10 SOLID REASONS WHY BUYING LAND FROM A REAL ESTATE COMPANY IS YOUR BEST OPTION

With the number of land scams that happen every day in Nigeria, most first time investors are always confused when it comes to who they should buy land from; the ‘Omo-oniles’ or real estate companies.

Though there may be few advantages of buying land from ‘Omo-oniles’, the advantages of buying from a real estate company are far more pronounced.

Dealing with an omo-onile requires some “special form of expertise” or involvement of land experts so that you don’t get swindled. If you’ve been asking yourself this question, here are some advantages of buying land from a real estate company:

1. You Are Sure Of The Source

     When you purchase land from a real estate company, you know who   you are buying from. In the event of a land dispute which hardly ever happens, you know who to contact.

2. You are Free from Omo-onile issues

When you buy land from a real estate company, you are free from the dreaded omo-oniles. You have no business with them and you cannot get into their trouble. You will be dealing with professionals who know how to deal with the omo-oniles and must have settled all their fees.

3. No unnecessary fees

When you buy land from an omo-onile, they don’t tell you about any additional fees until you pay for the land. Then you start hearing of additional fees like signing fees, foundation fees, roofing fees etc. In most cases you will keep paying some unnecessary fees until you get fed up.

With real estate companies, there are extra compulsory fees that all investors pay; after paying these fees, that’s all.

4. All documentations are done for you

With Real estate companies, you don’t have to contract a lawyer to prepare the necessary document for the land transaction. The company does the documentation in your favour. The only document you should get yourself however, is a governor’s consent (link).

5. You are sure the environment will be planned.

Real estate companies indicate the kind of buildings they allow within their estates. So you are sure you are going to live in an area that has been pre-planned.

6. No agency fees

When you buy land from real estate companies, you don’t have to negotiate with agents or pay any agency fees. If you were buying an omo-onile land, you may have to pay an extra percentage of the purchase price of the land as agent fees.

7. Your land cannot be stolen

When you buy an omo-onile land, even if you do everything right, buy from the right family and pay all the necessary fees, you still have to put some measures in place such as fencing your land, to prevent criminals and trespassers from stealing your land.

8. Flexible Payment Plans

Real estate companies offer flexible installment payment plans to people who cannot afford to pay outright. This could be helpful, provided you are dealing with a good company.

9. You land cannot be resold

When you buy from a real estate company, you can rest assured that your land can never be resold even if you pay in instalments. You can’t be assured of this if you buy from an omo-onile.

10. You won’t have to worry about surveying the land by yourself or worry about development such as drainage, roads, light etc. The company handles all that. You are however required to pay some fees for survey and development which is usually lower than what you’d pay if you did all that yourself.

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FIVE REVEALING REASONS WHY INVESTING IN REAL ESTATE IS BETTER THAN SAVING IN THE BANK

Some feel that saving money in the bank is a good strategy to building wealth. Though it is very good to save, it is not a good wealth building strategy. The gains of real estate investment far outweighs that of saving in the bank for the following reasons.

1. Currency always diminish in value while real estate appreciates: The purchasing power of money continually diminishes. The things One million naira could buy five years ago are not the same things it can buy today as the prices of goods have gone up.

However, real estate always appreciates. If you buy a plot of land in a good location, take effective possession and perfect necessary documentation today, in five years time, you can sell it for double (or even triple) the price you bought it.

2. Return on savings is infinitesimal while returns on real estate investments are huge: When you save your money in the bank or do a fixed deposit, your returns on investment are usually single digit per annum.

Conversely, based on the rate of development in the area you purchase your landed property or building, the return on investment are often huge.

If you buy a house for example and let it out to tenants, between a decade to two, you will have recovered your investment and you will continue to make profit for the rest of your life.

3. Your money in the bank simply makes the banker richer while your money in real estate makes you richer: If you save money in the bank, the money will be used by bankers to give loans to customers and you will be paid an interest. The difference between the interest given by the customer who loans your money and the amount given to you is taken by the bank. Thus making the banker richer.

