This forum has all the imaginable and unimaginable merits it richly deserves except the singular fact that its administrator/s has/have not been able to motivate advertisers to always post sufficient pictures of their properties on sale. Frankly speaking, the people actually buying properties by the influence of this laudable forum live abroad where it is established that one picture frame speaks over a thousand word.

The fact that advertisers were not pasting pictures yesterday does not mean that they should not be doing that today.I know that there is slight difficulty for advertisers to do that in NIgeria because of the peculiar environment native to the Country. However, advertisers should raise the bar to boost their sales. One should take the lead in this direction. The only problem I envisage is that most of these sellers do not actually have something to show buyers who ironically have the money to buy their property. All they have is expanse of land named as estate they dare not show foreign based buyers lest they become discouraged and flee

Do a new thing and see how it pays!

I completely agree. Seriously considering making a purchase in Lagos but looks like I might have to travel down for a physical inspection before I can even begin to shortlist properties. Photos help to narrow down the search significantly and are a time saver.

I've heard a lot about the re-modeled 1004 flats but no photos anywhere to support the claims of "luxury flats." Sellers need to do more to tap into the market available in this section.

@Larry Okun
i agree with you the developers and sellers should provide pictures of there respective developments, that way everbody can have a clearer 'picture' of what is actually being offered.

I was in Nigeria earlier this year and viewed some of the estate in the Mowe/Ofada area, and the Lekki FTZ, all i can say is i was highly disappointed in what they were offering.

A lot of the developers there had done little or no work on there prospective sites and were asking for large amounts of money.

it just makes you wonder if these guys will deliver everything or anything they are promising
Developers and sellers Transparency please !!!
please include your photo's of your developments for all to see.

A friend was at Lekki a couple of weeks ago to view land. It was being sold by this bobo with several omoges sitting with him. All he had done was clear a couple of palm trees and gotten a grader to create a short road, nothing else and he was asking for big bucks. The guy had even set up a makeshift "office" right there on bare land and boasted about how he would use money from the first set of buyers to clear the "development" further inwards until he got to the "prime oceanfront" plots which he would sell for even bigger bucks.

All they have is expanse of land named as estate they dare not show foreign based buyers lest they become discouraged and flee

So true!! there are soooo many estates it's frightening and they promise everything-shame they cant tell you when the estate will be habitable

I wish every property advertiser would simply furnish prospective buyers especially those living abroad with pictures of what they have for sale. The difference between a "somebody" and a "nobody" is that a "somebody" does what a "nobody" never fears to do. Boost your sale avenue; post pictures

The truth is that most of you sellers of estate land at Ofada/Mowo do not have something worth putting on this site as pictures for one to view. You are preoccupied with what profit you want to make at the expense of what quality of product you want to sell.

As the saying goes, "cunning man dies; cunning man buries him". This explains why 90% of those buying land in this axis buy with a view to selling in the future for abnormal profit. Like the saying "cunning man dies; cunning man buries him", the sellers have perfected legal means of reposessing your land if you do not build within a specified time frame in conjunction with with the two states government involved. Of course they promised they will refund your money. At what percentage, less original price or the future "utopian" price? Have you ever thought that you can be manipulated into huge loss? Do you know that the crash of Bank Shares in Nigeria was the very handiwork of issuers of those shares so as to acquire enough liquidity to make for the liquidity of 25 billion dollars they were mandatorilly required to deposit with the Central Bank even when economic indices were not there to support the crash? (If you believed this, why do you keep saying that property price crashes are only in credit-based economies of the likes of Asia, Americas and Europe? The fact remains that most of you only prefer to be foolishly optimistic. Read Comedies instead of Tragedies if you must read books. Remember the money you lost in shares!)

Outside banking industry, Daargroup raised billions of naira from you having promised you that you will never lose your money at N5.00. Today the share price is below N1.60K. Do you know he just took that money from you to purchase High Definition Equipment to monopolise that sector of industry. In the same vein, it is possible to lose you hard-earned money if some of this mushroom estate developers transfer their estate to a mega developer who never signed up to what you beat your chest about as your document. Besides, the banks that gave them the fund to "invent" these inferior estates may start the process of repossessing them. The agents you are dealing with today would have fled or tell you they were only agents living on commission. However, there are some developers in this area who have the fund to develop enviable estates, for some, you will never get 10% of what they promised you

Be wise! If you want to enjoy your land, start looking for fund to build now so as to secure it, otherwise, sooner or later, you will lose it. The most foolish person now is the guy who buys more land with the aim of wanting the price to go up in the future before he sells. I bet you, he will surely regret!

