FOUNDER #15. £20M Luxury Property Agent’s Success Story in Dubai - Gino Cross

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1:17No spam calls, no hidden fees. Drivers who save with Jerry could save over$1 ,300 a year. Switch with confidence. Download the Jerry app or visit jerry.ai slash ACAST today. He's 25, he's made 2 million good this year. Net in his pocket. Three different sort of types of people in Dubai. Gonna struggle, but you know, you've got a bit of sun and whatever. You've got the types that are gonna make a decent living, but they've had this amazing life.

1:42Gino Cross: They've been to the beach clubs and probably got a watch and whatever. But then you've got the ones that changed their lives. He'll get it, we all want to do well. Here in England, it doesn't feel that way. It hasn't felt like that way for the last three or four years, especially now where we're at. I couldn't live here again. You need something, I need something. Yes, I'll help. Whereas I feel like London, you don't necessarily need to help. Or in the UK in general. What one am I gonna get? there's one of these 30. You're going to have to send 100 sterling to this account. I'm going to put you in a queue.

2:02There's no guarantee you're going to get the unit. And then when I do get the unit, I'm going to give you 10 minutes. You got this one and this one. Dodge, make a decision. So when you tell a Brit that, they go, yeah, right. And I said, no, no. That is how it's going to work, right? So if you're comfortable in working like that, if you're not, there's other ways to do it. But if you are comfortable in working like that, that's how we're going to have to do this.

2:21How did you end up becoming one of the biggest real estate entrepreneurs in Dubai? Fake interview. Thank you. um, graft, mate, just graft vision and belief. Do you know what I mean? It's, uh, I came over here 2018, did not want to be in real estate at all.

2:39Gino Cross: No, yeah, it didn't at all. I didn't, I was in finance for 10 years in London and then in tech, I worked for a tech startup. They raised loads of money and then the company totally flopped, got made redundant. My best mate was living out here on like the 40th floor. He'd see the clouds when he woke up in the morning. He had every pair of of booting trainers and I thought he'd made it in life. And he used to ring me like, get yourself over here, get yourself over here. So he used to come over on holiday and he was in finance. It's a similar sort of style role to real estate, commission only, whatever.

3:06Eventually me and my wife, my now wife, my girlfriend at the time made the move to come over and lived in a, I've told this story before, lived in a room, lived in an apartment, a three bed apartment with like seven of her mates. Can you imagine? You and seven bed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It sounds great. Yeah, but it was a nightmare. Honestly, it was great fun, but it was a nightmare. But they'd all been in real estate. so I was toying with I couldn't get a job for love nor money and I was toying with the idea of going and being a broker and they were all like don't do it you won't make any money and I was thinking well there's a few people out here making a few quids so why not if they can do it someone can do it and that was it that's how it started so I ended up working for a developer going into a brokerage buying a brokerage selling it and then and yeah okay and how would you how would you explain a brokerage for someone out there like an estate agency but totally different you know the only same thing is that they sell houses estate agency back home is, I think over here at a brokerage, it's like the Wolf of Wall Street.

3:58It's like that dynamic, you come into my office, there's 100 people dressed in the best suits, nice ties, watches, on the phones. It's got that sort of buzz about it. And what you're saying, brokering deals. You've got two sort of styles. You've got the estate agency style. You want to buy a home, I'll take you and your wife out and show you different homes. And then you've got the brokering, the working with investors, the in and out of deals, deal making. And how competitive is it out here since you've started in 2018? It's grown massively, yes. It's so competitive. I think the barrier to entry is so low because it's a commission only role.

4:32There's firms out there that will just take anyone and then there's some firms that are really, really high. So I think there's 60 ,000, 70 ,000 brokers with a population of 4 million, yeah. So yeah, it is. It's huge. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, and how does it work then? Are you saying, right, okay, I'm not going to take, I'm just going to get a cut. If I sell that, I get my cut and then that's more. It's exactly right. So you charge a fee. so either they get paid a fee give me an example give me an example of the most expensive property you've sold me personally or one in the team in the team there's been deals done let's say 50 million dirham you get which is what 50 million 10 million quid roughly give or take you charge you'll be charged 4 % okay yeah yeah yeah in England it's 1 % yeah yeah yeah 4 % and then the broker depending on the firm will get anything from 50 up to can be 70 % of that fee in one hit so it's proper money yeah you're getting four percent of 10 mil yeah and then that broker might be getting 50 or 60 or 70 of that of that fee oh yeah yeah yeah yeah so i'd imagine it's quite cutthroat then massively cutthroat well it's two ways you've cutthroat from businesses that they'll cut you if you're not billing but also cutthroat that people run out of money you know and and the demographic that's coming over is like a a lot of the time it's like a 20, 21, 22-year-old kid coming over, they're told, save 10 ,000 quid up, get here.

5:54The minute they get off the plane, you're ticking time bomb. They've never lived on their own. They've got no money management. They don't understand money. And you've been here a couple of days, right? There's everything to do here. You know what I mean? Everything's shiny. Everything's like, oh, my God. So you've got beach clubs. You go out of a beach club, you're going to spend a grand minimum. So if you're 22 and you've got 10 grand, your money's gone, right? So it's beating the time. And the only way to become successful is having time in the market. So it's a double-edged sword, really. It's like Disneyland for adults.

6:22Yeah, it really is. So if you're 25, thinking about coming to Dubai, would you go, I want to go become a broker? Is that the right thing to do? Or would you say, go and build a community, go and build people around you first, try bits and pieces, or you come out with fully focused, let's get involved? I think there's no, for me, there's no right or wrong. I sort of fell into it, and I fell into a very unusual sort of way of becoming successful in my room. a lot of the times you're going to go to a really big firm. They've got phenomenal training and you're going to go through the ranks. You're going to start off in leasing, which is rentals.

6:56And then, you know, which is a lot less money, a lot faster paced. You'll do deals quite quickly and quite easy. And then you build confidence and then away you go. You're going to sales. Some people jump straight in, go balls deep, probably a little bit older, a bit more experienced. I've got a bit of money behind me. I'm not silly. I'm going to structure myself. They're the ones that, but I mean, it can take three, four, five months to get paid. in your first cut. So you've got to be able to last and I was fucking awful with money as well. So yeah, so I went to Kinnah after about two months.

7:26So yeah, so, but yeah, so I would say and answer your question, it depends. I believe, I'm a big believer in visualization, right? And everything I do, good and bad, is visualized. And I could see myself when I had no money and whatever, driving nice cars. I felt it, you know, I felt the feeling of what it would feel like and I believed every day. and I think there's a lot of people that think it's going to be easy. Like anything, right? You've got businesses. It's not easy. You make it look really easy. No, it's not. So if you're coming here to say, I will do whatever. I work seven days a week.

7:57I will keep going. You'll be fine. I had two leaving dues. I said to my wife, there's no way I'm going home. I'll sleep on the floor. I don't care. I'm not going home. You're not missing anything back home? No, yeah, I know. So tell me the trajectory of like 2018 coming over. Tell me your journey. Was it really tough in 18, 19, 20? Was there a turning point where you broke the back of it? Because if you don't, wasn't it like 21, the prices were excellent.

