From working with Emirates cabin crew to owning her own real estate firm, House Hunters’ Managing Director Debbie Cope knows how to defy expectations. And that includes beating breast cancer.
Debbie Cope , Managing director at HOUSE HUNTERS REAL ESTATE
They say the US is the land of opportunity, but it has some stiff competition in the UAE where anyone with burning ambition and a clear vision can make it to the top.
Just ask Debbie Cope, the energetic Irish Managing Director of thriving property firm House Hunters. She came to Dubai twenty-six years ago to join Emirates Airline as part of its cabin crew after living in Jordan and being generally in love with the Middle East.
It was a time which Cope says she is immensely grateful for – despite it not being an obvious training ground for the cut-throat world of real estate.
My time at Emirates gave me a great foundation in cultural understanding and the patience to interact successfully with people from all walks of life.
It also led to her establishing a family as she met her husband there, a captain, and they went on to have two children together. “He already had two children, so I was very busy from the get go,” said Cope.
Fast forward to 2002, and she was ready for a change of environment and a new challenge, so joined The Real Estate Specialists as a rental agent, before moving to Milford Real Estate. She admits the whole period was a sink or swim introduction to the industry.
“It was the crazy time when the Freehold Law was announced, and we were taking a hundred calls a day for people interested in purchasing property,” she recalled. “I remember working in sales on the Palm Jumeirah; a building would be launched at nine in the morning, investors bought whole floors, and by six in the evening the price would have gone up by twenty per cent, with an apartment often changing hands multiple times.
There would often be three or four parties at transfer waiting for their share. I literally learned on the fly, by trial and error – but was always able to conclude successfully.
She says it was this craziness that made her realise there was an opening in the market for a down-to- earth, honest, and trustworthy agency that people could rely on. “I knew that the procedures were full of pitfalls and clients just wanted someone they could trust to lead them through the sales process,” she said.
However, life has a way of throwing massive curve balls, and it was at this point Cope was diagnosed with breast cancer. Within a week, she was in London undergoing a nine-hour surgery.
Incredibly, she didn’t turn off her phone and even took a call the next day from a desperate client saying they desperately needed to find a house in the Ranches.
“I knew the exact property for her and within twenty-four hours she had signed an MOU,” said Cope. “It was at this point I thought if I get through this situation I will pursue my own business, and nothing is going to stop me.”
Thankfully, get through it she did and within two months, in 2004, she had set up House Hunters Real Estate. She says the ethos from the start was to work with integrity and be transparent in all transactions while building a brand that was synonymous with trust and reliability.
I thought if I get through this situation I will pursue my own business, and nothing is going to stop me.
“I worked from my garage in Al Sufouh and within weeks I had sold more than twenty villas in Saheel to friends and colleagues – and so the relationship began with Arabian Ranches,” she said. “But it wasn’t until I put down the first Dh5,000 deposit on my office in Al Barsha that it felt real.”
Cope gradually expanded the company, weathering the 2008 crash, and built the firm into a well-known and trusted name in the UAE market. She admits that challenges in the industry never stop and that her key to success has been adaptability and a willingness to stay involved in all levels of the business.
I am not sure you can ever have a typical week when you are in real estate as just when you think you are getting a handle on everything, a new procedure is introduced, and it upsets the apple cart,” she said.
“The books all say don’t micro-manage. However, you have got to be involved in every aspect of the business to stay ahead. Every day there is a mini crisis to deal with and you must drop everything and focus on that task at hand.
“I also do all my own PRO work, so I have to deal with a lot of government departments and a new joiner can see me in several of these on a weekly basis. My general manager Adrian and I work very closely together and it’s great to have someone who you are so in tune with to bounce ideas off and have two heads to tackle a problem. It’s all go, it never stops, and I am always at the end of the phone for anyone who needs me.”
Cope says there has been a challenging start to 2018 with buyers reluctant to step forward but adds that January and February are often a bit flat and that it can take a few weeks until agents feel that kickstart needed to get things going.
Does she have any predictions?
I think ready properties sales will take over this year from off-plan which is great for us as we are primarily a specialist in secondary sales.
she said. “There is a lot of supply coming this year and this leaves buyers with greater options, so sellers need to be realistic to get their properties sold.
“I also see the discerning buyer emerging, they are looking for upgrades, location and something different from the average. Owners can no longer simply expect a sale and a price based on square footage, the buyer is well informed and is out there on the hunt for a well maintained, nicely presented property – and they have plenty of choice.”
It is clear she relishes the ups and downs of working in her field – even the slightly odder scenarios. “I have experienced and seen so much over the years which makes me ready for any eventuality,” she said.
“I remember one tenant calling to say they won’t be coming back to Dubai but if we could just get a candelabra that their aunt gave them as a wedding present from the dining room table – but we could ignore the Range Rover and Mercedes in the garage – along with the full contents of the three-bedroom villa. From rescuing kittens, hamsters, dogs, cats, birds in abandoned rental properties, to using an umbrella in a sitting room where the tank had burst in the roof – there is rarely a dull moment.”
So, who does this inspiring business chief admire, bearing in mind it is International Women’s month?
“There are so many wonderful women that I admire,” said Cope. “From Mary Robinson, the first female president of Ireland who was appointed in 2016 as special envoy to the Secretary General and tasked to assist people affected by El Nino, to Angelina Jolie who has promoted several causes from conservation and education to women’s rights.
“Then of course Malala Yousafzai who was shot by the Taliban when she was fourteen and who has become an avid women’s rights campaigner, as well the youngest ever person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
I loved it when Yousafzai said nothing changed in her life except that weakness, fear, and hopelessness died, and strength, power and courage were born. We can all learn from her.
