Land As An Investment: Tips to become a successful land investor in Nigeria
By D. Adejana
First, if you are going to purchase land as an investment or for any purpose, I strongly recommend you use the services of a knowledgeable real estate professional to assist you. This is extremely important if you are keen in making profitable venture in that purchase.
For example, someone I know very well shared an experience of how he almost bought a “jumbo” he was not prepared for at a time but for the services of an experienced estate agent he sought.
He was shown this land somewhere in Omuwo-Odofin area of Lagos and was given the attendant documents (copies of the C of O and registered survey) purported to be that of the land he was shown.
The land he was shown looked very good for his intended use and they agreed to a selling price after negotiation.
However, knowing the importance of having a professional on his side when dealing in such transactions as – land as an investment, he called an estate agent up, gave him a copy of the survey and asked to be taken to the landed property on it.
Amuwo-Odofin is largely a Government scheme with good layout but to his surprise, they ended up on a plot in a water logged area of Amuwo as the real plot with the documents he was given.
Now, without the services of an agent, he would have paid for the wrong land and anything else can evolve from there, court case, time waiting, serious delay or total change of intended use, and the list goes on.
Too many things go wrong when things don’t go the way they should. And on land matters, making money/profit from it starts with how and what price you buy.
If you get it wrong there, you have gotten it wrong, simple.
There are inherent challenges when it comes to business of land as an investment you require the guidance of a professional to go through the landmines most time.
Despite the common challenges, there are facts that more people are making money daily by investing in land.
One major way to do this is by trading in landed properties (buy and sell for profit).
Before you take the first step and invest your money, take time to digest the following information:
Determine if the land has any title and the type of title it has. I usually say different titles require different investing temperaments.
See to it that the title stage soothes your temperament as an investor. Otherwise, you may get frustrated out of the investment.
Do your due diligence as per true ownership, going land rates, nature of the land, topography and suitability.
Take possession and do not joke with your documentation of the transaction.
Keep a good record of all your expenses on the transaction to help determine appropriate selling price.
Never fix your selling price in isolation, always carry out valuation and/or research on your property worth and the going rate of similar properties within the area.
This is to avoid underselling or your property over staying in the market because of the price tag on it.
Finance
Land as an investment makes sense, if you have the money to do it. Finance is the biggest challenge you would face as an investor.
If you can single-handedly finance the business, it’s easier to get started.
But if you don’t have the money to do it alone, you should look beyond the bank, you can approach the bank or other corporate/individual investors that may be interested in the deal with you.
Be ready to part with a good share of what your profit in the deal could have being with any of these finance sources.
The drawback sometimes is that their interest charges could be very high and meeting their conditions for a loan tedious.
Source to Purchase Your Lands
When it comes to land as an investment, you have the choice of buying the land either from the customary owners of the land (popularly known as omo-oniles), from a third party individual, corporate or government.
My recommendation for you to succeed in land as an investment is to be mindful of the source and ensure it is the right one.
One of the advantages of buying from third party corporate the option to make down payment and service the rest over a period of time if you don’t have the cash to buy the land outright without risking the lost of your land/investment once you keep your side of the bargain.
The chances of losing your investment when you buy landed properties from omo-oniles are high, especially if you do not have the fund to develop immediately after purchase.
This is the reason most people abstain from doing transaction with them.
To find a real estate company to assist you, you will want to get some recommendations from friends or family members.
Along with researching the experience of each company, you will want to verify whether they are properly licensed in their area and have proven records of helping investors to succeed in land investment.
Land as an investment is one thing in life that makes sense if you want return on your investment. There is never going to be any more of it and, because of this, it is something that will always hold value.
The key to successful investing is making sure that you hire the right professional to assist you when searching for the right land to put your money on.
At Bluehedge Realtors, we have the experience and qualifications to meet and satisfy your real estate requirements. Speak with us today.
