Hello Nairalanders,

I'd like to share my house-hunting adventure, experiences, travails and conquest as a young man in Lagos.

It took me almost two years to get a "decent and affordable" apartment in Lagos. Mind you, those words are relative, right?

I saw, first-hand, the breath of the crazy slum packaged as Lagos and the gross housing deficit in the state, coupled with the unchecked greed of agents, property managers and owners (landlords/landladies).

I will be sharing all these experiences in detail with you all in this thread and the pitfalls to avoid when searching for an apartment to rent in Lagos

But first, some introduction.

My name is Moses, a 30-year-old Lagos-based IT professional.

In January 2019, I had the utmost nudge to start an independent life, free from family interference and eventually settle down for marriage. That meant getting an apartment and other basic essentials to host a family.

That decision led to my search of an apartment in March 2019, ideally, a two-bedroom flat for a start.

Did I mention? I'm a remote worker, meaning I work from home and having a comfortable space was non-negotiable for productive and performance.

Choosing a location was the first hurdle I had to cross, and if you know Lagos quite well, everything is, largely, dependent, on your budget.

So, guess how much my budget was?

I'll continue much later. In the meantime, drop comments, likes and share...Your new Lagos tenant will be back, shortly

For real, living in Lagos isn't a joke. I'd also like to get a comfortable place where I can have a large space to work but guess what?! I need about 400k for that, that's not inclusive of getting household equipments oooo. Wahala for who no get money for naija.

togafrost:
Hello Nairalanders,

I'd like to share my house-hunting adventure, experiences, travails and conquest as a young man in Lagos.

It took me almost two years to get a "decent and affordable" apartment in Lagos. Mind you, those words are relative, right?

I saw, first-hand, the breath of the crazy slum packaged as Lagos and the gross housing deficit in the state, coupled with the unchecked greed of agents, property managers and owners (landlords/landladies).

I will be sharing all these experiences in detail with you all in this thread and the pitfalls to avoid when searching for an apartment to rent in Lagos

But first, some introduction.

My name is Moses, a 30-year-old Lagos-based IT professional.

In January 2019, I had the utmost nudge to start an independent life, free from family interference and eventually settle down for marriage. That meant getting an apartment and other basic essentials to host a family.

That decision led to my search of an apartment in March 2019, ideally, a two-bedroom flat for a start.

Did I mention? I'm a remote worker, meaning I work from home and having a comfortable space was non-negotiable for productive and performance.

Choosing a location was the first hurdle I had to cross, and if you know Lagos quite well, everything is, largely, dependent, on your budget.

So, guess how much my budget was?

I'll continue much later. In the meantime, drop comments, likes and share...Your new Lagos tenant will be back, shortly

Waiting on for your continuation...

What are the criteria stated to the agents for the house hunt?

The most difficult part of house hunting is that 2k to 3k that agents collect to go and show you some dilapidated houses.

Lagos is not worth it

Continue

debosalau:


Waiting on for your continuation...

What are the criteria stated to the agents for the house hunt?

No criteria other than to collect their "urgent" 2k and then start taking you to some God forsaken places.

Or places that are three times your budget. And when you get tired, your money is gone.

UndauntedYOCA:
For real, living in Lagos isn't a joke. I'd also like to get a comfortable place where I can have a large space to work but guess what?! I need about 400k for that, that's not inclusive of getting household equipments oooo. Wahala for who no get money for naija.

you will get a good 3 bedroom flat with spacious environment with 150 to 180 where I am

ZhiosonWind:
you will get a good 3 bedroom flat with spacious environment with 150 to 180 where I am

Where exactly is that? Is it close to Lekki or what's the tfare like? How safe and conducive is it?

Lagos, Na waa.Agents are greedy, unscrupulous, liars and deceivers

STOP POSTING HALF BAKED STORIES HERE!

UndauntedYOCA:

Where exactly is that? Is it close to Lekki or what's the tfare like? How safe and conducive is it?

not in Lagos State

I feel your struggle, my sister.

It's not the best time to be a young person in Nigeria.

The wahala is just too much, but God go help us.

UndauntedYOCA:
For real, living in Lagos isn't a joke. I'd also like to get a comfortable place where I can have a large space to work but guess what?! I need about 400k for that, that's not inclusive of getting household equipments oooo. Wahala for who no get money for naija.

Hmmmm!

I contacted almost 50 agents in the course of the search, so I really have so much to share.

I will share that in a bit on this thread.

debosalau:


Waiting on for your continuation...

What are the criteria stated to the agents for the house hunt?

You sef know this abi?

PuZZyNegro:
The most difficult part of house hunting is that 2k to 3k that agents collect to go and show you some dilapidated houses.

Lagos is not worth it

LOL!

Where is that?

I'm sure it's nowhere in Lagos.

ZhiosonWind:
you will get a good 3 bedroom flat with spacious environment with 150 to 180 where I am

PART 2: Budget and Location: The Ire-Akari Experience

After looking at my financial income and capacity, I budgeted N400,000 (na big money for my eyes ooo) for annual rent and N100,000 for the agreement and commission (although I don't know what that means).

I've always loved to stay in an estate; the structure, serenity and security were always appealing to me.

So, I had a conversation with my sweet, supporting fiancee, and we decided on staying in Ire-Akari Estate in Isolo.

