Selling Through Chaos: Lessons from Dubai Real Estate
On a recent episode of The Sales Hunter Podcast, Mark sat down with Nathan Mistry, a top-performing residential real estate agent based in Dubai. Nathan is closing record-breaking deals in the midst of an active conflict and marketplace chaos, proving it’s possible to not just sell but excel when things get tough.
Staying Focused When Others Run for the Exits
When turmoil hit Dubai, many agents fled or paused their work, but Nathan refused to slow down. Instead, he saw the upheaval as his opportunity to grab market share and serve the clients still motivated to make decisions.
“There are going to be less people here. It’s your time to take care of the market share,” Nathan says.
Top performers don’t panic or make excuses. They anchor themselves in routine, focus on what they control, and keep showing up no matter what’s happening.
Turning Uncertainty Into Opportunity
Real estate is fundamentally a long game, especially in a turbulent environment. Nathan’s mindset? Short-term chaos doesn’t define long-term value.
“There isn’t any long term difference to the property that you’re buying today. And if anything, there’s an opportunity to buy a property right now where developers are more lenient on price or the payment plan.”
Even personal risk didn’t push him off course. When a drone strike hit a neighboring building, Nathan channeled his frustration into determination. Instead of taking the day off, he got his workout in, stuck with his schedule, and closed one of his biggest deals to date.
Confidence and Consistency Win
Everything comes down to confidence in yourself, your market, and the value you deliver. That confidence is built on preparation and real belief in what you sell.
“I believe in what I’m selling, which is what that deal was at the end of the day, even in this whole chaotic experience.”
Nathan even put his money where his mouth is, investing personally in the Dubai market amidst the conflict. Top performers never hide. Instead they stand by their product and lead by example.
Discipline in Lead Generation
Chaos isn’t a time to sit back and hope leads will come. Nathan credits his steady pipeline to a disciplined content strategy, especially during uncertain times. He doubled down on his YouTube channel, posting every week and giving potential clients a consistent presence they could rely on.
“YouTube has worked out so well for you… even during the chaotic times of the war, you were still posting every week,” Mark notes.
Lead quality went up, even as volume dropped. Those who reached out during the conflict were the most motivated buyers.
Integrity Builds Trust (and Referrals)
In tough times, trust is more important than ever. Nathan chose to stay in Dubai rather than leave for a planned vacation showing clients he believed in the safety, value, and future of their investments.
“If I left the country, even if I said, ‘oh, look, I had this holiday already booked and I had to go anyway,’ I think it would have just been a really bad look to show that I don’t actually believe in the market.”
Commitment to your clients builds loyalty that pays off for years. People remember who stood by them and who vanished.
The One Thing: Double Down During Uncertainty
Asked for his top advice to sales professionals struggling through industry chaos, Nathan is clear: don’t back down.
“Show your integrity that you are committed to your industry and keep going. Because although in the short term it might be difficult, the long term is going to be so much more beneficial for you.”
This isn’t just about riding out the storm. The best results come when you face chaos head-on. Top sellers capitalize on uncertainty—they don’t let it slow them.
What’s Your Commitment Level?
If you’re struggling with economic uncertainty, industry disruption, or any kind of external chaos, take a page from Nathan’s playbook:
- Stick to your routine.
- Focus on what you control.
- Double down on visibility and outreach.
- Stay in the game when others bail.
- Always act with integrity.
Because when chaos clears, the market remembers who was there, and those are the ones who own the future.
Mark Hunter :
Don’t tell me you know how to sell in the midst of chaos. With me today, a top performer who is selling literally lights out in the midst of an absolute uncertain chaos. That’s today’s episode. This is a must listen multiple times episode. And the show begins right now. You’re listening to the Sales Hunter podcast with Mark Hunter where the focus is to help you as a salesman sell with confidence and integrity. And now here’s your host with me today from UAE Dubai, Nathan Mystery. Unbelievable.
Mark Hunter :
Real estate salesperson, residential real estate salesperson and gee, there’s a little bit of chaos going on around you. Great to have you on the show. Thank you for joining me.
Nathan Mistry :
You’re very welcome. Hi Mark. Hope all is well and thanks for having me.
Mark Hunter :
You and I have had a chance to work together for about a year and a half, I don’t know, two years or so, and you are absolutely a top performer. But let me tell you something, we’re recording this in June of 26 and a few months ago life in Dubai changed. But yeah, you didn’t. How did you stay focused in the midst of chaos?
