What You Need to Know About Nigeria’s Property Market (ii)
This may be to some a shocking revelation. In your search, a single property may feature on the list of houses for sale in eight different offices. A number of factors are responsible for this. One is joint instructions, where the same landlord or vendor instructs more than one estate agent firm to deal on his behalf very often because they want quick services. The more common situation, however arises when estate agents who obtained information from an original source (that agent whom the vendor reserved to sell) then peddle it among each other until a buildup of agents occurs over the same property. Each one of them wants to earn a commission and so it could become very messy. It is therefore safe to request for a written letter which the landlord instructed the agent to sell the property at the commencement of the sale process. This is not always available but where it is available it can be a fair, though inconclusive, pointer that a long chain of agents does not exist. There are other convincing ways an estate firm can show a prospective buyer that they have a proper instruction to sell if a letter is not available. But it is not important to be convinced so as to avoid a messy situation arising from quack agents. Please do not believe everything you are told on the market. Verify all information.
Just like you would visit several dealers when you want to buy a car, so also you would need to shop around to get a feel of the market and compare prices for value. There are various factors that attend to a property being cheap or expensive ranging from location to access. For instance, why should a property in Ikeja G.R.A attract higher prices than properties on Adeniyi Jones in the same Ikeja? One reason may be access-Is the access road tarred or untarred? Is it near a major road access or do you have to meander on narrow roads far into the neighbourhood to get to it?
The age of the building also matters. Generally, the newer the better. Design and finishing of the building and land space (garden) size available are also important. Recently, security of the neighbourhood has also become a factor as armed robbery has become more rampant than ever and it appears some areas are more susceptible than others. These are all factors which affect the prices at which properties change hands.
