First-time landlord tips

Congratulations on your new status as a landlord in Nigeria. As a landlord, you will have to navigate through the deep waters of payment of rent, tenants, legal issues, house maintenance and many more. Below are practical tips to make the process of a Landlord easy.

Be Logical
Try to separate your emotions completely when choosing tenants.Although your conscience may feel better offering your property to someone who lost their source of income, at the end of the day you need to remember that you’re running a business. Never let personal relationships cloud your view of the bottom line. Emotions don’t pay the bills- be logical.

Screen Tenants Properly
Screening tenants is a major issue. You need to be objective and verify your tenant’s financial capacity as this will be deciding factor if the tenant will pay his/her rent on time or behind on rent payment. Do not rent your house to someone just because they come recommended from your friend. Never take the explanation or recommendation at face value but carry out your own research first.

Also to focus on how a prospective tenant communicates with you throughout the renting process as this will serve as a pointer to what kind of communication they will have with you as a tenant. Don’t rush your decision. Look for people that are open, honest, and who possess the financial capacity to pay rent on time.

Rent Payment
Rent is your revenue as a Landlord. Never allow the tenant to pay late without penalty. Ensure you agree in writing to a monthly or yearly payment plan. If you allow your tenant pay late, it may lead quickly to a pile of unpaid rent.

Also, if your tenants just stop paying rent and starts ignoring your calls or texts, you need to start eviction proceedings immediately. Contact your lawyer about eviction proceedings.

Manage Your Rented House As A Business
Don’t be overly friendly with your tenants instead have a business- like relationship with your tenants. A friendly relationship between landlord or tenant tends to sour quickly especially when the tenant’s rent is still unpaid or when you are trying to increase the former rent value. Treat your tenant with respect as you would a business colleague.

Know The Housing Laws
Many landlords failed to educate themselves on housing laws which often time leads to serious implications if you violate them. Every property is governed by a specific set of landlord-tenant laws established by the government of the state. Landlord-tenant laws are state laws that will protect the owner, the property and the tenants alike in all forms of rental transactions.

If you have yet to check out the landlord-tenant laws in your state, you will find that there is a rule for almost every scenario that could arise between a landlord and tenant interaction.

Failing to follow landlord-tenant laws can result in a lawsuit and lost income.  It is advisable to have a lawyer manage your legal dealings and explain your rights as a landlord, your tenant rights and the tenancy laws that operate in your State of residence. Remember, ignorance is not an excuse in the court of law, so get informed.

Rent Oriented
Never invest in any form of renovations or remodeling if it would not generate higher rent. The giddiness that comes with be a first-time landlord is spending a lot of money on your house. There is nothing wrong with remodeling but if it does not directly cause an increase in rent value then don’t spend it instead of saving your money.

Be Organized
A peculiar mistake made by first-time landlords is not keeping records. If you don’t keep proper records of your building’s revenue and expenses it will affect your ability to ascertain the exact cost spent or received from your property.

Kindly share your first experience has a landlord with other ToLet readers.

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Real Estate Tips: Managing Your Clients

Imagine you own a real estate agency and you have many clients. There is a long list of questions you need to answer from various clients. Now, imagine the ever-growing list of clients putting pressure on you to meet their varying demands. So, how do you keep up with this demands and not break under pressure? Obviously, your business has expanded which is a positive thing but it has not adapted to its new size to meet the ever-growing number of clients and demands. Below are helpful tips for managing your clients and their varying demands.

Hire more personnel

Don’t be of the opinion that hiring more staff will eat into the profit. The truth is, if your clients are not managed properly, they would leave you for a better firm. The more client you lose translates to you losing profit to your competition.You need to have enough personnel to attend to the client’s demands promptly.  Getting more human resources could even help your business grow faster especially when you have a good team.

Use technology

Technology has made life easier. Take advantage of the tool and strengthen your online presence. Don’t be against technology, it will make your job easier in managing so many clients. Create a website where clients can get information about your company, place orders and even ask questions. You can also market your listings to other reliable property agencies. A good website helps you to attend to the needs of your clients easily.

Manage your time

The reality is that as responsibilities increase, it becomes more important to prioritise your activities if not you would not get anything done. You cannot afford to do things recklessly anymore as now you have many demands from clients. Get a to-do list, prioritise your activities daily and ensure you follow through with the schedule. That way, you reduce the possibility of forgetting meetings and appointments with clients and leads.

Protect confidential information

As you build relationships with various clients, you get access to confidential information. You may even have celebrity clients, politicians, businessmen, and CEOs. Although it may be tempting to disclose their identity to others, you need to practice discretion. When you share information about your clients, you lose the trust of your customers. You tend to lose clients especially when you are perceived as untrustworthy.

