The Ultimate Guide to Real Estate Investment In Nigeria – A step-by-step guide to getting started with creating a business in Nigeria through real estate investing.

Over the years, Real Estate has proven to be one of the safest means of investment to many Nigerians, but one which requires a clear plan to be able to yield its full benefit. And so, this has made many people interested in the booming industry. And because of that, one of the most popular questions people ask is “How Do I Get Started in Real Estate Investing?”

We’ve created this guide to help simplify the process of figuring out how YOU can get started in real estate investment in Nigeria; and of course, this guide is not an all-encompassing “how-to” manual about every aspect of real estate investing, but a broad-stroke overview of the best ways to start down your path to financial freedom through real estate investments.

If you are ready to begin this Ultimate Guide to Real Estate Investment in Nigeria, click below to turn to Chapter 1…

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 How to get started in real estate investing

Learning how to invest in real estate doesn’t need to be complicated, difficult, or expensive. In this beginner’s guide, you will learn how to get started investing in real estate from beginning to end – with no hype, false promises, or pitches.

1.2 Why Invest in Real Estate?

One of the most commonly stated reasons that people give for investing in real estate is that they are seeking out financial freedom, but there are others as well – of course, each person will have their own personal reasons why. They are typically seeking one or several of the following:

• Appreciation
• Cash Flow
• Depreciation
• Leverage
• Tax Benefits

The decision to begin investing in real estate is a personal one, and we absolutely recommend you make sure
you and your family are 100% committed before deciding to move forward in doing so.

1.3 Can I Invest in Real Estate if I Have a Full Time Job?

You don’t need to make real estate your career in order to build wealth in real estate. If you love your job, you don’t need to quit it to invest in real estate. You can achieve the same or better results as a full- time real estate investor by investing on the side.

The truth is, there are hundreds of ways to make money in real estate. Some of these techniques or strategies might require forty hours a week, while others might only require forty hours per year. The amount of time it takes to grow your real estate business largely depends on your investing strategy, your personality, your skills, your knowledge, and your timeline.

A) Advantages of Investing While Working a Full-Time Job

By keeping your day job, you have several advantages over full-time investors. First, you do not need to live off any of the cash flow you make – that’s what your 9-5 is for. By reinvesting all the profits from your investments, you can fully realize the incredible benefit of exponential growth. Additionally, you have a much easier ability to get long-term bank financing thanks to the stable income from work, which can also help increase and stabilize your wealth building.

Investing in real estate while keeping your day job can be done in many ways, such as:

• Partnering in a larger piece of property
• Buy-and-hold property with property management
• Serving as a private or hard money lender
• Investing in notes (mortgages)

Real estate can be highly profitable as a career or if you’re just investing while working a “normal job.” However, the choice is yours as to which path you take. Don’t simply decide to quit your job and become a full time investor because you read about other investors who have been successful doing it that way. Having a concrete plan for how you’re going to proceed in real estate is essential; we’ll get into that a little later in the guide.

That said, life is too short to be stuck in a job you hate. Choose a career that makes you excited to wake up in the morning, energized throughout the day, and content when you fall asleep at night. If that desire leads you to full-time real estate investing, welcome to the club! Just make sure you are not simply building a career, but building a future.

1.4 Do I Need to Pay Some Expert In Order to Be Successful?

Absolutely not. Countless investors have become successful without the help of the so-called real estate expert. The goal of many of these individuals is to sell you on the dream of fast riches, fancy cars, easy money, and so on – many prey on people who desperately want to make money and often use very slick and often dangerous (for you) techniques to sell you on their very expensive courses, bootcamps, mentoring, training, etc. In fact, the tactics used to get you hooked are very well documented, and there is absolutely no such thing as a free lunch.

1.5 Can I Invest in Real Estate if I Have No Money?

The simple answer is: yes, it is possible to invest in real estate if you don’t have any money at all. However, there is money involved in every real estate transaction. The issue, therefore, is not whether you’re investing with “no money,” but instead whether you’re investing with “none of your own money.”

Investing in real estate without using any of your own money requires using Other People’s Money (OPM) – learning to strategically invest in real estate without any of your own money is one of the most complex but important tools you can develop in your real estate investing career.