8:20Gino Cross: They've doubled today. Was it 2021? Yeah, yeah, some more, some two, three times. Yeah, yeah. So 2018, the market was sort of on a downward trajectory coming in, very negative. Why? I think there'd been a crash 2014, a drop, and it was sort of dropping and dropping and dropping every year. People were leaving. Everyone was just saying that it's not the place to be. you know, Dubai's never going to get back, it's never going to come back, it's all a fad. And when you're here, you realise actually, it's unbelievable, it's amazing. And do you know what I mean? You can't really fault it. So 2018, I was sort of getting to grips with what I was doing.

8:59I came here in March, I think I did my first deal in December. In 2018? 2018, okay. Yeah, 2019, I was really fortunate, I was telling you earlier, I met a very special client who was very wealthy and taught me a lot. how wealthy a billionaire very very wealthy yeah yeah yeah and he's actually part of his family very wealthy they run huge businesses loads of businesses I'd never really been exposed to that and watching them how they negotiate watching how they use money I was I was baffled I'd never seen watches they turn up in Rolls Royces Bentleys and RMs and I was like oh my god that's a million dollars in your wrist you know but watching how they used money it taught me so much and then they started to refer me people and so I started to build my base and sort of started to get out of break even uh then COVID hit and I had a bank of clients so I managed through COVID and then when the prices started to pick up you start to inherit new clients you've been I've been around a few years then and I uh I was a broker I then ended up taking ownership of 50 % of the firm I worked for did you yeah what back early doors early doors It wasn't a different company.

10:09I worked for a big investor. Again, he taught me a lot. And it was just sort of me and him. There was a few people in and out, but it wasn't run very well. I got offered a different role and resigned. And he said, look, instead of resigning and going and working for this other bloke, you don't know. You know me. I don't really want to build a firm. You seem to want to do it. So I'll back it. You take 50 % of the company and away you go. And we built a 50-man business, got into the top 10 companies within the developers. We were sort of going different ways. he wanted to go down a development route was he British?

10:38no he was from Pakistan

10:39Gino Cross: yeah yeah yeah he was wealthy very wealthy but he'd been here since 2003 totally different outlook on life again very investor driven he used to rent his house and he had a huge amount of money in the market buying and selling and I was like mate what are you doing? do you know what I mean British people are like buy a house and he's like no no I'll pay rent why would you pay rent? because it's cost me this much and this is what I'm using to make money so it was different mentality I learned so much and I just absorbed I used to ring my dad and he said to me, son, just absorb everything. This man obviously is going to teach you absorb, absorb, learn how to do deals, learn, built a huge network.

11:12Ended up coming to an agreement where we'd owned a few properties and I said to him, look, I'm going to exit. We sold, I sold my share back to him. Did a deal. I thought I'd absolutely made it in life. I told, come home, my wife's like, I'm going to retire. I'm a mate. I'm going to play golf every day. She was like, no, you're fucking not. Get back and do something else. So I'd done that, made a little bit of dough and then, And then Che and Gary, my now business partners, Strada, just set up Strada. I had a conversation. Who was the guy you mentioned? Che and Gary. So they're my two business partners.

11:41We're on Strada together. Where are they from? Gary's from Liverpool and Che's from Essex. Okay. So Che, my first ever room that I was renting, Che took over the room. So they set it up. He came for a barbecue at mine. We was talking and he said, what are you doing? And I'm a bit like, I don't really know. What are you doing? He said, we've set this up. And it was all a bit like, okay. Had a few beers. and then after ended up sitting down and came up with this idea that I'd buy in and it was like three or four months in and it was like six people in the business it was just an idea I had all these big dreams and whatever and that was 20 what are we now 2025 432 2021 2022 so you're three way partners

12:24Gino Cross: are you? three way partners yeah all get on well? really well and totally different normally that's a that's a it's a disaster if you've got three is hard work You're so right. And we're three totally different people. So I head up all the sales. Anything to do with generating money normally comes to me. Che is operations, finance. He's the sort of glue that holds it all together. And then Gary's very creative, the marketing, the branding. So we all kind of stay in our lanes. And I always say that, we make like the ultimate CEO because there's things that I can't, I'm really bad at. And then you go, well, no, they can and vice versa.

12:54So we, and we've got a voting rule. So what we do really well, sometimes I get voted out, I get the other part. but we vote and then go right we make the decision move on

13:03Gino Cross: yeah and it's never like when it's two on one against you and you get the arm how do you personally deal with that because you've got your strong character right I am but I also trust them 100 % and I trust that I know I'm not always right and the one thing I've found that would have been very lucky and fortunate is I don't mind making mistakes I'm quite eager to make a mistake because I make a mistake I learn from it and then I'm dynamic enough to change so we've done things where I don't know made decisions with the business that weren't maybe the right thing to do we never point and blame ever it's like okay we made a mistake how do we recover from this this my mistake their mistake whatever but we never blame and it's always it's never a negative okay it's a positive we found that out now let's change and let's go again so that's sort of how we deal with it and it works well for us yeah okay I want to go back to the billionaire who you met we can't lose that yeah yeah how did you meet that billionaire in a coffee shop near where he lived and he had an RM on he had a Richard Mill on and I remember thinking looking at his watch going oh mate that's a lovely watch that lovely isn't it?

14:09Gino Cross: it's nice yeah yeah yeah where did you get it from? and he said do you like it? I took it off and I was like oh my god no no I don't want to touch this watch and that was it we started talking had a chat and that was that lovely and where was he from? Bangladesh Bangladesh and how did he earn his billions? garments okay yeah yeah yeah Yeah. Yeah. Unreal, isn't it? Mad. So we were just chatting before. It's like, where would you actually go and do that in England or London? You just wouldn't have... You would. I was in London last week and I was supposed to meet up with a couple of people and it's so difficult.

14:41Gino Cross: And it's just, you know, I find it really, really difficult. I'm thinking, well, there's opportunities here. Why do you think that is? How would you explain the difference between you doing business in England versus doing business out here in Dubai? I think here, because you're on your own, you might be with your wife or kids or whatever, but because most people aren't born here, you sort of go create your own network and your own circles and everyone's in the same boat everyone's here to make money you know if you don't make money you're not going to run you're going to have to go home right so you've got to be that way inclined and everyone's in the same way inclined so then you need something I need something oh yes we are I'll help you whereas I feel like London you don't necessarily need to help or in the UK in general right some people do but you don't need to stay afloat yeah what about the attitude I've noticed the attitude that everyone is just so open and willing yeah and giving and understanding and people just get it.

15:30People get it. We all want to do well. In England, it doesn't feel that way. It hasn't felt like that way for the last three or four years, especially now where we're at. When you go back to England, do you sense it straight away? From the man standing on the desk and he felt it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Land in the airport. I thought, drop me out, send me home. Which is really sad because I love going home. It was cold. It was Christmassy last week and I thought, it's lovely to be back. It's really nice. And there's certain lovely things about it. But then I couldn't live there again. When you set up your business, what sort of investment did you have to put in to get three ways with your two mates?

16:05A very small amount. Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah, very, very small amount. It was, yeah, virtually nothing.

