₦airaland Forum

Investment into real estate for rent in Nigeria, is not a good idea and it takes an average of 10 years

That it takes 10 years to get full returns, even if true, is not a big deal:
- If you are a long term investor, you won't mind the steady income for life.
- If you are a short term investor, you can sell it to someone else who would use it for rent,
- Or you can demand advanced payment of 5-10 years from each tenant!
Regardless of which category you fall into, build the house first and then you can decide whether to sell.

One major problem with building construction in Nigeria is inflation. You may think your building will cost 2 million, but by the time you complete it (if you're not cutting corners) the costs might be running into five million naira!

Visit this page on NigeriaBigYellow.com directory for a list of architectural firms in Nigeria.

Hello tonn,

You will need to account for every last kobo of your lost capital. Sit down and write everything you've bought with the money on a sheet of paper until it adds up to exactly 120,000 naira - the amount you have spent. This will be a very painful process, but that's the only way to figure out what makes your money 'dissappear' and prevent a relapse.

Can you list the various types of business you have looked into and let us know why you decided that they are not right for you? Can you answer the question 'what do you really love to do'? Can you also tell us what you think you can do with your current capital?

Cheers,
Seun O.

Contact me. I know people who might be interested. In what industry is your business and can you give details?

I'm going to sell Nairaland for 25 billion naira so I can start a bank too!

I was going to say "**** all of you" then Idekeson intervened. Thanks. I'll come back to answer the questions.

Love it!

Are you suggesting that an investor should build a prison with all the security requirement and improved level of comfort as you suggested and depend on commission made form the working salary of the inmates to survive?

I'm suggesting that entrepreneurs should be allowed to take advantage of this inexpensive labor.

build a prison with all the security requirement and improved level of comfort as you suggested

Security: Non-violent prisoners can be contained by a high fence surrounding the prison and a double gate.
Comfort: All you need is a dormitory in which each inmate has a mattress to himself. And foodstuff. Nigerian prisons are so horrible that it would be too easy to create something better than them.

no financier will give you facility for such investment prison cannot bring profit

Remember, there are people who are landlords already; who own buildings and are looking for what to do.

A prisoner knowing that you are profiting by his incarceration will not work

If you ever find yourself in a Nigerian prison - God forbid - you will quickly change your mind. They will work hard!

what ratio is prison staff to prisoners?

Non-violent offenders would be quite easy to handle. E.g. people jailed for their sexual preferences, for abusing the naira, or for withholding tax, or people like the doctor Fashanu jailed for political reasons too. Some prisoners would be in supervisory positions over the others, a creative businessman won't need too many employees.

What type of work will a prisoner get that will pay so well?

It's a matter of creativity. Agriculture and call center operation maybe. As long as they can work in isolation.

who will employ a prisoner?

I read a story about a 14 year old boy who is a 419er. If such a boy is arrested today, I am ready to employ him gainfully starting next week. The only problem is that this project would require very secure premises.

Actually, it's just a typo. You are not required to correct typos on the board.

Greatpeter:
Almost can't kill a bird.

Which is why you should go and start your own refinery!

Are you sure sure you can't buy the song?

Ok relax, I go watch am!

My proposal makes more employees available to aspiring entrepreneurs at a potentially lower cost, thus improving productivity and boosting the quality of life of prisoners. Mind you, some prisoners are political prisoners, some are awaiting trial, some have been framed, etc. Such minds should be put to work for the benefit of all. What we lose in terms of 'employment' we will win in terms of cheaper goods and services to sell and export.

If you are a graduate without a job, go and build your own self-funded prison. Even in the process of building the prison, a lot of people will be employed. Guards and prison managers will be employed. Employment in itself is not the aim of the economy; it is a means to an end - production. Prisoners are not animals, they are human beings too!

So Nigerians still don't appreciate satire.

capitalism provides opportunities yes true but it exploits people too. Macdonald pays people $5.25 to flip burgers, anybody who lives in america knows that $5.25 is useless and degrading pay. while Mcdonald makes billions of dollars in profits annually.

This is ridiculous. What is degrading about being paid $5.25 an hour to flip burgers? Is it better to be unemployed than to earn $5.25 an hour? I would never hire people to flip burgers at $5.25; I'll use robots!

People are paid according to the value of their work. If your work is very valuable, you get more money. There is no exploitation. Those who are willing to pay for unskilled labor are doing 'poor' people a lot of service. Those who would rather have them sit at home doing nothing but collecting welfare checks are doing them no favors.