The key to investing in real estate without any money of your own is simple: bring something to the table. If you lack money, there are other things you can bring to the table in a transaction — if structured correctly — including education, time, connections, confidence, intelligence, and creativity.

Many investors use little or none of their own money when investing in real estate by using one of several methods that include:

• Wholesaling
• Using partners
• Using lease option strategies
• Via serviceable Mortgage plans
• With home equity loans or lines of credit
• Using private/hard money.

1.6 Working in Real Estate Without Investing at All

Many would-be real estate investors get their start by simply working in the real estate industry – earning money while gaining a solid hands-on education. Here is a brief list (far from exhaustive) of careers you can take on to learn the real estate business:

• Real Estate Agent
• Property Consultant
• Appraiser
• Construction Worker
• Resident Manager
• Project Manager

If you are looking to get into real estate investing with no experience and no money, choosing one of these careers may be a great way to get your feet wet in the industry and to help you begin plotting your career into full time real estate investing. The experience you’ll gain from mastering one or several of the other trades in the industry can be invaluable in helping you be successful.

1.7 Is Real Estate Investing a Way to “Get Rich Quick?”

While many real estate investors do build significant wealth over their careers, real estate investing is not a “get rich quick” scheme. Yes – there are some who make a lot of money in a short time; however, these situations are generally the exception, not the rule.

Investing in real estate takes planning, patience, and persistence. Don’t expect to make millions of Naira in your first year. Instead, plan on creating a business through real estate that will grow steadily year after year to enable you to meet your financial goals – and hopefully your dreams. No matter what you might hear otherwise, being successful in real estate requires hard work, just like it does in any other field.

It is also important to know that there are no shortcuts to being successful in real estate – there are no products or tools that will do the work for you, either. You must learn the fundamentals and then apply them. Of course, our goal here is to help you with that.

2. REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT EDUCATION

This chapter is very important in your real estate investment journey. Without a clear understanding of the principles found in this chapter, you are at a much higher risk of failure and defeat in your real estate dealings. In fact, if you only remember one chapter in this entire guide, we sincerely hope it’s this one. Let this be your first step to a successful future in your quest to kickstart your real estate investment in Nigeria.

2.1 Don’t Skip Your Real Estate Investing Education

As we discussed in the previous chapter, real estate investment is not a “get rich quick” scheme. Just as any solid home needs a strong foundation, the same is true when it comes to your real estate education – a solid foundation is key to a long-lasting business.

This guide, while not exhaustive on every aspect of real estate investing, will help develop that foundation. We put it together to be a first step in your real estate education – and as an introduction to the possibilities that come with real estate investment.

There are many different ways to get educated in real estate investing, and you don’t need to pay hundreds or thousands of Naira to learn the business. Below, you’ll find a list of a few sources of real estate investment education; be sure to consider each before making a final decision on how you’re going to move forward – what works for one person may not work for another.

A) Books

As the old saying goes, “Those who lead, read.” Books are fundamental in gaining an education in real estate and perhaps the most widespread learning method for investors.

Real estate books are produced each year by the thousands, and every major bookstore in the world contains a whole section on real estate investing. Chances are, if there is a way to make money from real estate, there has been a book written about it.

If reading books, however, is not within your arsenal of skills, you are in luck. Today, we live in a world where nearly every new book is also made into an audiobook.

B) Blogs

Blogs can be an amazing source of information, and there are fantastic ones for every topic you can imagine. There are many great ones written by many Nigerians living in the trenches of real estate that is worth checking out and learning from.

You need not limit your learning to only Nigerian blogs, as there are thousands of other real estate investment blogs written by other authors outside the shores of this country that you can learn one or two things from too.

c) Mentors

Perhaps the most powerful way to gain a good education in any field of study is through a mentor – and the same holds true in real estate. While there are dozens of professional real estate mentors who charge for their service, there are also millions of mentors all over the Nigeria that will cost you as little as a cup of coffee – they are your local investors.

People enjoy sharing what they know, and seasoned real estate investors are no different. By introducing yourself to a successful local real estate investor who you would like to become more like, you’ll have the opportunity to learn from someone in the field who knows your market and who can ultimately become a partner as you come to become successful yourself.

