Let’s be honest, it’s really hard to convince expats these days to go back and buy a house in Lebanon. Nowadays, it’s even hard to convince them to come here on vacation. Byblos Bank’s latest house & land loan is trying to do by focusing on what really matters to most expats: the simple thing like never-ending Sunday family lunches, the taste of the first almond in the spring, Teta’s food, home-made or after-party Manoushe, the “service” and how you have a delivery for everything here (even Arguile).

I loved the ad and I’m glad they stayed away, to a certain extent, from the cliché stuff, but the toughest part is getting expats to eventually take a loan to buy a house or a land here. All the stuff they described can be done over a short vacation or a small stay. I’m not sure why anyone would bother to invest in real estate here with the exorbitant prices, especially in rural areas. Moreover, you can find plumbers on Sunday in Lebanon but none of them shows up on time, and even when they do, they’re unprofessional and usually screw things up, and this applies to plumbers, electricians etc.

They’re not really to blame here, but a good idea would be for banks offering house or land loans for expats or even locals is to team up with a team of experts (construction workers, plumbers, electricians, carpenters etc.) who will get the job done in time.

In all cases, it’s a very nicely done and I love every aspect of it except for the background music.