Sell off-plan like a pro

Off-Plan or Ready: The Honest Answer

Off-plan is right for some clients and wrong for others, and your first job is to tell them which one they are.

Every week a client asks you the same question: should I buy off-plan or ready? Many agents answer with whatever they happen to be selling that month. The client notices, sooner or later, and they do not forget.

The honest answer is that neither is better. The client’s situation decides. Your job is to understand that situation before you open a brochure.

What each one really offers

Ready property: the buyer sees exactly what they are buying. They can move in or rent it out straight away. The price is supported by registered sales in the same building, so they can check it.

Off-plan: less money up front and payments spread over the build. A new unit in a new building. But there is construction risk and delivery risk, the handover date can move, and there is no rent and no home until the keys arrive.

The end user

A family buying a home to live in cares about schools, the commute, space and the monthly cost. Ask them:

• When do you need to move? If the answer is before handover, off-plan cannot solve their problem.
• Can you pay rent and instalments at the same time? Most off-plan end users do both for the whole build.
• Are the school, the roads and the shops already there, or still on a master plan?

For a family that needs a home this year, ready is usually the honest answer. For a family with a stable rental, savings that grow every month and time to wait, off-plan can work very well.

The investor

An investor cares about return, risk and exit. Ask them:

• Do you need rental income now, or can you wait until handover?
• How will you pay the handover amount: cash, a mortgage or a sale?
• What happens if the market is flat at handover and you have to complete?
• How long do you plan to hold?

An investor who needs income this year should look at ready, tenanted units. An investor with patient money and a long hold may prefer off-plan. Most investors are somewhere in between, and the honest answer may be one of each.

Off-plan suits clients with time and a real plan for the handover payment. Ask about both before you show anything.

How You Get to Sell a Project

Before you sell a single unit, your brokerage needs the right agreement, the project needs the right registration and you need the right permit.

Off-plan looks easy from the outside. A developer launches, agents share the brochure, buyers book. Behind every clean sale there are three things that must already be in place. If one is missing, you are not selling. You are taking a risk with your licence and your client’s money.

1. Your brokerage has an agreement with the developer

Your brokerage needs an agreement with each developer it sells for. That agreement sets out how you may market the project, how buyers are registered to you and how commission is paid. Find out:

• Which developers your brokerage is registered with, and on what terms.
• How the developer records which agent brought the buyer, and when that record must be made.
• The developer’s booking process, the documents they need from the buyer and who signs the Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA).
• Who in your office handles developer relationships, so you have one person to ask.

2. The project is registered and has escrow

Every project you market must be registered with RERA and have a project escrow account, a protected bank account for buyers’ payments. Check both on the Dubai REST app before you send a single brochure. If you cannot find the project, ask the developer and your compliance team before you go further.

3. You hold an advertising permit for it

You need a valid advertising permit for the project before you promote it anywhere: the portals, social media, WhatsApp broadcasts to your opted-in clients, print. Chapter 06 covers this in detail.

How you are paid

Developer commission is usually paid to the brokerage once the buyer reaches a payment milestone set in the developer’s agreement. Know that trigger before you count the money. A booking that never reaches the milestone pays nothing, and a buyer who cannot keep up with the plan may never reach it.

Commission levels differ between developers and between launches. That is normal. What is not acceptable is letting the size of the commission choose the project for your client. Clients can feel it when an agent is selling the highest payer, and the ones who do not feel it at signing feel it at handover.

Know what triggers your commission before you count it, and never let the size of it choose the project.

The Protections Your Buyer Has

Off-plan buyers in Dubai are protected by escrow and interim registration, and you should be able to explain both in plain words.

A buyer paying for a home that does not exist yet is taking a leap of faith. Dubai’s law makes that leap safer. Your job is to know the protections well enough to explain them without notes, and to make sure your buyer actually uses them.

Escrow: the money goes to the building

Under Dubai Law No. 8 of 2007 on escrow accounts, buyers’ payments for an off-plan project must go into an escrow account opened for that specific project, and the funds are dedicated to its construction. In plain words: the buyer’s money pays for this building, not for the developer’s next launch.

