ALWAYS TRUST YOUR INSTINCT

Frequently I get owners of land coming to me to ask if I can market their land for them and more often than not, there is always an issue with the land documents or the estate. Although the sale of land can command good returns on fees, the stress of trying to sort through the information that has been withheld or finding out that the papers are not genuine after six months of negotiating with an interested buyer, can be quite upsetting. I was approached by a friend of a friend, to help market a very large parcel of land along the Lekki Expressway axis. I explained that I was not too comfortable taking it on as they were finding it hard to answer simple questions like what name the land documents were in? or if there was a Certificate of Occupancy? My instinct told me not to take this on, but I was persuaded that this was different and had no problems. I asked for a copy of the papers to be sent, and was assured it would be sent the next day. The next day came and went with nothing being sent. Three days later, I was told the owner of the land could not give me a copy of the papers because there was a legal dispute on the land and the case was in court! So as you can see my instincts were right. Next time I will stick to my instincts. I think I will turn down all future land sales that are brought to me without papers or promises of papers surfacing at a later date. Land sales almost always have issues associated with them which makes it unsellable

The heat of recent days has been unbearable! It is almost impossible to walk around outside for more than a few minutes. I had to show a client a property on an estate and the client had to ask for the appointment to be rescheduled for an early morning or evening when it is cooler. Unfortunately there was no parking allowed on the estate which is brand new and quite expansive, so a viewing would have taken a good 30 minutes, which would have probably left us suffering from heatstroke. The continuing epileptic power situation on some parts of the Island has been so bad that many estates have had diesel trucks parked permanently outside the estates with a ready supply due to the constant reliance on generators. Whereas generators used to provide back supplies of power, it appears they are now used as permanent reliable sources of power

A quiet unassuming lady I met at a party, came up to me and asked if I dealt in properties, as she had heard someone mention it. When I said I did, she asked if I could market her property in Lekki Ph1? She went on to tell me it was a block of 14 flats, fully serviced, with swimming pool and air conditioners in all rooms! When I asked if she was the owner, she said “by the special grace of God” It never ceases to amaze me the types of clients that own multi billion naira properties. Some so humble and unassuming that you would never think that they even owned anything like that. It just goes to show that with landlords and developers, you can never judge a book by its cover!