Hi team,
I am in the process of setting up my own short term rental company in a specific community in Dubai, UAE.
I have previously been a real estate agent in this community for the past 2-3 years so have some really good agent connections (And some credibility advantage vs most short term operators here) and in the last 10 or so months I had a partnership with the founder of a company doing short term rentals in the same area which was a great opportunity to absorb and learn as much about the business.
A few things that led me to pursue this full time:
-Partner would often pay me late (Leading me to realise he had full control and I had next to none)
-I managed to source him 10 properties in the last 10 months that are extremely profitable (The revenue each property can generate are pretty insane - Albeit seasonal as the summers here are absolutely brutal and pretty dead)
-I got to a point with my job that I felt I was in golden handcuffs and needed to get free and build something that will give me autonomy and location freedom
So in Dubai it's very different to my experience in the UK, with incorporating there is a bit of an approval process.
-You pay to request a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from CID (The police) to make sure you're not in any crazy debt or not paying anyone you owe money to, to make sure you're not a criminal, terrorist etc etc
-You provisionally reserve a trade name
-You go and rent an office to get a lease document in your provisional trade name
-You go back with your office lease and get your trade licence.
***At this time I can get my DTCM licence which is the short term rental licence issuer*** - (Without this I don't feel I can really approach new landlord clients without risking credibility massively)
-You renew your visa in your company name
-You apply for business bank account
Aside from the fact that as a minimum you're looking at like $6-7k to get started vs like $100 equivalent in the UK, the process is much much slower than I had anticipated (In the UK you can incorporate in a few hours from memory).
So my question for you all is what you think the best use of my time is during the next couple of weeks that I will likely be waiting to get to the point where I can approach landlords with correct licencing in place.
So far I have:
-Met with and got provisional pricing from a contractor for renovations in the kinds of units I will be focussing mainly (I plan to meet with another 1 or 2 not just for the best prices but also contingency if 1 is busy when needed as every extra day a renovation takes costs me and the landlords)
-Met with 1 agent in particular who I have worked with one 3 previous deals to run through the model, how he would get paid by bringing warm clients
-Created a full company profile outlining who we are, what services we provide and headaches we take care of, why you would work with us as a landlord and how we get paid (Fixed percentage of revenue after portal fees) - Important note is that most agents will likely forward this to semi interested landlords as they are going to want to spend as little time on this as possible as they will make more money selling properties rather than renting them / the commission I will pay them for introducing me to the landlord (Same as if they rented it normally)
-Created a 1 page pdf specifically for agents showing why they would work with us (We will make their landlords a higher return, handle all operations and very importantly, if the landlord wants to sell in future, we will let the agent know so they have an advantage at that point trying to get it sold and make their commissions that side too) and most importantly how they get paid (99% of leasing agents in Dubai are in survival mode trying to cover rent until they move into sales where they can earn much more)
Right now I am getting up early, walking plenty, eating well and reading loads so life is pretty great but I don't want to be on a holiday for the next couple of weeks, I want to prime what I can and get into as advantageous a position as I can so that when the licence lands and the business is official (And I am not at risk of deportation for doing business illegally), I can hit it at 100%.
Any ideas or thought provoking questions are welcomed!
I am in the process of setting up my own short term rental company in a specific community in Dubai, UAE.
I have previously been a real estate agent in this community for the past 2-3 years so have some really good agent connections (And some credibility advantage vs most short term operators here) and in the last 10 or so months I had a partnership with the founder of a company doing short term rentals in the same area which was a great opportunity to absorb and learn as much about the business.
A few things that led me to pursue this full time:
-Partner would often pay me late (Leading me to realise he had full control and I had next to none)
-I managed to source him 10 properties in the last 10 months that are extremely profitable (The revenue each property can generate are pretty insane - Albeit seasonal as the summers here are absolutely brutal and pretty dead)
-I got to a point with my job that I felt I was in golden handcuffs and needed to get free and build something that will give me autonomy and location freedom
So in Dubai it's very different to my experience in the UK, with incorporating there is a bit of an approval process.
-You pay to request a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from CID (The police) to make sure you're not in any crazy debt or not paying anyone you owe money to, to make sure you're not a criminal, terrorist etc etc
-You provisionally reserve a trade name
-You go and rent an office to get a lease document in your provisional trade name
-You go back with your office lease and get your trade licence.
***At this time I can get my DTCM licence which is the short term rental licence issuer*** - (Without this I don't feel I can really approach new landlord clients without risking credibility massively)
-You renew your visa in your company name
-You apply for business bank account
Aside from the fact that as a minimum you're looking at like $6-7k to get started vs like $100 equivalent in the UK, the process is much much slower than I had anticipated (In the UK you can incorporate in a few hours from memory).
So my question for you all is what you think the best use of my time is during the next couple of weeks that I will likely be waiting to get to the point where I can approach landlords with correct licencing in place.
So far I have:
-Met with and got provisional pricing from a contractor for renovations in the kinds of units I will be focussing mainly (I plan to meet with another 1 or 2 not just for the best prices but also contingency if 1 is busy when needed as every extra day a renovation takes costs me and the landlords)
-Met with 1 agent in particular who I have worked with one 3 previous deals to run through the model, how he would get paid by bringing warm clients
-Created a full company profile outlining who we are, what services we provide and headaches we take care of, why you would work with us as a landlord and how we get paid (Fixed percentage of revenue after portal fees) - Important note is that most agents will likely forward this to semi interested landlords as they are going to want to spend as little time on this as possible as they will make more money selling properties rather than renting them / the commission I will pay them for introducing me to the landlord (Same as if they rented it normally)
-Created a 1 page pdf specifically for agents showing why they would work with us (We will make their landlords a higher return, handle all operations and very importantly, if the landlord wants to sell in future, we will let the agent know so they have an advantage at that point trying to get it sold and make their commissions that side too) and most importantly how they get paid (99% of leasing agents in Dubai are in survival mode trying to cover rent until they move into sales where they can earn much more)
Right now I am getting up early, walking plenty, eating well and reading loads so life is pretty great but I don't want to be on a holiday for the next couple of weeks, I want to prime what I can and get into as advantageous a position as I can so that when the licence lands and the business is official (And I am not at risk of deportation for doing business illegally), I can hit it at 100%.
Any ideas or thought provoking questions are welcomed!
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