MR. KIRAN UTTAMCHANDANI Marketing Director

Dubai has seen it all, the hard times and the good times, and the emirate’s real estate market is no exception. Having gone through rapid transformation over the last decade and a half, and with opportunities being snapped up at a rapid pace, experience is an asset that often proves essential towards transforming opportunities into success. In this sense, Rocky Real Estate definitely has an edge.

Having entered Dubai’s property market in 1976, Rocky Real Estate has positioned itself as one of the emirate’s oldest and most well recognized and reliable real estate companies. Mr. Kiran Uttamchandani, Rocky Real Estate’s Marketing Director, explains, “The secret behind our successful transformation has been moving according to the times.”

With the one-stop shop concept truly mastered and an array of services that include buying, selling, leasing, acquisition, disposition and property management, Rocky Real Estate today has more than 8500 individual commercial and residential units under management, enviable experience within the market, and a number of close ties with financial institutions ready to provide credit facilities to its clients.

Dubai’s Real Estate sector is one that has firmly positioned itself as a worldwide leader for investment and has become synonymous with trend setting properties and global landmarks. In your view, what is behind the development of the emirate’s Real Estate market?

Talking about the key factors behind the success of Dubai is synonymous with talking about one person in particular, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai; it is talking about his vision, strategies, strength, and also his way of decision making. One of the most impressive aspects of the transformation that Dubai is going through is the fact that every change that has occurred over the last few years was planned over ten years ago. The strategy behind this unbelievable development, not only in the real estate market, but also in every sector of the emirate, is fantastic.

Rocky Real Estate entered Dubai’s property market in 1976, and has since become one of Dubai’s most recognized real estate companies. Could you give us an overview of Rocky Real Estate’s beginnings?

Rocky Real Estate is a company that was started over thirty years ago by my father and uncle. Dubai at that time was a completely different emirate to the one we see today. Rocky Real Estate started long before all the changes that transformed Dubai to what it is nowadays came, when Dubai’s real estate sector was basically a couple of buildings here and there.
Of course, after three decades in the market, Rocky Real Estate has faced a number of challenges, as the industry went through a number of difficult periods, especially in the beginning. The main thing is that we’ve learned a lot from our past experiences and can today use our knowledge in order to offer the highest possible level of service to our customers.

Rocky Real Estate offers its clients a wide variety of buyer and seller services. Could you give us some insight into these?

The majority of our business is related to property management, meaning that Rocky Real Estate’s main service consists of leasing out properties on behalf of our clients. This has been our main business over the last thirty years and it is where most of our experience and knowledge resides. We are a very conservative company in terms of buying and selling. When it comes to investment, we only invest in properties in which we are very confident. The main aspects we always take into account include location, the quality of the property, and the development in which the property is located. We offer our clients only well selected properties with the highest possible return on investment. In other words, we operate in a way in which our future forecast is based on our past experiences.

What is the importance of UK investors and real estate related firms to Rocky Real Estate?

UK investors are very representative to Rocky Real Estate. It is important to highlight that British investors are smart, sophisticated, intellectual, and they know what they want and also how to get it. If you look at the British real estate market, which has now existed for almost four hundred years, one can safely say that it is highly sophisticated. I personally enjoy working with British clients due to the fact that they know what they are talking about. They are the type of customer that is very informed about both the internal and external market. They know how much to invest and how much to expect as a return on the investment. The main attractions of Dubai for UK investors include a tax-free environment, the beautiful beaches of the emirate, the weather, the low price of property, and the easy access to the country; there are over twelve flights daily from the UK.
It could be said that Dubai offers an exceptional lifestyle and has become a kind of optional real estate investment market for those who planned to invest in Spain, but who are now looking for something new.

Are there any strategies in place in order to capitalise on the potential British clients have to offer?

We are currently planning to open an office in the UK towards the middle of next year, before the summer starts. Our idea is to build a structure that can provide support to our existing customers as well as attract new potential clients. We believe that there are a number of investors out there who are interested in investing in the property market of Dubai but don’t actually know how to do so. We are looking at offering a service which is not yet on the market where we want to offer guaranteed rental return. We also plan to create an investment fund, where we manage a portfolio of properties on behalf of our clients.

What are your main priorities for the final semester of 2007 and the first semester of 2008?

Our priority is to expand. Rocky Real Estate plans to expand in a smart way where we want to make sure that we have the right people, that is, highly trained employees that are able to provide our clients with the best possible investment advice. Our main priority will be to focus on research in order to find the most suitable product to fulfil the needs of our clients; we have always aimed to satisfy our clients.