For most people, having a place to call ‘HOME’ is a long haul.

The journey could take several years of sweat, toil and tears. It gets more difficult for men who have to strive to ensure things are in place before having families of their own – a roof over the head is usually the minimum requirement.

One of the important lessons from George Clason’s classic book “The Richest Man in Babylon” is "Own thy own home". This advice is even more important to the average African family.

Besides the relief from rental pressures, there are other social and psychological benefits to owning a home. Many young families dream of it because it bestows a sense of accomplishment and pride.

Growing up as a man takes a lot especially after becoming a graduate. The next phase is usually to explore the path to independence and self-sustenance. Among the indicators of growth, the ability to pay for one’s rent (yearly or monthly), is a vital one.

In Nigeria, after the mandatory one-year-service to the nation, it takes an average of 3 to 7 years for many graduates to become financially stable. During this period, they are also expected to support other family members (as a way of paying it forward) while trying to build a home of their dream.

It’s a tougher scale to balance for married men because, while yearly payments of rent is a necessity, there are other living expenses incurred by his nuclear family, and being married doesn’t excuse him from bearing external responsibilities or supporting his extended family members.

A survey conducted by NOI Polls in 2014, shows that 51% of Nigerians currently live in rented accommodations, while only 31% claimed to live in their ‘personal house’ which they may have built, purchased or inherited.

A decent accommodation in urban centres in Nigeria ranges from 120,000 to 2,000,000 naira per annum, depending on the location and size of the apartment. When you compare this with the national minimum wage or general average income, it means, more than 25% of a man’s yearly earnings goes to house rent. Recurring rental payments for about 10 to 20 years amounts to a huge figure that makes every man prefer to own a home, thereby saving money on house rents and other associated bills.

Unfortunately, with the year-on-year increase in Nigeria's population, a decent and affordable accommodation is fast becoming a scarce commodity especially in big cities like Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. In 1991, the Nigeria housing deficit was at 7 million. It grew to 12 million in 2007, 14 million in 2010 and 17 million units as revealed by a 2012 report.

This means, tenants will now pay as high as 60% of their average income compared to the United Nations’ recommended 20-30%.

While the Federal and state governments are taking steps to tackle Nigeria’s housing problem through initiatives such as the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) and various home ownership schemes, much more needs to be done.

Dolapo Omidire, a Lagos-based real estate research analyst and editor at Estate Intel argues that, trying to approach the problem with mortgage may not be as successful because financial history and other necessary data are still largely unavailable. Hence, many eligible candidates are often left out. The same can be said for eligible candidates with steady incomes who have not been able to save enough for a down-payment.

In an attempt to solve this problem, two friends Ken and Ugo Okoli founded OPOD, a fintech startup that enables consumers, lenders, real estate agents, and property developers to connect and transact throughout the end-to-end mortgage and property acquisition process seamlessly and securely.


“At OPOD, we are using historic and current financial profiles, as well as predictive financial behavioural aggregate data to help our customers realize home ownership through affordable mortgage repayment packages,” says Ugo Okoli, Cofounder OPOD

OPOD’s aim is to transform the current cumbersome and rather rudimentary mortgage lending process currently existing in Nigeria and eventually, across Africa. With an existing 17 million housing deficit in Nigeria prompting the boom in the real estate sector, many of the over 15 million Nigerians in the diaspora and millions of Nigerian residents are seeking to be homeowners and/or desire to acquire properties for investment.

Visit www.opod.africa and subscribe to our newsletters to learn more.

nice Editorial

Thanks

Teddeebear:
nice Editorial