D) Podcasts

One of the newest innovations in the world of real estate investor education is the Podcast. A podcast is simply a recorded audio program, similar to a radio show, that can be produced by anyone with a computer and a microphone. There have been a number of great podcasts that have emerged in the last few years. If you have a smartphone or MP3 player, you can listen to hundreds of hour long shows covering a wide variety of real estate topics whenever you want – whether in the car, jogging, or lying in bed – for free.

2.2 Real Estate Terms And Mathematics

You don’t need to be a college calculus student to understand real estate math. In fact, most of the math you’ll need is O’level maths. This section is going to quickly touch on some of the basic concepts and math formulas you’ll need in your real estate investment career.

A) Income

Income is simply the amount of money that comes in from a property. This math is perhaps the easiest of all: simply add up the amount of rent and any additional fees that comes in.

For example – you own a rental house. The home rents for ₦100,000 per month; and the tenant also pays ₦15,000 for the use of the garage.

Your total income was ₦115,000

Income could also include late fees, application fees, or any other value you receive from your rental.

B) Expenses

Expenses are simply the things that cost you money on an investment. For example, the garbage bill for a home is ₦5000 per month, the loan from the bank was ₦50,000 per month, and maintenance & security was ₦10,000 per month.

The total of these three expenses is ₦65,000.

Your total expenses for this example were ₦65,000 for this particular month. Keep in mind that there are many other expenses that you’ll face as a real estate investor, including things like taxes, insurance, management, holding costs, capital expenses and various others.

C) Cash Flow

Cash flow is simply the amount of money left over at the end of the month after all expenses are paid. To determine the cash flow, simply subtract the total expenses from the total income:

Your total cash flow in the above example property was ₦50,000 for the month. Let’s look at a few more math equations.

D) Return on Investment

Your “return on investment” (also known as ROI) is a fancy way of describing what interest rate you are making on your money per year.

For example, if you invested ₦2Million and you made ₦2Million from that investment (for a total of ₦4Million) over the course of one year, you would have made a 100% return on investment.

Similarly, if you invested ₦50,000 and made an additionally ₦25,000 over the course of a year (for a total of ₦75,000) you would have made a 50% return on your investment.

The actual calculation for Return on Investment looks like this:

ROI = (V1 – V0) / (V0), (where V1 is the ending balance and V0 is the starting balance)

A simple scenario for using ROI to calculate an investment return would be as follows: On January 1, you put ₦1000 into a bank account. On the following January 1, you cash out the account for ₦1100. Your ROI on the investment is:

ROI = (1100 – 1000) / (1000) = .1 (or 10%)

You start with $1000 and end up with $1100 after a year for a return of 10%.

These simple concepts present the foundations upon which almost all other real estate calculations are based. The rest will come in time, but most calculations are simply related to these.

3. REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT – NICHES & STRATEGIES

While at first it may seem important that you learn everything you can about real estate investing, in reality, it is best to focus on two things: an investment vehicle and a strategy for using that vehicle. There are dozens (if not hundreds) of different ways to make money as a real estate investor, and it’s up to you to choose the niche you want to get into.

This chapter is going to introduce you to some of the most popular investment vehicles, as well as the most common strategies for moving forward.

Remember: Once you know the niche you want to get started with, you will be able to narrow down your focus, become an expert, network with individuals within that niche, and begin building wealth by taking action and executing a plan of action.

3.1 Choosing Your Real Estate Investment Niche

The following list includes the most common property types that you are likely to deal with as a real estate investor. Each of these has many subsets as well, but remember, you don’t need to know them all. This is merely a list to help you get started understanding what options are available for you.

A) Raw Land

Raw land is nothing more than basic earth. Land on its own can be improved to add value, and it can be leased or rented to create cash flow. Land can also be subdivided and sold for profit.

Some investors choose to buy raw land with hopes (or plans) that someday the land will become much more valuable due to external developments like the construction of a freeway or from a development being built nearby.

B) Single-Family Homes

Perhaps the most common investment for most first time investors is the single family home. Single family homes are relatively easy to rent, easy to sell, and easy to finance. Although, in many areas, the rents derived from SFRs (single family rentals) won’t be enough to provide a steady and positive cash flow.

C) Duplex/Triplex/Quads

Small multifamily properties (2-4 units) combine the financing and easy purchasing benefits of a single family home. Bought properly, these can cashflow quite well, and there is often less competition than what you’d run across bidding on single family homes. Best of all, these properties can serve as both a solid investment as well as a personal residence for the smart investor.

