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HOMEOWNERSHIP: HOW NIGERIANS IN DIASPORA CAN OWN PROPERTIES AT HOME

Buying a property anywhere around the globe can be a stressful process. Nigeria is not an exception to this experience. That said, purchasing a property in Nigeria seems to be more challenging for a number of reasons. Some of the issues include fraudulent practices, quality of the property, transparency of the process, developers’ trustworthiness, delivery timeline, and the inadequacies of the present real estate regulations in the country. Issues like these make the process of buying a property more difficult for those living outside the shores of Nigeria. 

As a result of these challenges, Nigerians in the diaspora have developed various strategies to help mitigate the risks of losing their hard-earned money to developers that cannot be trusted. Some have adopted the measure of trusting the property development process to family members or relatives that can be trusted. In other instances, the interested parties have had to fly down to Nigeria themselves to personally ascertain the progress of things. These measures have also failed because we have seen so-called trusted family members disappoint on several occasions. 

Do you live outside Nigeria and have racked your head on how to safely purchase a property in Nigeria without getting a heart attack? The following tips can help. 

Purchase from trusted developers

Developers are quite many in Nigeria and trying to choose one that is trusted can be tricky. This is where you need to do thorough research and ask questions where necessary. You can send someone to verify the authenticity and capability of any developer you have in mind. Request for previous jobs they have done in this regard before committing yourself to anyone. Oakwood Heights Limited is one of the trusted developers with proven track records. Kindly get detail information from their website www.oakwoodhieghts.com.ng. You can also get properties from the Homehunt App, kindly visit www.home-huntapp.com for more information on how the App works.  

 

Get a lawyer

Buying a property without the guidance and advice of a lawyer will be at your detriment. It would help if you have someone who is grounded in the Nigerian legal system. They have a better idea of how real estate transactions are done in the country. 

The lawyer can assist you in reviewing the papers of the property to be sure there are no legal loopholes. And when a lawyer is included in such projects, the builder would want to get the job done as soon as possible. 

Include other professionals

If you are going for an old property, you should secure the services of a qualified engineer or a registered surveyor. These professionals will help evaluate the property’s quality and ensure you are not paying anything higher than the worth of the property.

Monitor the project

Even after taking all the above steps, you still need to find a way to monitor the project yourself from wherever you are. If it will be inconvenient for you to travel down to see the project yourself, collaborate with someone around to help you do that. It’s a good thing we are now in the digital age. With photos and videos, you can keep a close eye on the progress of work. However, if you notice anything strange, you can stop sending funds for the project until you are convinced about the level of work done.

Thank you.

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