Nathan Mistry :
I think just, I think, I think this, this conflict, I mean, what, what. So it started end of February, start of March and it was a, I viewed it as, this is, this is an opportunity because as I, I think everyone was saying at the time, everyone is going to go home, which they, they sort of did. And, and in, in this, in this job, I think being consistent and always having the momentum and month by month, momentum behind it is so important. A lot of people went home for a month, two months and now they’ve come back. And I just saw this as an opportunity that this is, this is the time to kind of capture the market share almost. And I know every single person who is considering investing, buying a property in Dubai right now, I’m going to be one, one person who’s going to still be there and therefore be not competing with as many other agents to speak to that same person. So that I think that’s what kept me focused. And, and I think overall the target of what I had for the year was, was keeping me focused.
Nathan Mistry :
It was, I’m so hell bent on this target that I didn’t want anything to, to deviate me from this target. And that’s also, I think what kept me, kept me going. So. Yeah, yeah, that’s, I think that’s what, that, that’s what would, keeps me going.
Mark Hunter :
Okay, I want to dive into that more because I heard two things. One, you stayed focused on you, you, absolutely. And it’s easy to say in the midst of chaos, but wait a minute, wait a minute. Everybody’s leaving the market you feel is going to fall apart. But you stayed focused. And two, you had a goal and you, you are determined to make that goal. That only happens when you’re a top performer. What’s going on in your head to keep you at that level?
Nathan Mistry :
My, my mindset was if we look at what’s actually going on in the, in the UAE with the war, it’s actually, I mean, I’m selling property at the end of the day, right. And my mindset is there isn’t any long term difference to the property that you’re buying today. And if anything, there’s an opportunity to buy a property right now where developers are more lenient on price potentially, or more lenient on the payment plan. So I was sort of, actually, I wouldn’t say I was scared of what was going on. I was actually very, very excited about what’s happening right now because it means that I’m able to, like I said, offer deals and opportunities which were much more, much better than, than what it was a month ago or two months ago. And I’m very fortunate as well, where I’m still getting inquiries. And my mindset as well is if someone is inquiring during this conflict, they are hot. They are so, so hot because they, they know what’s going on and they still want to buy.
Nathan Mistry :
So that was, that was what kept me going, I think.
Mark Hunter :
Okay, now again, two more things that you just shared there. One was this whole thing that you’re still getting inbound inquiry. So I want to explore what you’re doing on that because again, lead generation is so difficult. But we’ll come back to that in a bit here. But this whole other piece that you saw chaos around you and you saw that as an opportunity, I think for sales people, that, that’s what we have to realize. When you’re faced with chaos, when you’re faced with uncertainty and you are sharing with me that in the building you live in, the building next door to you is struck by a drone.
Nathan Mistry :
Yeah, exactly.
Mark Hunter :
I mean, this is, this is getting very personal to you. Very personal to, very close. Yet in the midst of chaos, you stayed focused.
Nathan Mistry :
Yeah, absolutely. So the, the, the, there was a drone and maybe people have seen it on social media, but the drone, there was a drone that basically, I don’t know whether it was debris or it was actually a drone strike that hit the building that I, there’s two Buildings, it’s called Tower One and Tower two. I live in Tower one and Tower two was, was the one that got hit and that got hit at one in the morning or something or two in the morning like that. And it, and yeah, on the same day I closed one of the biggest deals I’ve ever done in my, in my career as well because I was dealing with a client who wanted to buy on the Palm. And I remember when it got hit I didn’t have much sleep but I was feeling this emotion of frustration like how dare they, how dare the powers that be, whether it’s around the U.S. put me off my goal of getting what I want. So I remember when it got hit I, I just decided to go into the gym in the morning at 6 in the morning. I did 30 minutes on the rowing machine quite aggressively and then decided, you know, there’s no reason for me not to close this deal because at the end of the day this is, property is long term, you’re buying it.
