I’m Laila Janik, CEO of MYS Real Estate, and I’ve watched HNW investors use these small assets as a source of agility – a way to have cash on hand when needed and to pivot quickly as markets change. Here’s how one-bed apartments act as a financial Swiss Army knife in a HNW portfolio.
Rapid Exit, Rapid Entry: Large assets can be illiquid – if a golden opportunity arises (say a stake in a new fund, or a distressed asset sale), you might not be able to free up capital fast enough by selling a building or business stake. But as discussed, selling even a few one-bedroom apartments can often be done in a matter of weeks globalpropertyguide.com. That means you can seize external opportunities swiftly using your real estate as a ready source of funds. I’ve had a client literally say, “I look at my apartments as my emergency war chest – I hope not to sell them, but I know I easily can if I need cash for a big move.” And indeed, he did: when markets dipped in March 2020, he sold two apartments (still at a fair price, because mid-market held well) and deployed that money into the stock market dip, buying blue chips cheap. Six months later, he re-sold some stocks at a 40% profit and actually bought back more property. Could he have done that if all his wealth was tied in hard-to-sell assets? Probably not. The nimbleness that the quick sale of a portion of his portfolio afforded made him considerable extra returns. In a way, he used his one-bed investments like an ATM or credit line – and then replenished them later. That’s a sophisticated but totally viable use-case when you know your assets are liquid.
Partial Liquidation Without Sacrificing Income: If you hold a big rental property and sell it, you lose that entire income source. But if you hold 10 one-bed rentals and need to liquidate 20% of your asset value, you can sell 2 units – yes, your rental income drops 20%, but the other 80% continues. This scalability allows fine-tuning. Maybe you only need to raise AED 1M – you sell one unit, keep the rest earning. For HNWIs managing cashflows, that’s ideal. It’s not “all or nothing.” Even large funds appreciate this; some REITs occasionally prune a few properties from their portfolio rather than sell a whole portfolio or shut an entire division. On a smaller scale, you as an investor can do similarly with your personal assets. It means you can take some profits when the market is high by selling a unit or two (rebalancing your portfolio) while still holding others for income. Or conversely, if you sense it’s a great time to buy (market dip), you could offload some stocks/bonds and buy a couple more one-beds – and later, if property jumps, sell a couple. Strategic rebalancing is easier when your assets are divisible. One-beds are like the “small denominations” of the asset world – you can cash in a $100 note while still holding other $100s, instead of only having $1000 notes that you must break completely.
Using as Loan Collateral Easily: Banks like lending against residential properties, and if you have multiple one-beds, you can often negotiate a portfolio line of credit. I touched on this – treat your apartments almost like a savings account that a bank will lend 50-60% against at attractive rates (since property is good collateral). So if you don’t want to actually sell, you can still tap equity via financing. The flexibility here is you can borrow exactly how much you need and pay it back from other returns. One client had ~AED 5M worth of apartments owned free and clear; he got a bank line of AED 2M at around 3.5% interest. He doesn’t always use it, but when a private equity capital call came slightly early, he drew AED 1M for 6 months from that line (interest cost ~AED 17.5k). His rentals still generated ~AED 300k in that period, more than covering interest. After he got liquidity from another event, he paid back the line. End result: he met his investment obligation without selling any asset prematurely or missing out – his properties “loaned” him the money. That bridge financing flexibility is something ultra HNWIs do with multi-million dollar property portfolios; you can do a scaled version with your one-bed portfolio. Many don’t realize banks in UAE do offer such facilities to individuals with multiple properties – if that’s of interest, I can guide on that.
No Emotional Strings: As mentioned earlier, it’s often easier psychologically to make objective decisions with one-bed investments. That means you can act faster (less sentiment holding you back). HNWIs sometimes hesitate to sell a cherished property or one that’s a flagship asset, even if logically they should. But with one-beds, it’s business – you’ll sell or swap them as needed without looking back. That agility of decision-making can save or earn a lot. I had a client who decided to trim 20% of his properties in early 2022 because prices had risen sharply – he wasn’t emotionally attached to say no; he sold, took profit, and indeed late 2022 the market cooled a touch so he re-bought some units slightly cheaper. If he were sentimental, he might have held through a flat period and not monetized that spike. But he treated it like trading a stock portfolio – took profit on some positions, later increased positions again. One-beds allow that trading mindset due to liquidity and low friction. Try doing that with a trophy mansion – not likely.
Summing up: For high-net-worth investors, one-bedroom apartments function as highly liquid, income-generating “currency” within a portfolio. They give you options: to sell a bit, borrow against a bit, reshape your holdings, all fairly quickly and without rocking the whole boat. In the world of big investing, that flexibility is gold. It means you can respond to opportunities and threats proactively, instead of being locked in.
If you want to bring more agility to your portfolio – to be ready for whatever comes – let’s incorporate some flexible assets into your strategy. Reach out to me, and I’d be happy to discuss how a tailored selection of Dubai properties could serve as your portfolio’s “reserve” that you can deploy or cash in at will. My goal is to help you not only grow wealth but also control it on your terms, with assets that move as you need them to. Let’s ensure your investments don’t tie you down, but rather lift you up – nimble, prepared, and profitable. 💼
