Many Nigerians aspire to become homeowners. This aspiration is mainly fueled by the severe shortage of affordable homes, caused by the lack of a coherent housing plan by successive governments and the constant harassment experienced by tenant at the hands of landlords. Here are basic steps to guide aspiring homeowners in realizing their dream home.

1.Determine the location of your choice:
The dream to purchase a property begins with your desired town or city. Your choice of location could be influenced by economic reasons, personal attachment to the area or for investment purposes..

2. Determine the authenticity of the title of the land sourced for in your location of choice:
Purchase of property in Nigeria, particularly in Lagos state is a very sensitive matter which is better handled by lawyers who are specially trained and experienced in the business. This is due mainly to the presence of a large number of fraudsters, who have made it very difficult to source a property without a defective title and without any form of encumbrance. Thus, it is the responsibility of the solicitor acting for the purchaser to exercise due diligence by conducting a search on the property at the relevant Land Registry (if it a property with registered title)or investigate by making enquiry into the genuineness of the ownership of the individual or family selling the property in question (if it is a property without any registered title ).

3. Determine the type of house you desire to own:
Once you have decided the location and determined the genuineness of the land, start envisioning the type of property you can afford based on your level of income.

TYPES OF HOUSES
A) BUNGALOWS
i) DETACHED BUNGALOW: This type of bungalow is built on separate plot of land with no adjoining structure on its side. It is often characterized with its own fence and single access gate.

ii) SEMI-DETACHED /DUPLEX BUNGALOW :This comprises of two (twin ) units of bungalows built side by side on the same plot of land .Some of this type of bungalows are built as separate buildings but with a low fence wall separating the structures and separate entrance gate to ensure privacy. While some others are built with one common roof and with a common wall or a low fence to demarcate the two units.

B) DETACHED HOUSES
This is what is commonly referred to in Nigeria as duplex which is however a misnomer. The proper word to describe such houses is detached houses.

WHAT IS A DETACHED HOUSE?
A detached house is a dwelling house on two floors (two storey) with the sitting room, dining ,kitchen, store, visitor’s toilet, lock-up garage and where desired guest room are on the ground floor while all the bedrooms and family living room/sitting room are upstairs. The two floors are connected by an internal stairway usually taking off from inside the sitting room downstairs.

Detached houses may have as many as eight bedrooms and as few as three bedrooms. Some have been known to have three-four living rooms/sitting rooms. The detached house like the detached bungalow is usually built on its own individual plot fenced with a single access gate.

i) SEMI-DETACHED/DUPLEX HOUSES: This like semi-detached or duplex bungalow comprises of two (twin) units of houses that are built together on the same plot of land. It could be constructed as separate units on the same plot while jointly sharing several utilities. It could also be separated by a common wall under a common roof. In some cases, there’s a middle fence wall of partition to ensure privacy with separate gate or one gate serving the apartments.

C) BLOCKS OF FLATS
This house type is common in the high and medium density areas of several towns in Nigeria.
A block of flats is a single building built to house several units of flats under a common roof ,each existing side by side or on top of the other with a common access and separately defined access to each flat exclusive of the others. They often comprise two or more floors.

i) BLOCKS OF FOUR FLATS: This is a building on two floors containing 4 units of flats. Each floor comprises 2 flats arranged side by side with the upper floor built of reinforced concrete. Each flat has a separate entrance and access to the upper floor is usually through a staircase constructed in the middle of the building which leads directly to the upper flat’s doors on the left and right side respectively. This type of building is also fenced around often on a single plot with a common access gate for the occupants of each flat.

ii) BLOCKS OF TWO FLATS: It is a building that comprises 2 units of accommodation/apartments within a block on 2 floors which are constructed one on top of the other with a side or rear staircase leading to the upper flat which is constructed on a reinforced concrete floor.

iii) BLOCKS OF SIX, EIGHT AND TEN FLATS: These buildings are a variation of the 2 and 4 blocks of flats. The numbers of storeys (floors) go up as the number of flats increase.


FACTORS TO CONSIDER BEFORE BUYING PLOT(S) OF LAND

a) Sizes of Plots of Land: It is paramount to have a good knowledge of the various plot sizes available in the market as it must be considered alongside the choice of location so as to arrive at a good monetary value for the property before buying it.

STANDARD PLOT SIZES IN FEET AND SQUARE METRES

Equivalent in m³
60ft x 100ft =557.4m³(Approx)
80ft x 100ft = 743.2m²(Approx)
100ft x 100ft = 929m²
120ft x 100ft = 1114.8m²
120ft x 150ft =1678.8m² or ½ acre 150ft x 180ft = 2787.8m² or ¾ an acre


No of plots in 1 Acre
60ft x 100ft =557.4m³(Approx) = 7
80ft x 100ft = 743.2m²(Approx) =5
100ft x 100ft = 929m² = 4
120ft x 100ft = 1114.8m² = 3.64
120ft x 150ft =1678.8m² or ½ acre = 2-2.5 150ft x 180ft = 2787.8m² or ¾ an acre = 1.45

1 Hectare = 10,000 square metres

1 Acre = 4,047 square metres

Therefore, there are approximately 2 ½ acres in one hectare of land

FAQ: How many plots can be found in an acre?

