You welcome to Oga Landlord diary, on today’s episode we will be opening your eyes to the realities real estate staffs and founders go through in quest of giving buyers peace and comfort.
By now you should be aware of the danger of trading with the local landowners also known as OMONILE, a lot of stories has been put out there that has made buyers live in fear over dealing with OMONILE.
In our Oga Landlord’s diary today, I will take you through the journey of how real estate owners deal with the dangers without causing ‘war’ or chaos. Dealing with OMONILE can be tough if you are not dealing with the right people and it requires BRAVERY, TIME, MONEY, WISDOM and ASSOCIATE. These five (5) key I just mentioned are important, as they all need to be applied to be able to achieve peace of mind, after all, that’s what you want as a buyer.
Below is the breakdown of all the above mentioned.
*BRAVERY
The real estate industry indeed a lucrative industry, as lucrative as it might seem, it’s like any other business with its pitfalls, most of the pitfall is what we at Ogalandlord help customers avoid. You need to be brave to face certain people if you want to get the best for your customers, we go through the most difficult to make property ownership effortless for you!
Being BRAVE is the first approach to dealing with OMONILE and in my experience as a worker in this industry, I have seen the importance of being BRAVE while dealing with the local landowners (OMONILE).
In most cases when we are informed about the availability of landed property for sale, the thought of where to start from will surely arise. This is where the act of BRAVERY come to play because some of these properties(land) may not belong to the seller, family dispute on the land or even the land has been sold.
The real estate company will have to take the bold step and make necessary inquiries and findings, most time if the land is not genuine the seller will begin to see the company as a threat, from whence the unexpected will begin to happen. Sometime these unexpected reactions may be diabolical, physical fight and legal battle, how BRAVE you are will now determine what happens from there.
Take, for example, a case where a surveyor took my team to land for us to put it up for sale, two(2) members of the family was there during the site inspection and the assured us that the land was okay and without any complaint. A land with a survey plan and family members available will not need any further investigations right? Trust me, we took the bold step and brought out our Coordinate device(surveyor’s equipment) and did the unusual by taking the coordinate of the land.
The shocking part of this story is that the land is COMMITTED Government property as if that was not enough; there is also a big dispute between two(2) families over the land. Now you see where BRAVERY play an important role in dealing with OMONILE?.
*TIME
This one very important key in real estate, most especially when dealing with local landowners(OMONILE). Like the popular saying ‘TIME is money’, in the case of real estate TIME could be more than more. TIME to us is everything, as getting the best site requires how fast you are to approaching OMONILE to get a land.
There are cases where you are faced with the ‘face come first serve’ option, at this point, you will be required to finish up with every investigation about the land on TIME, get all their(OMONILE) requirement on TIME, get your money ready on TIME and at TIME when all this is available, you may be required to ready to start making use of the property asap.
In real estate, if you want to get the best locations, price and even buyers, TIME plays an important roll in achieving all of that. Just like you, every other company are in search of that particular location you think you have access to or knows the local landowners(OMONILE) but you are just a dreamer if you don’t work with TIME. This is because most of these local landowners(OMONILE) are either aged or illiterate, so they don’t have the TIME luxury as you think you do. all they want is that man who is bringing the bag(money) in TIME.
Take for example; my team bought some plots of land at a high rush location, without fencing it, building on it or even completing the paperwork on TIME. For this reason, the OMONILE had to sell the land to another buyer, which brought a problem of re-allocation to another location, this time we had to settle for the available deep inside.
Another case is where we were given some acres of land to sell but because we do not have enough money to secure all of the lands to our-self on TIME, the owner of the land had to hike his price and that you all know is bad business. In some other cases, a buyer may contact you requesting for a particular property within a certain period, only for you to lose the customer due to your inability to get the required property on TIME.
