Our Reporter 

One of Nigeria’s leading real estate company, GText Homes has introduced virtual service whereby lands and properties can be purchased online.

Unveiling its post COVID-19 plans in Lagos, CEO of Gtext, Stephen Akintayo said the company is now available online 24/7.

“Now you can call our company any day, anytime, 2a.m, 3am there are people to attend to you and to 100% virtual purchase in real estate, now you can buy property from our company online”, he said.

“From inspection to allocation, everything is done virtual. We send documents to people via courier service. We have created a situation that it’s the customer and us; they don’t need to come to Nigeria before they can actually own a property. If anyone doesn’t want to go virtual, the option of meeting one on one is still available. Customers can inspection virtually.

“We are beginning to see a trend where people don’t want a third party and that’s why we launched it and that’s just what makes us quite unique”.

Speaking further on the company’s job creation plans, Akintayo said: “We also announce our 100 thousand job creation portal, where we are giving out 15% of our income on every property to realtors and with the new process automated, we are hoping that we can create at least 100 thousand jobs using this model in the next 12 months, we just moved to Abuja, we are now in Ibadan, we are launching Ogun state generally very soon. So we expect expanding to other states”.

READ ALSO: Gtext to provide housing estates for low income earners

Akintayo noted that the real estate industry could solve unemployment in Nigeria and also boost the country’s economy.

He said: “Why we see many people coming, from agriculture, you need real estate, even pharmaceutical, almost everything needs land to stand on it. Also when you look at COVID-19, a lot of people feel it would probably reduced the sector, no, it just changed the sector. There would be more residential accommodation than commercial going forward, and thank God that’s the space we play, we play more in the residential accommodation.

“We are also working on a cooperative, that we will launch very soon, which is a tech cooperative to start building tech hubs, just as you have a silicon valley where everything is there. It’s a place you live in, work in and everything you need is just there’.

Adenike Fagbemi

One of Nigeria’s favourite TV controversial couples, Mr. and Mrs. Kogberegbe, played by Olanrewaju Olakanlu and Dunni Badru, has been unveiled as Diaspora brand ambassadors for real estate outfit, KAB Construction Limited.

Speaking on the new deal, the satirical couple expressed gratitude it came at a time when world economies are groaning from the effects of the pandemic COVID19.

According to the duo, with the new deal, they will be representing KAB Construction in the Diaspora, promoting the image of the company, introducing prospective buyers, and having sales right on behalf of KAB.

Olanrewaju said the initial deal will last for 12months during which they will produce advertorial contents, syndicate and promote the sales of KAB Construction through their popular content and their new online series targeted at Nigerians in Diaspora.

“We are just waiting for international airlines to resume operations. We are not far from home because of our fans. We come home almost every quarter because we have a lot of business with other brands and we are still available for more.

“We are ready to sell their products to people in Diaspora because we live here and our fans love, support, and believe in us,” he noted.

Dunni Badru revealed they received many offers from other real estate companies but settled for KAB Construction because the company passed their background check.

READ ALSO: Joke Silva bags ambassadorial deal

She further announced they just released their first movie Borders on pay-per-view and are on location for the next one.

“We are also in pre-production for our online series written by Mr. and Mrs. Kogberegbe. We’ve had a lot planned for 2020 but the pandemic has rerouted us.

“Yet, we thank God and we still have a lot to be achieved in the year. Finally, we appreciate the CEO of KAB Construction for believing in us and we believe the coming together of Creative Village Productions and KAB Construction will be progressive,” she added.

Welcoming the Diaspora brand ambassadors, the CEO of KAB Construction, Hon, Kehinde Alex Bankole said: “We are excited without limits that they are coming on board as our diaspora ambassador to defeat the several incidences of property fraud usually suffered by Nigerians around the world.

“They have chosen to be the eyes of KAB Constructions knowing the integrity the company upholds and to make ease for all Nigerians home and abroad who are willing to invest in properties.”

Agency Reporter

The Lagos State Real Estate Regulatory Authority (LASRERA) has solicited for a seamless working relationship with the Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA) and the State Criminal Investigation Department, CID, Panti, Yaba.

The synergy would achieve its mandates of regulating, registering, monitoring and achieving sanity in the Real Estate Sector.

The Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Housing, Mrs Toke Benson – Awoyinka, who paid a courtesy call to the offices of the two organisations on Wednesday said the intention of the visitation and request for collaboration was to convince members of the public that the Agency has the support of all relevant stakeholders that would make the attainment of the vision of LASRERA achievable.

She informed that the Agency collaboration with Lagos State Signage & Advertisement would assist in curbing the placement of unverified and misleading advertisements by Real Estate Practitioners and Property Developers across the State since all advertisements in the State are approved by LASAA.

Read Also: Lagos: Alaka estate, others for rehabilitation

Mrs Benson- Awoyika stated that it became necessary to collaborate with the State C.I.D so as to curb the menace of the fraudulent practices of unauthorized persons in the Sector and to sanitize the entire Real Estate industry stressing that due process of prosecution would be followed in dealing with an recalcitrant practitioner.

She restated the commitment of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to protect the rights of all residents of the State both at Home and Abroad who are either seeking to rent, buy or sell Properties in the State.

The Special Adviser said that Real Estate Transaction is an important economy activities to the State as Oil is to the Country, added that the collaboration will transform and reduce rate of fraudulent practices ones people are aware that they can be prosecuted by the Law of the State.

Toke Benson- Awoyinka assured the residents that all registered Real Estate Practitioners/Property Developers with the Agency are now duty bond to operate with high sense of professionalism or risk being prosecuted by the State Government.

Responding, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, SCID, Mrs Yetunde Longe stressed the need for separate Court to handle the issues and matters on frauds in the State because of the volume of work load on Magistrate Courts across the State.

She said that people visit the CID Yaba to complainant different issues including fraudulent activities which often take a long time to conclude its investigation but with the collaboration with the Agency and assigned Court, it will be easy to prosecute any acts of fraudulent practices in the State.

Mrs Longe assured of the support of the Nigerian Police on the issue of fighting fraudulent activities practices perpetrated through the Real Estate Sectors in the Country.

The Chairman, Yaba Local Government Development Area, Hon. Kayode Omiyale pledged the support of its Local Government Council to provide an office space for  the Agency’s Zonal Office, in order to ease registration for Real Estate Practitioners/ Property Developers within the Area.

On his part, the Managing Director, Lagos State Signage & Advertisement Agency (LASAA), Mr Adedamola Doceme assured the Agency that LASAA would support LASRERA by asking for the Agency’s registration before granting approval for placement of advertisement for any of the Agency’s stakeholders.

By Grace Obike, Abuja

Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN) has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to match words with actions in terms of housing development in the country.

REDAN said that stakeholders in the sector need to go out of talk shop and go on reality now to be able to curb the effect of COVID-19 now on Nigerians.

President of the association, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko who made this known in a statement said that the core economic effect of COVID -19 will be felt within the first quarter of 2021 and the group believes that if nothing is done now, it is going to hit hard on all Nigerian household.

He said, “We are supposed to go out of talk shop and go on reality now to be able to curb the effect of Covid-19 on Nigerians. The core economic effect of this COVID -19 impact will be felt within the first quarter of 2021 and we believe if nothing is done now, it is going to hit hard on all Nigerian household. For this reason, the CBN governor should do more action than talking.”

Read Also: MTEF: Senate threatens zero budget for CBN, NPA, NCC, NIMASA, others

Wamakko also commended the appointments of the duo of Sen. Gbenga Ashafa and Hon. AbdulMumin Jibrin by President Muhammadu Buhari as Managing Director of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and Executive Director, Business Development respectively.

He said that their appointments justify the present administration`s commitment to the delivery of affordable housing for all.

The REDAN president noted that Sen. Gbenga Ashafa and Hon. AbdulMumin Jibrin experience in law making will come to bear in managing the affairs of the agency which will lead to a robust housing policies implementation that will enhance housing delivery nationwide, describing their appointments as round pegs in round holes.

He also congratulated the chairman of the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) committee, vice president Yemi Osinbajo for his call on the private sector to take a bold step in participating fully in the federal government`s economic recovery program at this point in time.

“REDAN is ready and open for discussion with governments at all level to deliver the over 3 million housing deficit across the nation,” he said.

