Prevention they say is better than cure. In the light of this, this atticle is an attempt to tack together, some salient and not so salient points to note and where possible to avoid while shopping for a real estate. It takes an old hand to swiftly decipher loopholes or issues that may rear their ugly head after a prospective buyer of a property may have taken the plunge.
- You may have heard this old maxim, it still holds true - if a deal looks too good to be true, it damn is! Imagine you been asked to pay five hundred thousand naira for a plot of land that you know is worth at least two million naira even when the seller claims s/he has some financial challenge challenges. probe further, there may be more than meets the eye.
- Awaiting government gazette/government acquisition lands - Some of the trick fraudulent land dealers deploy in scamming prospective property buyers in Nigeria is by narrating how the said property is still "awaiting government gazette". Please take care to ascertain this claim.
- Buying an uncompleted building or a property under legal contention: As I said earlier, try to find out why the seller is poised to dispose of the property. Is it that he needs money to invest in his business or to cater for some domestic issues? If the property belongs to a family i.e more than one person, are they all in agreement that the property be sold? Should the seller brandish a court order to you as proof of ownership of the property, ensure there is no appellate judgement that invalidates that of the lower court.
You can see why due diligence is extremely important before investing not just in real estate but also in other businesses.
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