Wasim Ahmed, 39, was only in his teens when his father died unexpectedly. He had little choice but to take up the first job he could find – at a call centre.
More than 20 years later, the young man who struggled as his family’s breadwinner is closing big-ticket property deals in global cities.
The Indian national worked in property sales in the UAE for nine years before moving to Doha, Qatar, two years ago. Heading the Doha branch of a real estate agency, Mr Ahmed now handles property sales in Dubai, the UK, Qatar and India.
“You don't need any experience to be a real estate agent. You just have to be passionate about real estate,” says Mr Ahmed, who comes from Chennai, the capital city of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
"Your knowledge is wealth and your network is your net worth. Real estate will help you achieve your goals in a very short timeframe, but be prepared to work hard and be ready to make personal sacrifices.”
He lives in a two-bedroom apartment on Pearl Island in Doha with his wife and eight-year-old son.
Although Mr Ahmed completed his high school education, he couldn’t finish a bachelor’s degree in commerce because of financial problems at home. He has two diplomas, in aviation and hospitality and hotel management, from UK-based Edexcel.
What was your first job and salary?
My first job was as a call centre agent for Vodafone in India for a monthly salary of 4,000 Indian rupees ($45) in 2003-2004. I was 17 years old.
In the UAE, my first job was as a relationship manager for Damac Properties in 2016 on a basic salary of Dh8,000 ($2,178) plus commissions.
Developers pay salaries to real estate agents, but the commissions are low. However, I sold a lot of properties and earned between Dh20,000 and Dh30,000 in commissions per month. But you must be a go-getter and it’s survival of the fittest in this industry. My experience in selling property in India helped me during the initial stages of my career in Dubai. I then moved to Sobha Realty as a senior sales manager on a salary of Dh15,000 plus commissions.
However, during Covid in 2020, real estate sales were hard, so I decided to become a freelance broker to sell properties from all developers. Then I joined Banke International Properties as a team leader on a monthly salary of Dh10,000. Because the market was undergoing change, I was okay with the salary downgrade and was confident I could make more in commissions. I was then promoted to sales manager (Dh15,000 salary), senior sales manager (Dh18,000 to Dh20,000 salary) and sales director where I was paid a salary of Dh30,000 and managed a team of 50 to 60 people. I earned between Dh70,000 and Dh100,000 a month, including commissions.
Tell us about your current role. What is your salary now?
I moved to Qatar on promotion as the country head and associate director of sales with the same company, since I am familiar with customers after doing road shows here. I handle leasing, off-plan and secondary sales from the UK, Dubai, Qatar and India, and earn 50,000 Qatari riyals ($13,736 or Dh50,446) as a monthly salary. I also earn 50,000 riyals worth of commissions on average per month.
Do you have considerable savings?
I started saving significantly in the last five to six years and have a good amount of savings now in my bank or in different asset classes.
What asset classes do you invest in?
I only believe in two asset classes. One is real estate, this could be buying land, an apartment or villa. The second asset is gold.
Have you purchased property?
I bought a townhouse for Dh2.2 million in Emaar’s The Valley project in Dubai 2.5 years ago. I also own a second property in Goa. It was my wife's dream to buy a beach-facing property in Goa because we plan to retire there.
I also plan to invest in short-term rental property in Tbilisi, Georgia. I believe investing in property in Tbilisi will fetch you up to 16 per cent returns in two to three years.
Do you have any debt?
I used to have a lot of debt. I moved to Dubai with a lot of debts to repay, including what my family owed. I cleared debt worth about seven million Indian rupees (about Dh290,000 at current rates) within six years. I have no liabilities today. I have a credit card, which I use to access airport lounges because I travel often.
Have you ever inherited a sum of money?
No. I come from a lower middle-class family. My father used to sell leather slippers. He died of a heart attack, which, I presume, was due to financial stress. He left us with a lot of debt. It was my responsibility to clear it off.
What are your major monthly expenses?
My house rent in Qatar and payments for my properties.
How do you budget your expenses every month?
I don't make calculations on an Excel sheet. My monthly expenses come up to about 25,000 riyals, the rest goes towards savings or paying for my investments. We have a very good lifestyle and don’t try to control our expenses. I pay 12,000 riyals as rent for my beach-facing property and 14,000 riyals goes towards school fees, groceries, shopping and family entertainment in Doha. After paying for all these expenses, if there is money left, we go buy gold in the form of jewellery or biscuits. We try to buy gold every month.
Do you have an emergency fund?
Of course. It can sustain my family and I for a year.
What do you spend your disposable income on?
Holidays. That is something we cannot do without. We travel at least two times a year. We recently visited Masai Mara in Kenya, it was a dream destination.
Do you worry about money?
Not as such, because I'm mostly a positive person. I see opportunities and positive things in everything. I try to avoid negative energy. Rather than dwelling on a bad situation, I try think of a good outcome. For instance, my friends and I try to save money and send it to feed families in Gaza. You only need $400 or $500 to adopt a family.
What are your financial goals?
My long-term goal is to attain financial freedom. I've been working non-stop for 21 years. When I am 55 or 60 years, I want to take a pause and relax. I want to have invested in such a way that money is coming from different sources.
In the short term, I want to save a specific amount for my son’s higher education. I will achieve it probably in less than a year.
Do you earn passive income? How did you build it?
My passive income will start coming in after six months. I started investing in property two and a half years ago. I will earn up to 30,000 rupees in short-term rent from my Goa property and up to Dh10,000 from my Dubai property rent.
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