Desert Shaikh

Hey guys, been a while since since I have posted on BE as I have returned back to the UK.

Hope you are all well. :-)

Just wanted to guage from you people, what is the possiblity of success for a real estate website dedicated to Saudi Arabia. The site would be in Arabic of course to appeal to the local mass. Possiblity of English later.

From talking to a couple of Saudi's they say no such site exists which operates on a professional level with the ability for an end user to post a property (rent, sell, lease etc...) by paying a fixed fee entitling them to a 1 month presence on the site.

I guess many of you based in Saudi would have more local Saudi contacts who would suggest if such a site would be feasible. At present, locals or expats would go to agents dotted around to find a suitable property of word of mouth or look on expatriates.com

Thanks.

DS

prwatts

Good idea, but make it English as soon as you can. You will get lots of business IF it is professional and accurate.

Desert Shaikh

Thanks for the comment. :-) English would allow me to reach the larget non arabic speaking audience.

Yes it will defnitely be very professional and we intend to market it intensively with a free monthly trial as I have a number of Saudi relatives who can help me on this (hopefully the rightmove.co.uk of Saudi).

What is holding me back is the fact that sites such as expatriates.com exist where you can advertise for nothing desipte it being a bulletin board and not dedicated to real estate.

DK.

prwatts

Yes but the fee would payable on taking an apartment. So I can come to your site for free. I find a nice place and your site facilitates me me getting the apartment. THEN you get your fee. At the moment I am looking for a place in Riyadh. I can find no-one to help me. My company does not care. So if I can find someone who will find me a place I will like, when I sign to take the place I will glady pay that person a fee.
In my case my email is [email protected].
I am looking for an apartment with secure parking, within 2 miles of the DQ or even inside the DQ. I work inside the DQ but for a Saudi Company. One colleague had to pay a very big bribe to get an apartment inside the DQ....

I can be your first client, then I will tell all my friends, colleagues, contacts "Go to Mr XXX, he is very professional, you will have to pay a fee, but he is organised and proper and you can trust him"

If you can contact me by email we can correspond further.

Desert Shaikh

No, the advertiser/ seller pays a fee to post their villa/ apartment/ office or whatever they need to rent or sell. Similar to autotrader in the UK but this will be for real estate in Saudi.

The user who wants to rent or buy a property can simply search the site for free, which would yeild results depending on the critera. The user would then have direct contact with the landlord or agent who advertises on the site. Of course there are plans for us to be an agent also, but this is just an idea.

I think as long as we have awareness of the site from potential users who need to rent or buy then the advertisers can be convinced to part with the money to advertise.

norsk

for compounds i think it would be difficult to get it to work. the compounds tend to maintain waiting lists for the purpose of screening potential tenants, and with an open list concept this would not be possible. unfortunately this will continue for as long as the real estate market for expats (ie compounds) is one where the demand is bigger than the supply.

for saudis to buy houses - yeah why not, but from what i can gather there is a bit of the american trend here. what do i mean? well, they don't buy second-hand houses unless there is nothing else available in the area or they can't afford anything else. this might be different in other parts of the kingdom than the eastern region by the way.

so what are you left with? flats and private villa rentals to arab expats and labourers. there might be a market there, but i have no idea...

Peter - you need to get hold of a fixer if you're completely stuck mate. there are plenty around to be honest, but you'll need someone to introduce you unless you already know someone. ask one of the guys in your company who work in the government relations section if they know someone (not the admin manager as he is usually too full of himself to actually give a crap about helping anyone except himself). and yes, you'll need to pay but usually it's quite reasonable (and better than not having a decent place to stay)...

prwatts

Thanks Norsk. I will look into the 'fixer' idea.

Desert Shaikh

Yes this is my idea. A lot of locals also rent apartments and villas due to issues on buying.

Desert Shaikh

Yes that is true, but the stress and time involved in doing this and the time it takes to build one is very high. Now more are opting for ready build new homes in the new exit areas dotted around Riyadh.