Nathan Mistry :
And especially for the buyer that was looking to buy this property as well, he’s going to be living it in five years time. It’s a long term investment. So what’s going on right now with, with this conflict is so short term that it doesn’t, it doesn’t take away from the fact that the UAE is so special. There is nowhere else in the world that offers what the UAE offers to a multi millionaire with tax free income and the lifestyle and also the connectivity to everywhere in the world. So just having that thought process in my mind and also I guess a bit of the aggression that, you know, screw everyone, I still want my goal kept me, kept me doing it and that day was I think a big achievement because it’s what it was, it was going on during, when it was really, really hot and almost, you know, there was a, there’s a bit of fear in me, you know, that what if it hit my apartment? But I just felt like it’s, I’m not, I’m not going to be scared. I’m not going to let people scare me because that’s what Iran is doing. They’re trying to scare people in the UAE and I’m not going to let them do that. I’m not, I’ve not, you know, moved countries to move my life over to a different country to, to be scared by some idiots throwing drones around.
Nathan Mistry :
And that was my mindset and, and I still, I’m so happy I did that deal and I think maybe it’s giving me more confidence I can do deals anytime in the market. But yeah, that was a very, very interesting opportunity experience.
Mark Hunter :
I’m sure it’s given you an increased level of confidence because again, here is a situation that you could easily have said, I’m, I’m done, I’m, I’m, I’m at least shutting down for a couple days. But yeah, wait, these were factors outside of your control. You, you can’t do anything about that. You focus on what you could control. You went to the gym, you hit the rowing machine for 30 minutes hard. In other words, you, you stayed in your. Because I know you well enough, you go to the gym every morning, you stayed in your routine.
Nathan Mistry :
Yeah.
Mark Hunter :
And yeah, one of the biggest deals you’ve ever done that day.
Nathan Mistry :
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was a good, it was, yeah, it wasn’t, it was not the biggest deal I’ve ever done, but it was one of the biggest that I’ve ever done. And I think the fact of, of what the market was doing just makes it one of the more impressive deals. And, and, but the thing is, I, I believe in it. I still believe in it. This is the thing. It’s not like I was this investment and this property that, that he bought, I, I genuinely believe for what he wants in five years or even now, even now, what he’s bought is so special with the view and the location. It’s on the Palm Jumeirah. For those of you who don’t know, the Palm Jumeirah is, is basically this man made island on the water and Dubai, although it’s known as a beachfront area or beachfront city, doesn’t actually have many freehold beachfront areas.
Nathan Mistry :
And that was basically what he bought. So when, when I sold it to him, I still believed in it. It wasn’t like I was thinking. I’m, I’m always. It’s a war and I’m screwing him over. It’s going to go down because it’s not, it’s, it’s genuinely a good deal that he’s bought and I think that’s what keeps, keeps me going and keeps me selling during this period because I still believe everything the UAE have to, has to offer. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still bad deals out there and bad property deals that people can buy into, but I don’t sell them, I don’t want to sell them. I just believe in what I’m selling, which is what that deal was at the end of the day, even in this whole chaotic experience.
Nathan Mistry :
And right now, a couple of months after the war, I bought a property in the market which follows the principles of what I believe is a good property. Something unique and something special. It was a house on the golf course and I believe in the long term value. And I got a deal which wasn’t going to be available in if the war wasn’t going on. So I’m putting my money where my mouth is, and I think that’s what made me able to sell it. It’s still a good deal. You know, it doesn’t matter what’s going on in the market.
Mark Hunter :
Nathan, you’re giving us so much good advice because you’re, you’re passionate about what you do. You’re passionate about the people you help. And it comes through. You are, you are in the midst of all of this uncertainty. You, you’re playing the long game, which again is a hallmark of top performers. They play the long game. Don’t get caught up in today and shut out that which you can’t control. You couldn’t control that, that drone strike or debris strike on the building right next to you.
Nathan Mistry :
Yeah, and my mindset was as well, and I don’t think I shared it with you, but we were supposed to also travel after March, but we canceled our travel plans because I knew all of the investors who had bought with me already. If, if I left the country, even if I said, oh, look, I had this holiday already booked and I had to go anyway, I think it would have just been a really bad look to show that I don’t actually believe in, in the market. So when the, when the war started, we were supposed to go actually to Bulgaria then. This is where my fiance is from. But we, we decided to scrap that plan and stay in the market because the amount of phone calls that I got during this time was, was crazy. People are asking me, you know, is it okay? Is it safe? And if I’m just saying, oh, I’m in Bulgaria, it’s not a good look. It’s not a good look to show the confidence of the people that trusted me in buying it. So that was another thing I wanted to say is that during the war I made a conscious thought, stay in the country, because people have, people have trust.
