Give me insight on DAMAC Property - Lake View - JLT

[Fal Pat]

Hi Guyz,

I am pretty new in this forum but have been an avid reader of all the threads as a guest member. Me and my hubby are contemplating of buying a 1BR apartment in LAKE VIEW Tower which is by DAMAC and to be delivered in a few months time. I have a proposal @ 1425/- psf. Is this good? My intention is to rent it out once given the possession and earn a rental income of about 100-110K pa, apart from the capital appreciation of the property. PLZZZZ advice if this will be a good buy or not and if DAMAC still has any credibility left or not?

[sap001]

Hello Fal Pat,

I am sorry to tell you that I have had very bad experiences with DAMAC for a long time now and would not recommend anyone buying anything from them. I am still waiting for my apartment at Lake View to be completed. It should have been ready by Dec 2006! The latest of MANY letters I have received from DAMAC gives an anticipated completion date of Summer 2008. However this letter is not worth the paper it is written on, because they keep on moving their completion dates forward. There is no guarantee your 1 bedroom apartment will be ready in a few months time. What size is your 1 bed apartment ie how many sq ft?

Incidentally do you or anyone else know how much annual rental would be for a 2 bedroom apartment at Lake View in JLT?

Regards
sap001

[Chamma]

hi SAP / FATPAL,

I work for DAMAC, if you have any issues or inquiries please address me on tarek.ibrahim@damacgroup.com and i will be more than happy to assist you.

I could tell that you are not residing in the UAE am i right or wrong?

DAMAC launched 2 projects in JLT lake view and lake terrace, the latter was delivered this month itself and their was a grand opening ceremony couple of days back for that regards.

As per Lake View, i can not tell you the exact delivery date, but according to construction process it should be anytime after 3-4 months.

You can log on to DAMAC website (Dubai Real Estate, Dubai Freehold Property, Dubai Investment Property : Damac Properties Middle East UAE), choose UAE reagion and then click on construction updates, you will get a list of all our projects in the pipeline where you can view real pictures on the construction process and to which level it reached.

I guess AED 100K-110K for a 1 B/D is within the average rental yield in Dubai in such a location.

As for capital appreciation, we don't have anything available in JLT as to give you a hint on the developers current price, but please refer to some of the articles that i posted regarding prices (prelaunch permanent thread).

I had predicted a 20%-30% minimum increase in developers prices in the upcoming month, i ahd stated some facts to back up my predictions and as of 3 days back i heard that Nakheel doubled the land price in DTJA....

thanks and best regards.


Tarek Ibrahim

00971 50 2404787
tarek.ibrahim@damacgroup.com

[sap001]

Hello Tarek,

You are not telling me anything I did not already know and it is interesting to note you have not refuted any of my previous comments. Why? Because they are true!

If you really want to help me and others who are in the same situation as me, then contact your CEO (Peter Riddoch) as I have many times before. It is about time DAMAC takes responsibility for it's dreadful image and record of continous delays with investors
properties. I have spoken with numerous people who share my concerns with your company, so I can assure you I am not alone in my perception of your company

sap001

[DubaiDMC]

Originally Posted by sap001

Hello Tarek,

You are not telling me anything I did not already know and it is interesting to note you have not refuted any of my previous comments. Why? Because they are true!

If you really want to help me and others who are in the same situation as me, then contact your CEO (Peter Riddoch) as I have many times before. It is about time DAMAC takes responsibility for it's dreadful image and record of continous delays with investors
properties. I have spoken with numerous people who share my concerns with your company, so I can assure you I am not alone in my perception of your company

sap001

can you please quote one project in Dubai that has been finished on time?

[sap001]

Hello DubaiDMC,

You are missing the point. The issue is NOT which other projects have been completed on time, but WHY DAMAC have not completed their Lake View project on time. It is already 18 MONTHS late with no prospect of a definite completion date so far. How much longer do DAMAC expect investors to wait? DAMAC were very quick to take investors monies, but when it comes to delivering their projects on time, they blame everyone else apart from themselves.