As you know or should know all paid jobs degrade the mind. To be really rich you have to own your own job.

Yes, I created my own job, and I'm enjoying it. This is only posible under capitalism, you know. Stop whining and create yours too. Regulations that make it hard for people to start their own businesses harm everybody.

If by buying luxury items like diamonds spreads money to the poor people who provide services, then how come the people who dig up diamonds in sierra leone live in abject poverty?

That's because Sierra-Leone is not a capitalist economy. It's a 'military economy'. In a stable capitalist economy, the owners of the mines would pay people well to mine the diamonds for them, and then they'll spend whatever they earn in the local economy. Look at South Africa, the gold mining capital of the world! In Sierra Leone, armed groups are fighting for control of the diamond mines. The war situation destroys the economy, and throws everyone into poverty and unemployment. Because there are no better jobs available, people work in the military-controlled mines for little pay. The problem is not capitalism at all. Capitalism doesn't support stealing and fighting.

there is a class system that comes with capitalism that doesn't exist in other doctrines. with capitalism there is no social mobility

The class system is a product of culture and not capitalism. Under normal circumstances, a capitalist would hire the best employees to manage and run his business regardless of class or race in order to maximise profits. But in a culture where there's a lot of segregation, you have rich people hiring rich people to produce goods that will be consumed by rich people. Poor people are excluded even when they have something to offer. That is a problem of culture, not capitalism, and in the 21st century, people are growing out of this class mentality.

Capitalism is the reason why pharmaceutical companies sell drugs for HIV at non affordable prices!

That's not true. The reason is the patent system. Capitalism produces the best outcomes for everyone when there's competition. However, the patent system allows the first person to discover a new drug to get a patent on it (for thousands of dollars). Once they get the patent, then they have a monopoly on the manufacturing of that drug, so others can't compete with them and force them to reduce prices. If someone had a monopoly on the manufacture of food, it would also be expensive, but as you see it's not. The patent system should be reformed, but that's a problem of law, not capitalism. Let's fix the stupid patent laws, but capitalism is ok!

Well, that's the problem with progress. It always 'destroys jobs'. We should ban computers too.

Ok, i understand what you are saying. The bonds will require payment of interest and so the taxation burden the year after will be a little bit more (3% or so?).

Well I think that's ok. First, government already routinely issues bonds even when it's not cash-strapped. Secondly, it's ok to take a small hit when this unforseen situation occurs. Such incidents are rare, and it's unlikely that heads of government departments will refuse to donate if a disaster occurs. Such an action will spoil their images. The interest payment acts as compensation for those who gave the Government money when others were unwilling to donate. If the bond auction is open to the public, then the interest payment might be very low.

However, it seems that there's no demand for this my idea at the moment. People just want more transparency. Noted. Thanks a million for accomodating our idea. I had fun!

taxation is "free" money but ideally you account for it to your citizens.

What are you talking about? You can't eat your cake and have it. You can't spend money and not earn it from somewhere. Either you get donations from people who are concerned about the crisis or you print money. those are two things that governments are already doing even in the absence of crisis, so what are you sayng? It seems you are just arguing for the same of arguing. I don't like that at all.

I don't really have a problem with capitalism.

Look, many of today's billionaires are paper billionaires. The so-called increasing wage gap is merely a function of over-valuation of some financial asets. For example, Bill Gates is worth billions of dollars - in Microsoft stock. He can' just withdraw is $40 billion one day. he has to be withdrawing it a little at a time. 1 million here, 1 million there. Many of those who suddenly became wealthy got it through funny markets directly or indirectly.

And whose fault is it that newbies flood into the stock and real estate market buying over-valued stocks of their favorite companies and making a few people rich? The government of course. It's the government's fault that money is not stable. If money was stable, saving for retirement will be as simple as keeping your money in your bank account. But no, you take it into the stock market and you lose, for a few people to gain. Not capitalism's fault.

Another thing is that rich capitalists don't eat their money. They spread it around. When they buy luxury items like diamonds, first class seats, and homes in trendy locations, they are spreading the money to the 'poor' people that provide those services. The second thing they do is that they invest the money and create opportunities for others to get some of it. When they put money in banks it goes into creating loans for broke-asses with good ideas.