What this means for you:

• Every payment goes to the developer or the project escrow account, exactly as the developer instructs in writing.
• Never accept client money into a personal account or a brokerage account. Not a booking, not a deposit, not a favour.
• Take the escrow details from the developer’s official documents, and tell your buyer to confirm them with the developer before any large transfer. Payment details that change by message are a warning sign.

Oqood: the sale is on record

Under Dubai Law No. 13 of 2008, off-plan sales are recorded in DLD’s Interim Real Estate Register, known as Oqood. A transaction on an off-plan unit is void unless it is entered in that register. Make sure your buyer receives proof of the Oqood registration and keeps it with the SPA.

The DLD fee

The 4% DLD registration fee applies to off-plan purchases too, usually paid when the SPA is signed. Some developers offer full or partial fee waivers as an incentive. If a waiver is offered, get it in writing and check exactly what it covers. Never present a waiver as free money. It is part of the price.

Check before you market

• The project is licensed and registered with RERA. Check it on the Dubai REST app.
• The project has an escrow account, and the buyer pays only into it.
• Your brokerage holds a marketing agreement with the developer.
• You hold a valid advertising permit for the project.

Every payment goes to the developer or the project escrow account. Never to you, never to your brokerage.

Judge the Developer

A developer’s past tells you more than its launch event. Learn to judge it on facts, and never on gossip.

Every developer has a beautiful brochure. The difference between them shows up years later, in the finished building: the cracks or the lack of them, the date the keys arrived, the way owners were treated at handover. Your buyer cannot see that at a launch. You can find it out before they ask.

What to look at

• Completed projects: how many, where, and how they look today. A building that still looks good after years of use tells you about build quality and management.
• Delivery against promised dates: compare the handover date in the original marketing with the date owners actually got their keys.
• Handover experience: how snagging was handled, how quickly defects were fixed, how clearly owners were informed.
• Registration: the developer’s projects on the Dubai REST app, each with its own escrow account.
• After-sales: how the developer answers your questions now, before you have sent a buyer. It rarely gets better after the sale.

How to find out

Visit a finished project by the same developer. Walk the lobby, the gym and the car park. Talk to owners you already know, past clients and colleagues who have handled resales in that building. Ask the community manager how the handover went if you have a working relationship. Check resale listings and rents in the developer’s older buildings against similar buildings nearby.

Talk about facts, not names

You will hear stories about developers every day. Some are true, many are not. Never repeat a rumour to a client, never attack a developer in public, and never run down a project because a competitor is selling it. Dubai is a small market, and you will work with the same developers for years.

When a client asks your opinion, say what you know, what you do not know and what you would check. That answer is honest and protects everyone.

Judge a developer by what it has finished, not by what it has launched.

Judge the Project

A good developer can still build the wrong project in the wrong place. Judge the building and its future, not only the name on it.

A project is a bet on what a place will be like when the building is finished. Your job is to check that bet against evidence before your client places it.

Location as it will be

Look at what is there today and what is promised. A metro station on a map, a school under construction and a mall still in planning are three different levels of certainty. Tell your client which is which. In growing areas such as Dubai South, the future can be strong, but it is still the future.

Supply nearby

At handover, your buyer competes with every similar unit finishing at the same time. Find out what else is being built nearby, how many units, and when it is expected to complete. If hundreds of similar one-bedroom flats hand over in the same few months, rents and resale prices will feel it.

Unit mix

Look at the project’s own mix. A tower made mostly of studios and one-bedroom flats will be full of investors looking for tenants at the same time. A project with family units in a family area may rent and resell more steadily. Neither is wrong. Your client should know which one they are buying into.

Service charges

Get the developer’s estimated service charge, then compare it with similar completed buildings. DLD’s service charge index helps. Explain that the estimate is an estimate, and that the real figure is set once the building is running. Build service charges into every cash-flow example you show.

Exit

Ask the question every investor should ask: who will buy or rent this unit when it is complete, and at what price? Base your answer on comparable ready buildings nearby, not on the launch price of the project next door.

At handover your buyer competes with every similar unit finishing nearby. Count them before you sell.