Femi Salako

The Holy Bible admonishes Christians not to despise the days of small beginning. This scriptural injunction has been of immense inspiration to Dr Gbadewole Amos Kayode in his quest for survival in life. Gbade as he is popularly called began life as little boy by helping his mother to hawk wares on the streets. He never allowed his small and extremely humble beginning to dampened his spirit in his determined quest to climb the ladder of success. While helping her mother, Gbade did not fail to arm himself with the needed requisite skills that will make him succeed in the world of business later in life.

Moreso, the imbibed culture of saving against all odds was another factor that helped Gbade to have climb very high on the ladder of success. He was able to look beyond the ephemeral satisfaction of pleasurable things and chose to save N2,000 on a weekly basis out of his meagre allowance while having his mandatory one year NYSC programme with Coscharis. While with Coscharis, he refused get swayed by any distraction and kept his vision clear and alive until the time that opportunity eventually met with his determination.

Gbade had developed a clear cut vision to succeed against all odds in the world of business since he left secondary school. He had also worked extremely hard and made lots of self denials all in his bid to succeed where other have failed. Above all, place of the grace of God must be acknowledged in the height of success already attained by Gbadewole Kayode.

Big things of life are said to often come in small packages. This truism was not different in the case of Gbade as the business opportunity that gave him the big break actually came in the smallest of packages. Someone he earlier had contact with called him sometime in 2015 to inform him of a piece of land in Abuja that he had actually negotiated but could not raise enough money to pay for it.

The inherent opportunity in the offer was promptly identified by Gbade as he quickly applied for a loan of N150,000 from Coscharis which was eventually added to all his savings at the time to pay for the negotiated piece of land. In partnership with the negotiator of the land, Gbade began to develop the property. No sooner had the development of the property commenced that interested buyers began to make deposits for the preferred types of properties they desired to acquire within the estate. It worthy of note that part of the deposited money was reinvested in an entirely different estate by Gbade and the business has since then been growing in leap and bound.

At a relatively young age of 35, Gbade has carved a niche for himself in the real estate business with his ownership of 11 smart estates that contained more than 2,700 housing units. Gbadewole operates with the business name of of Crown Allied Global Realty & Homes. He has fully developed seven different estates in Abuja and Lagos namely Crown Luxury Estate, Airport Road, Abuja, Crown Oakland City, Airport Road, Abuja, Crown Golden City, Airport Road, Abuja, Crown Sheffield City, Airport Road, Abuja, Crown Vista City, Airport Road, Abuja, Hill Crest Estate, Guzape, Asokoro Extension, Abuja and Crown Smart City, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos which has over 100 blocks of buildings.

Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men. This biblical charge has truly encapsulated the meteoric rise of Gbedewole Kayode in the real estate business of Nigeria. Gbade has really taken the nation’s real estate sector by the storm and he is not prepared to slow down any time soon. Dr Amos is still very far from conquering the Federal Capital Territory while he is already making serious inroads into other major cities in the country.

From a very small and extremely humble beginning of poverty and street hawking, Dr Gbadewole Amos Kayode has moved to an enviable pedestal of prominence, influence and affluence within the real estate circle of Nigeria. With so much achieved successes at a relatively young age, the future of real estate business can only look better and brighter for Gbade Kayode.

Femi Salako is the publisher of Triangle Magazine and writes from Akure, Ondo State.

Our Reporter

Real Estate guru, Terry Thayer has opened up on his journey into the Real Estate world. He noted that moving to North Carolina in 1995 was the beginning of it all.

Terry said he had to the idea of what was in stock for him when he moved to North Carolina.

“I started my journey after moving to Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1995. Since then I have been a husband, father, carpenter turned into the builder and ultimately entrepreneur,” he says. He entered the real estate industry in 2002 and since then has done fantastic deals. “I have been a residential real estate investor since 2002 and have closed over a quarter billion in transactions since then.”

But starting was not easy. He felt stuck in a job that was just high-paying and didn’t necessarily improve his life.

“When I started, it was just a high paying job and I had no life,” recounts Terry. A lot of his decisions were made without counsel or a structure that was optimized for success in those early days and it is something he counts among his toughest challenge in business.

“Trying to figure everything out myself was my biggest obstacle. When I learned the power of coaches, masterminds, and mentors is when things dramatically changed for me.”

Since then, he has turned things around with the help of a functional structure that compliments his efforts.

