BROKERAGE

68 Gulf Property

With a compactteam of 45 andoperating out ofa buzzing officein Dubai’s Al

Barsha district, Dejavu Prop-erties today is one of theleading property brokeragefirms in the city. The com-pany, being managed by Di-rector Ahid Shaikh is doingcommendable business andtrades in every major prop-erty destination in Dubai.“And we do not claim to

have done well, it is theDubai Land Departmentwhich has lauded us,”Shaikh says. “We wereawarded by DLD in 2014 asone of the top 10 brokers.We were also recognised forhaving sold over Dh1.4 bil-lion worth of properties.”Moreover, the firm has com-pleted 7,000 transactions sofar, including 11 in the last 10days, Shaikh mentions.There are a range of serv-

ices that Dejavu , which heformed in 2007 with hisbrother Akif Shaikh, the Man-aging Director of sister com-pany Hammer and Nail,offers. They include: Buying,

selling, renting, managingcorporate portfolio, connect-ing clients to mortgage advi-sors and consultation onoverall market, including in-ternational markets.

So what setsthem apart?“Fortunately or unfortunatelyfor us there are not manyreal estate brokers (in Dubai)doing anything beyond buy-ing and selling,” Shaikh re-marks. “There are only a fewinternational names like Bet-ter Homes that are very pro-fessionally run. So having

firm faith in Dubai we wouldlike to branch out. We be-lieve that if the real estatemarket here continues toperform the same way,whether you call it quiet oraggressive, we will reap thebenefits.” Shaikh feels the Dubai

market is not getting con-gested by the mushroomingof brokerage firms and in-stead reiterates ‘competitionis always good and healthy’.He goes on to say, “It (com-petition) benefits the cus-tomer in the end. I don’t seethis as ‘congestion’. We havealways seen that the playershere in Dubai are very short-

Downtown Dubai has providedgood revenues to Dejavu Real Estate

Indrajit Sen Senior Reporter

Dejavu handles Dh1.4bworth of propertiesDejavu handles Dh1.4bworth of properties

BROKERAGE

local banks. We have tied upwith banks including ADCB,Noor Bank, Mashreq, aboutto sign a contract with Stan-dard Chartered . We havevarious teams looking intodifferent areas and clients. Ithelps our customers take adecision, rather than worry-ing and having to go aroundfor financing.”Dejavu sells properties

from across all propertyhotspots in Dubai. Trading infreehold properties has beenprofitable for the firm andhence it remains a key focusof business, Shaikh reveals.Moreover, the sales teamhas been divided to focus onspecific locations to offer bet-ter deals. “So there is aDowntown team, there is aPalm Jumeirah team, thereis a JVC (Jumeirah VillageCircle) team, there is an Emi-rates Living team, to namesome,” he says. Dejavu has also been trad-

ing in products of all reputeddevelopers and have gainedmuch from people’s faith inthose big brands. “Majority ofour sales have come through

Emaar, because we alwayslike to give our customersquickly-ready, quicklyhanded-over good products.And that is why we also sell(products of) Nakheel, DubaiProperties and other gooddevelopers, for we believethey have that capacity todeliver quality,” Shaikh re-marks.Advising clients on what

and where to buy is a crucialaspect of any broker’s busi-ness and Shaikh says histeam takes extra care to sat-isfy the clients’ needs. “If thecustomer’s budget is Dh2million, I wouldn’t be tellinghim ‘let’s buy in Downtown’,”he says frankly. However he says that buy-

ers stand to gain much frominvesting in the propertyhotspots or upcoming loca-tions of Dubai. He explains:“In terms of hotspots, sincethe market is undergoingcorrection now, I would sayproducts that cater to themid-income segment will dowell. The mid-segment willalways do well, irrespectiveof how the market behaves.So let’s say The Greens will

always do well. Dubai SportsCity is another good location.The upcoming products inJVC will also do well. Theselocations will get excellent in-vestments for their productsare value-driven. Of course,districts like the Downtownare established areas, sothey are secure in terms ofinvestments.”

Expansion planBesides the traditional bro-kerage services of buying,selling and renting, Shaikhsays he wants to guide De-javu into another key, yet un-attended avenue of theproperty sector: Valuationservices. That will include so-lutions regarding formingwills, power of attorney pa-pers, attestation, legal docu-mentation, etc. “Our nextplan is to have a team for val-uation services. I think wewill set that up in the next 6months,” he says. Even within the UAE, De-

javu plans to do more busi-ness in Abu Dhabi. “In theUAE, I think after Dubai themarket which can have greatopportunities is Abu Dhabi.Yes we have plans, but weare looking at around 2016 toset up an office for AbuDhabi,” Shaikh states.Boosted by their good busi-

ness in Dubai, Dejavu nowplans to also explore othermarkets and avenues. Thecompany has got engaged inpromotional activities in theGCC in the form of organis-ing roadshows and partici-pating in property exhibitionsin Riyadh and Kuwait.Shaikh plans to openbranches in Saudi Arabiasoon, as it has a developingreal estate sector with a lot ofpotential. Dejavu is also contemplat-

ing on setting up a base inSingapore as it is a global fi-nancial hub with a growingreal estate market. g

sighted. Whenever the mar-ket does well, you will seehundreds of brokers comingin. After 3 years if/when themarket doesn’t do so well,you will see hundreds ofthem going out. So they justtake advantage of the goodperformance. Actually it isgood if we have a stablemarket, for that will allow thebig companies to do well. Sowhen there is competitionyou come to know who isdoing better than you.”So, along with delivering a

property, Dejavu also givesclients ‘a complete propertymaintenance solution’through Hammer and Nail(which specialises in offeringservices such as repair,plumbing and electrical,décor, etc). “In real estate itis very important that when acustomer comes you makesure that you offer him every-thing and offer a completesolution to his needs,”Shaikh states. As part of offering mort-

gage solutions, Shaikh re-veals, “We have gone aheadand made agreements withsome of the national and

Gulf Property 69

“Fortunately orunfortunately for usthere are not manybrokers (in Dubai)doing anything beyondbuying and selling. Sohaving firm faith inDubai we would like tobranch out. If themarket continues toperform the same way,whether you call it quietor aggressive, we willreap the benefits.”

– Ahid Shaikh,Director, Dejavu