Home ownership is usually top on the list of all the reasons why people want to invest in real estate, globally. Real estate is in no doubt an indispensable tool designed for the support and sustenance of human life. It is also a tool created for mankind to express creativity, desires, and ambition. When the Coronavirus pandemic spread across nations, governments were forced to give shelter-in-place orders, causing us all to stay in our homes for months. This shows that homes are indeed a necessity. Yet, it is beyond reach for many people in developing countries who desire to own one.

Mortgage loans are one of the common options for homeownership in many countries because it is believed to create some ease of home ownership. In Nigeria, mortgages have not been effective. In cases where it is accessible, it is expensive.

The case for mortgage ineffectiveness is a result of many underlying issues bedeviling our development as a nation. This article seeks to provide you with a creative homeownership option that is legitimate and efficient in achieving your real estate investment goal as an individual seeking to own a home.

The mortgage option requires you to provide equity of 20 – 30 percent of the total value of the home sale price. This also means that the home will be the collateral for the loan as you increase your equity over a period of years. Loss of income or ability to earn an income during the tenure of the mortgage translate in most cases to losing the home to the lender.

The loss of ability to earn income high enough to repay a mortgage is bad in itself. Losing that home to the lender makes it worse as you would have lost your homeowner status and in some cases, the equity.

Invest-to-homeownership

An alternative to the mortgage option is the invest-to-homeownership. It is a creative real estate investment option. It allows you to invest equity with a real estate business or private home developer. The equity is used to execute projects and turned over until the equity builds up to an agreed amount required to own your home. This option creates leverage that is not available in the traditionally popular options.

The invest to homeownership option is ideal when you do not have enough cash to buy a home in one fell swoop of payment. It also does not need you to pay interest. Instead, the returns on your equity accumulate towards your home purchase. The real power of compounding in real estate comes into play.

Five major conditions that make invest-to-homeownership work

1. Your choice of the real estate developer

The developer must have a track record of executed and sold-out residential units. Invest-to-homeownership relies a great deal on the integrity of the developer. The first test of the integrity of a real estate entity is the track record and the quality of claims.

You should choose based on qualitative pieces of evidence and not emotions or appeal.

2. The project locations.

The developer must have ongoing residential projects in strategic locations of the city. These projects must be real and positioned to sell out. This is because not all locations are profitable for all kinds of real estate business goals.

3. The readiness of the developer to work with you

The developer must be desirous to accept your equity on respectable terms. This is because people management can sometimes be a tall order. If managing a bank loan will be easier, a developer may choose the bank above accepting to use your funds to execute projects thereby growing your homeownership equity.

4. Your mindset and belief

Many people, hold the belief that owning a home in Lagos, Nigeria is hard. This belief sets you up to miss creative opportunities.

Invest-to-homeownership option is a simple yet effective way to achieve a homeownership goal. A cheaper option that takes money out of your pocket fewer times than the popular mortgage option.

5. Ability to adopt and trust the process.

Your readiness as an intending homeowner and willingness to trust a transparent process when you find a developer who offers you one. The real estate investment terrain in Nigeria is still evolving. With many unpalatable experiences dotting the landscape. These experiences are due to a combination of several issues. Some real estate stakeholders have been able to master some fundamentals of the evolving terrain and can minimize foreseeable issues. Your ability to identify a trustworthy process, helps you harness the opportunity to own your home interest-free.

With the invest-to-homeownership option, the risk of losing your home to a lender in the case of protracted default or loss of income is eliminated. The developer that you choose to work with is obligated to deliver to the terms that will be agreed upon at the point of investment. You should carefully choose a stakeholder who can and will deliver on your homeownership goal in record time.

You may be interested or have questions about the possibility of the invest to homeownership option. In addition to letting you know this option is possible and available, we want to answer your questions too. Send ITHO via WhatsApp to 07062028677 or email to inf[email protected]

The Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) has completed its N10 billion 7.20% Series 3 Fixed Rate Bond to boost funding for affordable mortgage in the country.

The bond, which was facilitated by DLM Capital Group as the Financial Adviser and Issuing House, has created opportunity to investors and home seekers in Nigeria.

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According to the bond brochure, the net proceeds of the exercise will be used to refinance eligible mortgage loans originated by the participating mortgage lending banks, and investors.

The Managing Director/CEO of NMRC, Kehinde Ogundimu, explained that the bond was well received by investors, and was subscribed 3.28 times over the projected amount.

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He said, “This has been described to be the highest subscription for a Nigerian bond so far.

“This series 3 bond issuance goes to further reinforce our commitment to encourage, promote and facilitate home-ownership in Nigeria. This issuance gives an opportunity for people like you and I to take mortgage loans at an affordable rate and buy houses.”