Nathan Mistry :
Trusted me with millions of dirhams, millions of dollars as well to look after their investments. And if I were to just leave, I think it’s not a good look and I think maybe for the long term people will remember that my clients, so they feel that I’m the right guy to bought with. This is what I’m Looking to do.
Mark Hunter :
Yeah. We’ve talked a lot and we’ve said that in times of uncertainty, this, when you grab market share when things get soft, is when you, that’s exact what you’re doing. But there was something else that you said. You had to stay in the market because you needed to make sure that you conveyed trust and confidence.
Nathan Mistry :
Yeah.
Mark Hunter :
To your clients. That speaks, again, volumes of what a top performer is. Despite all, you had every reason in the world. I would imagine of all the other residential real estate agents in Dubai, in the uae, I would imagine that probably about a third of them just left. Right.
Nathan Mistry :
Potentially. I don’t know. I don’t really know the numbers, but I know a lot of people booked holidays during this time. But whether, I’m not, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing to do that, whether it’s because they feel like that they, they want to be. If they feel safer being out the country during this time, or why not just book your holidays now because the market is going to be slower. I don’t know. But a lot of people did kind of go out during this time, go
Mark Hunter :
on their holidays, but you stayed in it. And again, everything that, everything that a top performer has to do, you did. And I think this is a good lesson for anybody who is not a top performer. You’re aspiring to be a Nathan. You’re aspiring to be a top performer. Listen to what Nathan shared and adopt those principles. Because, again, you know, this isn’t an industry. How many years have you been selling residential real estate?
Nathan Mistry :
Five years.
Mark Hunter :
In five years. Five years. Yeah.
Nathan Mistry :
Yeah.
Mark Hunter :
I mean, it isn’t like you’ve been in this business for 25 years.
Nathan Mistry :
No, no. I’m, I’m relative. I’m relatively new in the grand scheme of things. But I think in the UAE world, because everyone is. The UAE is very new. Anyway, it’s quite long in the UAE world, actually. A lot of real estate agents have maybe been here for a year or year or two. But, yeah.
Nathan Mistry :
In the grand scheme of things, no, I’ve not been here that long.
Mark Hunter :
Yeah. I mean, to learn the industry, to learn everything that you’ve done, again, it’s absolutely incredible. Now, I want to come back, talk about this whole lead generation, because you raised something very interesting. In a period of uncertainty, any inbound leads that you get, you know, they’re motivated, that there’s certainly an interest.
Nathan Mistry :
Yeah.
Mark Hunter :
How do you, how do you keep that pipeline going?
Nathan Mistry :
My. So I, I, and we spoke about when we first started working together, we didn’t we didn’t have. I didn’t have any of this. But you said, nathan, make sure you just try and build out a social media presence. So I have a YouTube channel that we. We started together, actually, because before we. When we first spoke, we never had the YouTube. I never had the YouTube channel.
Nathan Mistry :
And then I’ve been posting religiously every. Every week for 10 months now. And we’ve grown the channel. I mean, it’s always. It’s a niche field, but we’ve grown the channel to get, I think, 600,000 views on it and 7,000 subscribers, or seven and a half thousand subscribers. And that’s basically my lead generation. That’s where all of my leads are coming in. So even during the conflict, we made it a discipline and that me and my market marketing team will always keep on posting every week, whether it’s about the war, whether it’s about other properties which are coming up online, but just to, I guess, remind people that I’m still there.
Nathan Mistry :
And, and during. During the war, we’re still posting every week, and during the war, we’re still getting inquiries come through. But the difference of those inquiries is that we don’t really get any, like, people who are on the surface looking at the market and not sure these were people who are genuinely interested in the market and wanted to buy because they had to fill out 10 questions to inquire with me. And if they’re doing that during the war, they were. They were very serious. So although the lead volume had dropped, the. The transactions were still there. The.
Nathan Mistry :
The conversion was a lot higher because people inquiring in this time were obviously interested.
Mark Hunter :
Okay, now there’s several more lessons, and we got to do a full disclosure. I had the privilege of coaching you for a long time, so wonderful relationship. But we need to just do. Just do that as a full disclosure. But I want to come back to this thing because you’ve done something else. And again, YouTube has worked out so well for you. You’re very focused with your lead generation process, which, again, so many salespeople are not. They’re a little shotgun here and there.
Mark Hunter :
You’re very focused every week. Even during the chaotic times of the war, you were still posting every week. And you said something else interesting. The number of inbound leads may have declined, but the quality went up, which again, most people say, well, gee, I’m gonna get fewer leads, so I’m not gonna worry about. No, you did.
