Real Estate Companies in the 21 Century
After reading stories of cheated home renters one starts to think that reputable
real estate companies might be the way to go.
Well all know that a lot of the dealings in regards to renting property in these country
are somewhere in the 16th century...
But then how cool, there is also companies of the 21st century in Qatar !
World wide reputable organizations, helping people like me finding their new homes....
The promise is to rent directly from the landlord, no hassle, no worries about future surprises. But the is a catch, you have to go deep in your pockets to satisfy the needs
that have developed in the 21st century... 1 month worth of rent as a commission to satisfy the agents/companies needs !!!
Well so far so good... its each and everybody's own decision if one wants to pay and live a headache free live, or so it seams.
Once the process is started and a new home is chosen, (which is not always that easy with all the choices one has in Qatar), you come to the contractual details.
Suddenly your confronted with contracts, cheques and different agreements that need to be signed. If one thinks a bit about it, these might be again the price for a save new home.
When it comes (or come in my case) to fill out the cheques, your surprised that there are three different recipients... only one name is the one on the contract !!
How can something like these happen ??
Ahhh there is a middle man... helping the real estate company closing the deal.
One cheque should of corse be in the middle mens name for taking papers from the reputable company (that charges one month rent for their services) to the representative
of the landlord.
Stop - There is something wrong might think !!? These is 21st vs. 16th century !!
These is point where one might get suspicious... and where one sits again and tries to
figure out where all those promises went to, made in the very beginning justifying the inflated prices.
Ahh... here come the answer... In these particular case, the landlord is stubborn and does not want to pay a commission to the helping company.
Ok, your are really tired, after looking at 50th properties and time is running out....
One last attempt to finalize the deal.
A agreement is made to pay the middle men his share directly and have the contracts in the name of the owner (just in case for the future).
Now its a good time to sign the contract, tightly followed by the real estates companies needs for their commissions.
Here now you are supposed to be the rightful new lessee of a villa (or apartment).
But wrong, only you has signed the contract... the only thing you have to do now is wait
for the landlord to counter sign the contract and give you the keys.
In my case, these would never happen !
The reason ? The landlord rather deals with real estate companies and methods from the 16th century and not from the 21st century !!!!
Why ? Well it turns out that some conscious owners do not like the new ideas of himself paying commissions, the lessee paying commissions and all laundered through middle men so he does not see what is going down.
One can almost admire the attitude of these owner. Soon you find out that the object of your desire is rented out to some other expat, directly from the owner... happily ever after.
Where I am now trying to clean the mess up and get my down payments and buy-out fees back into my pockets... which turns out to be very hard.
The middle men does not get his commission back from the reputable real estate company (or so he claims). I am not getting my payments back because everybody decided to disappear.
Well good I have chosen a reputable real estate company that cannot simply disappear.
But they are washing their hands in the fine print of the contracts previously signed.
“Our contract with you and the corresponding fees, where solely for the handling of the contract...” - “We are sorry to inform you that we are not able to help you any further in getting your outstanding payments back”.
I am writing these now from my new home, that I got through 16th century methods.
Still waiting for somebody to pick up one of my 10 phone calls per day in order to get
my outstanding fees back.
hahah, diese Jahr verstecken wir die Ostereier auch im Pool :-).
Bitte.Und hab ein schönes Wochenende.
:-)
On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.
(Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
Danke viele mahle!
Aisha-Taweela
stay cool and have a nice weekend and
"schöni Ostere wünsch ech i dir"
;-)
On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur, l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.
(Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
I am originally from Zuerich/Winterthur, but used to live about 4 years in Geneva. :-).Small world !
I see you are Swiss. Where are you from? We are dual nationality. We are from Lausanne.
Aisha-Taweela
thanks for the flowers Aisha-Taweela and thank you for welcoming me in Doha... I have been here for about 3 years now, so I do not want to even imagine what might be happening to people that just move here from abroad ! I thought I was supper cautious and a bit of pain to deal with, because I wanted a receipt and signatures on every piece of paper, which I have now as prove. But all that does not help, if there is no system that supports you once you have crosse the bridge in to the good old mediaeval times.
Wow!
I am sorry the roble you had to go thru. But am happy to have your place now. Very informative & well written. Welcome to Doha!
Aisha-Taweela
Yawn...