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Ogundimu added that one of the biggest challenges in the mortgage industry is affordability, but with the rate at 7.20%, he expects that from the issuance, there will be a substantial decrease in the mortgage rate to the ultimate mortgagors going forward

“Other things like cost of houses is also expected to drop as this interest rate will offer some cost reduction to developers, unlike in the past where they had to borrow money for short periods at over 30% interest rate,” he added.

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What they are saying

Sonnie Ayere, the Group CEO, DLM Capital Group, explained that the success of the bond is an indication that it would go a long way in helping the average Nigerian access mortgages loans.

He said, “The bond which was aimed at ₦10billion was oversubscribed and we received commitments for ₦32.8billion, this I believe is the highest subscription for a Nigerian bond thus far. This indicates a strong investor appetite for the long-tenured asset and re-emphasises the market’s confidence in the operating model of NMRC.

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“Also, we are cognizant of the housing situation in Nigeria and the challenges faced by Nigerians in accessing mortgage loans due to its high rates, so helping NMRC to achieve this gives us a sense of fulfilment as it will immensely help ordinary Nigerians access mortgage loans at low rates and ultimately help them buy their own homes.”

What you should know

NMRC was established to bridge the funding cost of residential mortgages and promote the availability as well as the affordability of good housing to Nigerians by providing increased liquidity in the mortgage market through the mortgage and commercial banks.

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The company is driven by substantial private sector participation consisting of commercial banks, primary mortgage banks, insurance companies, private equity investors and international financial institutions through the Ministry of Finance with the public purpose of developing primary and secondary mortgage markets, and raising long-term funds from both domestic capital market and foreign markets to provide accessible and affordable housing in Nigeria.

There are 24 reasons why we invest in real estate and they are not peculiar to any tribe or race. As long as you are a human being making real estate decisions, your reason will be found on this list.

It is a widely favoured belief that monetary reward is the only pay-off of real estate investment. But there is another kind of return, rarely talked about, which accounts for more than half of the reasons why you would consider investing in real estate.

This other kind of return often makes up for the down-times that characterize periods of negative or no financial returns even though it could sometimes be considered a hindrance to the effective delivery of monetary returns on your investment.

I refer to this other kind of return as Sentimental Value.

Sentimental value is defined as the value of an object deriving from personal or emotional associations rather than material worth. Hence, in real estate investment, you are either getting sentimental or monetary value; or both.

Sentimental value is also your inflated opinion of your piece of real estate’s value. The value of your real estate, in your opinion, can be related to a number of things peculiar to you as an individual. These could range from the sacrifice and discipline it cost you to acquire a piece of the earth or to set up a real estate business which is often known and considered by you alone.

This type of value tends to be subjective therefore, it finds its way around assets through the lifetime of the asset even as the asset moves from one buyer to the next buyer.

The creation story both from the religious or scientific perspective shows that there has to be a planet to sustain human life. It must have required some great effort to have the first house or bridge or wall. The earliest real estate objects have become artefacts in Museums or monuments around the world. These edifices have nostalgic stories behind them.

The labour invested in the acquisition of real estate often invokes an incredibly nostalgic feeling in the owner. It becomes a priceless asset, largely because of the underlying purpose of purchase, efforts and energy invested as well as the investment journey.

Most real estate investments come at higher financial costs than they should. The extra cost is usually overlooked because of the sentimental value attached to the real estate.

Conducting an objective evaluation of how much a real estate investment is truly worth at the prevailing rate may be impossible when the investment is induced by deep-rooted emotional motivations that are often denied or, in many cases, unknown.  This is considering the variations in the market value of properties within a location.

“Sentimental value tends to be subjective therefore, it finds its way around assets through the lifetime of the asset as the asset moves from one buyer to the next buyer”.

A skewed perception of real estate value makes it difficult to focus on a bigger picture or make accurate judgments about its monetary value given a current economic reality and real estate cycle which are always subject to external factors.

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Of the 24 reasons for real estate investments, it is important that you identify which have influenced or can influence your real estate investment decisions as well as which of them may no longer be sentimentally or financially profitable.

Your reason may no longer guarantee any higher monetary compensation you may desire at a current or future sale. An attachment to the subtle sentimental value of a piece of real estate is partly responsible for many abandoned properties.

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The initial listing of an asset for liquidation at a rate way higher than the perceived market value only to change it later may suggest the existence of a defect to potential investors who are often smart enough to delay their investment decision in anticipation of a further drop in price. You definitely don’t want to deal at a loss.

It is best for every investor to put in perspective the kind of values an investment is expected to deliver and for how long that value will be profitable.

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To access the 24 reasons, and tips on how to manage your reasons in the investment process, send “24 reasons” to 07062028677 via WhatsApp.