16:13Gino Cross: Yeah, okay. What did they see in you? I think, so I brought a different dynamic to the business. So they were very, very, very good brokers. They'd been trained by a couple of big companies and they were very, very good estate agents, right? that worked in an area. Gary had built a very strong personal brand and he'd done all his business through Instagram. He's one of the first people to do it. Yeah, yeah. Out here? Out here. Has he been out here longer than you? We've all been here the same time. 2018? Yeah, weirdly enough. Yeah, completely coincidental. He came here, he saw a gap to say what actually come away from the equivalent of right moving or whatever and just use social media and never thought he was mad.

16:46Just use personal brand? Purely personal brand. He picked one area. Okay, lovely. Became the dominant figure in that area. Really? And he used to put, he used to jump into him. I remember watching this thinking what's this guy doing yeah yeah yeah Gary Allen Gary Allen yeah yeah yeah so he used to do that and I like the sound of this guy yeah yeah yeah he's nuts and I used to watch them thinking deals deals what the fuck are they doing how are they doing this I was very very very camera shy so I don't remember about what they saw in me and what I saw in them they were very strong in the estate agency I'd been with this Pakistani guy so I'd learnt how to buy to sell to flip and how to use money.

17:25So I was coming in this sort of investment side of things and they were going, I did a couple of deals when I first came into the business and they were like, what are you doing? This isn't how it's done. And I'm like, well, it's not the way you were taught, but I don't even know how to do what you're doing. So we brought a whole different skill set to each other. And yeah, like I said, we just complement each other really well. Are you good at selling? Yeah. On a figure scale of one to 10, how good are you? 10. You'd be back yourself. Yeah, yeah. what's your style of selling because there's plenty of different styles out there is your style are you a closer do you know how close there's a lot of people who can sell but can't execute on the close would you say your closing is one of your strengths yeah very good yeah yeah yeah and I like to what you were saying earlier about reading I don't read that much but I listen to a lot of audible books so what I do I recommend a lot of books and then start listening to them and understand them so I did a lot of listening and learning with psychology so I grew up I left school and I've done sort of door to door sales selling windows I've done tele sales account management.

18:23If anyone who's done that always becomes a success. Well, if you can sell and you can market as an entrepreneur, if you can't sell and you can't promote, you're not going to be a good entrepreneur. You can have the best product or service in the world. If you can promote and sell, you're away. Exactly. And if you're comfortable doing it more. You're getting knocked back, knocked back. I was going around Luton, right? I'm like, that's to me, go and find a character. What? Just character building, go do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What are you doing? I'm 17. Yeah. Commission only. and I made a few quid at it.

18:51I put a really good team. So what I learned in that industry was like a plumber learns to be a plumber. I learned an actual skill set. It wasn't just coming out of school, please let me, generally I studied psychology so I understood how to lead a conversation, how to take control, how to close, how to close the right types of people, if you're analytical, if you're more dominant and I recognised that quickly. You've got good emotional intelligence. Yeah, yeah. I've come from a little studying and now we've got, we've got I don't know 100 brokers whatever and I train all of them and the whole thing is you have to understand who you're sitting with do you know what I mean you can close I'm very closeable right I'm an easy buyer but I was I was going out to look at buying a new car the other day and it was the right car it had bright orange seats and for the car it was I'm saying I like the seats but I don't think I'm going to be able to sell it and the bloke's going yeah I know but it's a one of one I'm going I understand that mate but the seats yeah I know but the wheels I know I'll buy it Yeah, you'll get me hot and I'll buy it, but tell me about the seats.

19:51And he's going, yeah, but you don't understand because it's got this exhaust. Oh, fuck it. I don't want it anymore. You're going to be the faber moffier. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm like, I'm the easy. Oh, you'd have got me. If you just told me I could change the seats, I'd have bought it from you. So, and I feel like most good salespeople are very easy to be sold to as well.

20:05Gino Cross: But I think, yeah, taking the time to learn it, study it, and understand it is really, really important. So tell me your journey then. Tell me your journey you've gone on. You've gone on from sales or knocking on doors. Tell me the journey you've gone on before 2018. Oh, so I had my first glimpse into sales. My dad worked for 118, 118. Remember there? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And he used to work in Wales. So we'd drive down to Wales and come back with us. And for school work experience, I missed all the things. So I got nothing. And he said to me, look, come with me. I'll stick you in the telesales team working there.

20:36So the concept of commission, I started to learn the concept of Valdon. You don't have to actually do any more work and you get paid more money if you just do more sales. Oh, it's a bit mean. I like that. From there, I'm like, Dad, I'm going to be a salesperson. And the MD of the company, who I still speak to now, I sat with him and I said to him, I actually take this advice. I know he had a red Ferrari. I'm saying to my dad, can you get me in with him? Can you get me in? And he said, no. I said, I need to speak to him. He said, he's sorted out this thing. I sat with this bloke and he said, my dad wanted him to say, go to university, study hard.

21:05He's this big Cockney fellow. He said, son, do you try having a beer? I said, do I like having a beer? About 14. Can I ask? Yeah. Do you like sports? Yeah, yeah, I like sports. Can you talk to people? Are you likeable? Yeah. He said, those three things are what's going to get you through life. I was like, cracked it. And my dad's like, it's not the three things. You're going to have to work hard and study. And I sort of, so I took that on and thought, it's very much my character, my personality. Left school, larger than life, thinking I was the man. Went into door knocking. Did that for a couple of years.

21:37Then went for a magazine, tele-sales. Then went into finance. But working as account management. then went into sort of more direct sales. Yeah. I just fell in love with speaking to people and learning constantly, even now, like learning how to deal with people. There's nothing quite like closing someone, is there? Do you know what I mean? Feeling them well.

21:55Gino Cross: That's the best. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, that was that. And then coming out in and out of Dubai. Did you go into the city? Did you work in the city? For about, probably for about 15 months. Okay. And what was that experience like for you? Chewed me up and spat me out. Yeah, yeah, it's tough. Yeah. What year is roughly that? 2016, 2017. And there's still been a lot of pub. Okay. It was first Thursday. I was in a WeWork office. So they had the beer pumps, cider pumps. So on a Thursday afternoon, we'd call a board meeting and I'd be sat at a ping pong table drinking a beer, honestly. And yeah, it was, yeah, do you know what?

22:30And I'm very much into fitness now, mindset. You know, I'm very, very, very structured. Back then, I didn't realise anything. So I was boozing a lot. I was getting a Marlboro Station every day and eating a McDonald's and a Burger King, sorry, and then getting on a train. So I put on loads of weight. I was waking up late. I was out till God knows what time in the morning doing all sorts of business. Do you know what I mean? So it was just carnage. So yeah, it was great fun. But I look back and think, I wasn't earning any dough.

22:55Gino Cross: Whatever I was earning, I was spending. And yeah, it's cool. Your life has completely changed by now being in Dubai. Yeah. And I can see in your eyes, you look healthy, you look fit, you look bang on the ball, you look sharp. You're ticking all these boxes. When was the point when you were in Dubai when you're going, right, I want to be this person? I think so moving through different circles when we were first out you meet lots of different people sadly there's a lot of people out here that look like they're wealthy they talk like they're wealthy and you scratch beneath the surface I imagine London's the same you think they're full of shit you're actually not right and I remember thinking you've got three different sort of types of people in Dubai you've got the types that are going to come here that are going to live you know an okay life get by you're going to struggle but you know you've got a bit of sun and whatever you've got the types that are going to make a decent living but they're probably going to go home one day They were the same as what they came out here with, but they've had this amazing life.

