Maher Marcos

ERA Egypt Consultant Maher Marcos joined the Egypt Relocations Team in 2012 and is as passionate about his job as he is about his country. He enjoys all the elements involved in relocation from house searches to visa renewals and especially meeting people from around the world.

“I judge my good service by how I stay in touch with assignees long after their service period has ended, this shows that I have created a good impression and have given them a good service. My assignees rely on me and I do my best to represent our company and my country,” he says.

Maher’s advice to anyone relocating to Egypt is to be cautious when dealing with Estate Agents. The property market in Egypt is unreliable, as often the properties advertised are sometimes fake or the images used are merely a marketing gimmick. In the event of an assignee making contact with an estate agent on their own, Maher always insists that they first provide the agent’s details to him so he can pre-qualify the agent and confirm that they are legitimate. Maher forewarns that often lease agreements are more beneficial to the landlord and not tenant friendly or in line with ERA/country standards. Lease agreements are usually in Arabic but can be translated into English, however, the legally binding lease is the Arabic version.

Maher also gave a few culture lessons, which include that there are certain areas in Egypt where a female is prohibited to wear short or revealing clothes and that it is rude to discuss religion or politics in public as this generally makes people quite nervous. He confirmed that the people of Egypt are extremely friendly and hospitable.

“Knowing a lot about your country and being proud of it are some of the attributes needed to be a good consultant,” Maher added. “You need to love people and form good relationships, this will ultimately make your life easier and help you to succeed.”