I concurr with everything the poster has said

Everybody knows that pictures speaks 1000 times more than text. it is proven and worldly accepted you are more likely to sell your product 20 times more than somebody who has no pictures. But due to the nature of the fact that alot of Nigerians are scam artist and bloody opportunist we are where we are. very sad

I cannot understand why properties sellers here still refuse to include pictures with their listings. Listings of cars on Nairaland that sell for a few thousand dollars all have pictures while a property listing for a billion Naira has no picture to show for it.

I will not make any contact with a real estate posting without a picture. I suppose these posters must believe that Nigerians are not sophisticated enough to demand good and accurate information in the buying process.

jazzsoul:

I cannot understand why properties sellers here still refuse to include pictures with their listings. Listings of cars on Nairaland that sell for a few thousand dollars all have pictures while a property listing for a billion Naira has no picture to show for it.

I will not make any contact with a real estate posting without a picture. I suppose these posters must believe that Nigerians are not sophisticated enough to demand good and accurate information in the buying process.

They obviously have something to hide

well it is an open biz.08033054149

Please i just posted interior and exterior pics of 7 terrace houses for sale. Please check the thread below
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-266802.0.html



Thanks

Despite all efforts made in the past by this forum Website manager to encourage advertisers to post pictures of sale properties, it appears no headway is in sight. In this light, it would not be out of place to assist the manager with ideas that would leave these heedless pimps with no alternative than to improve on whatever means that would make them post pictures with a view to boosting their sales strategies

Contributing my quota, I suggest that Sub-Heading B be developed to be titled "Properties With Pictures". Those who believe they can sell a duplex or a bungalow for N120 Million naira with text can put their belief to test. I bet you, time would tell which section would stand the test of time

If you have any contribution to make, please do

supported

supported

The truth is that i have read all your complains and i have forwarded it to the Adminstrator. We had a lenghty chat over it and we realised one or 2 things which i would like to clarify regarding this picture issue:

1. Unlike the autos section where pictures of cars are posted every now and then, properties cannot be forced upon the seller to post them because truthfully its their own loss if they dont post pictures and you as the buyer has a right to ignore such postings. Forcing will only mean that they wouldnt have any right to advertise a property because most of these properties dont belong to the agents for sale and they are usually 3rd or 4th party agents.

What it means is that the original agent may not necessarily be the one advertising the property on nairaland and he had to tell a colleague to market it for him and the news spreads till it gets to nairaland. That agent posting on nairaland might not even know the direct owner or the agent and is just playing his own role as a marketer to sell a property before he introduces you to the real/direct agent when you come one on one with them. The agent is only entitled to his commission as a Finder and not as an agent entitled to the full commission.

The dangers of a third party agent is that if he pastes pictures of a property he really doesnt have the right to sell or market, he could be held liable for misrepresentation and would prefer to deal with you one on one before he introduces you to the real owners or agents.

Also the Nigerian factor of Armed robbers is a major factor because if i post a property for sale going for N50MILLION and i state the address and area, the present occupants would be scared. I know this argument sounds weak but we live in a deeply spiritual and emotional society that takes issues like this seriously and you hear people complaining that they shouldnt take pictures of their houses because they dont know who is who and prefer you to come and deal with them directly.

2. A major issue is the issue of fraud: Pasting a picture of a property that doesnt belong to you directly could be the beginning and end of you. I have seen so many properties posted on websites and people claiming to be the direct agent but upon investigation, the agent doesnt know the direct agent, talkless of the owner and during negotiations he is dumbfounded and quiet because he doesnt know the issues surrounding the houses or lands except as a marketer.
Take for instance the Mowe/Ofada axis, most of the agents on nairaland dont have a direct affiliation with the real estate developers that own them but act as third party agents to the direct agent. What if the picture being posted is not an authorized one by the owner but the agent claims that it is for sale but he has no direct link to that property, who will you hold responsible? The agent or the owner?

While i 100% support the notion that pictures should be posted to help buyers especially those abroad seeking to own a land or property and these pictures will really assist them in making their choices, we have to also understand that we live in a very fraudulent society where agents cheat people at will and misrepresent facts hence the latin Maxim "CAVEAT EMPTOR. . . BUYERS BEWARE". The only solution i see is to see the advert, call the agent, ask someone you know to go and verify it for you physically to take pictures and explain the description, ask a lawyer to go and trace the owners and know the true title or documents before you even venture into any kind of property sale.

