How to buy an apartment in Dubai. Avoid scammers. Dubai Real Estate.

• When you’re buying a property that is under construction you can do everything from abroad, no need to come here. When you transfer the money you’re not transferring it to the developer. You’re not transferring it to the brokers you transfer it to the specific bank account whatever guys you can see around, wasn’t here 20 years ago. (upbeat music) - Hey guys. Welcome to my channel, Today I have a guest, my husband Dennis, he’s a real estate agent. And in this video, we’re going to talk about, “How to buy an apartment in Dubai.

” 00:34 - Please can you tell us, so what are the main things people need to know, if they want to buy a property in Dubai? - Okay. Well, first of all, people need to know that here in Dubai we have two types of areas where people can buy a property. Well, one of them was called Freehold and other one is Leasehold. If you are a foreigner you can own a property only in the freehold areas. And if you are considering a leasehold there you can buy a right to use the property, Basically, a lease for a long period of time, like 99 years it’s usually whatever you can see online that are for sale it’s a freehold property and especially new developments, and basically developers as well building mainly in the freehold, but just keep it in mind that if you buy a property and you are the foreigner you need to focus on the freehold areas.

01:24 - This is one of the important things that people need to know. And another thing is that, when you are purchasing the property in Dubai like if it’s a freehold, you become a proper owner. And even your kids can inherit the property because there are some things related to the Muslim countries where there is a specific law for the inheritance. Here, it doesn’t really apply. So if you buy the property you’re a proper owner and then your kids can inherit it. Oh, so this is like some basic basic things about the properties.

02:02 - - And what did the difference between the ready property and off plan property. - Okay. In Dubai, as Dubai is a young city whatever guys you can see around, wasn’t here 20 years ago, developers keep on building here new projects because it’s a young city as I said. So as the buyer you can choose between the ready property or you can buy a property that is still under construction. So what are the main differences there? And so when you’re buying a property that it’s still under construction, first of all you don’t have to put all the money upfront because there are payment plans and there you need to follow the installments. In some cases, even the developer can give you the keys before you even finished all payments.

02:45 - So there is a post hand over payment plan. So let’s say you paid 50%. You can get the keys and you have three years to cover another 50%. And right now it’s a very very popular payment plan. And obviously when you’re buying from the developer you have more options to choose from rather than on the resale market. Because like, okay there is a person who wants to sell his property but this is a three bedroom apartment on the seventh floor.

03:09 - It’s not like you want to buy a three bedroom apartment on the higher floor, lower floor. So from developers, usually it’s easier. The advantage of the resale market is that there especially if it’s the current situation there are some sellers who are urgently needs money and they might sell it like below the market price. So this is an advantage the resale market when you’re buying a property that is under construction you can do everything from abroad no need to come here and like 90% of transactions right now are happening this way. So you don’t have to be here because here we have all the structure, all the laws and regulations that protects the interest of the investor who’s buying from abroad. On secondary markets you need to come here and it’s usually takes around one month and a half to complete the transaction. This is some of the main differences.

04:01 - - What are the documents required to buy property in Dubai? - It’s very very simple. You need to have your passport copy and you need to have a money, basically, that’s it. When it comes to the off plan purchase, whether you buy it from directly from the developer as I said you can do everything from abroad. So we just need your passport copy that’s it from the documents. Obviously we need your email, we need your address and you need your phone number.

04:26 - And the developer will prepare the reservation agreement. He will send it to the client, and like everything is very very simple. - Yeah. Oh, it’s so simple. - For the secondary market, it’s pretty much the same. If it’s a cash purchase, you just need to have your passport copy and the money. For the mortgage, you need to have a pre-approval from the bank before you start looking for the properties and then again passport copy and some documents from the bank.

05:01 - The process is very simple and one more thing that they can highlight when it comes to the off plan projects is that when you transfer the money you’re not transferring it to the developer, You’re not transferring it to the to the brokers you transfer it to the specific bank account. That’s called like escrow account. And when you transfer this money to this bank account the developer can’t just take it and use it for whatever reason if he wants. This bank account is a regulated by the government. The developer can use this money only towards the payment for the construction of the property. And the small part of it goes for the marketing.

05:37 - - What are the most popular areas today where people buy properties? - In Dubai it’s usually like the most popular areas are areas that have access to the water, like water front properties. So we’re looking at the Dubai Marina, Palm Jumeirah specifically in this year we have a very high demand for the townhouses. So Dubai hills there the price has increased significantly during this year. Overall, the most popular area was and still remains Dubai marina. (upbeat music) - What are the starting prices to buy property today? - If it’s a waterfront projects and new development it will be around like $320,000, it’s for the one bedroom apartment.

06:26 - In the areas that are not next to the water you can get the one bedroom for around $200,000. And the studio starts from $120,000. And again, you have a payment plan so you don’t have to put all the money up front - What people should know to avoid scammers in Dubai when they buy property? - whenever it comes to the like big amounts of money, there are always some kind of worries involved. But if the buyer is working just like a proper advisor there is no chance that you’ll end up at some kind of a scam. People need to keep their mind, whenever they’re buying a property on the off plan market they should always pay their money only to the escrow account. This is very very important. How you can check if it’s an escrow account on not there are like a websites of the (indistinct) department where you can search for the project and see if there is an escrow account or not.

07:27 - Even if somebody is saying this is an escrow account this is an es… go and check. The escrow account should have a spell the name of the project. So if there is a ABC tower, where do you want to buy it, there should be ABC tower trust account or escrow account written on the bank account. This is a very very important. I had a case with my client who bought the property. He transferred the money to the escrow account. There were some issues with the project. He got his money back.

07:53 - It took some time, but he got his money back. So if you’re buying an off-plan please transfer the money only to the escrow account. Don’t transfer it to the developer account because you expose yourself to the (indistinct). For the resale, don’t give any cheque to the seller before the transfer. You can give it to the broker. If it’s a licensed broker, they can keep the cheque with them but don’t give any money to the seller before the transfer.

08:25 - Because there are cases and somebody saying, “Oh, give me like 10% now, and later on we will meet and you will complete the transfer.” They cash the cheque and they can disappear. So that’s an important thing. And the most important thing is like try to find a good advisor with whom you can sit and discuss all of these things and who can assist you with like your research and can highlight some of the projects that might suit you. - Okay. Thank you very much for this information. I will leave the link to his contact details in the description under this video. If you have any questions, you can always reach out to him. And thank you for watching. I will see you in the next video. Bye-bye - Bye-bye. (upbeat music) .