MASTERKEY BLOG

We hosted the first Advanced Training & Exam last week at our U-bora offices in Business Bay. Congratulations to the first group of users who passed the Advanced Certification! Name Company Date Elce Jimenez Key One Real Estate 20th February 2013 Claire Paula Asa St. Clair Real Estate 20th February 2013 Vineeth Sooryadevan Loyal Realty Brokers 20th February 2013 Janice P. Cera PRD Nationwide 20th February 2013 Today over 350 users have already received Masterkey Fundamental certificationand we’ve even seen it show up in CVs and job advertisements. If you’re not certified yet, get in touch with us and learn how you can also upgrade your skills

.postcontainer { font-size: 13px; line-height: 10px; } EASY PUBLISHING TO PORTALS How to ensure listings are flowing properly into portals and stay on top of the search? Sign up now >> Do you often have to check if a listing is being advertised on dubizzle, propertyfinder.ae or any of the other web portals? Then join us for this short webinar where we'll be sharing helpful tips about using Masterkey to market your listings.   Global Times London, U.K. Monday - March 4, 2013 06:30 GMT Online Doha, Qatar Monday - March 4, 2013 09:30 AST Online Dubai, U.A.E. Monday - March 4, 2013 10:30 GST Online Sydney, Autralia Monday - March 4, 2013 17:30 EST Online

We've published seven new articles this month, bringing the total number of help articles up to 73! The topics range from useful guides about 'how to generate an invoice' to very helpful tips about 'closing activities in bulk' and 'unmerging units'. How to: Edit a Receipt » How to: Cancel a Receipt » How to: Generate an Invoice » How to: Enable multiple Countries » How to: Assign specific location access to Agents » How to: Close Activities in Bulk » How to: Unmerge Units »

This month we had eight companies join the Masterkey Community. Welcome to Al-Enwan, Q Homes, Options Real Estate Brokers, Brokers XP, Sultan Holding, St. Clair Real Estates, Nova Homes Real Estate, and Property Universe! Al-Enwan Brokerage Saudi Arabia Q Homes Property Management / Brokerage Qatar Options Real Estate Brokers Brokerage United Arab Emirates Brokers XP Brokerage Lebanon Sultan Holding Developer United Arab Emirates St. Clair Real Estates Brokerage United Arab Emirates Nova Homes Real Estate Brokerage United Arab Emirates

We’d like to thank Apple for waiting to launch the new iPhone 5 until the weather in Dubai cooled down enough to host the next Connect Event. Rumour has it that Apple has noticed an increase in product awareness following the Connect Events as all events thus far have featured grand prizes from Apple. Connect Events are popular events for all real estate professionals. If you want a chance to win the new iPhone 5, join us at this super-charged social networking event on October 22. RSVP on our facebook event page »

We need more hands to keep up with the fast growing number of customers using Masterkey!   Masterkey is on a mission to redefine how software can serve the real estate industry worldwide. We are an eight-year running Dubai based organization that creates Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) products for brokers, developers and property managers. As the leading company in our industry, we're still growing rapidly and looking for new colleagues who share our passion for real estate and software. As part of a small team, your work will have a positive impact on thousands of real estate professionals who rely on Masterkey for their day to day operations and listings information.   We're on the lookout for a Senior Consultant who can present Masterkey to Directors, General Managers and IT Staff. This person will manage client relations with many existing accounts, collect information about industry trends, and communicate with prospective clients. You can learn more about this position on Careers / Senior Consultant   We're also on the search for an expert Front-End Developer. You'll get to partner with our research and development teams to create new interfaces that bring clarity to our user base. Learn more about the position on Careers / Front-End Developer

By Gokhan Polat, Community Manager I recently read an article on The National about how Real Estate Regulatory Agency (RERA) is planning to fine individual agents who are passing on confidential information or handling transactions without the approval of their company. According to Sultan Al Suwaidi (RERA), the breaches range from ‘cooperating with unlicensed brokers’, ‘failing to keep brokerage and client information private’ and to ‘closing contracts without the brokerage’s knowledge’. I can definitely see how these breaches are problematic for brokerages, but I’m still stuck with a question is my mind: Why do we have these issues in the first place? I thought I’d ask Daniel who has been working in the Dubai real estate sector for more than 9 years. “There are a number of reasons for why an agent would feel compelled to do a deal outside the brokerage. Some agents feel that if their brokerage was not involved in the deal, why should they share the commission? The agent’s argument is often based on the fact that you can meet potential buyers/sellers who haven’t had any interaction with your head office, especially if it’s a close friend or a relative the agent has known for many years prior to joining the brokerage. Another factor is that many agents in their home country would have been able to do the transaction as a freelancer without the brokerage. In the UAE it’s near impossible to legally operate as a freelancer so many resort doing these deals well-knowing that it’s outside the rules.” - Daniel Hart, CEO @ Masterkey So would the threat of fines force agents to comply with the rules? It’s an attempt to solve the problem, but a very tough one to implement. The main issue is that non-registered freelancers are allowed to get away and close deals. Before RERA can start giving out penalties to individual agents, it needs to have all property listings registered with Simsari and make sure that only the agents who have been registered can sell the property. This assures that RERA know who’s allowed to do the transaction. In order for that to work, every advertising portal needs to have a Simsari number for each listing in the system and ensure that the Simsari number is verified. This will be difficult to enforce, because it requires getting the brokerages and advertising portals to collaborate with RERA much closer than they are today. RERA could start giving out penalties based on accusations of outside brokerage deals, however this will not stop these deals from happening and may even force agents to use more illicit methods. source: www.thenational.ae/business/property/brokers-to-take-heat-for-rules-breaches

This month we had six companies join the Masterkey Community. Help us welcome Propsquare Real Estate, PRD Nationwide Property Services, Mi Casa Real Estate, Dynamic Real Estate, Riveria Global Real Estate and GC Homes! Propsquare Real Estate Brokerage United Arab Emirates PRD Nationwide Property Services Brokerage United Arab Emirates Mi Casa Real Estate Brokerage United Arab Emirates Dynamic Real Estate Brokerage United Arab Emirates Riveria Global Real Estate Brokerage United Arab Emirates GC Homes Brokerage United Arab Emirates

We are having some problems with our phone lines so for a limited time we've set up live chat support on our website. You can now chat with us directly from the gomasterkey.com website. Look for the green button on the left with the text 'live support' written on it. Click on this button to open the chat window. The pop-up will give you two options for how you can interact with us. You can either send us an email or click 'Chat with us' to enter the chat conversation. Now just wait for our support team respond to your question.

Simsari.ae has finally been officially announced, appearing today on the Emirates 24|7 website. [More]