Advertise Within the Rules

Off-plan advertising has its own permits and its own temptations. Get the permit, keep the facts true and leave the hype to others.

Off-plan is where advertising gets most exciting and most dangerous. Renders look perfect, launch prices look low and every message wants to say “last chance”. DLD actively checks property advertising and fines brokers who break the rules. Your name is on every post you make.

The permit comes first

Every property advertisement in Dubai needs a permit issued through Trakheesi before it goes live. That covers the portals, social media, print, outdoor, SMS, open days and exhibitions. The permit number must appear on the advertisement.

• You need a valid permit for the project before you promote it.
• An expired permit cannot be reused.
• Developer advertising permits cannot be used to market resale units. An off-plan unit being resold by its owner is a resale listing. It needs the owner’s listing agreement and its own permit, so check the steps with your compliance team.
• Show the Madmoun QR code that comes with the permit, and tell buyers to scan it. It confirms the advert is approved and who is advertising it.

Keep every fact true

• Label renders as renders.
• Call the handover date what it is: expected, and subject to the SPA.
• Use “starting from” prices only if units are really available at that price.
• Say “sold out” only when the developer confirms it.
• Never promise a price at handover, a rent or a return. If a developer offers a guarantee of any kind, show the client exactly what the SPA says and who stands behind it.
• Take down the advert when the project or unit is no longer available.

Messages to your own clients

A message about a launch is still marketing. Send it only to people with a documented reason to hear from you: past clients, people who enquired and people who opted in. Never use bought lists or numbers passed around between agents.

If you cannot show the permit, you cannot post the project.

Read a Payment Plan

A payment plan is not a discount. It is a schedule of money leaving your client’s account, and they need to see every line of it.

Developers sell off-plan on payment plans: a down payment, then instalments tied to dates or construction milestones, with a balance at handover. Some plans continue after handover. The headline, such as 60/40 or 1% a month, tells you almost nothing. You need to read the whole plan.

The five parts of any plan

• On signing: the down payment, plus the 4% DLD fee unless a waiver applies, plus any administration fees.
• During construction: instalments by date or by construction milestone.
• At handover: the balance due when the keys are ready.
• After handover: any instalments that continue once the buyer owns the unit.
• Around it all: service charges once the building is handed over, and rent if the buyer still lives elsewhere.

Five questions to ask of every plan

• How much is paid before handover in total, in dirhams, not percentages?
• Are instalments tied to dates or to construction milestones? With date-based instalments, the buyer keeps paying even if the build is behind. With milestones, payments move with the build.
• How will the handover payment be funded: savings, a mortgage or a sale?
• If there are post-handover instalments, does the rent cover them, plus service charges?
• What does the SPA say about delays, late payments and penalties?

Say it in their language

Most clients think in monthly amounts. Turn the plan into a list of dates and dirham figures, and add up the total paid each year. Then put the handover payment in bold. That is the number that decides whether the plan works for them.

A payment plan is not a discount. It is a schedule. Show the whole schedule.

Cash Flow With Real Examples

Percentages hide the truth. Dirhams on a calendar show it. Here are three worked examples you can copy.

The examples below use made-up prices and plans. They are illustrations of the method, not market figures or real projects. Always rebuild them with the developer’s actual price list, plan and the current DLD fees.

Example 1: an investor on a 60/40 plan

Daniel buys a one-bedroom in Business Bay for AED 1,200,000. The plan is 60/40: 60% paid during construction, 40% at handover.

• On signing: 10% down payment, AED 120,000, plus the 4% DLD fee, AED 48,000, plus administration fees. Roughly AED 168,000 on day one.
• During construction: the other 50%, AED 600,000, in eight instalments of AED 75,000.
• At handover: 40%, AED 480,000.
• Before handover, Daniel pays about AED 768,000 and receives no rent.

The question that matters: where will AED 480,000 come from at handover? If the answer is a mortgage, the bank will decide then, based on Daniel’s age, income and its valuation of the finished unit. Chapter 09 covers this.

Example 2: a post-handover plan

Priya buys a studio for AED 800,000 on a 50/50 plan, with the second half paid over three years after handover.

