Pamela Gerji, a resident of Fassouh area in Beirut’s Ashrafieh district, was not expecting a call from brokers asking her if she wanted to sell her damaged house, a week after the August 4 Beirut port explosion.
So far, she has no idea why they contacted her, knowing that at no time did she express her desire to leave her home.
She told Asharq Al-Awsat that the person who called her introduced himself as an employee of a real estate company, claiming he had information that she had an apartment for sale in Ashrafieh.
“I immediately told him that I have no desire to sell, as I am a fan of buying real estate, not selling ... I even think of traveling abroad if I find a job, given that I have been unemployed for the past three years, but I will not sell my apartment,” Pamela recounted.
Her insistence on repairing what the explosion had damaged, despite the financial temptations, does not apply to all those whose homes were destroyed in the blast.
Some people, who saw their houses and apartments suddenly turn into rubble, have started to search for buyers. Brokers and real estate agents have been wandering around the stricken areas in search of potential sellers.
In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, the head of the Association of Mukhtars of Beirut’s First District, Beshara Ghulam, said that a broker has recently contacted him, asking to introduce him to people wishing to sell their homes in the area and promising to pay the amounts requested by the owners.
“Some residents also contacted me wanting to sell their homes, which we understand considering that they are still in shock; but we didn’t allow any sale to take place and we encourage residents to stick to their homes by convincing them that we are not left behind, and that the international community will help us in the reconstruction,” he emphasized.
Resigned MP Paula Yacoubian ruled out a political scheme targeting Beirut’s damaged neighborhoods, considering that what is happening today is the result of the brokers’ appetite, who are trying to take advantage of the decline in prices of the destroyed houses.
“The result will be the same if there was such a scheme,” Yacoubian said, noting that this would lead to “a demographic change that we are currently standing up against.”
“Real estate hunters” are trying to lure residents whose homes have been destroyed by offering to transfer the sums in US dollars to banks outside Lebanon to avoid the strict banking measures imposed since the start of the severe financial crisis in October 2019.
Tony Kahwaji, whose apartment in Mar Mikhael was severely damaged in the explosion, says that some people contacted him offering an estimated 40 percent of the price he had paid for his property on condition that the money be transferred to any bank abroad.
He told Asharq al-Awsat that he rejected the offer, calling on banks to release at least the money of those affected by the explosion in order to rebuild their homes.
