Is this the toughest place in the world to be a real estate agent?

Families, estate agents, and heritage activists living in the ruins of Mosul are trying to rebuild the city two years after the defeat of IS.

Source: Dateline

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For just $55000, an enormous heritage house in the heart of Mosul's Old City could be yours.

There's just one catch – the properties have been reduced to ruins in the worst urban warfare since World War ll.

Mahfoud Al Nieeme, one of the city's real estate agents, has been selling and leasing properties in the Old City for over 25 years.

In Mosul, more than 300,000 residents are still displaced and homeless, two years since the end of the military operation to retake the city from IS.

"When we first came back [after the battle] and opened our offices, we couldn't get into some of the houses because they had IEDs and those sort of things that IS had. "

As the conflict broke out, Mahfoud put his life on the line to protect his clients' title deeds to ensure some of these people would have homes to return to, if it even survived the warfare.

"These are the documents that we protected when IS got in - we smuggled them to the Western side to protect them from fire and from being messed with."

As the dust settles in Mosul, Mahfoud still worries about the safety of real estate in the destroyed city.

"Some houses are still worrying. We don't go near houses that were not inspected by the Civil Defence. Because some houses might have IEDs."

Mosul is trying to rebuild and find hope in its ruins. Source: Dateline

Selling houses in Iraq

It was almost impossible for Mahfoud to practise his profession under IS – and liberation brought new challenges.

After months of artillery and air strikes, there are 40,000 less houses in West Mosul.

"Because of the war and the fighting, three quarters of the houses were destroyed.

"The ones that weren't destroyed are unstable or damaged. So the prices dropped. If somebody buys a property, they have to fix it."

Despite Mahfoud's best efforts, business has slowed down as people fled the city.

"Before IS we would sell five or six houses a month. Ever since IS, we stopped working. We sold two or three houses in the whole two years."

"If somebody has money, they use it to cover their living expenses, or they've migrated."

The contrast between the rubble and the restored is stark in war-torn Mosul. Source: Dateline

A city stuck between war and peace

In 2017, the city was torn apart in the crossfire during a fierce 9 month battle as government forces moved to reclaim the city from IS stronghold.

But almost two years after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared the city liberated from Islamic State, the Old City of Mosul remains largely in ruins.

The battle left Mosul, Iraq's second-largest urban centre and capital of Nineveh province, a dilapidated ghost city.

Limited funding and an ill-equipped municipality have since stalled efforts to rebuild the Old City.

The streets of Mosul two years after IS defeat. Source: Dateline

However, the city's people – like Mahfoud – have taken matters into their own hands in an effort to bring life back to the ruins.

Volunteers have taken to the streets clearing rubble and garbage, opening roads, drilling water wells and distributing aid.

"Buildings can one day be renovated," said Mahfoud.

"Perhaps if people see that things are being rebuilt, they might come back."