Knock knock, Who’s there?, Opportunity, Can’t be Opportunity doesn’t knock twice All the great achievers have made lemonade when life throws lemons at them. Times of adversity are times of opportunity for the wise. As they say, “The winds and the waves are always on the side of the ablest of navigators.” What’s at hand? Fortunes being made daily in Pakistan. Those who are not accustomed to winning are accustomed to whining. They complain about the ways how other people are capitalising on opportunity and making money while they sit on their sofas sulking. The willingness to win opens your mind and your eyes to opportunities others can’t see. You can either be the winner or join the people who always have a reason to complain or a reason why they failed. I will not write about certain friends of mine who were glued to their computer screens actively working 22 hours daily on their trading platforms making the most of the currency fluctuations. I could tell he made a lot of money when my trader called me at 11 pm, asking if he bought a Ferrari in Dubai, could he keep it under my name? I’ve been a resident of Dubai for many years. I’m really blessed as I’m associated with the respected company that was awarded the Forbes Middle East Best Real Estate Company in Arab World in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Everyone faces some fear in their decisions, courage doesn’t mean that you don’t feel fear. Courage means that you suck your gut in, raise your chin and move ahead. That’s what rewards. The ability to take risks. Calculated risks. In the last year or so, all I heard from the general public was how difficult the economic situation was in Dubai. On the contrary, all my mature and refined investors were coming every month to invest in something new. It was maybe the most important part of my learning in my 10 years of real estate business. Upon inquiring their reasons while everyone was crying wolf, these gentlemen were on a shopping spree. They told me that if you study the real successful real estate investors they never follow the crowd. They actually go opposite the tide. When the market is flourishing, and prices are going up, and the whole world is attracted to buying, the winner is selling his investments at that time. When the general public is in a negative sentiment and in panic, the real winner is buying and picking up the best deals. It was that epiphany that opened my eyes and made me wise towards real estate investments. My advice to my Pakistani brothers living outside Pakistan: it is a good time to buy I have been in project management and worked on more than six projects in Pakistan, which are successfully completed and delivered. I have also completed three mid-rise residential and mix-use projects in Dubai, with two four-star hotels under construction. Pakistan is the most lucrative investment opportunity for expats right now. I don’t want to sound insensitive, but every dark cloud has a silver lining. The exchange rates for expats in Dubai, the UK and the USA have made this into an opportunity we have never seen before in our lives. Coupled with the amnesty scheme it’s as if this glitter is all gold. I’ve been speaking to multiple people trying to get clarity on the amnesty; I just saw the video by Special Adviser to Prime Minister Zulfiqar Bukhari in which he says that we don’t have to declare any assets that we have earned abroad, and if we live more than 180 days outside Pakistan. We only have to declare the businesses and assets that we hold in Pakistan. The discussion is regarding the opportunity. The money expats have outside Pakistan have much more purchase power in the real estate sector in Pakistan than it used to a year ago; from last year July, dollar from Rs 121 is at Rs 163 now (on today’s date when I’m writing this). The standing negative sentiment has corrected the Pakistan real estate market prices 20 to 30 percent; plus, you get about 30 percent value gain on your dollar/dirham in a year. The expat Pakistani can practically buy the same asset now at 50 percent lesser than what it would have cost him before the 2018 elections. “Those who can see the invisible can achieve the impossible” are the people who will be able to see through this dust cloud, and who will make the right moves and buy real estate assets in Pakistan. I cannot see anything in this region or in the modern world that can multiply your money they way your investment in good assets in Pakistan can right now. Study the history of Pakistan’s real estate; every time, there was a correction in dollar prices, real estate prices adjusted upwards a few months thereafter. This has been going on for over 50 years, and I can predict the real estate prices going up within a few months after the storm settles. My advice to my Pakistani brothers living outside Pakistan: it is a good time to buy. Find reliable real estate developers and good clean assets without any legal issues, and buy, buy and buy! In my WhatsApp group with my Aitchisonian classmates, I kept insisting that they should have an investment in Dubai. This was about a few months before the elections. The smart ones did; generally, there are only a few who heed good advice at the right time. Now the rest concur to what I suggested. I’m not a genie or a fortune-teller. I just have my eyes on the ball. I wish my readers all the happiness, health, wealth, and prosperity in the world. Buy now. ‘Just Do It’. It is time to act. The writer is a freelance columnist