On the other hand, when you invest in real estate, the difference between the price you bought the property and the price you are selling it is taken completely by you. Thus making you richer.

4. Expenses always arise to deplete your savings but your property is always there appreciating in value: When you have money saved in the bank, no matter how disciplined you are, there will always be expenses that will arise to deplete the savings.

When you invest such funds into real estate, your cash is tied into an investment that will be appreciating in value no matter how lose you are with the remaining cash in your possession.

5. None of the rich ascribe their success in gathering wealth to saving but most of them have impressive property portfolios: Of all the wealthy individuals in the world, I do not know of anyone whose wealth strategy was saving in the bank.

However, a cursory look at the wealthiest individuals in the world, in Africa and even in Nigeria show that property investment is the preferred wealth building option.

Therefore, if you desire your money to appreciate with high return on investment which makes you richer and among the wealthy men in the world, consider investing in real estate

If you desire someone to talk to on how to get started, simply call 08092619008

THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION FIRST TIME LAND INVESTORS SHOULD BE ASKING

Many people, especially those who are about to make their first land transaction get confused when it comes to asking the right questions.

In some cases, intending investors ask questions like “where is the place?”, “Is it far?” and lots of other questions.

I’ve even had an encounter with someone who asked for the longitude and latitude of the land.

 While these questions are not out of place and arise as a result of people trying to be careful so that they don’t make a financial commitment they would later regret, wouldn’t it be better if they knew the right questions to ask?

 

That brings us to the first question anyone intending to buy land should ask which is *“what is the status of the land?”*

See, before you buy land in Nigeria, it is very important that you know the status of the land!

Knowing the status of the land you are about to buy can save you a lot of money and unnecessary hassles.

 Imagine buying a piece of land and erecting a building on it, just for the government to come some years after, and tell you to move out, with claims that your building is illegal because it is sitting on government property.

 

All these can be prevented if you know the status of the land you are investing in before sealing the transaction.
This brings us to Land classification

 

Land can be classified as either free or acquired. A parcel of land is considered free if the government has not indicated any interest whatsoever in that land.
Such land is safe to buy because the title on the land can be perfected without issues.

In most cases, such lands will either have a gazette, a C of O or a governor’s consent.

 Now that you understand what it means for land to be free, you should also know that all lands that fall within areas that are designated as urban areas are under government acquisition until deemed committed or free.

 

There are two types of acquisition;

1. committed acquisition and

2. general acquisition

 

Committed acquisition

A parcel of land is said to be under committed acquisition when the government has indicated an intention to use that land for a specific purpose such as provision of amenities.
Such lands belong to the government and can never be available for use by individuals.

 

If you purchase land that is under committed acquisition, it will be impossible for you to perfect your land title and you’ll only be occupying the land until the government comes to kick you out.

 

General acquisition

Lands that are under “general acquisition or “global acquisition can later be confirmed ‘free’ or ‘committed’.
A land under general acquisition can become free by a process called *excision*.

“Excision is a process whereby the government releases a portion of an expanse of land that is not committed"

 

If a parcel of land that was formerly under acquisition becomes excised, it is then considered free and becomes gazetted.

 

The gazette then becomes the title on the land and such land is safe to buy because a proper title can be processed on the land.

 

A second case where lands under general acquisition can be released is if an individual purchased a land that was under acquisition without going through an excision process.

 

Such lands can go through another process called “ratification” or “regularization” in which the land owner pays for the land to be ratified or regularized.

 

The only conditions in this case are that the land in question must not fall within a committed area and that the purpose for which the land was bought does not disrupt the original plan of the state.

 

Conditions for ratification may differ from state to state.

 

I hope by now you understand the most important question to ask when buying land in Nigeria and the kind of lands you should avoid.

 

If you got value from this article, please share it with others, you might just be saving someone from possible demolition in future.

 

What other questions do you think first time investors should ask?

 

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