23:42They've been to the beach clubs and probably got a watch and whatever. And then you've got the ones that, yeah, which is what everyone means everything to out here. But then you've got the ones that changed their lives. You've got an opportunity. I always look at, you know, you get these people that will talk to you about the dot-com boom. And back then I was. Every idea starts with a problem. Warby Parker's was simple. Glasses are too expensive. So they set out to change that. By designing glasses in-house and selling directly to customers, they're able to offer prescription eyewear that's expertly crafted and unexpectedly affordable.

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24:56Paid for by the Coalition to Empower Our Future. driving this and now they're they're in a whatever right and then they had these heyday years but they didn't make any money that scares the shit out i look at i think that'll never be me i looked at this opportunity and thought i'm lucky enough to be here i'm lucky enough to be surrounded by the people i'm surrounded by i've had really really good influential people that have influenced me uh in a really really good way i have to take advantage of opportunity and and and not just about making a few quid because that's messed with me as well. But my dad always says to me, he's not getting it, he's keeping it.

25:32He's keeping it. My old man always says, always say for a rainy day, he always say for a rainy day, it's stuck with me for life. Yeah. Because of the pandemic, when things happen, if you ain't got money stashed, you're sort of into trouble. Yeah. And if you're not clever here, very easy, as I imagine you've seen over the last couple of days, to spend. You can spend. And it's lovely, but it feels like you're spending monopoly money. You don't, if I tell you$5 ,000, yeah, sweet, it's a thousand quid what a order I'm not doing that you know

25:58Gino Cross: so it's a totally different concept so how do you build your business how have you built your business you started with three leads your three partners how many staff did you have when you first come on board there's about five are they five full time staff yeah yeah five all on payroll no so there's five brokers and maybe two or three on payroll so the brokers just to break it down you'd go we've got the property you're the broker go and sell it no the broker comes on and has to find the property so normally they'll have an area They'll say, well, I like this. They say, I don't know, Marina. Yeah.

26:27I take on Marina. You get the database. You can call them. Sometimes, we were lucky enough, we had experienced people come to us. So they come in with a bank of clients. Okay.

26:36Gino Cross: So then they're saying, right, I've got - So they've got a bank of clients who have got money looking for property out here? Yes. Okay. Or that want to sell property out here. Okay. Either or, right? Why would the broker come to you? Because they believed in the brand and the vision. You've got to then pay like your property finder, your right move equivalent. So there's a lot of expenses that come with it. So there's no right move out here? It's like, no, no. It's property finder. It's equivalent. Yeah. So the brokerage will say, we'll sort all that for you. We'll sort the office. We'll sort leads, social media, marketing, blah, blah, blah, whatever.

27:06You just need to come on our platform, get the property, list it, and then you'll start generating inquiries. Okay. And then we'll teach you. Some do, some don't. Our company is, I'll teach you how to be the best you can be. Okay. So, but we've got a really strong brand now. We've been going a while, whatever. but back then it was like we're going to be this and be like yeah but I are and we had track records

27:28Gino Cross: as brokers and that's what we played on right we'd done so you've gone from the brokerage you understand that game completely now you're going like we own the company exactly so how many full time staff have you got today 140 150 full time yeah yeah including brokers if you broke the brokers with full time what would you say 35, 40 yeah it's a big marketing team we've got support staff, finance, HR. Fantastic. Yeah. That's a big team when you look at it. I know the numbers are completely different to the UK and you can get your 4 % and stuff but there's only 4 million people here, right? Yeah.

28:02That's like, it's not a big area is it when you think about it? No, no, no. But the wealth is on a whole new level.

28:07Gino Cross: And it is. And there's a lot of turnover in properties here? Huge amount of turnover in terms of the actual property or the brokers? Property. Yeah. I've bought and sold properties in a day. It's being regulated more and more, right? But from what I understand, it's probably a bit like London in the 80s where you were buying and selling. Yeah, there was deals to be done. That's the vibe, isn't it? I miss that. For me, that is. I miss that in England, the vibe of quick deals. You've got money in the pocket. People can sign stuff off. It don't happen. It doesn't. And you're saying in Dubai, that's what it was like in the 90s.

28:37From what I've heard of, I wasn't doing it then. But from what I understand, the stories that I'm told, I've got a few people I know that made a lot of money back then and made their wealth back then. And they're saying to me, make your wealth. Build, build, build, build. Yeah, yeah, because this is the same thing. And the deals, I was always brought up like, you save as much money as you can, you put this pot aside, then you buy a house. My mum, bless her, the biggest achievement in the world for my mum is buy a house. And I'm like, it's lovely mum, but no, we're doing this, this, this, this.

29:06And it's just understanding different, you know, being educated in a different way, I suppose. But when you get here and you start to realise that you can use money, as opposed to just buying watches and trainers, which is all I wanted to ever do to impress other people, which is so ridiculous. Then you go, actually, I don't care about that. I've got a million dirham.

29:23Gino Cross: I can turn it into two. Then four, five, six. And yeah, so it's totally... And how does it work out here with your partners? Is there zero tax or is it 9 %? How does it work? 9 % corporation tax. So it's 9 % corp. Yeah. And there's nothing else? Nothing else. It's like what dreams are made of. Yeah, yeah. Like genuinely. You're telling me, I've only got to pay 9%. Yeah. A corporation tax. So on your personal income, you pay nothing. My corporation tax, 25%. Now I've got 20 % of that. If I employ my managing director at Underground, say, for example, I've got to give the government 15 grand every year.

29:53Horrible. You're getting done on business rates. You're getting squeezed and done every single angle. Since being out here, I've really opened my eyes when chatting to people to go, this is the dream. I'm not saying to them, this is the dream. Some of them have been here a long time ago. It's just the norm, isn't it? Well, that's the other thing, right? So I toyed with the idea of buying a couple of bits in the UK recently. And a friend of mine does a lot of auction stuff in the UK. And he said to me, mate, I'm like, yeah, buy it. Pull the trigger. You go, bro, what can we get for it? And he's going, whatever it is you're trying to do, it doesn't exist here.

30:21You can't do this. It's going to take you three months to buy it. Three months? I want to buy it today. I'll buy it. You know, it doesn't work like that here, you know? And whereas here, like I said, I bought something in the morning and sold it in the afternoon. I made a margin and yeah. All paperwork done? Sometimes paperwork done. Sometimes you can have a clause in it to change the paperwork. Yeah, I bought, sold. I bought something three months ago. It's gone up by 22 % and we're having offers on it now and I'm like, get rid of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a proper dynamic market.

30:51What's the score? Like when you buy a property in England, you can pull out the night before.

30:54Gino Cross: No, you can't. What's the score here? You sign a form F, right? Which is a contract. So I give a check of 10%. So if you go to deposit down at 10%, I'll buy a property of you. I fancy a four bed villa near the golf course for you or whatever, but I put down 10%. And since I put that 10 % down, I have to complete. So you've got a contract that we'll both sign. So I'm the seller, you're the buyer, right? So you'll put a 10 % check in. It won't be cashed, but it goes against the contracts, written into the contract. The broker will then hold that and escrow it and say, right, now we've got four weeks, five weeks, six weeks, depending on how you're buying it, to go and complete on it.

