I wrote about the global economy in the last issue and really do not know why I feel so compelled to still talk about it from a different angle in this issue. However, I have come to understand that when I feel this way, it is for the benefit of someone or people out there that I follow my heart. I only hope that the person or people meant to be blessed by this article will let me know when it happens. My email address remains realtypointceo@gmail.com.

Have you lost some tangible thing(s) lately, things of serious economic value I mean? Probably your shareholding portfolio has gone from huge positives(capital gains) to nil or even debt (to the Bank or Stock brokerage firm) for the marginal account operators. May be your property has lost value and you have not even been able to sell. You’ve lost your job or business has gone south. For some of us, you need to battle with goody-goody friends who are now calling for your head because the genuine innocent advise you gave on an investment did not work out like most things at this time due to no fault of yours. They want you to take responsibility for their decisions. Bad enough that way, but there are situations where you still have to cut huge losses to move on. It’s a judgement call that sometimes must be made for a better  tomorrow.

Talking about a judgement call, I am presently writing from a distance of about 8hours flight away from my base in Lagos. The main reason while I am spending that time and money away is to cut a huge loss and move on with life. Actually, an investment that looked “totally” set for the promised shore went bad with the economic meltdown. You wouldn’t believe the deal is over 30% in the hole and we may still be counting until we bay out. Now, what do you do about that?

Buddy, losing or failing is part of business and life. Loose all you can, the most important is how fast you get up and catch-up again. Therefore, stop mourning over issues. Cut your losses if you have to. A friend just informed me of his decision to withdraw from a deal so he can get some money to take care of more sensitive matters. I may be having a meeting with another company next week on how to better guide our interest there to maturity.  Decisions have to be taken, as there are losses, if you look carefully there are pluses somewhere in the corners. Yes, you may have to lose some, you can also gain a lot.

My heart goes out to you in this matter and I wish you will take up your bed and walk again. At times like this, even Countries aren’t speared and the US is taking the lead in cleaning his financial mess. A man has to do what he has to do.

Move on!

To your success

This is a question about the economic weather as regards the real estate climate. At the beginning of the melt down, it looked like Nigeria and most importantly the real estate sector will be insulated. But alas, the hurricane soon caught up with us. Now, it is very clear to every practitioner in the field that there is something call recession or economic crisis.

Every sign necessary to confirm such have shown up; properties on sale are staying on the shop floor for much longer than the average 3months. The length of time it stays in the market depends on which end of the market it belongs. Prices have crashed from about 10% – 30% at the highest end of the market.

A smart young lady had a question for me within the week. She wanted to know whether the real estate market has bottomed down and if more price descend is to be expected, what is our survival strategy? The question reflects the concern most watchers and my response was very simple. In a nutshell, we have divided the market into three and have designed different  approach  for each of them. We are not going out of our way to look for sales or letting briefs that must be executed in the now at the upper end of the market. We are more serious with letting in the middle market while both sales and letting are still very much on our radar for the lower end of the market. Of course, a lot of things went into arriving here; research, statistics and our experience. And I think it is working for us.

Talking about experience, I have a letter on my table now asking for the balance on one of our investment properties that could pass for upper-middle class type when the economy was normal. We didn’t want to get to this stage and have put the property up for sale since about 7-8months before now. We are yet to close any offer till date. Most of the demands have not been effective because prospects could not access loan.

However, in all of these, i believe we are nearing the end. Why I say so is because things have started picking up on a consistent basis from one of the sectors the effect was first observed. I looked up the current price of FBN share this week to discover that it is now N23+. I am aware that in the heat of the crisis a couple of weeks back FBN sold N17+. An appreciation of almost 30% in weeks and a general appreciation of the value of the shares on the floor of the Exchange to me is a very good omen that things are settling.

Our experience and my thinking informs that while other sectors of the economy could have reached the bottom and now on their way up, the real estate sector and especially the high end of the market will still sag a little before it starts to rebound. We may be talking of a couple of months here, say 2 – 6months. There will be a little stagnation somewhere within the upper end of the middle segment of the economy while the lower end will be impacted directly by what happens in the other sectors of the economy. The world is a cycle, so also are the happening within it. Real estate was one of the very last to be hit and would have be one of the very last to regain consciousness.

So, I summit, it is bad, may be evening getting a little worse so that it can get better soon enough. Be wise, discern the times.

May be you are like some of us who wouldn’t want to wait forever before engaging in the right thing to do. If you think it’s time you Sack Your Landlord^TM , So do we at Realty Point Limited. And we can make it happen for you. Take a simple step now, join Prime Estate Housing Co-operative Multipurpose Society Limited. That’s the platform designed to make you a landlord starting with just N5,000 joining fee. This is a friendly advice, take it, call Miss Gloria James on 08035181138, 07028023009 or email primecooperative@yahoo.com for more information.

To your success.

Send me mails if you still need further information