*MONEY
This is the basis of real estate, in fact like what I wrote earlier; all of these five(5) keys work together to achieving greatness in the real estate industry. But the talk of MONEY has a major role to play most especially when dealing with the local landowners(OMONILE) because most of them don’t have time to understand your dreams and visions, all they care about is the bag(MONEY). In dealing with the local landowners(OMONILE), we have understood that whatever plans or goals you have to make their(OMONILE) land or community a better place is known of their business.
We have come across just a little percentage of OMONILE who are interested in the development of the community they are letting go to a stranger(Real estate owners). The MONEY issues are what has always been their reason for selling and when a real estate company finds it difficult to meeting their FINANCIAL requirement on time, you are seen as un-serious.
Take for example; we were contacted by one of our trusted agent, who informed us of vast land in a very beautiful location, where we intend using for one of our estates. By the time we had a meeting with the family members(OMONILE) to discuss our plans and what they stand to benefit by the time we start developing the land, the issue of MONEY arouse. The talk was no more about the development of the land anymore, it now how much are we(OMONILE) getting from you and when are you bringing the MONEY?.
In another case we got some beautiful plots of land to sell for one of our clients, he told us to sell for a reasonable amount and we agreed on a particular price. He offers to pay him some amount to be able to keep some to ourselves which he agreed. Only for him to come back to change from the agreed price to two(2) times the price, you see where MONEY becomes a problem?
*WISDOM
This has always been the internet drive-by real estate companies because without WISDOM there is no way into the gate of success in the industry. A lot of people will say with money everything is possible, but we have failed to realize that ‘big money spent by a foolish man will lack glory but a WISE man spending no matter how little will spring forth bountiful glory’. In all my experience in the real estate industry, I have come to realize that WISDOM is a light to finding a way through making tough decisions most especially when you dealing with the local landowners(OMONILE).
Most time we find it difficult to make some critical decisions, but with the WISDOM of the older team members, who have had several years of experience in the industry, everything will begin to fall in place. There are times some of this OMONILE will come with some juicy or mouth-watering offers, which may sometimes look good but if you are not careful you may just fall into a terrible trap that you may not be able to get out from easily.
Take for example; some time ago we wanted to set up a new location and we wanted to put up the prices because the location is a hot cake, but with the WISE advice from our old team members, we had to bring down the price. The decision to bring the price down helped us had an edge over other estate companies.
*ASSOCIATE
Yes this is the part you may be wondering what is ASSOCIATE has got to do with real estate, you probably don’t know the effect of this key.
Real estate cannot survive without an ASSOCIATE, this is because everything done within and around the real estate industry is motivated by the ASSOCIATE. If you ever wonder where or how real estate companies get their information and properties from, the answer is not farfetched.
With the help of the ASSOCIATE, we find it easy to navigate the system with ease and sometimes get things done with little cost. That is when you find genuine person/people as ASSOCIATE, these people can either be the with the local landowners(OMONILE) or even in the ministry. The ones in the family(OMONILE) are sometimes the one to stand in your gap when the family tries to do what contrary to what’s right; they help do most of the dirty works and stand between you and the local landowners(OMONILE). They are the ones who inform real estate companies of a new location and what it requires.
Some of these ASSOCIATE, work with the ministry and help the real estate companies to be able to know the land that is a government committed, land with the family dispute and even a land that wouldn’t see development in the next 10 years or more. But most of the time we find it difficult to get a good ASSOCIATE, they sometimes pose to be on your side for their selfish purpose, this is why we find it hard sometimes. A case of someone who is supposed to be an ASSOCIATE is now the same person hiking the original price from the OMONILE.
All of these points you have seen above sometimes works in the favour of the real estate companies but most of the time this his a real pain. In my writing, you will see I tried to make you see the advantage of these five(5) keys, but the truth is the only available key a real estate company have access to is WISDOM.
In all the pains and worries we go through in the industry we try all that we can to put our customers and aspiring customers first, this is because all you as a customer care about is your safety and our job is to guaranty your safety for your investment and properties.