31:26If for whatever reason, you then say you pull out and it's not within the clauses of the contract, which is maybe subject to mortgage or whatever. But if not, then you default your check. It will go to court and you'll lose your 10%. So you lose your 10%. Yeah, it goes through the courts. It'll take a long time, but yeah, you'll lose. So my brother-in-law's coming out here at the moment, and he's sold his house two or three times, and they keep pulling out at the last minute. It's happened all the time. I'm ringing him, mate. I bought and renovated a house. I sold it two weeks ago and completed on it yesterday.

31:55I phoned him and said, you've done 15 weeks. I've completed mine. I've sold it before you, and I've got the money. How have you done this? And he said, what do you want me to do? I don't know. It's nuts. There's no security. So if you're a developer or an investor, how can you cash flow yourself? you can't keep pulling out what's your what's your day to day like what's your world out here you've been out here seven years feels like you're at the peak not the peak you're still peaking and peaking and peaking but you seem like you're doing really well you've got a good vibe about it you've got a good energy I can see that I can see you're happy as well what's your day to day how do you go about because you split it three ways is there ever a point when the two other partners are like mate I do more work than you well I'm selling more than you is there any angst at all you're great at marketing you're great at sales you're the creative one you're the glue who brings it all together literally as maybe as cringe as it sounds obviously we argue right but we just get on and we kind of in the beginning we used to cross over each other's things and as we've grown and we've grown as a business we've become from lads like a lads club don't know what we're doing do you know what I mean to then actually growing into a business with a bit of a hierarchy and different you know support staff and things so now and I think we respect each other so much that if one says we're increasing in this I go if you say so do you know what I'm going to go and do this on Martin or sales and they go yeah go for it I'm going to go I'm going to go to London and do a show yeah if you think you can get a return so it's really really good yeah and we meet a couple of times a week privately we're in open we openly discuss everything throw our ideas in some ideas are crazy some don't and

33:32Gino Cross: yeah we're just really straight with each other and what about your day to day are you is it easy for you go I want to have I'm a bit weird. You're like, no, I'm in early. I'll stay late. I'm a bit weird. I say this all the time. So I became obsessed with cold plungers. I've got one in the garden. And I get up at five. You're not one of those people who filmed yourself getting in there. No, no. I filmed it maybe once. But no, no, no, I don't. So I get in there, quarter past five, ten minutes in there. Lovely. Get out. And like I say, I was very much, I grew up in an environment. boozing and lads and blah, yeah, yeah.

34:11Whereas now, I'll have to drink now again, but now I'm very structured. I've got downloads of ADHD, which means everything in my world has to be structured, otherwise I lose the plot. I got downloads last week. Did you? Oh, welcome to the club. I didn't even know. Yeah, well, what happened? They were like... It's got a superpower. I love it, yeah. He said to me, Dutch, I want to pay for you. Do you want to know if you're ADHD? I said, hey, bother, Dutch. Yeah. Whatever. Yeah. He went, no, I'm going to pay for you to do these things I paid for it. And they went, oh, you're the top level of ADHD.

34:34I was like, results? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, I've been anything. Same. Yeah, yeah. It's a positive. I remember, and the guy, when I got diagnosed, he said to me, you know, you want to go on this, do that. And I'm like, no, no, no, no. I don't. I don't want to do anything. But they said, you just need to be structured. And what I found, the more structured I am, the better I perform. So now I get up early, got an ice bath, a bit of meditation. And I find in that sort of, I've got two kids. Yeah. How old are they? Three and one and a half. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I've got two dogs. so the house is like a zoo.

35:04Yeah, it's nuts. So that sort of time in the morning, no one's up and I'm like, right, so I can start to think about things. Then I'll go to the gym, get in there. So by like quarter to eight, half seven quarters away, I'm ready. I'm ready to take a bit of breakfast, play with the kids for a bit and then get in the office for half eight. And then the day can honestly consist of anything. We started off with a meeting, try and do a bit of training and then catch up. What's going on? I like being involved in deals. I probably shouldn't be that much. But I just love it. I love it. What's happening?

35:32tell me about it how can I help you what can I do exactly yeah I just love it so I'm involved in a lot of deals training I'm also a big believer and I'm trying to implement this over and over I made shit loads of mistakes loads and loads and loads and I look at the team predominantly they're a little bit younger I'm 33 I'm 34 next week actually and roughly how old are they?

35:56Gino Cross: it can be anywhere 25, 26 is that a good age for you? 21's too young not clued level we've got some 21 when you want I think it's all on a person how much they believe how much they're really willing to how hard they're willing to work to get to where they want to go so I find that for us 25, 26 they're starting to mature they've done all the partying and whatever they say I want to make a few quid now and what I'm sort of doing is saying I made loads of mistakes try not to make these we might have someone who's never made money make a hundred grand in a day right Sterling they become a fucking idiot when they do that because they go by a watch instantly and I'm like you did it once doesn't necessarily mean you're going to do it again and make sure that money lasts you because you might need that last six months but as long as we're structured I'll continue to grow as opposed to going and buying a nice car and a watch think you're the man and go skin and sell everything so I think a lot of it is coaching and mentoring and actually trying to take boys to men you know how much could a broker earn on one hit I know it's different to say whatever property you're saying give an example of an average broker you've got how many books 50 brokers 100 100 brokers you've got 100 brokers on your books and full time staff was 40, 35, 40 something like that so those are 100 brokers how much would one of them earn on an average deal for you because they're not on any salary they're going right it's hard to see on an average deal because of the different areas I would say they're billing they're netting probably 15, 16 ,000 quid a month on average yeah yeah yeah it's obviously some less some more but you can go we've got guys that are earning one guy's earned two million quid this year Do they have to stick with you?

37:31Or do they, I can be a broker and I can be a broker for a number of brands? It's like playing for a football team. Okay. It's very similar to a football team. Okay. Why are you going to go Simon Real Madrid? Why are you going to go and play for Arsenal? Do you know what I mean? And you fall in love with the club. You fall in love with what they're about.

37:45Gino Cross: Some people don't fit in. Some people leave. So, yeah. Yeah, it's very, very similar. I quite like the sound of that. God, if I was mid-20s and I'd be a loader of that. It's the most addictive thing in the whole world. So are they in every day? Are they in the office every day? The brokers, they're going, well, you're not paying me a salary. I'm going to cut. What deal is that? How can the brokers, do the brokers get competitive with each other? Yeah. Yeah. So how do they, who gets the deal? Well, so it depends, right? So everything's done on a CRM. So the lead will come in if it's done on - The lead will come in through, what, prime location?

38:16Yeah, property finder. Definder. Normally, so you'll have areas, or if you're working on the investment stuff, you'll find your buyers. The lead will come through directly to you. You then log it, and then that's your buyer, right? And then if he rings me, me and you are going to do a split deal.

