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Discuss this article (1 Comments)Painting the town green
by This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it on Monday, 17 March 2008
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Thinkspace claims to be the UAE's first real estate agency to offer buyers the chance to become greener consumers. Holly Sands asks agency founder Daniel Simpson how he plans to make Dubai a greener place.
As increasing numbers of developers launch environmentally friendly real estate projects, Thinkspace has jumped aboard the ‘green' bandwagon, claiming to be the UAE's first property agent with a conscience.
I think the problem with most real estate companies here in Dubai, is that they have a very short-term vision. We're here for the long-term and we are committed.
The company does everything you'd expect of a real estate company, apart from the fact that its staff drives fuel-efficient cars, it will teach customers how to reduce their carbon footprints and it recycles all its paper.
Daniel Simpson, partner and founder of Thinkspace reveals what makes his agency different.
What makes Thinkspace any different from other real estate agents in Dubai?
We believe there's a distinct lack of good customer service here in Dubai. What we provide is more than just a basic service. I'm not just talking about a smile and a handshake, if you list a property with us, we'll come and take pictures of your property, not just use stock images.
We're the first company in Dubai using the 360-degree virtual walk around system, so we actually come and film your house, so that when your property goes online, people can actually visit the house, they can have a look inside.
We have in-house mortgage brokerage services whereby our staff will arrange all the finance, they'll talk to the banks, they'll do all the paperwork, they'll get the pre-approvals, but it's free.
You don't have to pay for it. Every customer also gets their own dedicated service adviser.
How do you plan to attract customers in the region?
We're certainly focusing a lot on the web. Our website is being developed at the moment, it's online now, but we're spending an awful lot of money and time in developing not only a portal dedicated to real estate but we'll have a timeline facility for most of the major property developments in Dubai, so that people can actually see their properties getting developed.
We'll be having blogs on there, talking about a number of topics, from traffic to tourist destinations in Dubai and hotel prices. We'll be having podcasts, not only relating to real estate but construction, banking, finance, mortgages, all that sort of thing.
So we're trying to have a web portal that really appeals to new people joining Dubai, it's somewhere they can go and have all the information they need to, as well as people who are looking for real estate who want to find out more about what they're looking for.
What environmental activities are you involved in?
We've started a project called wethinkmore.com, which right now is quite a big task to construct. But basically it'll be a site dedicated to initiatives that can help people improve their own situation in terms of being more green and ecologically-friendly in the household.
READERS' COMMENTS
Disclaimer: The views expressed here by our readers are not necessarily shared by ArabianBusiness.com or its employees.
A breath of fresh air!
Posted by Clyde, Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Sunday 23 March 2008 at 21:43 UAE time
It's good to know that there are some agencies that think differently and are not here just on the 'money train'. Thinking green (no pun) can only be good for the environment and the future. I wish ThinkSpace all the best, and wish them perseverance where others simply start off with promises and then buckle under the pressure of the market and the need to survive.
Reading through some of this article, it is laudable what thinkspace wants to do, (realvisionhomes.com has been trying to educate real estate agents and marketing managers on these same subjects for free with just average success!).
On a side note, this article is 5 pages long, but pages 4 and 5 are duplicated, and if the carbon index was running, it would show that I spent 3 more minutes of keeping my monitor running, using about 200kb more of internet bandwith to download the pages and thus that much more power and energy - just a remark, spoken in jest! Keep up the initiative!
Posted by Clyde, Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Sunday 23 March 2008 at 21:43 UAE time
It's good to know that there are some agencies that think differently and are not here just on the 'money train'. Thinking green (no pun) can only be good for the environment and the future. I wish ThinkSpace all the best, and wish them perseverance where others simply start off with promises and then buckle under the pressure of the market and the need to survive.
Reading through some of this article, it is laudable what thinkspace wants to do, (realvisionhomes.com has been trying to educate real estate agents and marketing managers on these same subjects for free with just average success!).
On a side note, this article is 5 pages long, but pages 4 and 5 are duplicated, and if the carbon index was running, it would show that I spent 3 more minutes of keeping my monitor running, using about 200kb more of internet bandwith to download the pages and thus that much more power and energy - just a remark, spoken in jest! Keep up the initiative!
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