• Before handover: 50%, AED 400,000, plus the DLD fee.
• After handover: AED 400,000 over 36 months, about AED 11,100 a month.
• If the studio rents for, say, AED 5,500 a month, Priya must find about AED 5,600 a month on top of the rent, plus service charges, plus any months between tenants.

Post-handover plans can be useful. But clients often hear that “the rent pays the plan”. Show them the gap in dirhams before they believe it.

Example 3: a family paying rent during the build

Elena and her husband buy an off-plan townhouse for AED 2,500,000, expected to hand over in about three years. They rent today for AED 12,000 a month.

• Rent during the build: about AED 432,000 over 36 months, more if handover is delayed.
• Instalments during the build, plus the DLD fee, on top of that rent.
• At handover, the balance.

Now put the same family next to a ready townhouse at a similar price. They would pay the full price and fees up front or with a mortgage, but stop paying rent this year. Neither answer is automatic. The side-by-side is what helps them decide.

Build the one-page cash flow

If the client cannot see every payment on one page, they are not ready to sign.

Mortgages on Off-Plan

Many off-plan buyers plan to use a mortgage at handover. Make sure it is a plan, not a hope.

When a buyer says they will take a mortgage for the handover payment, most agents nod and move on. That is where many off-plan problems begin. A mortgage is a bank’s decision, made at the time of the loan, on that day’s rules, the buyer’s situation then and the bank’s own valuation. None of that is known at launch.

What the rules say

The Central Bank of the UAE sets the maximum loan-to-value (LTV) ratios banks can offer. For off-plan property, its regulations cap LTV at 50%. On top of that, each bank applies its own policy. Some banks lend only on certain projects or at certain stages of construction, and non-residents usually face stricter terms. Always confirm the current position with the bank or a mortgage adviser.

This is why many buyers pay the construction instalments from their own money and plan a mortgage for the balance at handover, when the unit is finished. At that point the bank values the completed unit and applies its own policy and the Central Bank limits that fit that buyer.

The risks to explain before signing

• Time: a pre-approval is usually valid for around 60 to 90 days. A buyer cannot lock in a mortgage years before handover.
• Age: the regulations set a maximum age at final repayment. A buyer who is close to it now will be closer at handover, and the loan term may be shorter.
• Income: a job change, a move abroad or a new loan can change what a bank will lend.
• Valuation: the bank lends on its own valuation. If the valuation comes in below the price, the buyer funds the gap in cash.
• Costs: mortgage registration, bank fees and valuation fees all arrive at handover too.

What you do

• Introduce every buyer who plans a handover mortgage to a mortgage adviser before they sign the SPA, for an honest view of their position today.
• Agree a plan B: savings, a family loan, a sale of another property, or assignment if the developer allows it. Write it down with them.
• Remind them about the mortgage six months before the expected handover, and connect them to the adviser again.

Never let a buyer sign a plan they can only finish if a bank says yes later. Agree a plan B first.

EOIs, Allocation and Honest Availability

An expression of interest is a place in the queue, not a unit. Explain how the queue works and never promise what you cannot control.

Launches are where off-plan is most exciting and most confusing for buyers. Units are released, prices appear, phones ring and messages fly. A clear agent is worth a lot on these days.

How launches usually work

Every developer runs launches its own way, so learn the rules of each one. In general:

• Before launch, some developers take expressions of interest (EOIs), a request to be offered a unit, sometimes with a booking payment.
• The developer decides allocation: who is offered which unit, and in what order.
• Once a unit is offered and accepted, the buyer books, signs the SPA, makes the down payment and pays the DLD fee, and the sale is entered in Oqood.

Your rules on client money

• Know the developer’s rules for EOIs and bookings before you take your first one.
• Put any refund terms in writing for your client, before they pay.
• Every payment goes to the developer or the project escrow account, as the developer instructs. Never to you, never to your brokerage.
• Make sure the client gets a receipt in their own name.

Be honest about availability

You do not decide allocation. So never promise a floor, a view or a unit number before the developer confirms it. Do not say “last units”, “nearly sold out” or “prices go up tomorrow” unless the developer has told you so in writing, and even then pass on the facts, not the drama. If you do not know, say so.