For investors buying through loans, one advantage of this small multifamily property is the ability to take advantage of “economies of scale,” as only one loan is needed to secure the 2, 3, or 4 units in the property. One of the things that makes these investments so appealing is that most banks look at small multifamily properties with four units or less with the same guidelines as a single family house, which can make qualifying for a loan much easier.

D) Small Apartments

Small apartment buildings are made up of between 5 and 50 units. Though the line between small and large apartments is not set in stone, most investors typically draw the line between small and large apartment buildings at around 50 units.

These properties often provide significant cash flow for the investor who can deal with the more management-intense nature of the properties. And the value of these properties are based on the income they bring in. This creates a huge opportunity for adding value by increasing rent, decreasing expenses, and managing effectively.

E) Large Apartments

Large Apartments – refers to the large complexes you might see all across the country that often include pools, work-out rooms, full time staff, and high advertising budgets.

These properties can cost many millions of Naira to purchase, but can produce stable returns with minimal personal involvement. Many large apartments are owned by “syndications,” which are small groups of investors who pool their resources.

F) REITs

REIT stands for a Real Estate Investment Trust. In the most simplistic definition, a REIT is to a real estate property as a mutual fund is to a stock. A large number of individuals pool their funds together, forming a REIT, and allow the REIT to purchase large real estate investments, such as shopping malls, large apartment complexes, skyscrapers, or bulk amounts of single family homes.

The REIT then distributes profits to individual investors. This is one of the most hands-off approach to investing in Real Estate, but do not expect the returns found in hands-on investing.

G) Commercial

Commercial investments can vary dramatically in size, style, and purpose, but ultimately involve a property that is leased to a business. Some commercial investors rent buildings to small local businesses, while others rent large spaces to supermarkets or big box megastores.

While commercial properties often provide good cash flow and consistent payments, they also may carry with them much longer holding periods during times of vacancies; commercial property can often sit empty for many months or years. Unless you are starting from a very solid financial position, investing in commercial real estate is not recommended for beginners.

H) Capital Investor

This type of investment niche is available for people that doesn’t want to engage with all the intricacies of building, maintaining & managing physical buildings.

So, instead of being the builder themselves, these class of investors lends money to popular real estate developers who develops properties for sale, and in return they are paid some agreed percentage depending on the period of investment.

This niche has the lowest risk, and it is perfect for anyone that is just starting out, or people living abroad that doesn’t want to be scammed, and also people that just wants to make passive income with real estate while doing other things.

Summary of the Real Estate Investment Niches

We’ve just outlined 8 different investment niches, or vehicles, that you can invest in to take you on your journey through real estate investment in Nigeria. And when starting out, it’s helpful to simply pick one (or, at most, two) niches to focus on and become a pro at that niche. You can always expand later as you get more experience and knowledge.

Next, let’s take a look at the several different strategies that investors use to make money with the various niches already covered.

3.2 Choose Your Real Estate Investing Strategies

When learning how to invest in real estate, it is not enough to simply know what these property niches are. Instead, as an investor you will use a variety of strategies when dealing with these investment niches to produce wealth. The section below explores three of the most common strategies that you can use to make money with these vehicles.

A) Buy & Hold

Perhaps the most common form of investing, the “buy and hold strategy” involves purchasing a property and renting it out for an extended period of time. It’s probably the most simple and purest form of real estate investing that there is.

Essentially, a “buy and hold investor” seeks to create wealth by renting the property out and either collecting monthly cash flow or simply holding the property until it can be sold for a gain in the future.

Among the advantages of this strategy is that during the time that you hold the property and rent it out, the mortgage (if purchased through mortgage) is paid down each and every month, decreasing your principal balance and increasing your equity in the property.

One of the most important things for a new buy and hold investor to understand is how to evaluate deals and opportunities. By far the most common mistake that we see new investors make with this strategy is buying bad deals because they simply don’t understand property evaluation. Other common problems include underestimating expenses, making bad decisions on tenant selection, and failing to manage properly.

These mistakes can all be avoided, however, if you simply learn the business; jumping in without proper education can be extremely costly financially and sometimes, legally.

