Managing off-plan sales: a guide for a developer's sales team

What the Wafi rules mean for a sales team

Off-plan selling in Saudi Arabia is overseen by the Real Estate General Authority (REGA). REGA's Wafi page (https://rega.gov.sa/rega-services/platforms/wafi-off-plan-sales-and-lease/) says a marketing licence is requested through its platform with documents such as the title deed number and the architectural and engineering plans. It also says a developer that wants to take reservation amounts during the marketing-licence period must disclose the project's status and plans, must not take more than 5% of the unit value, and must pay what it receives into an escrow account.

The same page lists requirements for the sales and lease licence including the commercial registration, chamber of commerce membership certificate, the credit record, approved designs, a feasibility study, a sample sale contract and an escrow account agreement with a licensed bank.

For the sales team the rule of thumb is simple: nobody advertises, reserves or collects money until the company's compliance owner confirms the licence is in place and what may be said. This is general education, not legal advice. Check the current text with REGA.

Escrow in plain words

An escrow account is a bank account dedicated to one project. Buyers' payments go in, and the developer draws on it as construction progresses. The law firm Trowers (https://www.trowers.com/insights/2024/november/the-new-off-plan-real-estate-law-in-the-kingdom-of-saudi-arabia) summarises that disbursements are released against a document certified by the project consultant and accountant, and that reservation fees are capped at 5% of the unit price and paid into the escrow account.

The sales effect is practical: any amount a customer pays to reserve must go through the channel approved for the project, never to a personal account or a transfer an employee arranges with a customer.

Price list discipline

• One approved version of the unit and price list, dated and numbered. Everything else is withdrawn.
• Each unit has one of three states: available, reserved, sold.
• Every price or status change is logged with who, when and why.
• No price is quoted to a customer or broker except from the approved version.
• Review the list before every campaign and every launch.

Reservation to contract: track every step

Every step has an owner and an expected date. The riskiest case is a reservation without a deadline: a unit held for weeks because nobody followed up hides real demand. Make the deadline the rule and extensions the exception, approved by a manager.

1. First contact and customer registration, with the source.
2. Interest in a specific unit, after checking it is available.
3. A reservation with a deadline, and a recorded reason if extended.
4. Payment through the approved channel, receipt kept.
5. Buyer documents collected, and financing if any.
6. Contract signed.
7. Payment schedule, then handover.

The broker channel

• Register the client with the broker before contacting them, not after, with a date and time.
• A written rule for who owns the customer when two brokers register the same one.
• The broker's rate and when it falls due, written before the sale.
• If a broker will advertise on their own, check the advertising requirements with REGA first.

Launch day checklist

• Licence and disclosures ready and reviewed by compliance.
• Approved price list frozen and distributed.
• Payment channel ready and tested.
• Attendance and waiting lists recorded, with a written rule for who reserves first.
• Each person knows who reserves, who answers and who escalates.
• Prepared answers for the repeated questions: price, availability, payments, handover.

KPIs for the team

Set your own target numbers per project; there is no single correct rate.

Where EvaCore fits, briefly

If you want a tool that ties these steps together, EvaCore's developer stack covers the unit list, timed reservation, broker portal, buyer portal and launch events. All of it is available on request and part of the Enterprise plan by annual quote. See the developer sales platform page, and the deal file and bank financing page for the financing path. EvaCore has no Wafi or escrow linkage.