Buyers at launches speak in code. The pressure makes them say things they do not fully mean. Learn to hear what is underneath.

An EOI is a place in the queue, not a unit. Say so every time.

Run a Launch Day Without Pressure

The agent who prepares calmly sells more on launch day than the agent who shouts loudest, and keeps the client afterwards.

Launch days reward preparation. The buyer who has already seen the plan, checked the numbers and chosen two or three preferred units makes a quick, calm decision. The buyer who arrives with nothing makes a rushed one, or none at all.

Before the day

• Only bring buyers you have qualified: budget, purpose, plan for the handover payment.
• Send every buyer the floor plans, the payment plan and a one-page cash flow at least a day before.
• Agree a first, second and third choice of unit type, floor range and budget, so a sold unit is not a crisis.
• Confirm the documents the developer needs and how payment will be made.
• Tell every buyer clearly that availability is decided on the day.

On the day

Stay calm. Your buyer copies your energy. If their first choice is gone, show them the real alternatives and let them decide. Never push a unit that does not fit them just to save the day. A buyer who walks away with nothing, but trusts you, is worth more than a buyer who signs in a panic and blames you at handover.

No fake urgency. No invented buyers waiting, no made-up price rises, no unit that is suddenly the last one. Real scarcity needs no help.

Real scarcity needs no help. Fake urgency costs you the client after the launch.

When a Buyer Stops Paying

Payment trouble happens. The agent who explained the rules before signing, and stays in touch after, helps the buyer through it.

Off-plan plans run for years. In that time, jobs change, businesses struggle, families move. Some buyers will find it hard to keep paying. Your job starts long before that moment.

What the law sets out

Law No. 19 of 2017 amended the interim register law to set out what a developer can do when an off-plan buyer defaults. As reported by Khaleej Times, the developer must notify DLD, which gives the buyer 30 days to pay or settle. If the buyer does not, the developer’s options depend on how complete the project is:

• Above 80% complete: it can keep the contract and pursue the balance, seek a sale at auction, or terminate and retain up to 40% of the price.
• Between 60% and 80%: it can terminate and retain up to 40%.
• Below 60%: it can terminate and retain up to 25%.

This is general information, not legal advice. Every case depends on the SPA, the facts and the current law. A buyer in default, or close to it, needs a lawyer.

Prevent it before signing

• Make sure the buyer can afford the whole plan, not only the down payment.
• Build a cushion into the cash flow for a few missed months of income.
• Explain the default rules in plain words before they sign.

If trouble comes

• Encourage the buyer to tell you early, before a payment is missed.
• Suggest they speak to the developer early. Whether anything can be rescheduled is the developer’s decision, so promise nothing.
• Look at whether an assignment is possible under the developer’s conditions (chapter 13).
• Point them to a lawyer. Do not give your own legal opinion.

The best time to talk about default is before the client signs, not after they miss a payment.

Assignment and Resale Before Completion

Selling an off-plan contract before handover is possible, but only on the developer’s terms and only if a buyer wants it.

Some clients buy off-plan planning to sell before completion. This is called assignment, or an off-plan resale. It is a real part of the market, and it is also where many clients get their expectations wrong.

The developer’s conditions

Developers set their own conditions for assignment. They often include:

• A minimum percentage of the price already paid, commonly 30% to 40%.
• A developer NOC for the transfer.
• An administration fee.

The transfer must be recorded in Oqood so the new buyer is recognised. When a broker is involved in a secondary off-plan sale, DLD’s standard contracts apply. Check each developer’s current conditions in writing before your client relies on them.

How the deal works, in general

The new buyer usually pays the seller what the seller has already paid to the developer, plus any premium they agree, and takes over the remaining payment plan. The seller must be up to date with payments. Fees apply at transfer, so check the current DLD and trustee office schedule and the developer’s fee before quoting a net figure to the seller.

The market test

A resale only works if a buyer prefers it to the alternatives. If the developer is still selling similar units at the launch price with a fresh payment plan, why would a buyer pay your client a premium? Compare:

• The developer’s current price list and plan for similar units.
• Other resale contracts in the same project.
• Ready units nearby.