To properly carry out the buy and hold strategy, an investor should learn how to properly identify the ebbs and flows of the market that a property is located in. Ultimately, when they perceive the market and the properties they are interested in to be at a low point (prices low, inventory high), the buy and hold investor seeks to purchase properties.

When the market becomes over-heated, an experienced buy and hold investor will usually stop buying until they see things settle back down. During these slow periods, they may sell or simply continue to hold their properties. Some buy and hold investors never sell a property, choosing instead to live on the cash flow.

B) Flipping Real Estate

One of the most popular tactics for making money in real estate, is flipping houses. House flipping is the practice of buying a piece of real estate at a discounted price, improving it in some way, and then selling it for a financial gain. In reality, the flipping model is quite similar to the “buy low, sell high” model of most retail businesses.

The most popular type of property to flip is the single family home. Following a rule of thumb known as the 70% rule, an experienced house flipper will buy a home for 70% of its current value less any rehab costs.

For example: Home A should be worth ₦20Million if it were in good condition, but it needs ₦2Million worth of work.

A typical house flipper will purchase the home for $50,000 (₦20,000,000 x 70% – ₦2,000,000) and seek to sell it for the full ₦20,000,000 when completed. This is simply a rule of thumb, and actual numbers must be verified and adjusted to ensure a successful and profitable flip.

One of the key aspects in flipping a house is speed. A house flipper will attempt to buy, rehab and sell the property as quickly as possible to ensure maximum profitability and to avoid many months of expensive carrying costs. These carrying costs can include monthly bills such as financing charges, property taxes, utilities and any other maintenance bills required to keep the house in good financial standing.

Remember: Flipping is not a “passive” activity, but instead is just like an active day job. When an investor stops flipping, they stop making money until they begin flipping again. Many investors choose to use flipping to fund their day-to-day bills, as well as provide financial support for other, more passive investments.

C) Wholesaling Real Estate

Wholesaling is the process of finding great real estate deals, writing a contract to acquire the deal, and then selling the contract to another buyer. Generally, a wholesaler never actually owns the piece of property (land or housing) they are selling; instead, a wholesaler simply finds great deals using a variety of marketing strategies, puts them under contract, and sells that contract to another for an “assignment fee.” Essentially, the wholesaler is a middleman who is paid for finding deals.

In Nigeria, most real estate developers fall under this category, were they find a great location with potential, make a deal with the community or family, then develops the property and start selling to the general public. They either develop as an Estate land and the buyers build their own choice of house, or they develop the buildings and sell on completion or off-plan.

Many investors choose to begin with wholesaling due to its reputation of being an easy strategy and one with low start up costs when first beginning. Because the property is never actually owned by the wholesaler, there are no rehab costs, loan fees, contractors, tenants, banks, or other complications.

Wholesalers must continually seek out the best deals in order to have inventory to sell to others and must have a well designed marketing funnel to continually attract these leads. While promoted as a strategy that anyone can do – even someone with ZERO money – you ultimately do need to have financial resources to build your marketing funnel.

Rounding this section off

Buy now, you are probably excited to get started making money in real estate. But before you do, however, there is one major step that will make all the difference between early success and failure: building your business plan. The next section will explore this topic.

4. CREATING YOUR REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT BUSINESS PLAN

No great building is made without a careful planning. This plan serves as the map for the development of the structure, without which the building just won’t come together. In the same way, carefully crafting your real estate business plan is an integral part of your journey.

This chapter will focus on the options you have in building that plan and will prepare you for your entrance and long-term success in real estate investing.

4.1 Creating a Real Estate Investment Business Plan

The hit the gold spot in your real estate investment in Nigeria, you should craft a business plan which includes the following:

A) Mission Statement

When people ask you what you do, what do you tell them? This mission statement should clearly define your purpose and should include the benefits your business provides. Do your research and come up with a solid mission statement. This is the “why” in your road trip.

B) Goals

Where do you want to go? What do you want real estate to help you to achieve? If your goal is to make ₦5Million per month in passive income – write that down.

If you goal is to flip four houses per month – write that down. These goals may change over time, affecting the rest of your business plan – and that’s okay. Make sure to put down both short and long term goals. By setting smaller, more achievable goals, you’ll give yourself something to always look forward to accomplishing – this will help you stay motivated.

