The assumption that real estate investment is only reserved for the crème de la crème has bedeviled the small-scale business person as well as those working as junior staff in offices. A lot of them do not know that through some real estate brokerage firms, they can acquire property by paying in installments.
Don’t ever assume that you don’t have enough money to begin real estate investments. The strategy to acquire real estate is to start small. Start with what you have from the very location you find yourself. Your mindset towards making the decision to start real estate investment matters a lot. If you are serious about acquiring real estate, you will do so irrespective of the number of years it takes you to pay, but at the end, it will pay off because the price of the property will always appreciate.
People usually depend on their income and feel that it would not be enough to solve other problems let alone buying a property, but they are unaware that real estate is the only investment that does not fail. Do your research and you’ll find out that the richest people in the world, world leaders, shakers and movers of the world economies are real estate investors – why is it so? Because they know that real estate is the secret of “lasting wealth acquisition.”
There will always be value in your land and in your home. Other forms of investments like stocks can leave you with little to no tangible asset value because they could plunge to zero.
In 2008, the Nigerian stock market witnessed a crash that caused investors to lose about N6.96tn within a space of nine months. If these funds had been injected into real estate, the opposite would have been the result. When a new car is bought, it can depreciate in value whether insured or not, because the moment that car is driven out of the car shop, the value automatically begins to reduce. This shows that a car is not a good investment because, at the end of the day, it turns out to be a liability and not an asset. Put the same funds used in acquiring a car into real estate, the price of the property will continue to appreciate.
Some small business owners buy expensive jewelry to show off during events and end up losing them to miscreants. You can buy a piece of jewelry that cost less and begin an investment in real estate with the remaining funds and continue to grow your investment by paying little by little. Some people allow themselves to be lured into the “get rich quick” syndrome. Between 1987-2021, these speculative and dubious schemes have gulped over N300 billion naira from Nigerians most of which are small-scale business owners and low-salary earners. There is no way such funds would’ve gotten lost if they were invested in real estate. Some put their funds into betting with the hope that they would win bigger monies, only to end up losing everything. Put those funds into real estate and you would never have to lose your money. Put your funds in a place where there is an assurance of the future. Peter Drucker once said “The best way to predict the future is to create it” Real estate investment is the best way to go, embrace it and your future will be bright.
Written by: Elias Dongyen, Director and Executive Team Lead, Innovative Realtors Network.
