Buying Lands/Properties
One area of
modern investments is investments done concerning real estates. An investor can
purchase tracts of lands, whether several plots or acres or hectares of land at
affordable price and wait for 2 or more years for capital appreciation. A plot
of land purchased today with NGN 300,000.00 can escalate to NGN 500,000.00
within an average of 24 months. Similarly, where large expanse/tracts of lands
are purchased, say at a very affordable rate, each part or plot can be sold
thereafter at huge amount with guaranteed profits. Individuals, groups,
entities, corporations, associations, churches, mosques, government,
cooperative societies, NGOs can take advantage of real estate investments for
their collective benefits. For instance, cooperative societies can acquire real
estate assets which thereafter can be sold at considerable amount to members of
the cooperative, and this will engender further trusts and unity among members.
Companies can with a considerable amount purchase assets in stock for staff
welfare development; governments can do same especially for those in civil
service to ensure their sustainability and housing affordability while and
after discharging their civil duties. One example of government’s acquisition
of real estate was the recent acquisition of Elephant Cement House, at Alausa
Ikeja, by His Excellency (as he then was) Mr Babatunde Raji Fasola, SAN.
Churches, NGOs etc are not left behind in this trail.
However before buying or acquiring
real estates, you need to consider certain factors:
Purpose/Goal
– first and foremost you consider what
and why exactly you intend to buy or acquire such land. The purpose could be
that you need the land for personal use such as for residential, farming,
grazing, events, and other purposes. If you live in rural area, of course, you
might need the land for agricultural purpose. If you live in the urban region,
it could be that you intend having a housing estate, residential apartment, for
economic reasons, for business, religious purpose and so on. So you first
determine your reason(s) for acquiring the lands which will thereafter serve as
the baseline upon which every other action will be founded. If you are wealthy,
you can choose to purchase lands and use it for residential schemes in the
future. You may intend to have a shopping mall, shopping complex, recreational
centers, events centre which is now common in Lagos State owing partly to the
prohibition of public schools in the State for social occasions among other
reasons.
Price
– This is crucial as this will
determine the strength of your purchase. If you intend long-term investments in
real estate, you could opt for lands with little or affordable price but with
the potentiality of capital appreciation in the nearest future. For instance, a
friend of mine in Port Harcourt purchased about 2 acres of lands (12 plots) in
Ifo Area of Ogun State 5 years back. He purchased the entire acres of land at
about N100,000 per plots then. In 2016 he sells each plot for about
N600,000.00. The same plot he purchased at N100,000.00 is now sold for
N600,000.00 (imagine the profits!). Yet he is unwilling to sell all plots for
now. The in-thing is “Lands Appreciate”
and hardly “depreciate” in value.
So, if you don’t have much for now, consider buying where lands are still
affordable. E.g. I have some plots
of lands for sale at Ifo, Mowe, Ikorodu, OPIC, Ewekoro, Ijoko, Ikeja, and
others now currently sold at roughly N300,000.00 per plot, but that price
definitely is not static. That of OPIC is 4Million per plot with all title
documents intact.
Location
& verification – another thing
you need is the location where the lands are. You will need to consider if the
surrounding communities or areas where the land is situated is conducive and
hospitable. Are there government amenities, necessary infrastructures in place?
Is the land close to your working place so that you can shuttle between work
place and residential place? Is the location not under Government Acquisition
or Government Requisition? Is the location covered with general survey plan or
individuals will have to do his or her survey plan? Is the location not
water-lodged or subject to periodic flooding? Is the location not Government
Residential Area or under Government Schemes with General Master Plan or
General Government Layout for the area? I will implore you to make adequate
consultations especially as regards areas where Government has or hasn’t drawn
up a general layout to avoid taking risks. Is the location not exclusively
meant for industrial, agricultural, mining, grazing and other purposes? Is the
location friendly, peaceable, with good-intents neighbors? These and many
others you will consider before buying that land(s).
Root
of title – yes this is
important legal requirement before you part with that money you hard-earned.
First, let the vendor proves to you by evidence his root of title or
certificate of title aligning him/her with the land/house. The root of title is
very essential as it tends to show originality and will thereafter be used for
further conveyances. These
may be by: Deed of Conveyance (otherwise known as Deed of Assignment);
Certificate of Occupancy; Deed of Legal Mortgage; Deed of Gift; Land
Information Certificate; Excision; letter of allocation; Family Receipt;
Certificate of Titles; among others. Before you hands the vendor the money, let
him/them give you copy of their root of title upon which you will then carry
out a verification to ascertain the genuiness of the root of title and to avoid
any surprises that might spring up owing to defective or unexisting titles. You
may also give it to a firm or scan it your processing officer who will conduct
the search for you. E.g. if you live in Abuja, and purchase lands in Ogun
State, with C of O as the root of title, you don’t need to travel down to Lagos
to do searching, just instruct your consultant or processing officer to carry
out the verifications/search and forward his/her report to you. There are
equally trusted processing firms such as Aman
Royale Partner in Alausa Ikeja Lagos
that does processing jobs for clients from the initial stage to the final
stage of the entire transactions. The contact details are also included in this
blog. They will help you carry out any necessary verifications/search on the
root of title and get back to you asap. Sometimes, the root of title can be by
way of government excision (we will dwell more on this subsequently). It should
be noted that where the root of title is found to be legitimate and or valid,
you may simply pay a little sum and obtain a Certified True Copy (CTC) for your
personal and other uses. Again, consult the firm for getting a CTC of Root of
Title without hassle.
We will continue in a short time exploring other stages! Stay tuned.
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