Introduction: In today’s civilized world the average rich Nigerian or person in the world does not have to own his/her whole housing plan (or burden)all by him or herself, he can choose to exercise options, leverage on his equity or share of ownership and to do this, he or she requires an enabling mortgage system in place, which is working, up and doing.
It is always easy for people to jump towards anywhere there seems to be free money, but what about the catch, is there any trap?
Do you understand the terms and conditions properly?
It is always wise to know what to expect, don’t be fooled by the terminologies financial experts use to confuse novice(s) the legal framework and bottlenecks, you will need to know the obstacles you will face and how to remove them.
Here now we have two sides of the story, the financial aspect (mortgage) and the legal aspect (which involves the law and a lawyer) we would now however expose you to those mistakes commonly made by the simple:-
1. Make sure you do a careful search through an estate surveyor and valuer who knows his onion well so you are not sold duds as some simple people fall into the hand of fraudster in their pursuit of owning or purchasing land property.
2. Find out why the property you are interested in is been sold, you don’t want to purchase what other people are trying to dispose off. Check very well tosecure a mortgage, set a timeframe, and know the procedures and the right steps to take.
3. Stay away from banks who will tell or trick you to open a mortgage account before they hand you capital to buy or build your house.
4. Talk to one, two or more banks to have comfortable comparative analysis that will give you an advantage in the course of your goal setting and getting it.
5. Consider the penalty clause to redeeem your mortgage. This should give you a flexible plan option to pay off your mortgage or negotiate interest charges with your bank.
6. Be wise about the documentation and processes, protocols, due diligence the check list and all other criteria such as property description,aerial photographs, if it is an existing property in hard and soft copy, Architectural drawings, bill of quantity, etc the application process, information to the bank about your earning ability or capacity, expenditures and pattern. The bank will ask you this before they tell you how much they can advance you.
7. Do a cash flow analysis of yourself, your profit and loss account and your personal balance sheet.
8. Take good cognizance while inspecting your choice property, protocols of sale& negotiation, research, investigate sales. Establish a good relationship with your broker/ agent or seller; observe very well the regulatory side of property acquisition or purchase.
9. Understand and review clauses banks imposing their estate surveyor & valuer or agents to search value or other services. Be settled about the payment options i.e. down payment to keep seller happy.
10. Deed of assignment transfer from seller to buyer and the proceedings for final payment.
11. Governor’s Consent after transfer of property will take 4-6 months under the land use Act (1992) ownership by leasehold and freehold is 75-99 years as the case maybe if the land does not have a state C of O the head of the district has a jurisdiction that is binding and ultimately the local government area chairman is an authority too.We also have the state and urban development authority.
12. Pay all the fees at once because the quicker the better the process goes don’t make mistakes in any of the above highlight. Never be ashamed or slow to ask questions. Fees include cost of certified true copy of the deed, stamp duties, endorsement fee, survey and facilitation fee, charting and registration fee, administration and consent fee, deed of lease or sublease.