C) Strategy

There are hundreds of ways to make money in real estate – but you don’t need hundreds. You simply need to pick one strategy and become a master of it. That strategy (vehicle), if dependable, will carry you through to your destination (your goals).

If you are choosing to flip homes to generate cash in order to save up enough to fund another business or quit your day job – write that down. If you are looking to build passive income from small multifamily properties for your retirement – write that down.

Don’t worry if you don’t understand or know how you’re going to accomplish everything in the plan. Remember, your business plan can and will change in time, and as you learn, you’ll fill the plan out with more details.

D) Time Frame

What is your time frame to reach your goal? Be realistic, but don’t be afraid to reach, either. Do you want to retire in ten years? Are you planning on quitting your job next month? Document your timeline here. You can do this in accordance with your goals, as mentioned above.

E) Market

Define your market. What kind of property will you be looking for? Low income? High Income? Commercial areas? As a beginner, choose an area you feel most comfortable with. Most new investors should plan on investing within a short driving distance to your home, rather than investing long distance (unless your location makes it impossible).

Doing this will help you to become an expert in that area, which will help you more easily analyze deals and opportunities. It will also help you know the players in the area, which will ultimately help you find partners – and again, opportunities.

F) Criteria

Before you go out and start looking for deals, you need to establish the criteria which those deals must fall in. You’ll want to define your loan to value, cash flow requirements, max purchase amount, max rehab amount, max timeframe, etc.

One of the most important lessons you can possibly learn is to stick to your criteria and walk away from any deal that does not meet your criteria. Too many new investors get excited and buy the first deal that comes their way. By having clearly defined criteria, you are able to easily reject the 99% of properties that are not a good deal.

G) Flexibility

If you are not finding enough deals to cherry pick from, you can change your market and/or strategy. This part of your business plan is one of the most important to fully understand and clearly define.

H) Marketing Plan

How are you going to create a marketing system so motivated that buyers come to you? How will you find the best deals that are listed? Will you use the Network Marketing model, affiliates, agents, online searches, direct mail to lists, or other means of finding deals?

I) Financing Deals

How do you plan on acquiring your deals? Are you using conventional, hard money, private money, equity partners, seller financing, lease options, or some other creative method?

Finding financing is often a challenge in today’s market, and private money provides a tremendous solution. Learn to attract private money, so you’ve always got a steady flow of finance when deals present themselves.

J) How You’re Going to Do Your Deals

How are you going to turn a purchase of a property into profit? Clearly define the steps. Make sure to document all your income and expense sources and prepare for the unexpected. You also want to prepare several exit strategies in case the first one doesn’t work out as planned.

K) Teams & Systems

Clearly define your team and the systems you and they will use to delegate and automate tasks. Who will be on your team? Will you need an attorney, Marketer, etc.? You don’t necessarily need to know who those people are, simply what roles you will need on your team.

L) Exit Strategies & backup Plans

Having multiple clearly defined exit strategies is one of the most important parts of your business plan, especially for new investors. How are you going to exit the deal? What are your backup plans? Do you flip, lease option, wholesale, sell the entity holding title, rent and hold, or some other technique? What is the end game? This needs to be clearly defined.

M) Illustrate Example Deals

One of the parts of the business plan that seems to get new investors excited is to illustrate the future of your business. What would an ideal, but feasible next ten years look like? Illustrate purchases, cash flow, appreciation, sales, trades, cash on cash return, and more, to demonstrate what your path might look like.

This goes somewhat hand in hand with your goals – it just illustrates possible ways of making them happen. Additionally, this will change with time because, of course, ideals are not real life. However, it is good to see what is possible.

N) Financials

Include a personal description of where your financials are today. What do you bring to the table? Do you have any equity you can use? Are you starting with nothing? Document your current situation and update it as often as it changes. As you move forward with your investments, it is always important to have at the ready your complete financials.

Final Note

remember that road maps and business plans are guides, not rules. A business plan is meant to give you direction and to motivate you to follow it. When you have a clearly defined business plan, carrying out the plan and envisioning the end becomes much more attainable.

If you talk to investors who have failed in this business, you’ll find that the majority of them did so primarily because of a lack of preparation and planning. Don’t fall into this trap.

