Showing posts with label buying a house in lagos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label buying a house in lagos. Show all posts

Tuesday, 16 February 2010

Houses and Rents in Lagos Nigeria

In Lagos Nigeria, houses of different types and shapes have various going rates and duration but that largely depends on environment and location. Please note $1 = N 150. In order to explain how rents are collected and where best to seek what kind of apartment let us decimate houses and rents in lagos Nigeria into houses on the mainland and houses on the Island.

Lagos Nigeria is typically divided into two segments namely the Island which houses much of the Middle class and upper classes and the mainland which houses a small segment of the upper class, middle class and the bulk of the upper class.

Houses on the mainland of Lagos Nigeria

Most houses on the mainland are exclusively occupied by the lower class with the bulk of them being unskilled labour. They are made up primarily of the face-me-I-face-you kind of houses in which the apartments are rooms which could be occupied by families sometimes comprising of as many as 12 members. The lower middle class of the Lagos Nigeria society usually occupy houses with apartments such as self contained, two bedroom flats and three bedroom flats. The few middle class folks would either go for three bedroom flats, bungalows or duplexes. On the mainland rents vary from as little as N 30,000 a year to over N 3,000,000 ($ 200 to $ 20,000)

On the mainland, houses and rents are most expensive in the Ikeja and Surulere. Most of the middle class on the mainland live in places like GRA, G Cappa Estate, Allen Avenue, Toyin Street, Opebi road for Ikeja and Alaka, Adeniran Ogunsanya, Eric Moore among others in Surulere. Generally speaking self contained apartments go for as little as $ 2,000 a year. Other flats especially 3 bedroom flats go for between $ 4,000 and over $ 10,000 per annum. Other places on the mainland where apartments are a bit expensive include Apapa, Ilupeju, Magodo, parts of Yaba, Ajao Estate and Festac.

On the other hand places where the poor and lower class abound offer mainly one room apartments on different floors with a single toilet, kitchen and bathroom serving all the tenants on that floor. Rates go for anything from $ 200 to $ 500 per annum.

Houses on the island of Lagos

With the exception of Epe, Obalende, Idumota and other shanty towns Lagos mainland is the exclusive preserve of the middle class and upper class. Many of the people in this class are expatriates who are in Lagos Nigeria on business or leisure. The options are very attractive but expensive. Luxury apartments can be found in Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lekki Pennisular and Ajah with rates ranging from $ 4,000 to well over $ 100,000 a year. Some expatriates prefer to lodge in five star Hotels which also offer the same amount of luxury except that they are more expensive.

Places like Adeola Odeku, Akin Adesola, Admiralty way and Victoria Garden city are places on the Victoria Island and Ajah Extension that offer luxury apartments. Ikoyi also has a number of luxury offering apartments in places like banana Island, Park view and foreshore estates. Niger Towers is also another well known luxury apartment building with hundreds of apartments on offer. With a budget of $80,000 you could get yourself a 2 or 3 bed room luxury apartment if you are a high end consumer.

Paul Onwueme is a business reporter and writes about business opportunities in Lagos Nigeria.
To find out more about genuine business opportunities in Lagos Nigeria visit his blog at http://www.lagosbusinesses.blogspot.com. or his other blog at http://www.lagos-nigeria-real-estate.blogspot.com 

Thursday, 11 February 2010

Finding Houses For Sale in Lagos

In Lagos, Nigeria, there is a tourism boom about to be unleashed following development efforts and economic growth that promises many opportunities to investors. The result of this is a rapidly expanding real estate sector offering unlimited opportunities to reap bountiful harvests from. Take for instance 5 years ago undeveloped land in the Lekki axis of Lagos Nigeria and Ikoyi areas sold for less than half its current market value with developed properties selling in some cases for less than one third of the current market price. This is indicative of a real estate boom and unlike the stock market boom of 2004 - 2008 the real estate boom is an investor's haven.

This brings us to some of the issues that will naturally be encountered as a result of people preferences and choices with buying houses. A number of problems are associated with buying and selling of houses in Lagos Nigeria and it is only proper I mention some of them before listing out places to find houses to buy or sell.

One of the major problems will be the omooniles (descendants of the land owners or original occupants of various communities in Lagos Nigeria). These are usually idle and Lazy people who want to lay claim to almost any major development taking place on Land they may have already sold to people. By extorting money and collecting illegal fees these omooniles make life difficult for home owners or people desiring to build their own houses. Be on the look out for them whenever you decide to buy a house in Lagos Nigeria. Your best protection against omooniles is to buy directly from reputable real estate companies or acquire land directly from the government and build as quickly as possible. Another problem you face would be real estate fraudsters who could go as far as faking contact details of some reputable real estate companies in order to hoodwink home seekers and other real estate investors. Many of these fraudsters make offers that are too good to be true or unrealistically attractive in order to get at your money. Always insist on patronizing reputable real estate agencies and companies and ensure that you visit their offices to verify their authenticity.

In 2009, and onwards there are many places to start your search for houses available for sale in Lagos Nigeria. Here is a compilation of a list of places to find houses for sale in Lagos Nigeria;

1. Online Classified Adverts

Classified online adverts such as those on nairalist.com, nairaland.com and several websites of real estate companies is a major channel for finding houses and other property for sale in Lagos Nigeria.

2. News papers and magazine publications

A number of newspapers run dedicated editions for advertising or informing the public about opportunities to buy and sell houses in Lagos Nigeria. The most recognized of these is the Guardian Newspaper which runs a Monday Edition dedicated to the real estate sector. Another well known publication for finding houses for sale in Lagos Nigeria is castles magazine. There is also Properties and Homes magazine among others. The draw back is that these publications can only be bought in Nigeria as they do not circulate globally hence people living abroad may not find this option convenient. 

3. Recognized real estate companies and Agencies

There are a lot of real estate companies in Nigeria but a few well known include Jide Taiwo and co, Ubosi Eleh and Co, Diya Fatimilehin and co, UAC Properties Limited and Unions Homes among others. Contacting any of these companies is search of houses for sale is another way to go about it. This option covers you although not completely from the activities of omooniles.

4. Enquiries on on-going projects

You could also make enquiries about on going projects such as construction of housing estates and other similar projects directly through the contractors who could refer you to the real estate agency or company handling the project or possibly the owner in order to meet with and negotiate a deal if possible. However not all housing projects have options for selling houses as some of them might actually be tenement projects in which case the owners are only interested in letting out.

Conclusion

Be warned that not all adverts or information made available on channels for sale of houses in Lagos are credible and reliable, you are advised to still carryout some investigation into the claims because some real estate fraudsters are on the prowl looking to defraud unsuspecting buyers of houses in Lagos Nigeria. Also possible for locating houses for sale in Lagos Nigeria is the option of word of mouth from people within your social network although this is hardly as reliable as the other earlier options.

Paul Onwueme is a business reporter and writes about business opportunities in Lagos Nigeria.
To find out more about Lagos Nigeria real estate and business opportunities in Lagos Nigeria visit his blog at Lagos Nigeria real estate or his other blog at Lagos Nigeria business Guide.