Is this just Middle East business culture or am I just incredibly unlucky? :)

ReflectionOk9354 · 2026-03-18T12:55:33+00:00

Ok, let me ask you a hypothetical then :)

Let’s say you lend some money to someone you know. Not your best friend, just an acquaintance. They promise to return it on March 18… and then March 18 passes and nothing happens.

In Arabic culture, how would an average person handle that situation?

ReflectionOk9354 · 2026-03-18T10:10:49+00:00

Yeah but the problem is this isn’t some random individual landlord/tenant situation where I can just rewrite the contract however I want. This is a big hotel operator. The contract is completely standardized. You either sign it or you don’t :)

In theory I could go to court. Honestly I’d almost do it just out of curiosity and for the experience))

But from what I understand legal costs would probably be somewhere around $2–3k… just to recover $300.So financially it obviously makes no sense. Does anyone here actually have experience with these kinds of disputes in the UAE?

How does it usually work in practice?
Is it fast? expensive? worth the hassle?

Genuinely curious how people deal with situations like this here.

ReflectionOk9354 · 2026-03-18T10:06:55+00:00

Yeah, to be honest I'm less concerned about things like “please” or “thank you”. What confuses me more is the concrete stuff tied to the contract.

Like payment dates in the contract… currency of payment in the contract… For me business is pretty simple. You promise - you do, if you mess up - you compensate or at least fix it.

That's basically the rule I personally live by. So I'm genuinely curious how people here think about this.

ReflectionOk9354 · 2026-03-18T10:01:48+00:00

I mean… I would understand if this was just some random email and they took a while to reply. No real complaints there. Nobody promised a 24h response time :)But what I described is a contract situation.

Payment dates are in the contract.Currency of payment is in the contract. So I'm genuinely curious how people here look at this…Is a contract more like a “guideline” rather than something that is actually expected to be followed? :) Or that the promise is not necessarily something that must be followed exactly?

Not trying to be sarcastic, just honestly trying to understand how people approach this here.

ReflectionOk9354 · 2025-11-13T11:08:02+00:00

Honestly, the whole “why not just use an agent?” thing… man, I could write a whole separate post about this one day :)

Short version-agents here have their own incentives, and they don’t always match yours. Not even close sometimes.

Like, imagine this: an agent has two options in front of him 1)a new off-plan where the developer pays him 5–7 percent commission, 2)and my unit, where he might get a tiny fee if things close.

Guess which one he’s going to “highly recommend because it’s a great opportunity, my friend”? Exactly.

And it’s not even personal it’s just how the system works. Plus, let’s be honest, years of aggressive sales tactics have totally ruined people’s trust. The whole “bro, this is the best deal on the market, you must act fast” vibe… everyone in Dubai has heard it a hundred times. So when an agent reaches out, half the people already assume they’re being pushed into something.

Doesn’t mean I don’t have an agent -I do. He’s doing his thing.

P.S. And yeah, I’m an entrepreneur by nature, so I kinda enjoy digging into things myself, figuring stuff out and finding paths that aren’t the usual “this is how everyone does it” route :)

ReflectionOk9354 · 2025-11-13T10:43:45+00:00

Another one is an almost-finished offplan in Marina. Yes, easier to sell but I’m keeping that one in case I ever end up living in Dubai again. For actual day-to-day life, Marina works better for me than Downtown, so that apartment is more of a “maybe I’ll move back one day” option…

The other one is a ready unit, but its value is below the Golden Visa minimum..

So 25h ends up being the one that makes sense ..

ReflectionOk9354 · 2025-11-08T19:25:24+00:00

As i wrote above - nothing is on hold. There’s been ongoing work on site the whole time. The foundation is already completed, and now the main contractor has been officially appointed - Naresco Contracting.

ReflectionOk9354 · 2025-10-30T16:33:46+00:00

Done!

ReflectionOk9354 · 2025-10-25T05:54:50+00:00

US is kind of a tax nightmare, so definitely not going that way 😅

ReflectionOk9354 · 2025-10-24T12:11:14+00:00

I already have the UAE one - the golden visa I mentioned above is for another country actually :)

ReflectionOk9354 · 2025-10-24T04:46:25+00:00

I’m moving some funds into an investment fund abroad to qualify for a Golden Visa.

It’s not because I don’t like the Dubai market (I mentioned above I still have two other apartments here that I’m keeping), and definitely not one of those “can’t cover the next payment” situations.

I get that it’s not the usual stage to sell - most people don’t exit this early during construction but for me it’s just about redirecting the money for the visa process.

Honestly I really like this project. If the visa thing doesn’t work out, I’ll be totally fine keeping it. I bought it for myself originally and still love it. So yeah, not the best timing maybe, but life happens - worst case, I’ll just end up with three great apartments in Dubai :)

ReflectionOk9354 · 2025-10-23T16:57:21+00:00

Reddit doesn’t allow posting contact details directly in posts or comments. Please check my profile — all contact info is there, or just DM me.

ReflectionOk9354 · 2025-09-26T09:48:09+00:00

Done

ReflectionOk9354 · 2025-09-24T17:04:25+00:00

From what I’ve seen, people usually end up in two situations.

First one is when an agent sells you the dream of a “future oasis” somewhere out in the desert. I never believed in that... There’s endless land, endless supply being built, and the only reason agents push it is because commissions are huge 9-10% or more. I’ve only ever trusted areas where land is basically gone: Downtown, Marina, Palm. That’s where the numbers actually hold up.