Nathan Mistry :
You.
Mark Hunter :
You stayed in the game. That’s huge.
Nathan Mistry :
Yeah, absolutely. And we, we got. We get so Many inquiries on this YouTube channel that I can’t handle them. Now the, the lead volumes picked up and again we’re in the situation where I can’t deal with everything so I have to refer them to people in the team. But when everything started to slow down in the market we didn’t get as many. So I could take care of them, all of them myself and at least have it one conversation with all of them. And they were all so hot, they all wanted to, they all were at least interested in buying something whether it’s now or in a few months time that was just, just higher. And but, but you know what also it reminded what, what it also taught me was that people are moving over still during the war because the UAE offers something so special that nowhere else offers in the world.
Nathan Mistry :
Which is, which is what I just mentioned which was the, the, the UAE more, the tax free income, the lifestyle, these are things that the millionaires of Europe just don’t have access to. And that’s the conversations that I was having. So it almost, I think the war give gave me the opportunity to actually appreciate better how special the UAE is because people don’t care. People, people just don’t care. If you, if you tell someone you’ve got a million pounds, you know you’ve got to give £400,000 of it to the government or you can spend an amazing, you can spend your time here, have an amazing life and keep all of it, it’s still, it’s still a no brainer for people. So yeah, that’s also gave me the opportunity to appreciate special others.
Mark Hunter :
And I’ll tell you what, if you are looking at all at real estate in Dubai, we’re going to put Nathan’s link in the show notes. He is absolutely, without a doubt, we’ll put a link to his YouTube channel. He is without a doubt the go to person for real estate in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. You’re doing a tremendous amount of work there too, which is absolutely fantastic. So this. Wow. We could go on for hours, you sharing what you’ve done. If you were talking to a struggling salesperson, what would be one piece of advice you would share with them? What would be one thing? If you only do one thing, what would you tell them to do in,
Nathan Mistry :
in this conflict, in what’s going on
Mark Hunter :
right now, in any kind of chaos that you know, you may be dealing with an economic uncertainty or your industry fell apart, but here you were selling in the midst of a war residential real estate. What’s that piece of advice you you would tell a salesperson, my advice is
Nathan Mistry :
this is the time. This is the time to double down and, and work as hard as you possibly can. It’s your time to take care of the market share. Take the market, market share, because there are going to be less people here. And I believe it because like I said, I’ve been here for five years, but people have been there that I know for 15 years. And anyone who has made something of themselves have been selling when the times were low and when the market was not as hot as it is. Hindsight is such an amazing thing. And people say, I wish I got in at this time.
Nathan Mistry :
And when there is chaos and you’re still there and you’re authentic and you’re true to what you are, you’re not just jumping around where the money is. It shows that you are a credible person and people will trust you. So that’s my advice, if it’s, if you’re struggling in chaos is just show your integrity that you are committed to your industry and keep going and keep going because although in the short term it might be difficult, you know, the long term is going to be so much more beneficial for you.
Mark Hunter :
Oh, I love that advice. So whether it be an economic down cycle, whether it be Covid that we experienced globally back here about six or seven years ago now, this situation that you’re experiencing with a war in the Middle east, whatever it might be, what you just said, double down, double down. Because again, this is the time to grab market share. We’ve been talking with Nathan mystery residential real estate out of Dubai. We’re recording this in June of 26. And of course, you know, you know what’s been happening there. And yet he is posting unbelievable numbers, closing sales. You know what, he doesn’t close sales.
Mark Hunter :
He opens relationships. Because I’ve known him long enough that it’s amazing the clients that he has. Hey, we’re going to put a link to his YouTube channel and to him in the show notes. So if you are looking at real estate in the Dubai Abu Dhabi area, reach out to Nathan. But hey, why do I do this show? It’s to help you see and achieve what you didn’t think was possible. Nathan is the guy who is doing it. Go back and listen to this episode again. Pick up all those pearls of wisdom that he did, the mic drop moments, because they’re there for you.
Mark Hunter :
Hey, we do the show two episodes a week, one like this, where we do a deep dive with a subject matter expert. Second episode is. It’s just me with a single topic. Hey, do me a favor. Leave me a review on your favorite podcast app. And, hey, make sure you share this with a friend, would you? We’re all about helping people see and achieve what they didn’t think was possible. Great selling.