38:30Gino Cross: And then what we've, what we've, what we've. Are you the gatekeeper before you decide who you want to give it to? No, no, it goes to the CRM. I actually don't touch any lead. It goes in the CRM, the CRM splits it to the people, whatever location. It goes to you, yeah. So I'm the broker. I want to work out, I'm trying to get my head around here because anyone listening out there, if you're 25 and you are cheesed off back at home, have a look at this. Yeah, so let's say you work in, let's say you work in the marina. Yeah. Yeah. so your area is the marina there's how many towers there is in the marina you pick three or four towers you learn those towers you become an expert in the towers you start to know all the owners of those towers right and then they say right yep Dodge you can sell this so you list that online then you start getting inquiries come through which go straight into your funnel of CRM into your pot okay then you're ringing those people right so you've seen this tower I didn't really like that okay let me get you out I'll show you this this this this and you're starting to do that so what will happen some obviously close some don't they go into the system and you get a new broker come in and goes there's a thousand people that have been acquired over the last year that are just dead.

39:27Yeah. But they're not dead. They still buy it, right? And they're all millionaires. They're all multi-millionaires. So then they'll start calling, Dodge, you inquired six months ago, yeah, I bought. Well, look, we've got a deal. All right, let's talk. So rekindle it. So you've got two different types of, so you've got the reactive and then the proactive. Okay. So yeah, it's, but yeah, you all have your areas or on the other side, which is the side I'm building at the moment, it's the investment side. You don't really have an area, you're looking at the investment. So you're speaking with people and say, I've got a million quid I want 20 % a year this is my risk this is how much

39:56Gino Cross: are you offering 20 %? it can be whatever they might say I want 20 % I was thinking yeah yeah yeah what opportunities are there for someone like myself to invest out in Dubai right now where you're like do you know what I wouldn't put you into something pony I've got something for you I think you'll really like this because we're looking at this return on investment it depends on what you're used to I mean you've got businesses right so you're probably quite open to risk. For life. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, I mean, it depends. You've got a few different options. You've got like a renovation route.

40:31Yeah. Yeah. I've just completed a renovation. The margin was about 40 % in seven months.

40:36Gino Cross: Give me an example of what you bought, what you sold for, for a quick renovation. Bought it, 7.7 million dirham. Which is what£7.000 knows? Nearly two. One and a half million, something like that, yeah. And you put only 150 grand down on that? No, no, no, no. So I put, I bought that, I put 30 % down on that. You got put 30 %? 30%. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Why 30 and not 30 %? The mortgage. That was it. So yeah, so I put 30 % down on that. So I was all in for eight and a half with the fees, dirham, I think. Then I put 2.2 million dirham in for a renovation, about four or 500 grand in the renovation. And I sold it 14.6 last week.

41:15So I made like 20 million quid on it, roughly give or take. Yeah, yeah. Just hold it, hold it.

41:21Gino Cross: We don't take that lightly. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, thank you. Amazing. And, you know, that's something. Good for you, man. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Gino, just take a second. You're probably in it and you're like, yeah, it's a million, 500, 100, 100. What's happening back home, mate? You are smashing it. Thank you. You're smashing it. This is wonderful. I love seeing people succeed. Thank you. To hear this with the excitement on your face, knowing that there's so many deals out there that you're going, I've got to milk this as quick as I can because one day it might not be there.

41:49Yeah. The way I'm seeing Dubai, I'm seeing Dubai rising very, very quickly. And I think it's, I agree with you, I think it will be here for a long time. I really do. And I think the vision of Sheikh Mohammed, of the vision of the leadership where the city's going, I don't think it's going anywhere at all. For me, I'm thinking, I'm very, without my wife, I'd have three Ferraris, I'd have loads of watches, and I'd have nothing else, you know what I mean? So I need to be humbled, I need to be pulled back down to earth. so I think what I would meant by that is I don't think the city's going anywhere but if I'm let loose the way I am I won't have anything left

42:26Gino Cross: do you know what I mean so she must have a good missus behind you yeah I'm very lucky does she keep you in your place does she does she have to be strict with you does she have to be like does she know that you've calmed down and you get it hold on put money aside for the kids money aside for the missus living we work really well as a team together I live with my head in the clouds and I'm have you seen that Tyson Fury documentary? Yeah. Yeah. So she, when she watched that, she said, Oh my God, this is like you. One minute he's going to buy an airport, then he's doing this, then he's, and she's like, you just, so, which is fine.

42:57Cause that's the way I like to live. But then sometimes I need to be pulled back down. So yeah, it's really good dynamic.

43:05Gino Cross: Really, really, really good. Yeah. She's very strong and I can't be let, I can't run wild. Yeah. Yeah. How many properties have you got in your books today? Would you say roughly like the, you know, on that website you've got, right. Like that's Strada. Five, six, five, six, 700 maybe, maybe more. 800, seven, 800. Yeah. I can't stop comparing everything you're saying to what's back at home. Oh, mate, it's totally, totally different. The local estate agent where I'm from is about 70. He's been there. He's on the high street. Yeah. He's, he's, he's, you know, he's, he's in like an off the shelf sooth, which is nothing wrong with that.

43:41But I'm walking in and I'm like, slow, slow. You come into my office. Yeah. How do you make businesses work on 1 %? You're selling a 500 grand house or a million pound house, you're working on 1 % after where they get.

43:53Gino Cross: And for the agent or for the estate agent, they're incentivized to go, mate, I don't know, 20 grand a year, 25 grand, whatever it is. Again, there's nothing wrong with that if that's what you want to do. But how are you ever going to buy a house or buy a whatever, do it, live a life, if that's the ceiling of what you can do? Do you know what I mean? You come into my office and you go, he's 25, he's made 2 million quid this year, net in his pocket. it yeah it's a bit me I need that how do you do it you know what I mean and so it's this this is amazing why yeah how do you uh talk through your journey of going with the three lads of the growth per year in terms I guess we're working on turnover how much you've kind of roughly rough turnovers you've been doing over the since 21 22 23 24 we've grown a lot in the last four years um we've grown as people a lot yeah okay which is good and how old are your partners same we're all similar age yeah um the the business has grown massively you know uh almost doubled in in turnover every year um i think that the personal side of it it can go to your head a little bit as well it's definitely gone to my head before where you start to lose the plot you start to think you can walk on water i don't know if it's ever happened to you before but you used to be everything you touch turns to gold so you think i'm the fucking man i can do whatever i want here and you can't and then the rug gets pulled from within and I need that sometimes.

45:16So I think what we're very lucky with as well is we all keep each other intact. We're all a bit nuts. We all get a bit too big for our boots, get a slap, get back down and it works really well. It feels like you're taking it properly serious then, doesn't it? Yeah. And the vision is to be great. You know, I look at this and think, I want to be worth 100 million quid

45:35Gino Cross: and there's no reason I can't be. Do you know what I mean? I love that. Yeah. I love it. There's no reason why I can't be because the opportunity is here. exactly and i'm like if i just keep working as hard as i can and the trajectory keeps going it will happen so what so when you talk about marketing you said one of the lads is a bang on the market yeah yeah one's the glue behind the scenes and you're the front man you're the salesman yeah what sort of marketing do you got to do out here because it's a again i keep going back to four million people isn't a lot of people to promote to no it's not and and and you know hats off to him right he comes up with the most craziest wackiest yeah yeah it's an example so i'm liking this fella.

