Baron Luxe Real Estate had three milestones land in the same week. The Dubai-based brokerage won two Arabian Property Awards – one for Marketing, one for Leasing/Rentals – opened its new office at I-Rise Tower, and marked four years since founder Bjorn Hartendorp signed the papers to start the business on 24 August 2022. We spoke to him about what that timing means, what earned the two awards, and what the firm is building next.

Three milestones in one week – what does the timing say to you?

None of it was planned to land in the same seven days. The awards were announced when they were announced, the office was ready when it was ready, and the anniversary is just on the calendar. But the fact that all three arrived together is not a coincidence either. They’re outcomes of the consistency to keep building instead of pausing.

The first award was for Marketing. What earned it?

Our personal-brand approach. We built a structured programme that grows every agent’s personal presence, starting with a 60-posts-in-60-days framework and continuing with ongoing guidance on how to build sustained visibility rather than waiting for the phone to ring.

The reason it works is that it treats an agent’s personal brand as a real asset – one we help them build and own. A Baron Luxe agent walks into a listing meeting with a professional presence that would have taken them years to build alone, and the firm invests in that presence continuously, not as a one-off campaign. 

The second award was for Leasing/Rentals. What made the difference there?

Data, and how we teach the team to use it. We’ve built the strongest data foundation in the market and put the systems in place to keep it current; some of our agents have over 60 active and verified listings.

Our onboarding and ongoing training focus on turning that data into faster, sharper decisions, pricing a listing correctly the first time, matching tenants to the right units, and closing conversations with real numbers rather than gut feel. The advantage is the combination: the best data, kept up to date, and a team trained to use it. That standard flows through every leasing interaction, and the award recognises the operation behind it.

You bought the new office rather than leased it. What does that tell your team?

That the company they work for is committed to the same long term they are. An agent building their business needs to know the firm around them is committed to the same horizon. When you own the office, your monthly cost is fixed: no annual rent shock, no landlord conversations, no move-out surprises.

That stability flows down to every person on the team. It also frees capital for the things that actually help agents – better marketing, back-office support, and tools like Property Monitor Elite that we signed on to last week. This move is Part 2 of the long-term thesis I wrote about last year – the argument was that Baron Luxe would invest where others save. The office we bought is the proof.

Talent thrives in the right environment!

The environment changes what’s achievable. We’ve spent four years building a high-performance sales team – the tools, the training, the support systems, and a management team with the experience to coach agents rather than compete with them. The dynamic of a team where everyone is winning lifts the ones who join it. Talent grows around other talent.

The marketing operation and the data infrastructure give our agents a real edge in every conversation. The training is continuous, not a first-week orientation. The support is a management layer that has been through the cycles and knows how to guide agents through them.

And there’s a specific commitment we make that most brokerages don’t: our goal is that every agent who joins Baron Luxe is able to buy their first property within 18 months. In 2025, our team bought 11 properties; we are on track to beat that in 2026. This commitment changes how we think about compensation, coaching, and the trajectory we build with each person on the team.

If that’s the environment you want around you, the careers page is the first step.

Baron Luxe Real Estate marks its fourth year today. The new office at I-Rise Tower, Barsha Heights, is open for meetings and viewings. Both Arabian Property Awards will be formally presented at the International Property Awards ceremony in London this November.