Challenge the numbers.
Speak to the developer.
Visit the location.
Get a second opinion.
Do your due diligence.
But don’t reject an opportunity simply because someone you know said, “I think those numbers are wrong.”
Verify. Question. Compare. Then decide.
My job is to give my clients the best information I can and let them make an informed decision.
#UnfilteredRealEstateTalks #Episode2