If there is any business in Nigeria that is truly lucrative and extremely profitable, it has to be Real Estate business in Nigeria. Most of the top billionaires in Nigeria are real estate investors. The business is a money spinner to the highest level. Real Estate is currently booming in Nigeria and people are making millions from it. Today, we want to take a closer look at the business and see how you can invest in this sector of the economy (irrespective of how much you have) and make serious profit. Real estate investment opportunity in Nigeria is so diverse that there seems to be something for everyone. Anyone who wishes to invest can invest whether he has thousands or billions of naira, you can even invest without a dime in your pocket. Let us see how it works.
see also: Aisle Gates Estate
Before we proceed, we want to look at the profit potential in real estate business in Nigeria. I bought a plot of land in port harcourt of Rivers State in 2018 where I had wanted to develop for small hotel. I paid ₦500,000 for the land excluding some minor egunje to the boys.
In 2020, I changed my mind and decided to sell it. When I asked the estate agents how much property was going in that area, they told me the current price as at then was two million naira. And that my own which is very close to the main road will go for between 2.5 to 3 million naira. If I had bought five plots that was offered to me for 2.5 million then, I would have made ₦10,000,000 from that single transaction!
Just like that, 2 million to 2.5 million gain in less than two years for a green horn like me who was not in anyway into real estate investment. Then imagine what the professionals who knows the ins and outs in the business must be making. I also know a petty medicine seller who is now a multi millionaire through estate investment he started few years ago. And he started with almost zero capital
Investment opportunities in real estate.
Investment opportunities abounds in real estate. Start with what you have. As you grow in the business, you can expand your portfolio. Or you can start big straight away if you have access to capital. In this article, I will only deal with real estate categories that are peculiar to Nigeria. Suffice to say this article is made specially for beginner real estate entrepreneurs. Here are some of the areas you can invest and make your own money without tears.
1. Land Flipping
This means buying of land and quickly reselling it for profit. This is one of the smartest investment in the industry and requires no effort whatsoever. Just your money and knowledge and you are good to go. You will need substantial amount if you want to make hundreds of millions but you can start small by buying just one plot and grow to buying tens of plots and acres of lands and keep selling all year round.
See: Crown Vista City
2. Open Space Leasing
This works in a simple and unique way. Buy a property in a good location and lease it out for makeshift use. You can lease it to churches or business that wants to develop a makeshift outlet such as car wash and mechanics. They will be paying you monthly rantage while the property still appreciates for future sell. It is like borrowing money for someone and get paid double interest and still get your money back.
3. Real Estate Agency
This one is the simplest and easiest of them all. It is not investment per say but service rendering. How it works? Go round and look for properties to let and for sale, advertise your service and help secure clients for the property owners, you will be paid percentage as commission base on the amount the property is sold or rented. You can start with little or no money and if you are smart enough, you will grow to become a giant realtor.
4. Property Development
This is where the big guys in the industry are doing their stuffs. They acquire properties in nice locations, develop it into luxury apartments, commercial structures, etc and sell at a very high profit margin. If you spend N200 million to develop a property, be sure you are going to sell for N400million.
See: Excel Gardens
5. House/Office Rent
Build a house and put it up for rent, get paid all year for a life time. That is exactly how this works but there is much more to that than I just stated, watch out for detailed articles on this soon.
In the coming weeks, I will be publishing articles from our ongoing researches and advice from professional real estate investors and experts in the industry on various aspect of investments.
See: Vantage Courts