opportunity. Though at different times the sector crashes, but by and large, it has always bounced back. Landed property does not depreciate but appreciates. This is not an exception in Nigeria.
There are different levels of participation in this sector. There are small players and big players. Determine what category of the populace you are going to serve, high-end, middle-end or low-end earners? You definitely cannot serve all categories of the populace. Your investment capacity may also determine which sector of the populace you can service.
Whichever way you choose to come in and operate, there is an assurance that you will find your own landing pad and earn reasonable profit from your investment.
So what tips do you need in order to do so? These are ten of such tips.
1. Do your research: Just as you have to carry out a thorough research on any business you are starting, you need to do so in this sector. How does the sector work? Who are the big players? What exactly do they do? How do they serve their clients? What laws guide operations in the city/state where you want to operate? And so on. Getting proper information on these questions will determine a number of things, and indeed whether you succeed or not in the business.
2. Write your business plan: You are not yet in business if you don’t have a business plan. It is so called because it is a road map. It shows you where you are going and how to get there and if it is viable to go there in the first place. As many business plans are technical, this might be so too, so you may need to get a consultant to work with you come up with a detailed plan which you can present to investors.
3. You need to register your business: Business registration is important, especially in this sector. You must register with CAC – Corporate Affairs Commission and get certificate to operate as a business. There are also associations and agencies that regulate real estate operations in Nigeria. For example, REDAN – Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria.
4. Get office facility: This is critical to your business success. The image you project will tell whether your would-be clients can trust their investments in your hands. You cannot be a player in the real estate sector and have your office in a shanty. You must get a good office facility and ensure that it is well furnished. Although this is necessary, you also must be careful where the office is located as paying too much on rent can eat too deep into what profits should have been ploughed back into the business for expansion.
5. Hire the staff: This is a business and it is definitely not one you can run alone, even if you are the one with the idea for the business. You will need a retinue of staffers to carry out daily operations so that things can move seamlessly. Office and field staff. Marketers, engineers, architects, electricians, surveyors, and the rest of them. However, you don’t have to hire all of them on full-time basis; some aspects of the business can be contracted out at least at the initial stages of the business.
6. Seek investment: Real estate business is capital intensive and requires huge investment. If you do not have enough it is imperative that you seek investors who can partner with you. You could look for angel or equity investors or talk to mortgage or commercial banks for long term loans that can give you enough leverage at the start and accelerate growth.
7. Get landed property: There are different ways of playing in this sector. You could be an agent or developer. If you are into development, you need to get landed property and start actual construction. Some real estate operators re-sell some portions of the land to clients and help them build and build other portions and sell houses out rightly. How do you intend to do yours? You must decide.
8. Have a website: It is no longer news that not having a website for your business is digging the grave of that business from the onset. Quite a number of the people you might want to serve are likely to be checking out the internet for credible real estate companies they can do business with. Have a functional and interactive website where prospective clients can make enquiries and see photos of available options of property when you begin to have them or likely ones that would come up later. Ensure that the site has contact information and someone is available to monitor and respond promptly to enquiries.
9. Come up with branded materials: This is also important. There should be days of the week where all members of staff are dressed in branded shirts and marketers must often wear the branded shirts for marketing purposes. Have some cars branded in the name of the company. You should have other branded materials as souvenir to give to prospective clients who come in to make enquiries.
10. Make noise: Yes you must blow your trumpet and announce to the real estate buying market that you are her and here to stay. Announce your arrival in the real estate market. Use handbills, local/national newspapers, real estate journals, radio, television and as much as your budget can permit to advertise. Bottom line is, don’t wink in darkness. If you do, no one else will notice except you.
There you have the ten tips for starting a real estate business in Nigeria.
Picture credit: Gettyimages
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