“Now I get to teach others to not make the same mistakes I made that cost me a ton of time and money. I can always make more money, but I will never get more time. I have learned how to duplicate time with everything I do. Mentoring people is passion and choice. It is probably the one thing I spend the most time on and make the least amount of money from. This is the one thing I don’t mind doing myself,” he says.

By Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie

The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Housing, Mr. Wasiu Akewusola has confirmed that the State Government is set to embark on a global assessment of old government estate’s to determine the level of degradation.

He said this is the new line of thinking of the current administration in their quest for urban renewal of some estates built over 25 years ago. He said Alaka estate and others fall into that category with a certain degree of disrepair and dereliction.

Collaborating the above, Commissioner for Housing, Moruf  Akinderu-Fatai at a meeting with the Chairman, Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Housing, Bisi Yussuf and other members of the Committee said there  is a ray of hope for residents of old state-owned estates that are rundown and in dilapidated condition especially Alaka estate.

He said:  “The State government is committed to its pledge of provision of decent Housing for the people and is constantly evolving strategies both to build new homes and to renew the old estates like the Alaka Estate. We will do our best to protect the affected residents from the inconveniences that would come up as a result of their temporary evacuation from the homes in order to make way for the redevelopment of the distressed structures.”

The meeting was called by the House Committee on Housing to deliberate on matters relating to the rehabilitation of two distressed blocks of flats in Alaka Estate in Surulere area of Lagos State as well as the welfare of the residents who would be temporarily displaced as a result of the exercise.

Speaking at the meeting, Yussuf pointed out that the Lagos State House of Assembly as the legislative arm of Government is deeply concerned about the danger posed to individuals residing in old and dilapidated estates. “It is disturbing that some residents live in old structures that may collapse at anytime. We have to take urgent action to prevent wastage of lives and property that could result from imminent collapse of such distressed structures,” he said.

The Special Adviser to the Governor, Hon. Mrs. Toke Benson-Awoyinka also assured the affected residents of Alaka Estate whose representatives were also present at the meeting that all genuine home owners will be relocated to their new homes after the reconstruction of the affected blocks. While allaying the fears of the affected residents that the proposed homes may not be re allocated to the original owners. She said: “a stakeholder engagement with all concerned will not only help to ensure that all parties are carried along but will also reduce the incidence of lawsuits from parties who may feel marginalized”.

The representatives of the affected residents led by Mrs. Bisi Bello were delighted with  the outcome of the meeting and pledged to support the State Government’s efforts aimed at the  re-development of the rundown blocks in the Alaka  estate.

Our Reporter

Novarick Homes and Properties, a firm building real estate projects that run on renewable energy as alternative power supply, has celebrated its second anniversary.

Founded in August 2018, Novarick Homes has since developed residential estates in fast-developing communities in Lagos like Ibeju-Lekki, Epe and most recently a housing development at Ologolo community in central Lekki.

CEO of Novarick Homes, Noah Ibrahim, attributed the strides of the company to hard work, passion and dedication of team members

He stated: “This is an incredible milestone for any company and we are proud to celebrate what has made us successful as a company, hard work, passion and dedication of team members.

“The significance of this milestone is more than just keeping the lights on. It means our clients and employees believe the work we do is valuable.

“What started as a team of 5 employees in 2018 has grown to over 25 employees and 500 property consultants. Signing Tobi Bakare as our first brand ambassador and launching Novarick Pro, a training platform for real estate consultants and breaking grounds for our first housing development, Ruby Apartments in one year is indeed a remarkable achievement.

READ ALSO: Institute inducts Novarick Homes CEO/MD

“Our focus moving forward remains to provide eco-friendly and affordable housing and investment solutions across the real estate spectrum.”

The Marketing Communications Manager, Temitope Emiola, further stated: ”At Novarick Homes, we are building a brand with impact and this goes beyond simply helping people own land and homes.

“The infusion of renewable energy supply in all of our developments has a significant effect on improving environmental noise and air pollution.

“We also contribute to the infrastructural development of communities around our estates. Our clients understand this and the team members are always proud to discuss these impacts. We are very excited to continue this important work.”

To meet client demand and provide superior service, the company works collaboratively with clients to make land acquisition, property ownership and real estate investment affordable and seamless.