46:07He did a deal with a company that supplied phones to Real Madrid, doled phones to Real Madrid and he managed to get our logo on the back of the phone. I have no idea how and he flew on a private jet to Saudi to give them the phones. And I was like, how have you even done it? And he rang us, it's going to cost X. I'm going, no. And they outvote me and we're doing it. I'm like, no, there's no return on this. And it was a brilliant idea. He came up, we got Strada hats when we were first and we just black hat with Strada on the front and everyone wanted a hat. Even now, I went on a golf trip cut loose and I'll give them all strata hats one's a pilot one's in crimson oh mate thanks we were one of the first people to start doing personal branding we brought in a marketing team called strata studios where we actually before you were doing your own photos on the phone we said fuck that we'll bring 10-15 people pay buy all the cameras and everything and then we'll create a system where you don't all you have to do is sell everything else to take care of then we came up with these nutty ideas jumping in the pool doing you know the other thing we did I'll send it to you is we've got a vlog so every month it's like a TV show it's an hour it's called Selling Strada and you get to see behind the scenes there's been fights there's been stuff going on but you've got someone who's paid to just follow us around and video the whole time and he catches everything I'm like cut that out cut that out

47:21Gino Cross: you can't have that on there there's levels there's some things so basically just be creative have fun let's film behind the scenes and what people are getting is real this is real we're lads we're mid 30s we're making stuff really happened over in Dubai. We're being creative. We're having fun at the same time, but this is real. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And enjoy it. Yeah. And that's the biggest thing. I think I've worked in companies where I've looked at the clock all day and I've gone and sat in a toilet for two hours and said, please, no one noticed. I'm in there. Do you know what I mean? Here, I've done that for you.

47:53But in my company, I was thinking,

47:55Gino Cross: I can't wait to get in. And you know, it's like an obsession to the point. Well, it is obsession. If you're going to be successful in any business that we've done or whatever, you have to be obsessed. Yeah. you have to be you have to be curious yeah and I lay in bed and it's half ten a night my wife said please go to sleep oh just one minute one minute and she's like let me just check just yeah and I was doing this and he's back through the and he's helping she's like ah just yeah mate do you know what it sounds like you've got the dream job for you thank you it really does sound like that I can see it I can feel it and I haven't seen this buzz in a lot of people for a long time ah thank you and being out in Dubai I'm getting this buzz off everyone and I get buzzed off it even chatting to the two lads I'm out here with at the moment doing all the producing and filming we're like when are we coming back out here because people are coming in going Dodge I want to come on the podcast we're like you don't get this at such speed back home people want to come on the podcast but then you've got to plan it more because it's only like 10-20 minutes to get to an amazing studio like here it's easy someone flies in from another country wants to come to the podcast bam done and I think the city makes it very now so there's a thing called Noon in 15 right called Noon in 15 you can order virtually anything in 15 minutes.

49:03Okay. So if I'm cooking, I run out of butter, I can order it, 10 minutes it's at the door. Honestly, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I need a Diet Coke bomb. I've got it. 15 minutes. Water, whatever. So I can order petrol to come to the house and fill my car up. I've heard that yesterday. So someone come to your house, fill your car up while you're indoors. Yeah. You leave the cap open, fill it up, close it, you get a text, charge you a card, away you go. So the city is so simple and so easy that you become, well, I want it now. I do it now. It's a pro and a con, but it becomes very impatient. What it allows you to do, it takes away that headache of stuff you don't really like doing and going, you know, I can focus on managing business or my wife or kids or whatever.

49:41Exactly. It's mind-blowing, isn't it? It's mind-blowing. It's nice to hear, you know. It's nice to hear. I want to know the most expensive property that you've ever sold and how long it took to sell it and what nationality of the person that bought it. I did I sold when I was selling the prices weren't as big so I sold a villa to one of three brothers I sold three villas 25 million and then I sold two plots of land 18 million and 15 million and the guy that bought the 25 million during villa 5 million so 25 million 5 million it's a big it's 25 ,000 square foot right it's huge and you're getting 4 % of that I fell 5 % on that one.

50:28Yeah, that was from a developer. That was a bit more. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was made right for you, but I remember saying to this guy, this house is a blinder. Like this house, he was going to live in it, but I said to him, we're going to exit this house at a lot of money. I'll never exit it. Today, the house is valued at$130 million. My God. What year was 25? That was, what's 22, 23 bought that. So it was only a couple of years. Two, three years ago at five mil sterling. Yeah, and it's now worth... At 20 mil. 20 mil sterling. yeah yeah yeah and he hasn't really done anything to it so and I'm not saying I predicted the future I knew it would go up in value but it took him about four weeks he had to pray to every single person every god he had to ask every person every broker and I was like and the people are very close to me and I was I'd never turn like never ever give you a bad deal this is the best deal if I believe in I'll let you know this is a good deal this is why it is done all the market research and now we laugh and he says that's a good deal can I have something

51:23Gino Cross: after this that's a blinder and the other two and now one's worth 200 million he built it himself and the other one's 180 or 190 so that 200 mil was back down to what was it 5 40 million yeah yeah 40 million off an investment of probably 10 million my god yeah maybe less yeah my god yeah yeah yeah so they're what nationality was there they're Bangladeshi as well Bangladeshi as well do you like all the different nationalities out here do you do a lot of work with Bangladeshis Indians Russians British yeah who were the most who are the easiest to get over the line brits just because you know how to deal with yeah i think if you're dealing what i found with i i worked in uh an environment that was heavily dominated by pakistanis right so i learned how they work i learned and there was and you start to it's really weird in the uk you'd never say you never get an inquiry go where are they from because you'd never judge anyone not that you judge anyone here but you work out right if you're russian you'll deal with me in this way in a certain way you're pakistani you'll deal me in So you start to work out, right, the different ways of people with it.

52:28And so I'm quite good at dealing with Pakistani clients because I've been in that environment for a long time. So I know, you know, what makes them tick. Brits, I try and educate. Are they slower? They are, but then you'll just sort of educate them. Okay. You know, if you're buying a couple of reasons why. And this is the process. This is what's going to happen. It's very, very out of your comfort zone, but this is what's going to happen. If you want to buy it, are you comfortable with that? Yes. Okay, then we're going to do this, this, this. So then as long as you know that, The biggest mistake, this will blow your mind.

52:54So they do a launch out here, right? They'll launch a new project. So Palm Jebel Alley is this. I don't know if you've heard of it. The new Palm. So the Palm Jebel Alley is starting from six million quid, right?

53:04Gino Cross: What for? What would you get for that? For a plot of land. Sorry, for a villa. For a six million pound note, six mil sterling. You'll pay it on installments, right? Over three or four years. Already built villa waiting for you. Not built yet. It'll be built in four years. So you've got to pay like 20 % a year or whatever it is. I'll say to you, you'll say, right, I'm interested. I want one. Yeah. How big is it? I've got roughly 10 ,000 square foot. Roughly. Well, they haven't released documents yet, but I think it's 10 ,000 square foot. Okay. What one am I going to get? There's one of these 30.

53:32Yeah. Which one? You're going to have to send 100 sterling to this account, which is the developer. I'm going to put you in a queue. There's no guarantee you're going to get the unit. And then when I do get the unit, I'm going to give you 10 minutes. You got this one and this one. Dodge making decision. And you've got to spend 6 million quid. I'm going to take you or leave it, because I've got a few people that are going to buy.