Even if you see the pictures, you will still have to involve professionals to investigate because pictures lie and land purchase cannot be compared with a car sale that takes less than a day compared to all the bureaucracies, investigations, searches, negotiations etc that accompany land or property purchases that could take months.

Truely i understand your pains and arguments and the nairaland moderators have discussed about this issue extensively before we came to this decision. We cannot force them but you can also play your own part by reminding them and rebuking them to honour that path of posting pictures to enhance their sales or you ignore them completely. Its your choice or right.

As an added bonus, after reading your complains, very soon i would be visiting some of these sights at your requests to verify it myself and take pictures to give you my own analysis so as to make this forum more balanced . Every problem has a solution and i hope my own solutin would be a small stepping stone to help educate agents to start listening to potential buying clients. 

Cheers!

Some points raised by Lawyer makes sense while I disagree with some other points.

For how long are we going to market house sale or house buying online without pictures in this digital age? This is somehow primitive!

What has armed robbers got to do with this if you post photo of house for sale online? There is no need to put full address there. Mentioning the disctrict the house is located for prospective buyer is just enough. For example, just mention Ikeja, Oshodi, VI etc is all you need. Then you and prospective buyer will dialogue on the rest and arrange physical viewing if terms were being agreed on.

On the issue of fraud, I will expect any reasonable and careful buyer to surely employ the service of any law practitioner.

People are becoming internet savvy and expecting quality service that will make things easier for them too. I have been shown horrible properties in the past. I would not have wasted my much valuable time if I had seen some photos of such properties.It is high time to start posting pictures. This is modern and digital age.

i agree entirely with Femi1632
With pictures, you will know whether to proceed or not.
Just imagine you telling your relative to go check a property all the time and because the agents  posted no pics, you always find out it is not what you had in mind; at a time your relative will get tired.
But with pics, the process becomes less cubersome, cos when you see the pics and you like it, all your relative needs to do is to confirm that what you have as pics is what really exits and then you can call the lawyer to do all the legal works, CASE CLOSED

I agree with Mowaa and Femi1632 and for first time i must say i disagree totally with Lawyer on this one, i believe its all about us as buyers being able to make informed decisions.

A big part of that process is having a view of the property first, this will enable a prospective buyer to make a decision as to whether he would want to proceed any further with the purchase or not.

This in its own right saves the buyer and seller a lot of money and time buy not going about viewing properties and lands he would not have bothered viewing if he had an outlook of the situation in the first place.

i don't think being a third fourth of fifth agent makes any difference either, in as much as that agent has the authority to advertise that property on the Agents behalf pictures can still be displayed. if he does not have that authority he should not be advertising the property full stop. its for very much reasons like this we want these pictures.

it appears to me a lot of the developers are not comfortable with what they are offering as products, hence the reason why they are reluctant to put these picture to back them up, in the UK the are websites like rightmoves.co.UK and fishforhomes.co.uk that not only give you pictures of the external of the properties for sale but also give you interior pictures.

I don't think NL are actually advocating this, i believe photos of the exterior would be a step in right direction.
Once again Sellers, agents, and property developers Transparency please !!!!!!!

Firstly, I must thank the lawyer for all his efforts and time at letting us know that he actually tried to address this problem of sellers blatantly refusing to paste pictures of properties on sale.

Now that we are aware of his limitations largely induced by "the Nigerian factor," I however opined that the views of femi and the other contributor should be taken seriously. Truly, we are living in a jet technological age. We certainly do not have any option than to flow with the tide. Picture-pasting with regard to selling ones property is an indispensable phenomenon in this digital age.
Although the lawyer successfully explained why some sellers shy away from picture-posting because they are 3rd party advertisers, however, this excuse leaves a lot to be desired when you consider
1) People who paste pictures of cars sell more than those who do not. Which is more vulnerable to thieves? A stationary property or a mobile car that could be fled with?

2) In Ghana where pasting of pictures of properties are extensively availed of, robberies do not apply

3) Who buys a property these days without employing the services of a competent lawyer like we have in the person of this forum administrator?