I tell you what the answer is? DAMAC should be fined a percentage of their annual turnover or profits and DAMAC should pay their customers compensation for EVERY SINGLE DAY the project is delayed. I am sure that will focus their minds on completing their projects on time.

sap001

[Chamma]

Originally Posted by sap001

Hello Tarek,

You are not telling me anything I did not already know and it is interesting to note you have not refuted any of my previous comments. Why? Because they are true!

If you really want to help me and others who are in the same situation as me, then contact your CEO (Peter Riddoch) as I have many times before. It is about time DAMAC takes responsibility for it's dreadful image and record of continous delays with investors
properties. I have spoken with numerous people who share my concerns with your company, so I can assure you I am not alone in my perception of your company

sap001

Dear Sap,

I had tried to answer Fat Pat's inquiries through my honest opinion in regards to rental yield, capital appreciation, and delivery date for her lake view investment.

Understanding, that you had purchased in the same project, i hoped to be of help to you as well, as for current delivery date, i had advised to check the building constructions updates through our website, where you can view in real pics that the building is almost ready so you can have a peace of mind that your investment (at last and after a long wait of continued delayed) is a solid one.

I had lived my whole life in UAE, and can tell you, that the unfortunate delays for most projects by most developers had poured in the benefit of long term investors like yourself in terms of capital appreciation for their property.

As they say, good things happen to those who wait.

I had read most of your posting, and can see that you are furious with DAMAC, and i admit you have the full right to be, so inbehalf of my employer i do apologise for such delays.

As a consolation, i can confirm that if you have bought another property from another developer you definitly would have suffered from similar frustrating delays.

I had explained reasons of delays in previous posts, you can refer to them as to get a more general idea of whats happening in Dubai's property market and hope my posts to benificial to all readers who are residing outside UAE.

DAMAC is mostly judged being one of the biggest developers and leaders in the UAE Market, but they do learn from their mistakes (whether the hard way or not) and are delivering. Most of their projects in the pipeline will be delivered between between 2008 - 2010 including new launches and i hope then that a better image will be established.

Again i congratulate you on your investment and hope that it turns out to be more lucrative than expected.

good luck and best regards.

[Chamma]

By the way SAP, their were many rumours and news before circulating the market regarding proposed changes by nakheel for their JLT Development.

At a certain period of time i even heard that there will not be even a lake there !!!!

if this was true it could be a reason for the delays in handing over plots / granting the building permission for other private developers. (till a final decision was made about the masterplan).

I am not 100% certain of my sources but i did hear that from various different sources.

[Fal Pat]

Hi guyz,

I can understand SAP's frustration especially since he's been invested in the project from the beginning if I am not wrong. Yes it's been a long wait since the first sale of Lake VIew was done but now having reached this stage, I do not forsee much delay. SAP to answer your question on rental, a 2 bed in JLT will get a rental of 120K - 140 K p.a. and this is the lower end of the range. My apprehension is about the quality of construction since I have not seen any completed DAMAC property. Everything looks so good on pictures but the final outcome should not be far from it or else one might not fetch the returns one is looking for.
Amongst other news I have is 2 days back DAMAC released 2 floors, 7th and 8th (if I am not wrong) in Lake Terrace in JLT starting from AED 1800 - 2100 /sq ft. Ofcourse Lake terrace is due for completion earlier than Lake view but the same can be expected? I would take a conservative estimate of 1600-1750 for Lake View at the completion time.

[sammy1003]

Originally Posted by Fal Pat

Hi Guyz,

I am pretty new in this forum but have been an avid reader of all the threads as a guest member. Me and my hubby are contemplating of buying a 1BR apartment in LAKE VIEW Tower which is by DAMAC and to be delivered in a few months time. I have a proposal @ 1425/- psf. Is this good? My intention is to rent it out once given the possession and earn a rental income of about 100-110K pa, apart from the capital appreciation of the property. PLZZZZ advice if this will be a good buy or not and if DAMAC still has any credibility left or not?

I believe there is a 1 bed unit selling at the rate of around 1300 AED/sqft. Let me know if you're interested and I can check on its availability for you.