53:48Gino Cross: That is a lovely way to do business for you. But it also urges people to go, shit, I mean, which one? So when you tell a Brit that, they go, yeah, right. And I said, no, no. That is going to work. So if you're comfortable in working like that, if you're not, there's other ways to do it. But if you are comfortable in working like that, that's how we're going to have to do this. And the weirdest thing is, Arabic, Asian sort of community, their culture is that is normal for them, from what I understand. Because that's how they buy properties. So they're really comfortable with that. Yeah, yeah, sweet.

54:15That's a launch. Whereas you deal with someone who's coming over and they go, mate, I'm spending six million quid. I need a couple of days to think about it, and I want to know what I'm getting. And don't put me under pressure.

54:24Gino Cross: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not paying money before I've seen anything. 24, I want to pick the one I want. Yeah, yeah. He's crazy. So what's happening at the moment then? As we sit today in 2025, the end of 2025, 26, as we sit today in 2025, 26, what's happening in Dubai at the moment? Is there more developers? Is there more buildings? Is everything just more and more and more and more? Or is it going to get to a point where it's actually stopped, and it's going to get saturated. I don't think, I don't think, I mean, you've seen the traffic, right? Yeah. How bad the traffic is. So. On that one, what the main motorway?

54:58Everywhere. Everywhere you go. And my time to work has gone from 10 minutes

55:01Gino Cross: to 30 minutes in the last eight months just because there's so many people here. So. Is that because it's the time of the year or is that because more people are just flying in? Me sure of both. I live in a residential, I live in a villa community. So, you know, if you're on holiday, you're never going to go there. So there's no reason unless there's more people moving into the villas as to why that would increase. I think there is more villas. Sorry, there's more development. There's more developers. There's UK developers coming here. There's people renovating. There's investors. But the population's growing.

55:28So these people need somewhere to live, right? And if you was to come over here, you're going to probably go in and buy a villa because you're of a certain calibre. If I'm 20 and I've got a few quid, a 10 quid behind me and I need a room, I don't need a villa. So it sort of caters for everyone. And then what happens is you've got the sort of junior areas, if you like. Like you go into those and you sort of grow out of those and then you go into the more luxurious areas or,

55:50Gino Cross: so yeah, it's... It sounds amazing. Yeah, it is. It sounds amazing. What's the ultimate goal for you and the three lads? Can you package this up, build this up, get it to a point where you can sell it or are you just having fun going, guys, well, I'm happy to take a divvy and earn the money off everything we're doing? I think it's something we always talk about. It's a hard one, isn't it? Because a real estate company is run on people. There's no contracts, right? and it's done on people. And I don't know what I'd do if I wasn't in it. I've just invested in building paddle courts. I'm building nine paddle courts, restaurants, ice baths.

56:23Is it, yeah? I am, mate. Oh, my God. I love paddle. I'm addicted. Really, yeah? It'll be done in January, February.

56:29Gino Cross: So next time you're out here. So you're investing in courts out here, have you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Indoor, outdoor? Outdoor, but it's got a big tent that'll go over it over the summer, so it'll be indoor, outdoor. Yeah, there's a juice bar, there's a restaurant, there's co-working. Have you invested in it of someone else's projects? My friend came to me and said, he was in FX, and he said, I'm leaving FX, I hate it, I'm playing paddle six days a week. I'm bored. Well, no, he actually said, like, I'm going to raise. Can you just look at the debt? You know loads of wealthy people. And I said, all right, I'll have a look.

56:54I had a look through it. I fell in love with the concept, fell in love with working with him. I'll take 35 % of something. Yeah, it does. Do you do investment now, or is it all done? It's all gone now.

57:02Gino Cross: I said, yeah, it's all gone. Yeah, yeah. But, and they're breaking ground now. So it should be up. It's a good excuse to get out here. I said, my missus, we need advice. Just advice for us. We've invested, you know, I've got to go out there, you know. We've got to go out there. I just don't listen to this, by the way. If you do listen to it, we get ourselves out of Dubai. I don't even know what I'd do if I wasn't involved in it, you know. And I think I love it. We're lucky enough that it's successful, it makes money, whatever. We've got the most amazing people around us, the most amazing brokers, support team.

57:31So I think for the next five, six years at least, we're just balls deep. Would you invest in anything that's coming up where you're looking and go, do you know what, in a year's time I see that coming up. There's an investment happening there where you've got your eyes on. Yeah. That could be a proper banker for someone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There is, is there? Yeah, yeah. So I've found now we've built a very, very small little following online. Our firm's got a really strong following as a brand. So what's happening, again, I'm in such a fortunate position. I get offered a lot of stuff now. so everyone knows that I buy properties so I get offered loads of deals right and obviously I can't buy more but you know I get stuck in and out of those then I get people coming to me saying I'm setting up a restaurant I don't think I don't know if I'm at a restaurant no thank you yeah yeah someone will say to me nightclubs someone will say paddle and so I'm like I'm always interested and I always like learning you know investing in business is something very new to me my brother-in-law was a private banker so I'm on the phone saying wow would I do this right do this structure like this so I think we get offered stuff I'm always open yeah yeah Yeah.

58:34I'll tell you what, paddle's an inciting business to invest in. It is. Invest in. One is fun. One, it's got a great buzz about it. Two, it should do about underground. I don't know what it does out here, but in England, it should do about underground a year per court. So if you've got nine courts in England and it's under a roof, you should do underground. It should be a mill, plus your bar, plus there's more out there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sure it's more out here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How much is that, how much is it going to cost to do that whole paddle?

58:58Gino Cross: The raise was 10 million, two million quid. Two million quid. Yeah. And there's what, nine quarts? Nine quarts. You could get your money, I don't know whether it's amazing, but you could get your money back after a year, year and a half. Yeah, you will. Easy on the projections. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's got saunas, steam room, yoga, pilates, it's got everything in it. I've known about it. How long ago was it? It was about, it's gone about seven or eight months. So it's getting the licenses, getting everything done. And the weirdest thing, I was so nervous. I said to him, I'm in. And I was thinking, oh shit, I don't know anything about this.

59:27I don't know what I'm doing. I like paddle, but I'm not. and he was like, oh, I'm not sure, I don't know about raising the money. I'm thinking, I don't know how to raise money for a bit, I don't know how to raise money for property. My brother got involved, there's a couple of people that I pinged it out to and they go, yeah, sweet, I'll be in. Everyone's in and it got raised like that and it's been, that's been a bit of a journey but like I said, they're broken ground now so it should be done by a fib. Happy days. Yeah,

59:51Gino Cross: very excited. Happy days. Gino, it sounds like you're in an unbelievable position right now. Thanks, mate. Yeah, what you've achieved in that short period it's only a short period when you look at it really I know 2018 to now it's like 7-8 years but really jumping in with the two lads in 2021 or three of you making a strong partnership and doing it your way straight talking this is who we are this is what we do and this is how we promote and these are the properties we got and it's working for you unbelievable thank you so much I've really enjoyed this conversation me too thank you so much massive respect to you thank you good man Gino thank you mate thank you take care if you'd like to see someone on the show leave a comment below and if you haven't already do us a favor, show us a bit of love, press the subscribe button, and it allows us to grow the show even bigger and bigger each week.

1:00:32Nice one.

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