Abiodun Doherty

(abiodundoherty@yahoo.com)

There are lots of new estates springing up weekly and for those seeking to invest in such developments they are spoilt for choice. Many of these property development projects come with catchy advertisements and enticing offers. The option available to a new investor is to follow the advertisement which may or may not conform to the reality.

This is the equivalent of gambling. To avoid this scenario, experienced investors have clear criteria’s that they work with. They try to remove their emotions from the decision-making process .They work towards making informed decisions based on facts. This is what you need to do when faced with various options.

In real estate, location is very important. There are growth areas where you should target for investment. A growth area is a location or area that has key indices that shows that properties in those areas will continue to grow in value.

Some of the features of such areas are presence of a major project that will bring jobs and businesses to the area. This could be a major infrastructural project by the government or a big private investment.

The movement of businesses to these areas also means that there will be an increase in the demand for housing by the workers and several ancillary businesses will develop in those areas. Properties within a growth area will continue to appreciate in value.

Buying a property is one thing and owning a property in the real sense of the word is another thing. The government has strict requirements when it comes to developing an estate. The government is also very aware of growth areas and they are usually the first to know when the interest of investors is focused on a particular area.

Since the government is the one granting approvals and permits they can easily spot a growing area from the spike in the number of people applying to survey their lands and obtain building approvals.

To ensure that you do not have any problem with the government in future, you need to ensure that those you intend to buy your property from have the necessary government permits, approvals and concessions. Their title to the land should also be registered with the government.

In addition to a good title, you need to carry out due diligence on the company that is promoting the estate project. There are many proposed estate projects that never took off. There are also a few that took off but never the project never got to an appreciable level and there are a few that were successfully completed. Finding serious companies with the right track record will involve you doing a bit of research.

This is more than publicity and advertisement. You can ask for and check past successfully completed projects.

Companies that deliver quality jobs and on time will help boost the value of your property.It is good to discuss with the company their future plans for the estate and you can request to take a look at their master plan for the estate.

Depending on your plan for the property, it is usually better to focus on investing in an estate with functional design and low maintenance cost. If you intend to live in the property, you might not mind if the maintenance is high.

The maintenance cost of a property is the amount you need to spend on a weekly,monthly or quarterly basis to keep the property in a tenantable state. For instance,if a property has its own swimming pool, you need to factor into your expenses the cost of maintaining the pool. Tenants also generally do not like properties that will cost them additional money to maintain. If you intend to rent out the property, then keep to functionality rather than aesthetics alone.

Finally, you could do a S.W.O.T analysis on the estate. S.W.O.T stands for strength, weakness, opportunities and threats. For instance, there are areas that are under constant threat of flooding. If this is a persistent problem, it might make more sense to avoid buying into such an area because sooner or later this could negatively affect the value of your property.

You might also be able to spot a trend that could present an opportunity in the near future.Consider things such as accessibility, proximity to shopping malls and security.You need to carefully consider these issues as their impact on your property investment could be significant.

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