Home, Land Ownership – No, Thank You, or Yes, Please?
Ever taste a slice of citrus, and your taste buds get hit with that bitter-sweet sensation? Is it more sweet than sour or more sour than sweet? Well such is the case with owning a home in our current Nigerian real estate climate. Inspite of the strong cases being made for the many gains that come with owning a home or land, some, more like a huge number of people still have an aversion, or let’s put it mildly, a stage fright for owning their own home.
The vast array of reasons for this range from: the immediate less cost implications to one’s pockets, the need to move ever so frequently maybe due to job obligations, the rigours and bottlenecks that come with this territory(documentation processes, and its attendant hurdles, the exertion of time, energy and resources), the uncertainties that political instabilities and upheavals bring if they happen, and lastly the gnawing, clinging negative fear factor attached to the heels of Nigerian Real Estate Industry that somehow just won’t go away and keeps rearing its ugly head ever so often.
Yes, these sour buds are a given. But it is undeniable that the sweet buds (the ownership of a home/landed property are an ever bigger given.
Here’s why:
It might seem ridiculously expensive buying a land and getting your home set up, but if you pay rent for upwards of 30 years in today’s Lagos, you’d conveniently be surprised that you have indeed built a home, if your funds were applied right. Wouldn’t it be wiser to find a real estate company with flexible payment schemes or rent-to-own type of plans?
If you do have to move frequently, and are unable to live-in in your purchased home or land, it is very possible to land-bank (keep now, sell much later after appreciation), or in a home type situation, get your housed listed on tenant-finders listing(you get monthly rent) who also manage your house facility as well. That way, wherever you are, wherever your job takes you, you earn, or your land is steadily appreciating.
As regards rigours and bottlenecks, this is an old-world order. Today many reputable real estate companies literally carry this ache for you. They provide you guaranteed land properties, with verified titles, allocate your lot to you within months of purchase, and verified documents are issued in no time.
Real estate remains undefeated, as one of the most robust investment options, especially in the long run. As cliché as this might sound, it holds ever so true. Ever heard the saying:” Safe as houses? Well let’s just say the stakes have upped. Now, the right real estate investments are as “safe as impenetrable vaults”. Essentially, real estate investments are perfectly safe because of the paying character of house property as an investment. Property value tends to increase without the volatility of the share market which makes it an all-round safer investment. When you factor in the return and risk associated with buying property and shares, property is considered a far safer investment.
Understanding the basic tenets of owning a home or investing in real estate either for residential or investment purposes, is really not rocket science. We’re not talking quantum physics here. In today’s world almost, everything can happen with the click of a button. Google. Research. Get the right trusted hands. Buying and Investing in property is really simpler. It’s as simple as jumping online to start looking for properties from legitimate and registered realtors, real estate firms or property and real estate listing websites. A significant amount of research can be done online, by visiting open houses and auctions or contacting realtors and real estate firms – without needing to have vast specialist knowledge beforehand.
From the comfort of your phone you can download real estate companies’ mobile apps, find a trusted real estate company, look through home and land offerings, see listed properties in real time using Google earth and maps, book an inspection online, verify availability of said properties online, and take so much buck of work off you.
The biggest case to be made for a home or landed property is that there’s the long-term capital growth strategy where in the long-term the property purchased delivers capital gain (provided the right area with correct supply/demand ratio and demographics is selected).
There’s an Investment for Every Budget. If you do some research, you’ll see various offers from realtors and real estate firms offering affordable entry points for real estate investment. The only thing required is for your income flow to be stable enough to support payments in installments till you fully own the property. If you buy smartly, you can even expect equivalent or better growth on these affordable assets than more expensive assets. A Few Years from Now You’ll Wish You Did. A case in question is Arium estate, an estate investment platform by Landwey Investment Limited. Arium hit the market in 2017 at 7 million naira. Less than a year after, value increased to an asking point of 10 million naira. And this is indeed the case for many landed properties situated in just the right axis that reek of huge development in the works. This is why if you start today and invest smartly, you’ll be patting yourself on the back a couple of years from now for a job well done. To be honest, we are at a point where real estate investments just make sense. But, like any other investment, please be sure to understand what you are doing and be diligent enough to do your work and research to find the 1-in-100 deals that make sense.
So lick up that citrus. Yea there’s sour parts but it’s mostly sweet.