Will capitalism be replaced? Why do you want to fix what's not broken? Why not fix government corruption? If government wasn't corrupt, big businesses will not be much more powerful than the multitude of small businesses.

Capitalists are not evil. They generate wealth by providing valuable services to others. The only other way is to steal. Is it just to steal from a rich man who struggled to get where he is so others can prosper without working?

Why do our people all want to go to the US? "Opportunities". That's what capitalism creates. No guarantees, just opportunities. Lots of wealth available - but you must provide something valuable to the society first.

- Private prisons should be established to supplement public prisons. Any investor who can build a secure and humane facility to house prisoners should be permitted to run one.

- Prisoners should be permitted to apply to be moved to such prisons where, if accepted, they will 'pay' for the better housing conditions by working a predetermined job within the premises of the private prison.

- Prisoners who are dissatisfied with a particular private prison should be able to apply to be transferred a different private prison or be returned immediately to the public prison system.

The government must not pay the private prisons any money for their service, to prevent corruption.

- The private prison operators, in turn, shouldn't be required pay the prisoners any wages for their work: this will be an arbitrary barrier to entry that will slow down the programme and harm the prisoners' rehabilitation.

- In addition to providing better living conditions, the private prisons should be free to compensate inmates who are especially hardworking. They will receive the money when they are living prison to start a new life.

Such a system will enable the economy to tap from the talents of those otherwise hardworking people who are languishing in prison, instead of them being liabilities to taxpayers. Since prisoners are not forced to work - they are free to return to government prisons - it won't amount to slave labor. When they are finally released, they would have lots of valuable work experience which will help them to build crime-free lives.

I'd love to hear the comments and critiques of Nairaland members. Thanks!

Well there is something similar in the US, you pay the "high" tax and get a tax refund at the end of the fiscal year.

[s]It's like father christmas - he collects entrance fee for each chilf and gives you cheaper gifts. A cheap psychological trick![/s] Based on my research, it appears that tax refunds come back to those who have overpaid their tax. It's not as if they are returning un-needed money, but they are returning money that wasn't meant to be paid at all.

However what also happens if revenue from other sources during the year falls short, or you have an extra-ordinary event like a war to prosecute.

Wars are meant to be expensive. If they are too cheap, leaders will engage in them more often. They would disregard the cost on human lives if the cost on the treasury is low.

You'll have a deficeit that will have to be funded by a high rate short-term loan. It could get expensive.

If a department within the government expects a crisis - such as the army on the Niger Delta crisis - they can put the expected costs in their (independent) budget. They will have to convince the senate that:
1) The disaster has a reasonable chance of occurence
2) The disaster is important enough to require government intervention if it happens.

If the expected crisis does not happen, that amount can be rolled over into the next tax period. It must not be used for any other purpose. It is important to keep the system simple to it can be scrutinized.

If the crisis is completely unforseen, the president can create a special account for managing the crisis and ask for donations and from Nigerians and corporate bodies, international relief agencies, arms of government who deem their operations to be less important than management of the crisis, etc. If the donations are not sufficient, then the CBN governor can ask the senate for permission to start creating money (selling bonds) to deal with the crisis. This will cause inflation, but the excess money can be mopped up during the next taxation cycle.

If I interfere, I am a Nazi dictator
If i don't interfere, I'm an imcompetent administrator.
Leave me alone!

I just don't want a situation where we in Nigeria will be turned into tax slaves like the Europeans. Where otherwise productive businessmen wil be in jail because of "tax evasion". I want a transparent system to be in place that prevents the tax machinery from being hijacked by all these communists who like to punish people who work hard.

the foundation of this proposal is that the government shouldn't collect tax unless they actually need it.

Well Joseph didn't kill any Egyptians, and his time was before David's time.

Do you excuse the (currently dead) white people that enslaved our ancestors because by their standards it was ok?

The basic gist of my proposal is this. Government, before you take my money, you mus tell me what you are planning to use it for and make sure that it's used for exactly that purpose and not something else!

I think it introduces alot of uncertainty into the government and even personal life.

Last year, Nigeria earned an unexpectedly large amount of foreign exchange from crude oil sales. Wouldn't it be nice if that translated into lower taxes this year? By following this year's news, next year's tax rates will be predictable.

However, your point is a very strong one. Many people prefer a life of apparent certainity. We prefer stable jobs with constant salary regardless of performance (although one can be fired and lose all).