Be straight with both sides

Your seller wants the highest premium. Your buyer wants proof that the premium is fair. Give the seller an honest view of what similar contracts and ready units are achieving, and give the buyer a statement from the developer showing what has really been paid. Never inflate the amount paid, and never hide a missed instalment. Both will come out at the developer’s office, and so will your name.

Advertising an assignment

An off-plan resale is a resale listing. It needs the owner’s listing agreement and its own advertising permit. The developer’s project permit does not cover it.

A flip is a plan only if the developer allows it and a buyer wants it. Check both before the client counts the profit.

From Construction to Keys: Handover and Snagging

Handover is the moment an off-plan buyer becomes an owner, and the moment they decide whether they will ever use you again.

Between signing and the keys, many agents disappear. The buyer receives instalment reminders from the developer and hears nothing from the person who sold them the unit. Do the opposite. A short update every few months keeps the relationship alive and the client calm.

What happens at handover

• The developer issues a handover notice once the building has its completion certificate.
• The buyer pays the final instalment and any outstanding fees. If they are using a mortgage, the bank releases its funds at this stage.
• The title deed is registered with DLD in the buyer’s name, replacing the interim Oqood registration.
• Service charges start, and utility connections and access cards are set up.
• If the owner plans to rent, the leasing process and Ejari registration begin.

Snagging: inspect before accepting

Snagging means inspecting the unit for defects and getting them fixed. Advise every client to inspect, or to hire a professional snagging company, before they accept the keys. Check walls, ceilings, doors, windows, floors, kitchens, bathrooms, electrical points and air conditioning. Record each defect on a numbered list with the room, the location, a description and a photo. Keep every version the developer returns and re-inspect after repairs.

Under Law No. 6 of 2019 on jointly owned property, as described by law firms, the developer is liable for structural defects for ten years from the completion certificate, and for defects in mechanical, electrical and plumbing installations for one year from handover. The SPA sets the handover procedure and any further warranties, so read it too.

Handover is where an off-plan buyer decides whether they will ever use you again.

Three Off-Plan Conversations

A first-time investor, a family weighing ready against off-plan, and an investor who wants to flip: three calls, three honest answers.

Everything in this book comes together in conversation. Here are three situations you will meet again and again. Omar from CBA is an example agent, the numbers are illustrations only, and the conversations are written to show the method. Read each one twice: once for what Omar says, once for what he refuses to say.

Call one: the first-time investor

Priya enquired about an off-plan studio after seeing a launch advert. She has saved for years, has never bought property, and wants something that will grow over time. Her budget is tight, and she has heard that off-plan is the only way in.

Priya met the mortgage adviser that week. The adviser’s view was that the handover loan was realistic if her income held, but tight. Priya chose a smaller unit in the same launch, with a lower handover payment, and kept a cushion of savings. She told two colleagues about the agent who showed her the hard numbers first.

Call two: the family choosing between ready and off-plan

The Kapoors are past clients. They rent a villa in Arabian Ranches and love the area. Their landlord has served notice that he plans to sell, they have eight months left in the villa, and they are comparing a ready villa with an off-plan townhouse in a new community.

The Kapoors chose a ready villa in the same community, with a mortgage arranged through an adviser Omar introduced. A year later they came back for an off-plan apartment as an investment, with a full cash flow, a mortgage check and a plan B in writing.

Call three: the investor who wants to flip

Mr. Khalid is an experienced investor and a past client. He wants to buy two units at a new launch and sell them before completion for a profit. He is confident, and he wants Omar to move fast.

Mr. Khalid read the pack and bought one unit instead of two. The developer’s conditions required a minimum percentage paid before any assignment, so he could not sell as early as he had hoped. When he did resell, it was close to handover, at a modest premium. He told Omar later that the second unit would have been a problem.

What the three calls share

• Omar asked what the purchase had to achieve before he showed anything.
• He turned every plan into dirhams and dates, with the handover payment first.
• He compared off-plan honestly with ready property.
• He promised nothing he could not control: prices, allocation, loans or developer decisions.
• He put the hard part on the table early and left the decision with the client.

The hardest number, said early, is what makes a client trust every other number you give them.