People want more than dodgy deadlines when buying property

The halls of Cityscape were packed with models of these developments, and they included some truly beautiful buildings. Some of the island developments were also eye-catching and it would be easy to walk the floor saying 'I want to live there.....and there....and there...'.

The models showed not just innovative developments or buildings but highlighted that if developers get it right, then the Middle East really will become a more attractive place to live in.

But speaking to the throng of developers about their projects a disturbing theme began to emerge.

Many of these developments had barely broken ground, others hadn't even finished land reclamation, yet all had delivery dates of two to four years. Dubai has been dogged with the late delivery of construction projects, yet it was like the developers had learned nothing about managing expectations and - with a few exceptions - giving realistic delivery dates.

Spokesmen for one island development, for instance, said that land reclamation would not finish until February next year. Handover to residents, they said would be in the latter part of 2009, a deadline I simply don't buy.

While there is always a chance that any project will slip, moving home for most people is a logistical tightrope that involves not just the buyer and seller, but other parties associated with the seller (such as ending a rental contract). And in the sea of dodgy deadlines, there were a few developers that seemed much savvier about the need to manage customer expectations and felt confident enough to give what sounded like realistic delivery dates for developments.

On leaving Cityscape I got chatting to a property broker and his view, like many others, was that investors are becoming jaded by the poor customer service and are beginning to expect more now. An alternative view is that buyers are so used to deadlines they know the developer won't keep that they simply add a year or two to the delivery date (but that's no comfort when you are walking that logistical tightrope).

A report by FutureBrand, the Gulf Real Estate study, released on the first day of the exhibition, found that while the market is slowly maturing, there is much room still for improvement. And with prices around the Middle East heading north, customers now expected a higher level of service for the money they are spending during the buying and handover process.

If that's the case - and I believe it because no one is prepared to pay high prices for shoddy services - then developers are storing more trouble for themselves as they miss their promised deadlines by claiming unachievable delivery dates.

Property developers may think they can treat customers badly because demand outstrips supply, but with so many construction projects, just as there is always another buyer, there is also always another potential home.

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