Want To Send Money To A Sibling To Pay For A Land For You? DON'T!

Want To Send Money To A Sibling To Pay For A Land For You? DON’T!

Posted by Karo Itoje in Blog Updates, Land Tips and Advice
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Something very sad happened a few hours ago that drove me to come write this post.

My name is Karo Itoje. I’m an experienced real estate consultant. And I help people home and abroad locate and process an application for genuine affordable land/house in Lagos. Part of my job as a consultant is to advice and guide my clients through the process of buying a land in Lagos in other that they find the land that meet their needs and don’t lose their hard earned money to embezzlers or scammers.

One of the things I have always stressed to my clients is Never send money to anyone to pay for a land for you, not even if you think you can trust the person with your life. Any real estate professional who wants the best for you will tell you this. But unfortunately some people still do this either out of ignorance or because they choose to believe their sibling will never try to steal from them or embezzle their money.

What happened that is making me sound this warning publicly?

A Nigerian woman contacted me from Italy recently about her interest in buying a land in Ibeju Lekki. After we discussed about her need she told me she had a land she was still paying for and that she will come back to me after she is done with paying for that land. So I said okay. Only for her to contact me a few hours ago to tell me that something terrible happened, that she sent her brother N1.280million about a week ago to complete payment for that land and her brother claim to not have received the money even though his bank said the money was received. Below is our chat:

Now this woman had an agent she was working with and things were going fine except that she said the man was too slow in responding to her. So her friends started to discourage her that how can she trust someone she had only met once. Unfortunately the brother she’s known all her life is the person that ended up stealing from her.

The First RULE of sending payment for a land/property

The first general rule of sending payment for a land or property in Nigeria while based abroad is that you NEVER, regardless of who they are, send money to anyone’s account other than the company you are buying the land or property from. They have their accounts in their company names, ask for it.

On all our land Application forms it is clearly stated there that you never also pay to a consultant or agent. And that’s not because they think we are scammers, but it’s just better to play safe. All real estate companies are registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission. When you pay into the company’s account, then you can easily take it up with them should any issue arise about the payment, which has never happened in my years in the business.

Someone called me sometime ago about his interest to buy a land. But after discussing what’s available and prices, he said he didn’t have that much but he would send to my account what he has and keep adding to it until it’s enough to pay for the land. I discouraged that idea quickly and let him know he shouldn’t even suggest that to someone else. You may trust me and yes I trust myself not to eat your money or run with it, but this isn’t just about trust. It’s about professionalism and again playing safe. During a transaction it is essential that you do things by the book so that should things ever go sour, you have a case to fight.

Also sometimes people with the best intentions have found themselves in situations they never wanted to. Imagine someone struggling financially in Nigeria and has never before had N500k in their account, all of a sudden someone deposits millions of Naira there. It’s easy to think, let me just borrow so and so amount from it I’ll replace it next week and pay for the land. But then next week comes, they can’t get the money. And if they are a sibling then it’s easy for them to relax and think you will do nothing to them.

There has been so many cases of siblings embezzling the money sent to them to buy a land and or erect a building. I read one recently where a man had been sending money to his parents for a few years now to build a house for him and do other things on his behalf, only to finally come home and realize that nothing, absolutely nothing was done for him with the money he has been sending. He was so mad, he arrested his parents.

So it’s better to not put others in that situation where they can easily take advantage of you.

How to pay for a land/property yourself anywhere you are in the world

Technology has made a lot of things easier for us. Now anyone anywhere can do business with someone in another country without having to even leave the comfort of their home. Sometime ago I wrote about How to Buy a Land in Nigerian from Abroad without Fear of Being Scammed. You should read the article. There I offered two options you have if you want to buy a land in absence. At least 95% of my clients are based abroad, and the common option they go for is they transfer money to their Nigeria account and from there make the necessary transfer themselves to the company’s account.

Money is hard to earn. I have close friends based abroad, UK, US and Italy and I know how hard they work around the clock to make the money that they do. It will be sad if you let yourself lose any of it due to carelessness or sentiments you have about your siblings, relatives, friends and even lawyers. I screamed when someone once told me that when he wants to buy a land he just calls his lawyer and sends him money, that the lawyer processes everything. And I asked, hope you have copies of the documents? He said yes, some. I said have you made sure that all the documents carry your name? He said not all of them. And I was completely shocked! Yes, lawyers have their role to pay in buying a land/property, if you can afford one. However the part about filling out a land application form and signing it, is not part of their role. You are to do that yourself because the person’s name on the application is the person recognized by the company as the owner of the land. And once you process an application for a land from abroad, always make sure that the soft copies of your receipt and contract of sale is emailed to you.

All the best as you start and grow your property portfolio in Nigeria.

Update: I followed up with the woman about the issue I referred to above and fortunately her brother wasn’t lying. The problem was with her bank in Italy as some of the money wasn’t deposited. But it has been sorted. I am happy for her. However everything I said in the article still stands. Never send money to anyone to pay for a land for you. Pay directly into the account of the company you are buying the land from. Better to be safe than sorry.

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