The number of plots found in an acre is dependent on the size of each plot as shown in the table above. Generally, the larger the plots, the fewer there are in one acre. For example, several plots of 60’’ x 100’’ exist in an acre but only 2 plots of 120’’ x 150’’may be found in the same acre. It is also logical that the larger the plot, the more costly it would be relatively to a smaller one on the same location. It is important to understand that dimensions may not always be accurate. For instance, a plot could measure 86’’ x 102’’ or 100’’x 146’’.The accuracy of rounded figures like 60’’, 80’’ or 120’’ would depend on the land space available after taking out the road network, open spaces, schools and the public uses where applicable. In private residential layouts, it is proper to sight the town planning approval in a layout before purchasing the plot. Government planned estates and GRA plots (low and medium density) often contain large plots.

b) The gradient or slope of the plot of land: If it is too steep or sloppy, building of a retaining wall or using of concrete reinforcement at the foundation level is necessary though expensive

c) Water-logging: If it is water logged, a specialized foundation like raft or pad foundation is essential though may incur serious cost implications. A sign that a proposed land for sale is water-logged could be the presence of a stream nearby or the type of vegetation on the soil. When in doubt, consult a soil or civil engineer.

d) Termite-infested soil: A plot of land infested is difficult to build upon because even after fumigation and treatment, the termites still return to attack all timber used in window, door and roof and even garden. A strong indication of the presence of termite infested soil is the presence of termites’ hills and rotten termite-infested wood on the site.

e) Overhead high tension wires or railway lines: The presence of overhead high tension wires or railway lines in a location of your choice should also be considered before investing in any piece of land there

f) Government compulsory/committed acquisition or designated open space: It is important to conduct a thorough search at the relevant land registry in order to ensure the property is not subject to government compulsory/committed acquisition or designated as an open space.


TYPES OF ATTITUDES TO HOME OWNERSHIP

TYPE 1 ATTITUDE: This is the type of attitude exhibited by people who approach home ownership as a dream or wish that may never materialize. The sheer thought of the huge amount of capital required to carry it through seems intimidating and causes them to keep postponing the consideration of home ownership to a future date they perceive would be easier. Usually, rather than save up for home ownership after meeting their basic necessities, people with this attitude would commit such amounts to gratifying small pleasures that makes them feel good and continue to spend a chunk of their income on house rents, without so much as buying a plot of land in anticipation of fulfilling their wish for a building of their own.

TYPE 2 ATTITUDE: People with this type of attitude approach home ownership much more seriously by hastily buying a plot of land as soon as they can put some savings together, regardless of the location of the land as long as their savings can cover the cost of the land. Because of their limited savings, they tend to mould sand crete blocks or buy cement at cheaper control price from a friend or relatives or source direct cheap labour in an effort to save more money. Once they have exhausted the money saved, they stop and commence again when they have saved up more money to continue. They eventually succeed in completing their house but sometimes due to pressing financial needs for school fees, feeding, healthcare, they get stuck midway in building their house and end up for years with uncompleted building.

TYPE 3 ATTITUDE: People with this type of attitude have the means to build or buy their own houses but because of their practice of mismanaging money coupled with lack of hindsight, usually squander their money on high living and gratifying the pleasures of the moment. They usually end up with regrets.

The question therefore is ‘’which one of the attitudes do you currently exhibit?’’

It suffices to state that once financial resources are available, one of the greatest priorities to channel it to is building of one’s own house either for personal use or investment purpose.

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LEVELS OF INVESTORS IN PROPERTY MARKET

LEVEL ONE INVESTOR: This is the level where the investor desires to secure a dwelling place for himself and not to earn rent from it. The ultimate goal for this type of investor is to complete a building to the state where he can move in and be free from the problems associated with housing and irate landlords.

LEVEL TWO INVESTOR: This is the level where the investor has built his own house and uses extra income available to him to build more houses to let. In most cases, this type of investor passes on this wealth to coming generation and in cases of austerity such as is the case currently in Nigeria, sell one or two of his properties in old age to ensure his living expenses are met.

LEVEL THREE INVESTOR: This is the level where the investor with a business minded view of creating wealth and preserving landed property either buys landed property and waits until the area or location is open to development, sells it off, and makes two or three times the money used in purchasing the property in the first place or; seeks for opportunities to buy properties with a price advantage such as properties put up for sale by distressed owners, vendors/sellers or auctioned properties or uncompleted buildings and sells same for profit or keeps them for duration when he can determine it is best to sell off.
The level three investor is skillful, experienced and mature to buy properties, balance his hold and hold his investments for five, ten, twenty-five years as the case maybe. This type of investor also seeks professional advices and does investment analysis to point in the right directions.

LEVEL FOUR INVESTOR: This level of investors is usually referred to as developers because they construct several housing units and sell them for profit. Examples of such housing units constructed by developers are Victoria Garden City (VGC), Magodo Phase 1& 2 etc ,all located in Lagos, Nigeria. This type of project are usually capital intensive hence the involvement of mortgage banks and commercial banks in its funding and execution.

LEVEL FIVE INVESTOR: This is the level where it is possible to raise finance from the capital market though the sale of shares and debenture stock from developers and estate investors

What level do you fall into or aspire to fall into? Whichever applies,keep working honestly and tirelessly at it and one day the dream home will gradually become a reality.