Articles from the author

This is the first part of a two part serial based on a true account of w hat happened to one of my very own clients when he tried to buy and resell a property from Emaar.

As we have all heard and in many cases experienced, rents are going up everywhere. This seems to be due to the fact that there are not enough properties available for the huge demand from the growing population of Dubai.

Having been on vacation last month, I have returned to find that much hasn't changed. Whilst I was away, we lost several deals due to owners selling properties and not informing the agents. It is only courteous to do this and it takes only a few minutes.

Following on from a previous article about the lack of advice on the phone when trying to arrange finance, you may remember that Tamweel, Rakbank and HSBC said they would phone back within 48 hours.

This week I thought I would do some mystery shopping as the mortgage market is now over one year old and staff should now be more knowledgeable and better trained than the last time I tried this a year ago.

Buying a property in Dubai directly from a developer is straightforward. In theory, you find a property, you put down a deposit, then you pay the balance when you do the transfer in a few days with a copy of your passport. It sounds easy, doesn't it?

Only last week I came across two of my friends who were not sure whether to buy a freehold property or to carry on renting their villas.

Just open the pages of any property paper or magazine in Dubai and you will see numerous advertisements for International City, but what's it all about?

Isn't technology a wonderful thing? Here I am in the United Kingdom at 2 in the morning writing this article.

The Jumeirah Palm launched in 2001 and dubbed the eighth wonder of the world is nearing completion and all the villas should be completed by the middle of next year.

One of the most actively sold projects currently in Dubai is The Springs development by Emaar. The reason is that the majority of The Springs phases are now nearing completion and people are occupying the villas.

I have been asked almost daily, "What is best development to invest in?" In other words what is "hot property" at the moment?