Business Bureau, Gulf Today

Real estate sector in Dubai has always been a key source of remarkably contributing to the economy. Property developers and real estate agents are behind the success of the emirate’s booming property market, making all out efforts to supply units to meet the growing demand in the wake of high influx of expats.

From time to time real estate agencies come up with innovative offers for the residents seeking better location, best price and a lot more attractions. Customers also look for saving money while renting a property.

With this regard, ‘Right Doors’, a young real estate broker in Dubai has come up with an innovative concept of charging flat fixed fee from the customer, instead of charging five per cent commission on the total annual rental amount, as is the normal practice in the country and all over the world.

The agency’s mission is to offer services that bring down the cost of living and not charging the commission as per market trend is a step forward in this initiative.

Right Doors charges flat Dhs999 from customers on each contract, instead of charging five per cent commission, saving a lot of money for them. This practice reduces the burden of rental amount on tenants.

Talking to Gulf Today, Zeeshan Shaikh, the Chief Executive and Founder of Right Doors, said, “We are Dubai’s first commission-free real estate agency.

We do not charge 5 per cent commission from clients and save a lot of money for them. I can give you a recent example, a client rented a property in Dubai’s prime location through us.

The annual rental of the property was Dhs540,000. We made a deal for him and charged only Dhs999, saving him Dhs26,000 in the head of commission.”

He said, “Fixed rate commission will further boost the real estate market and make tenants and landlords satisfied.”

He said, this idea of ours is based on doing more business with lesser margin of profits or income. And we are successful in our business because our idea and new concept of charging flat fixed fee is getting fame and we are receiving a lot of inquiries specially from hotels and companies who want big number of units for their staff. Our idea has also set an example for other real estate agencies who are appreciating our efforts.”

Zeeshan went on to say, “This is our success that property owners are now approaching us to rent their properties. Also, a number of real estate brokers and agencies have contacted us to give them business as we will always be charging a flat fixed fee, be it a direct tenant of an agency.”

He claimed that during the past four months we have saved Dhs600,000 in commission for hotel industry clients.”

In response to a question: ‘Is there any reaction or resentment from other real estate agencies on your idea of not charging five per cent commission and instead charging a flat fixed fee of Dhs999 as those agencies would be thinking that your concept is hurting their business?’ Zeeshan said, “We received mixed reaction to this concept. Mostly say, it is a wonderful idea and good ethics, facilitating the clients. In some cases, however, agencies opposed in the beginning but later they realised that this is the best business practice.”

He said, “I am sure that sooner or later other agencies will follow our footsteps.”

He said, “Charging five per cent commission is a practice by the market, not a law. So, in my opinion, there should be a practice of facilitating people while doing business, and this is what we are doing.”

I want to make one thing clear, that we charge only Dhs999 from clients, and there are no other fees or hidden charges. Also, we do not charge a single penny from the owners for listing their properties with us. The plus point is that knowing our business strategy of not charging five per cent commission, owners want to work with us.”

Zeeshan further mentioned that working with Right Doors hybrid estate agent, clients will have access to comprehensive and up-to-the-minute news and knowledge of the property market they target, allowing them to completely understand the opportunities and options currently offered.

He said, “Right Doors provides every client with extraordinary service in a booming real estate market in Dubai. With our initiative real estate will be easier, affordable, and transparent in Dubai by 2020. It’s time for a new wave. Right Doors promises to stay ahead of competition with an innovative approach and fresh business model.”

“Not only tenants can enjoy the extraordinary rent services offered by Right Doors, landlords can also get their properties rented faster by listing for free on Rightdoors.com,” Zeeshan added.