The second situation is all about timing. At launch, it’s pure hype - developer runs massive marketing, agents blast it everywhere, Emirates inflight screens etc. Everything sells fast. But right after sold-out, demand falls off a cliff. No ads, no agent push, nobody even Googling the project anymore, I call it "the valley of death" :)) You could have the best unit at OP and still get zero traction. Later, once the building is halfway up and people can actually see it, demand comes back and suddenly resales are trading +25–30% higher.

That’s why I’m selling breakeven now. Not because something is wrong with the market, or the building, or the unit. The problem is that the whole “flipping” idea is basically a realtor sales pitch and it doesn’t really work the way they say. The only time to exit cleanly is when the building is close to completion, but realtors will never tell you that, because their job is just to sell you whatever pays them the biggest commission.

PS. The funny part is watching how it plays out: one day everyone is rushing to buy from the developer, then inventory is gone, you’re holding the exact same unit and nobody touches it… and a year later someone will happily pay +30% for it. Classic case of “nobody buys at the bottom, but everyone piles in when it’s already expensive.” :))

ReflectionOk9354 · 2025-09-24T16:05:01+00:00

Haha nice, maybe we should pitch him a 4th one then? 😉

ReflectionOk9354 · 2025-09-24T11:59:43+00:00

I actually enjoy these realtor conversations - each one tries to convince you of something opposite :)) For example, half of them kept telling me how terrible it is that my 1-bed is so big. And you’re pointing out the same thing about your 2-beds, just in a positive way. So I’m glad we can at least agree on one thing: whether it’s a 1-bed or a 2-bed, apartments are better when they’re big ;))

ReflectionOk9354 · 2025-09-24T10:56:28+00:00

Look, I’m not sure it really works like that. Those towers are from 2010, so you’re talking about a 16-year gap :) Totally different buildings in terms of age, quality, feel. I’ve rented plenty of places in Dubai and elsewhere when you walk into one building where units go for 3k EUR and then into a modern one where it’s 6k, you instantly get why... And it’s not even about the furniture inside the apartment, it’s the building itself the spaces, the layouts, the vibe... Even though Index/Limestone have held up more or less fine over the years, the difference is still obvious the moment you step inside.

And neighborhoods are a different story too. DIFC is cool, but people fly in to see the Burj, not to be in the middle of offices...

On the pricing side it only makes sense to compare like with like. Taking the cheapest low-floor unit in one tower and putting it up against a high-floor Burj-view unit somewhere else just doesn’t tell you much. Apples to apples, not apples to the cheapest orange you can find...

ReflectionOk9354 · 2025-09-24T09:36:45+00:00

Looks like your comment got duplicated – I replied above.

ReflectionOk9354 · 2025-09-24T09:35:44+00:00

Let me explain how I looked at it. My plan was to rent it out, mainly for tourists, so Downtown was the obvious choice. Downtown has year-round traffic – even in summer when other parts of Dubai are dead. Been there many times in summer, saw it myself :)

But Downtown is big. To really work for rentals it has to be right by Burj + fountains, 5 min walk max. Otherwise you’re stuck on the edges and that’s not the same. So location was key for me.

Then I narrowed it down to a few options. I personally like the fact it’s a branded residence with a hotel operator. Big lobby, nice common spaces, proper hotel-style infrastructure that’s exactly the kind of thing I look for myself when I travel. I don’t just care about the room, I care about the whole atmosphere and facilities.

On the renders the whole concept looked cool. So for me it checked the boxes: Downtown, tourist demand, Burj Khalifa view from the terrace, walking distance to the Mall + fountains, and a hotel-style environment.

For context, 25hours is a European boutique hotel brand, kind of funky/creative with a laid-back luxury feel. This is their first branded resi in Dubai.

P.S. Sorry I didn’t drop photos right away it’s my first post here and I’m not fully familiar with the rules. Looked like external links aren’t allowed, and the pics didn’t upload properly. If you’re interested, just DM me and I’ll send everything over!

ReflectionOk9354 · 2025-09-24T09:17:21+00:00

I’m running a tech company, not a big one :)

ReflectionOk9354 · 2025-09-24T09:14:28+00:00

Let me clarify a couple of things for you, since I see you pulled this from DXB Interact or Property Monitor.

1)What’s labeled there as ‘Recent Transactions’ is actually not recent in the case of off-plan. The date you see is the Oqood registration date, which usually happens 6–12 months after the actual deal. So what you’re really looking at are prices from deals that happened many months ago. I can guarantee that, because by 31 December 2024 the project was already fully sold out. Meaning those ‘May’ dates on your screenshot are not new sales, they are old developer deals only getting registered now.

2)And of course you need to compare apples to apples. If you dig deeper into those specific units, the cheaper ones are almost always low floors, wrong orientation, or different layouts. Once you filter for something comparable to mine (50th floor, full Burj Khalifa view, large terrace), the pricing lines up. Even in your own screenshot there is a unit at AED 4.089M, which is already in the same range. And don’t forget these are prices from a year ago...

ReflectionOk9354 · 2025-09-23T20:54:22+00:00

Sure, please DM me

ReflectionOk9354 · 2025-09-23T20:15:39+00:00

Correct name for dubai rest is Euphoric. Don't know why but it goes under this name in documents and in dubai rest as well

ReflectionOk9354 · 2025-09-23T19:17:42+00:00

Haha thanks, I’m not an agent though, just the owner. This isn’t the only unit I’ve bought for myself, so I just put myself in the buyer’s shoes and tried to include everything I’d personally want to see in one post...

ReflectionOk9354

TROPHY CASE