Valuation
- Land and property of all types.
- Apartments, houses and buildings.
- Commercial and industrial property.
- Company and institutional assets.
About Ebrahim Halabi
A sworn real estate appraiser to the courts and banks of Lebanon, working in the valuation of property and assets and the preparation of expert reports on real estate value.
Who this is
Appointed as a sworn appraiser by the civil and religious courts since 2013, on top of a career in banking finance, credit review and internal audit that began in 1997.
Sworn real estate appraiser to the courts and banks of Lebanon.
- Sworn since 2013
- Appointed by the civil and religious courts to court-mandated appraisal assignments.
- In finance since 1997
- Accounting, credit review and internal audit.
- Three readers
- Courts, banks and embassies — and each holds a report to a different standard.
- Arabic and English
- Reports are prepared in both. French to working proficiency.
The principle
The principle behind the work
A valuation is not a number. The number is a conclusion, and a conclusion with no visible route to it helps nobody.
Value emerges from the intersection of several things: location, area, form of ownership, permitted and actual use, building condition, planning status, technical characteristics, and the state of the market on a particular date. The appraiser's job is to examine each of those, then show how they became a figure.
That is what makes a report usable when it actually matters — in front of a judge, a bank's credit committee, or a table of heirs who do not agree.
The work
All services in detailServices
Court and banking files
- Expert reports for litigation.
- Valuations for banking and financing purposes.
- Reports for embassies and administrative files.
Inheritance and property transactions
- Valuation and division of inherited property.
- Organising the property side of an estate inventory file.
- Following through the transfer of property to heirs.
- Property division and unification (farz and damm).
- Registration, mortgage and mortgage discharge follow-up.
Supporting services
- Real estate feasibility studies.
- Company and business registration file follow-up.
In the non-valuation services, the role is organising the file, following it through, and coordinating with the relevant professionals and public departments — not providing a legal service. Anything requiring a lawyer, notary, engineer or licensed surveyor is referred to them.
Method and independence
Methodology
Every instruction starts with one question: what must this report answer?
That answer governs everything after it — which documents are needed, whether an inspection is required, which valuation approach fits, and what form the report should take. A report for a family settlement and a report for bank security can concern the same property and differ substantially in scope and depth.
Once the purpose is fixed: review the documents, inspect where needed, analyse the evidence against the market, then report.
Independence
An appraiser does not act for whoever pays the fee.
In an estate, one heir may prefer a high figure and another a low one, depending on whether they are receiving or compensating. In a dispute, each side's interest runs the opposite way. In a financing file, the borrower and the lender look at the same property from different angles.
In all of these, the only value worth having is the one that can be justified from the evidence — not the one that satisfies a party. A report written to support a position loses its worth the moment it is tested.
What a report says
What a clear report contains
Whoever reads the report — client, court or bank — should finish it knowing:
The background
The background behind the reports
Valuation is where a longer career in finance ended up, not where it started.
- 1997 —
National Institute for Guarantee of Deposits
Accounting department, later Director of Internal AuditSince 1997 Ebrahim Halabi has worked at the National Institute for Guarantee of Deposits, beginning in the accounting department and later appointed Director of Internal Audit — responsible for internal audit work and for monitoring compliance with internal procedures and regulations.
- 1999 – 2021
Kafalat SAL
Accounting and financial administration, reviewing loan applicationsFrom 1999 to 2021 he worked in parallel at Kafalat SAL, across the accounting department and financial administration, with a focus on the accounting and financial review of loan applications, and took part in financial and banking panels and professional events in Lebanon and abroad.
- 2005 —
Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections (LADE)
Coordinator and lecturer — Hasbaya, Marjaayoun and BaabdaSince 2005 he has served as coordinator and lecturer with the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections (LADE), coordinating election observer groups in Hasbaya, Marjaayoun and Baabda, and delivering lectures, training sessions and workshops on elections, electoral law and electoral reform.
- 2013 —
The civil and religious courts
Sworn real estate appraiserSince 2013 he has been appointed by the civil and religious courts to carry out court-mandated appraisal assignments across a range of legal matters — a different reader again, and a different standard of proof. A judge is not looking for a figure. A judge is looking for a reasoning that survives being disputed by the party it does not favour.
- 2025 —
CIS / René Moawad Foundation
Intensive courses in finance and auditingSince December 2025 he has been teaching intensive block-format courses on finance and auditing at CIS / René Moawad Foundation, to students from a range of academic backgrounds. The courses are ongoing.
That is two decades spent on the other side of the desk from the appraiser: reading valuations rather than writing them, as part of deciding whether a file holds up. It leaves a fairly specific idea of what a credit committee actually checks, which assumptions get questioned first, and which report gets sent back.
Teaching, training and public work
Both strands run into the valuation work more directly than they might appear to. Observation work is the discipline of recording what is there rather than what was expected; teaching is the discipline of having to explain a method to somebody who does not already accept it. A report is read by people in exactly that position.
The register
Experience and credentials
Practice
- Sworn appraiser to the courts since 2013 — appointed by civil and religious courts to court-mandated appraisal assignments.
- Financial and accounting practice since 1997.
- Certificate in Financial Appraisal — Université La Sagesse (2012).
Academic qualifications
- Master's in Financial Management and BankingIslamic University of Lebanon (2023). Coursework in economics, finance, accounting and research methods. Thesis: "Artificial Intelligence and Its Impact on the Effectiveness of Financial Decision-Making in Banking Sector Project Management."
- Master's in DemographyLebanese University (2011). Coursework in population studies, social statistics, labour dynamics and research methods. Thesis: "The Living Crisis and Its Impact on Lebanese Youth in Employment and Education."
- Bachelor in Business AdministrationMUBS (2004).
- Baccalauréat Technique in Commercial SciencesCIS (1999).
Arbitration and technical training
- Postgraduate Diploma in Commercial Arbitration — American Council for International Law and Arbitration (ACILA), USA (2014).
- Specialised training in investment and administrative contract disputes — Ain Shams Center for Arbitration and the Egyptian International Arbitration Center (2014).
- Arbitration practice certification, and international arbitration advisory training, general and specialised — Geneva Centre for International Arbitration (2015).
- Electronic crimes and information security — Geneva Centre for International Arbitration (2015).
- AutoCAD professional training certificate — Arab Union of Surveyors (2015).
Arabic (native), English and French (working proficiency). Reports are prepared in Arabic and English.
The approved description of status is "sworn real estate appraiser to the courts and banks". Formulations such as "accredited by Banque du Liban" or "approved by the Banking Control Commission" are not used without an official document evidencing them.
Still being verified before publication: syndicate or professional membership (syndicate membership) and office address (office address). No status or accreditation goes live without a document supporting it.
A large share of Lebanon's property and inheritance files belong to people who do not live there.
The file starts remotely: documents and details are sent in and reviewed, and only then does it become clear what genuinely requires a presence in Lebanon — an inspection, a power of attorney, a local representative. The order matters. Plenty of people notarise a POA abroad, at cost and inconvenience, only to find it was not the document the transaction needed.
Get in touch
If you have a property or a file that needs valuing, send the property type, the region, and the purpose of the report. The information is reviewed before any commitment, to establish whether the service fits and what it would require.