From a mortgage consultation to a property sale in 36 hours

We’ve stated that the property market has been moving fast since the covid-19 lockdown was lifted in Dubai but for one client, Chris, it moved faster than he had anticipated! 

Chris Ripley, a landlord who lives and works in DIFC had been contemplating switching mortgage lenders for some time and decided to reach out to our Mortgage Consultant Ben Holliday to get some advice. After a whisper of considering he may sell the property, Ben put him in touch with our senior sales consultant who specialises in the area, Euan Craigie. 

Chris Ripley, seller

Chris says “Ben was very professional and gave a very in depth perspective on the options I had available to me. When I mentioned that I had considered selling the townhouse, he was very understanding and asked if he could get the sales agent to call me and have a chat. I felt that Ben had my best interests at heart and truly listened and was happy to have an open conversation, even if that did mean passing my details onto another department.” 

On receiving the clients details Euan called him almost straight away to get a better understanding of his needs and to determine whether any of the buyers the team were working with would be interested. 

Chris continues “When Euan called me I was impressed with his knowledge of the area. He knew exactly where my villa was from my description and could even tell me which view it had! He said he knew a client who would be very interested and we arranged a viewing for the same day. By that evening I had an offer, I couldn’t believe it!” 

As soon as Euan determined the townhouse location, he knew exactly the client who would be very interested, a client who was working with his colleague, Craig Andrews and who had a sale fall through due to the Covid-19 pandemic and a salary decrease halting his mortgage pre-approval. 

Mirko De Siena, buyer of the JVT townhouse says “My partner and I have had a rollercoaster of a year, we had been looking for a property in JVT when we started our search but ended up signing contracts for a lovely property in The Springs but I always had this nagging feeling that I preferred JVT. Unfortunately, the house sale fell through because I received a temporary salary cut as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. We were hugely disappointed at the time and it was very stressful, however, we called our agent, Craig, who was hugely supportive as always and he reassured us that when the time was right, he would find us a perfect home. 

He kept his promise, when we saw the townhouse in JVT surrounded by greenery and with a view of the park we were truly delighted. It actually took my breath away as it was exactly what we had in mind when we first began our search and to make it that little bit sweeter, Stuart, our mortgage advisor (Stuart Roe, Head of Mortgages) advised us that we were eligible to apply for a mortgage lending 80% - an extra 5% from the mortgage we had initially applied for with the previous property.” 

“Another positive is that we will be paying less for our mortgage than we would be paying on our rental apartment in Marina. Buying a property has been on our agenda for a while and although we’ve had a rough ride getting there, we always felt supported and in good hands with Craig and Stuart. Everything worked out for us in the end and we are extremely excited to start our new chapter in our dream home.” 

Chris Ripley concludes “I’m very grateful to the Allsopp & Allsopp team for jumping into action and making the sale process extremely quick and easy. I have reached out to them already to find me a new apartment on the Palm with some outdoor space after realising my apartment in DIFC without a balcony is just too small after being confined during the lockdown”