In my engaging years of experience in the Nigerian real estate market, I have come to understand that many customers don’t really care about their money because of the way they behave after making payment for a property.
This is largely dependent on different reasons as some customers are not in the country to monitor or follow through the process, some are too busy with day to day activities while others are just lazy to do the needful.
Information is very key and knowledge should be acquired by customers before buying real estate in any part of the world, it is not enough to know that real estate has the capacity to produce high return on investment, it is important to note that is not all real estate that yields return in good time that is even if you get the buying process right.
As a customer there are few things you need to know before buying a property which is even as important as the property you want to buy; the location, title, cost, the owner(company) and government policy among others, you cannot afford to undermine this process as they are very vital.
In my experience, many customer don’t have the patience to go through this process one after the other, it might not be bad for a passive buyer who can get a trusted manager, however, It is dangerous for anyone who doesn’t have the capacity to afford a property twice.
It is much more easier for a customer to make payment than to fill a subscription form sometimes, you have to keep calling the customer to get the form and it can take weeks before they are able to fill it. It is so sad that many can’t even fill it correctly. As a customer, fill the form and ask questions when you are not clear about what you are filling because sometimes you are already signing the contract without knowing, albeit not a problem but the fact that you can’t take time to understand what you are filling out is the major problem.
Furthermore, It is more comfortable for a customer to sign a document than to vet it before signing, a lot of customers are always in a rush to sign a document, and many don’t even read the document as they are not particularly concerned about what the document is saying. I will advise that you get a lawyer to help you go through any document given to you before you sign it to be sure that your interest is properly protected.
Moreover, It is easy for many customers to come for inspection rather than come for allocation/handover, this is quite funny as many will not even show up while others will delegate this function to someone else who doesn’t have a clear knowledge about the transaction. Don’t let this be what I ordered versus what I got; which is one of the major issue that happens to many as they don’t prepare properly to take possession of their property.
Don’t waste your money if you can’t follow due processes, this is why many are duped.
You bought a land but you don’t know where the land is, or you don’t even know the beginning and the end of your land or the estate.
Customers don’t know what is next after allocation. Please make adjustments and go through the proper processes in acquiring your land after purchase.
Bayo Lawal is a real estate mogul and he writes from Lagos.
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