Blog

5 Common Ways That Some Nigerians Abroad Sabotage Their Real Estate Investment Goals

• Posted by Karo Itoje in Blog Updates, Land Tips and Advice
• 5 Comments
• Share

Real estate investing is especially good for Nigerians living abroad. You’re too busy to learn about and partake in other form of investments. You’ve worked hard for your money and don’t want to take the risk of losing any of it. But you don’t want to leave your hard earned money just sitting in a bank in a white man’s land either. So you decide to invest in real estate in Nigeria, which is smart thinking. However you may think being abroad poses a challenge and in a bid to bridge that gap you start to insist on your own way of making the purchase that in the end may sabotage your investment goal before realizing it.

So I decided to discuss the common ways you can self-sabotage when buying real estate and how to avoid it. I hope this information help you to finally move forward with your real estate investment goals.

1. I want someone to inspect for me

I understand the need to see what you want to buy before you buy it. That is why I put a lot of effort into visiting the properties in my portfolio and record detail video of them and make them available online. While some prospects are satisfied with the video and immediately move forward with their purchase, others will say they want someone to go see the land on their behalf. Now nothing is wrong with that, except usually this person will take forever to make themselves available for the inspection. After all they are not the one buying it. So they don’t care. And the prospect keeps waiting on this person until he spends the money he wanted to invest on something else and that’s the end of it.

See, technology has made a lot of things easier these days. Gone are the days when you have to be present for things to move forward. Thanks to camera phones you can be somewhere else and be live at another place. So if you don’t trust the video you saw of a property you can ask for a live video. I will simply visit the site and while there call you on video to see the land live. The developers behind Amen estate does that too for clients abroad when it’s time to choose their plot number from the layout. And if you want to see the environment leading to the land I can record that too. I have done this a few times for clients. See the video at the link here and here.

You don’t have to drag anyone into your business. Your heart may be pure towards everyone but you can never be sure of theirs, especially in this part of the world. So play safe by keeping your investments as quiet as possible.

2. It’s my brother/sister/aunty/uncle/friend that will transfer the money in Nigeria

Say what? In this day and age? Sending money to a relative for a project is the quickest way to lose that money and turn a relative into an enemy. DON’T DO IT! Wherever you are you can pay directly into the Real estate company’s account, no third party needed; not even me, your consultant. If you don’t have a Naira account then use services like DT & T that allows you to send money in dollars and they pay the equivalent amount to the company of your choice. Handle your transactions yourself and avoid stories that touch the heart.

3. I’m coming to Nigeria soon I’ll buy when I visit

See, this one can easily work against you. Properties, especially the ones in developing areas appreciate very quickly. It means a property that currently sells for N10m today can easily sell for N12m in a few months, case in point, Amen estate Phase 2. The estate launched at N10m. Went to N12m February 1st, 2018. And 13 months later it was increased to N15million which it sells for today. Why? Well, because the development status of the land has changed significantly. The more a land develops the more value that is attached to it. So if everything already looks good to you and all your questions answered, then process your application so they can order for your Deed and Survey. Then you can plan your visit so that you come instead for the physical allocation of the plot.

Apart from price increase the estate could sell out. You may think, whatever, if it sells out there’s always going to be another one. And you’re right. However there was a reason you wanted that particular estate right? What if finding another one that has all the features that one has becomes a problem? And why leave what you can do today for another day? While waiting you risk spending the money on something else. Never leave till tomorrow that which you can do today (Benjamin Franklin).

4. I will buy only if my brother/sister/uncle/aunty/friend sees it and likes it

This I don’t get at all. They are not YOU. How will you want to base your decision solely on what someone else thinks? Let me tell you two real life examples of how this can be bad for you.

In 2017 a client who is based in London asked his sister in Lagos to go with me to inspect a land. After the inspection the sister wasn’t very excited about the land and reported same to her brother. However her brother decided he will buy a plot. And he bought it for N8.4million. Within a year of his purchase same land was selling for N14million. And within 18 months of his purchase it was selling for N16million. That was when he started telling me that I should have convinced him to buy more plots. And finally told me he only bought one because his sister’s report wasn’t optimistic. She failed to see the bigger picture! Some people will give you bad report about a land simply because all they see at that moment is bush or they see some water. Now that same land, which is Westwood Park Estate sold out at N20million/plot and all this ROI in less than 3 years! Imagine if he had bought multiple plots like he wanted. I’m sure this will go down in his books as one of his biggest regrets.

I also remember a client, a big time investor based in Singapore who passed on that same land because someone in Nigeria told him ‘Ha, behind Shoprite in Sangotedo? That whole area has the tendency to be flooded’. And once someone you know that doesn’t have anything to gain from lying to you says that to you, you tend to believe them over what your consultant says. Well, don’t! That my client will most likely not get such opportunity again to double his money in 12 months.

When you find a consultant who has never lied to you, who has no reason to force a land on you (I work independently outside the company and I have many property options so why force a particular one on you?) and who has proven that they know their onion, listen to them over what others, family/friends who know nothing about real estate investing and has never invested themselves say. For the same reason you go to a doctor for prescription when you are sick instead of a mechanic.

Investors who really do well investing in Real estate are those that ask the right questions and make buying decision solely based on that.

5. Over Analyzing

This is when you have answered all the prospect’s questions to satisfaction. They have seen the video and asked all possible questions. But they don’t just move forward, they keep over thinking things and procrastinating. When something is good, it is good. Move forward with it. Don’t overthink it. Like Alyce P. Cornyn-Selby says procrastination is, hands down our favorite form of self-sabotage. Don’t be your own enemy.

You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step – Martin Luther King, Jr

If you found this article helpful, please forward to family and friends. Help them help themselves.