Lest I forget, I had stayed around Isolo and Mushin, same with my fiancee and her family, and I fairly like the environment (easy access to all parts of Lagos, markets and social centres).

People of Nairaland, na so we start to dey look for house in Ire-Akari estate oooo. For weeks, I searched online (Jiji, PropertyNG...) and got nothing around there. Then, I and my fiancee physically went to hunt.

Thankfully, we saw a few sign-posts of apartment vacancies. We were excited and immediately called the numbers for inquiries. But lo, the first three we called were priced between N750,000 and N650,000. We even saw some duplex and 4 bedroom for about N1m to N1.5m.

Ha! N750,000 against the budget of N400,000? How na?

The Ire-Akari search continued for weeks, with nothing tangible, yet we were optimistic.

So, we decided to pay agents within the estate if they could give us valuable information, since some vacancies are not usually announced publicly.

The first agent we met said he had two apartments for 400k on a cool street but we couldn't see it except we paid 5k as registration fee.

We paid 2k and he took us to an abandoned, crazy-looking, smelling, crime-prone two-bedroom BQ. I politely told him not to worry about it that we'd prefer something sharper, so we could go inspect the second one, na there baba start story say the person with the key no dey around. I was pissed! He promised to be on the look out and get back to us. Meanwhile, this dude didn't even have my number oooo, so, how, e wan take call me?

If I could recall, I think we made about 20-30 calls in Ire-Akari and also paid about 5 agents 2k each without any successful result.

Also factor in the cost and time of going there, I and my fiancee had to eat out or chill out somewhere to catch those unworthy agent appointments.

In summary, Ire-Akari didn't end well. Dem chop our money, and we learnt some lessons - Agents are only after their 2k.

Poser: Have you had terrible experiences with agents, please share them.

togafrost:
Hello Nairalanders,

I'd like to share my house-hunting adventure, experiences, travails and conquest as a young man in Lagos.

It took me almost two years to get a "decent and affordable" apartment in Lagos. Mind you, those words are relative, right?

I saw, first-hand, the breath of the crazy slum packaged as Lagos and the gross housing deficit in the state, coupled with the unchecked greed of agents, property managers and owners (landlords/landladies).

I will be sharing all these experiences in detail with you all in this thread and the pitfalls to avoid when searching for an apartment to rent in Lagos

But first, some introduction.

My name is Moses, a 30-year-old Lagos-based IT professional.

In January 2019, I had the utmost nudge to start an independent life, free from family interference and eventually settle down for marriage. That meant getting an apartment and other basic essentials to host a family.

That decision led to my search of an apartment in March 2019, ideally, a two-bedroom flat for a start.

Did I mention? I'm a remote worker, meaning I work from home and having a comfortable space was non-negotiable for productive and performance.

Choosing a location was the first hurdle I had to cross, and if you know Lagos quite well, everything is, largely, dependent, on your budget.

So, guess how much my budget was?

I'll continue much later. In the meantime, drop comments, likes and share...Your new Lagos tenant will be back, shortly

I've got a room and parlour self-con. Upstairs. Am letting it out with all property inside cos am travelling.
Features:
- A couch, centre table and centre rug in the sitting room
- The sitting room is fully fitted with a 1.5hp LG Air conditioner
- LG Smart Tv and LG mini boom bass sound system
- Bedside fridge
- Semi-automatic watching machine with spinner
- Haier Thermocool table top glass case burner with cylinder
- Clean water
- Bed, wardrobe and fan in the bedroom
- Ox fan
- 1 ( one year rent)
- plates, cups, spoon and pots.

You don't have any work to do on the house. Just move in. Everything is in good form.
Location is : Badore, Ajah lagos state.
Contact : 08069018436 for pictures and negotiation

UndauntedYOCA:
For real, living in Lagos isn't a joke. I'd also like to get a comfortable place where I can have a large space to work but guess what?! I need about 400k for that, that's not inclusive of getting household equipments oooo. Wahala for who no get money for naija.

Large comfortable place for 400k?? At where pls

Lol mine was crazy as well I had to wait for months to get the accommodation I want and my type of taste would have loved to narrate the crazy experiences with this agents and landlords that messed up with my plans and money ... Lagos agents are devil in making and landlords are their host .. the thing still dey pain me ni sha ... life is too short .

following

KBdownloads:

Large comfortable place for 400k?? At where pls

Ah, large keh? Lol, just a normal selfcon oooo, ahan, you can get them in different places in Lag but not the Island sha.

2k agents

I can relate

Everything in Lagos is just overly expensive.

The little money you make you end up spending it on Transportation, feeding and accommodation.

Its almost like a rat race, little wonder most people don't achieve anything..

I am off the opinion that if you can run a viable business that has to do with daily needs (POS, restaurant, dry cleaning, beer), you will make it in your state.

Alternatively, you can do ecommerce anywhere in Nigeria with use of good logistics service.

Lagos na suffering and smiling, to be honest.

I've had my fair share of Lagos house hunting. From yaba to Maryland, gbagada, shomolu, surulere, ajah, ogudu. Tell an agent u want pay and park in, they take you to uncompleted building and start showing you foundation. Tell them your budget is 200, they show you 350k own. If I tell anybody outside Lagos my house rent, they call me crazy cos the amount is just outrageous. But we have no choice. I ended up increasing my budget just to get a decent place.

Lol,too many stories to tell.