Considering all this, this forum admin should reconsider creating another sub heading section to be titled "prop. with pictures". By this those who have constraints pasting pictures may still have their usual avenue to advertise their properties to their peril. The serious 1st-hand sellers will then have an avenue to express their properties in pictures. I bet you, in no time, the former will die out

I must confess that I am very happy with the interest this topic has generated since its appearance. Again I salute all the contributors so far for their quality write-ups (Grammar, clarity of thought, cohesion, articulation of purpose and above all their ability to express their dismay over excuses given by the moderator that picture-pasting is ladden with risk in Nigeria)

The moderator created this forum for us and as such, he must be prepared to allow our joy to be in full. This is the most popular website in the property sales sector in Nigeria today because it cuts across the "Head" and the "Tail" in on line websites in Nigeria. This is not to say that it advertises the most expensive properties, far from it. It is the most popular because it is the forum where the ugly, the rich, the haves, the havesnot etc can advertise what they have for sale. If efforts are not made to correct this unwelcome trend, this forum would soon be history. The reason why it is still standing is because no rival website has emerged on the stage. The few that have come up in recent times started on a wrong footing by posting properties for the high class and the middle class refusing to recognise that people from "onitsha" and "Idugbe" markets should have a share and say in this IT industry

It would be unfair of me to end this article by not reminding the administrator of this forum that he probably does not realise that this website has made him a potential millionaire. When YUtube started, it never acquired half the fame and popularity of this forum. Guess what, few years later, google bought it over for millions of dollars. Do you know that with time offers would be made to you in the regions of millions of dollars to you to allow them flash foreign adverts on your page? I can tell you now that overseas hijackers are already advertising their goods by your site pages without paying for them. Ask any of your relative that live abroad to tell you what other adverts they see when they open your website. Browsing Cookies!

In rounding off, Lawyer, do not limit your future gains. Simply create another subhead of props with pictures so as to open up another door for those of us outside the country We make use of this site more than those of you in Nigeria
Again I Thank you for leaving a very relevant and touching topic at number one for all to read

Hi Guys,

Nice debate going on here and it really depends how persuasive you are in convincing the moderator and admin to sway to your corner to coerce sellers to post pictures.

I have read your criticisms in my last reply and while i see your frustrations, you guys havent really hit the nail on the head to convince them to post pictures. Besides i dont see any comment or reply from the agents themselves to either defend or support the argument and you need to bring them in to share their own views. I know they are quite a few popular agents here like hakir who handles the abuja zone, lifetdone, H$l broker, cnnnigeria, props1,dayo, smafolabi etc who can shed more light on why they havent done so and till we have a balanced view of the situation, i cannot willingly force them but i am still open to suggestions from other people and if you can really clamour for it through other posters or collect signatures or whatever, you can tilt it to yor favour to make it a standing rule.

Remember i have also being an active campaigner for this and you can see it in this post https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-204425.0.html but so far so good, nobody has really given the admin concrete reasons to act otherwise. Its really in your hands and the quality of debate, reasonable arguments and reasons should be brought forward. It is really a top priority but if you dont profer concrete reasons, i dont think it will fly.

More especially, i impore users who are based abroad to really be actively involved to state why they need it because i realise it affects you the most but keeping silent means it doesnt bother you and we can only follow the wishes of the members at the end of the day. So far so good, the sellers outrank the buyers through their postings thats why they are in the majority and doing what pleases them by not posting anything but then again, its your duty to make your voices heards before any revolution can occur.

I look forward to your debates, arguments, criticisms and comments in good faith from both parties before we take our final decision.

Cheers

Nigerians and their "much ado about nothing" mentality Na wah oh, is it that preposterous for a serious buyer to request for pictures of properties they are interested in, via email

IMO the issue raised about armed robbers is valid and needs to be addressed, because anyone who can afford to purchase a property worth N25M is easy fodder for anyone with an evil intent.



Another thing that boggles the mind is why and how contemptible behaviours like this are allowed in this section This is just three examples of what has now become a daily occurrence with property advertised with pictures:

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-267080.0.html#msg3833412

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-266342.0.html#msg3864763

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-270770.0.html#msg3857623


Surely there are less offensive ways of getting one’s points and observations across Or am I just being overtly sensitive because I am a woman

lol

Not sure pics will make any difference because you will be looking at a dream house that does not exist.

If they can tell you there are fantastic houses to buy when there are none,what makes you think that when they eventually post a picture it will be a geniune one?
Infact this is the oldest scam ever (if you remember)

hackney:

Not sure pics will make any difference  because you will be looking at a dream house that does not exist.

If they can tell you there are fantastic houses to buy when there are none,what makes you think that when they eventually post a picture it will be a geniune one?
Infact this is the oldest scam ever (if you remember)

not true sir.  pics makes a whole world of difference.

it is sad that even the bigger estate agents in naija only excuse for not showing fotos online is thieves or "the seller dont want anyone to know they are selling".   one had the cheek to ask for proof of funds before he could send photos to my mail box as if that is a gaurantee of sales for him.

i think some of these guys need to up their game. in this day and age you dont need to go into any property before you make first move. i think digital cameras are cheap enough for an estate agent to afford.