4.2 Assembling Your Real Estate Team

While as a real estate investor, you are required to wear many different hats, you don’t need to (and can’t) wear all of them. Instead, you need a team. When we refer to “team,” we’re not suggesting you go out and hire a team of employees to work under you.

A “team” is merely a collection of individuals in various different businesses that you can rely on to help you move your business forward. Here’s a brief look at who should be on any winning real estate investing team:

A) Your Mentor

Every successful entrepreneur needs a good mentor: a guide. By training under the watchful eye of one smarter than us, we can only get smarter.

B) Mortgage Broker/Loan Officer

A mortgage broker is the person responsible for getting you loans – especially if you are going “conventional” (not hard or private money).

You want someone who has the experience of working with other investors, and you want that person to be creative and smart.

Many loan officers have a pipeline of buyers (or future buyers); real estate investors can use the help of local loan officers to build a list of buyers and lease purchasers for their properties.

C) Real Estate Attorney

It is important to have someone on the team who can go through contracts and who knows the legalities of all your moves. Don’t try to pinch pennies by ignoring this valuable member of your team. You don’t need to meet for hours with your attorney each week, but want someone to be available when you need them.

Having an attorney who is skilled with real estate investing is highly important for the success of your career. Keep in mind, attorneys can also be compensated through fees collected at acquisition or disposition of a property.

D) Accountant

As you acquire properties, doing your own taxes and bookkeeping becomes increasingly difficult. As soon as possible, hire an accountant (preferably a Certified Public Accountant). Your numbers guy should also be well aware of the ins and outs of real estate. Come tax time, this is the man to help you through the write-offs. A good tax accountant will save you more than they cost.

E) Insurance Agent

Insurance is a must, and as an investor, you will probably be dealing with a lot of insurance policies. Be sure to shop around for both the best rates and the best service. Do not skimp out on getting insurance, as you never know when you’ll need that policy.

F) Contractor

A good contractor seems like the hardest team member to find, but can often make or break your profit margin. You want someone who gets things done on time and under budget! Be sure that your contractor is licensed/insured to protect you. Don’t simply hire the cheap guy.

G) Supportive Family & Friends

Having the support and backing of loved ones is important in any endeavour. If your spouse or family is not on board, don’t invest until they are.

H) Realtor

An exceptional real estate agent is fundamental in your investing career. You or your spouse may even choose to become a real estate agent yourself to gain access to the incredible tools that agents have. Either way, having an agent who is punctual, a go-getter, and eager, is important.

Real estate agents are paid from the commission when a property is sold. In other words – for the buyer, an agent is FREE. They can be an excellent resource for contract real estate work, which may include the following activities: referring buyers, showing properties, open houses, broker price opinions, etc.

I) Property Manager

If you don’t want to actively manage your properties, a good property manager is important to have. A good property manager can be hard to find – but finding one who can efficiently manage your rentals will make your life significantly easier.

J) Great Handyman

Someone to take care of the little things that come up on a daily basis is imperative to have on board.

Remember: One of the best sources for finding these team members is through referrals from other investors. In general, another investor would be happy to refer their handyman, mortgage broker, or accountant to you because it reflects well on themselves and their relationship with that professional.

4.3 What Makes a Great Real Estate Team?

Lastly, a great real estate team is defined by their ability to consistently produce reliable RESULTS. As you might suspect, that’s WAY more difficult to construct in real life than it is to talk about it.

Investors, especially ones with either large portfolios or those who flip a lot (often both), rely on their team daily. When one member fails, the entire endeavour suffers, sometimes to the point of sabotaging the team’s goals altogether.

5. FINAL THOUGHT

As you have seen from the above-detailed chapters, that starting a successful real estate investment in Nigeria takes more than just a mere wish. Though on the other hand, instead of allowing fear of starting up to completely paralyze you and stop you from taking notable actions, it’s advisable to start from where you are and what you have at hand to build from there.

For many people, it might be to start with Buying Estate Lands or single homes, as individuals – then gradually growing it into a full-fledged real estate investment business that involves more team members and more real estate portfolios.

Lastly, to win in this game of real estate investment business, you must continuously stay ahead of the curve with the latest information and best practices. So, make sure you bookmark our website for a continuous doss of real estate investment knowledge, the best properties in town, and hot locations that you can buy from.