Building any form of relationship takes time. You have to earn trust through consistency and reliability, and you have to demonstrate your commitment to the client by offering excellent customer service. When you make the extra effort to truly engage with your clients, you’ll not only see how this impacts your sales but you may also make some friends in the process.

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Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN)

As a way to effectively handle the current huge housing deficit in the country, the government is collaborating with the private sector through reputable agencies and associations. One of such is the Real Estate Developer’s Association of Nigeria (NIGERIA), an agency tasked principally with the responsibility of facilitating the delivery of affordable mass housing in the country. The association has a membership strength of over 1, 500 members and is the brain behind any housing development or initiative that is organized and/or sponsored by the Federal, State & Local Governments, NGOs, private organizations, as well as foreign partners and investors.

The association, which was created in the 90s, has gained tremendous reliability and reputation through its ability to endorse the interests of its members by furthering the reformation process of the mortgage finance sector thus creating a conducive environment for the provision of mass housing at the National Assembly and restructuring the housing finance policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria FMBN, Primary Mortgage and Commercial banks. The association also partners with other associations in the Housing and Real Estate Development industry and works closely with the Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development since the ministry is a major provider of land.

The association’s National Secretariat is located at 32, Minna Street, Off Ilorin Street, Area 8, Section 1, Garki, Abuja FCT, while the South West Regional Office is located at Plot 1, Block B8, CMD/Jubilee Road, Magodo, GRA, Lagos State, Nigeria.

Although REDAN is backed and funded by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) – the apex mortgage lender in Nigeria – the association is presently trying to improve funding by branching out into the national and international capital market so as to make sure that the realization of delivering mass housing to Nigerians is not encumbered by an unsteady flow of funds.

With a strategic direction to create a platform where real estate developers can collaborate for the common good of Nigeria, REDAN seeks to ensure and maintain amiable relations with all stakeholders associated with the housing industry. It also collaborates with government agencies and parastatals involved in land administration, planning, infrastructure development, housing provision and administration. The association also actively promotes research studies for the improvement of building materials and systems, as well as setting a standard for the industry.

In line with its objectives, REDAN’s Vision Statement is “To be Nigeria’s most influential and credible voice in the real estate development and investment industry, a notable force in influencing industry policies and practices; with strong local and international recognition in all issues affecting the Nigeria real estate sector.”
Its Mission Statement is “To effectively represent the members to achieve their corporate objectives and to efficiently carry on their business as agents of development by ensuring public appreciation of the importance of REDAN, and efforts it is making to meet the housing needs of Nigerians. Ensuring balanced national legislative, regulatory and fiscal policy to provide the enabling framework and environment for effective housing delivery.”
Membership of this prestigious association however is not open to individuals but corporate organizations and is by application. Applicant must be an estate development company or be involved in business related to the housing industry or commercial real estate development including building of residential, commercial or industrial structures. This is inclusive of shopping centers, plazas or other commercial structures. Corporate organizations eligible for membership are Limited Liability Companies, Registered Societies, Partnerships, and Parastatals of State or Federal Governments involved in real estate development.

Some of the benefits of being a member are:
• Credibility and recognition as a developer.
• Access to information on developments affecting real estate development.
• Support for land acquisition, participation in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) scheme for infrastructure and estate development
• Access to finance under the REDAN Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) scheme, or other local and offshore development loan syndication schemes under the auspices of the Association.
• Opportunity to access estate development financing from the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and sell housing units to National Housing Fund (NHF) contributors under the NHF mortgage loan scheme
• Access to NAHB resources through REDAN’s affiliation with IHA
• Access to customized and symposiums, such as the EDL workshop



CLICK TO READ HOW TO JOIN REDAN

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Hutbay Unveils Custom Webpages for Estate Agents and Developers

Lagos-based online marketplace for properties, Hutbay, has unveiled customizable web pages for estate agents and developers, to boost their online presence.

Hutbay made this known to TechCabal via an email conversation with company CEO, Owolabi Olatunji.

According to an official release from Hutbay, the customizable web pages, which has been in beta for some weeks now, will allow real estate agents create web pages, and curate their listings in a way that visitors to their pages can easily browse through.

“Real estate agency is primarily a mobile and offline profession. Information technology (IT), as it were, is not the forte of real estate professionals,” Hutbay says, “However, more and more real estate consumers are going online to find property and property-related services.”

Hutbay says the webpages are fully customizable and optimized for visibility, with customizable rich media, company information, dynamic listings and lead generation forms.

Formally launched in May 2013, Hutbay assists home buyers, sellers, renters, real estate professionals/mortgage institutions, find and disseminate important information about homes and real estate.

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