Busy_body:

Nigerians and their "much ado about nothing" mentality Na wah oh, is it that preposterous for a serious buyer to request for pictures of properties they are interested in, via email i dont think it is about email ma'am.  they dont have the pics in the first place.  it took me 4 months to get one send me fotos last year in the end he just sent only front and back. that is silly. i dont want to name them here cos they are big and should know better

IMO the issue raised about armed robbers is valid and needs to be addressed, because anyone who can afford to purchase a property worth N25M is easy fodder for anyone with an evil intent.  explain this my dear. cant get you.

lawyer:

Hi Guys,

Nice debate going on here and it really depends how persuasive you are in convincing the moderator and admin to sway to your corner to coerce sellers to post pictures.

I have read your criticisms in my last reply and while i see your frustrations, you guys havent really hit the nail on the head to convince them to post pictures. Besides i dont see any comment or reply from the agents themselves to either defend or support the argument and you need to bring them in to share their own views. I know they are quite a few popular agents here like hakir who handles the abuja zone, lifetdone, H$l broker, cnnnigeria, props1,dayo, smafolabi etc who can shed more light on why they havent done so and till we have a balanced view of the situation, i cannot willingly force them but i am still open to suggestions from other people and if you can really clamour for it through other posters or collect signatures or whatever, you can tilt it to yor favour to make it a standing rule.

Remember i have also being an active campaigner for this and you can see it in this post https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-204425.0.html but so far so good, nobody has really given the admin concrete reasons to act otherwise. Its really in your hands and the quality of debate, reasonable arguments and reasons should be brought forward. It is really a top priority but if you dont profer concrete reasons, i dont think it will fly.

More especially, i impore users who are based abroad to really be actively involved to state why they need it because i realise it affects you the most but keeping silent means it doesnt bother you and we can only follow the wishes of the members at the end of the day. So far so good, the sellers outrank the buyers through their postings thats why they are in the majority and doing what pleases them by not posting anything but then again, its your duty to make your voices heards before any revolution can occur.

I look forward to your debates, arguments, criticisms and comments in good faith from both parties before we take our final decision.

Cheers

bros what is wrong in sending pics via email? i can understand not showing pics on NL but not on their websites. it took me ages for some one to get a property viewed on my behalf. the guy said when he got there the idiot wanted to use him as cab all over town. estate agents should be big business and done proffessionally not employing people who treat you like they are doing you a favour

JJYOU

What I meant was that if they start asking for pictures now, small time they would start asking for the addresses to be listed too and someone who purchases a property on the internet, worth N25M for example, could be an easy target for men of the underworld.

If someone can afford to buy a N100M property, any thief knows that if they go there, they would hit the jackpot no matter what. And if you are one of those that keep your money in the bank and not under the bed, the robbers might think you are lying and lose patience with you and could harm you or kill you in the process, so buyer's safety needs to be greatly considered

well just try and send somethin. it s good you do to make you property real and under view by interested buyers

Busy_body:

JJYOU

What I meant was that if they start asking for pictures now, small time they would start asking for the addresses to be listed too and someone who purchases a property on the internet, worth N25M for example, could be an easy target for men of the underworld.

If someone can afford to buy a N100M property, any thief knows that if they go there, they would hit the jackpot no matter what. And if you are one of those that keep your money in the bank and not under the bed, the robbers might think you are lying and lose patience with you and could harm you or kill you in the process, so buyer's safety needs to be greatly considered

how are yo? i know what you mean. i personally became weary when all the guy kept saying to every request for photo via email was just come down it wont take you more than a day. he was not cooperating but thankfully we used another agent who are more proffesional. some of these guys are not serious. the guy that took us round in abuja was a perfect gentleman i am sure the lagos one used to do those agbero loading vehicles in motor park because he has no respect at and is not supposed to be in sales.

i still think they can give pics by email. i am not going into nigeria for what i can not see

As far as I am concerned, anybody who is not willing or ready to post pictures in this forum is not ready for real estate business.

Did I hear that some people who deposited money or people who are making monthly payments towards their properties in mowo/ofada axis are having problems getting allocations or having promised facilities attainable? Do not say you were never warned. On several occasions I warned you. The worse is still to come. The luckier ones are those paying by instalments as they stand to lose the small amount paid so far. By December this year, you would have realised your foolhardiness! I will be in Nigeria by 25th of this month on TV to throw more light on the extent of the dimensions of the risk you are taking. Before you get me wrong, there are many estates in this location that are out for real estates business. Be wary of many more