Dr. Mbamalu Valentine, an entrepreneur and a lawyer is the group managing director, Touch of Valentine Homes, a subsidiary of Touch of Valentine Group of Companies. TOV Homes is a real estate arm of the TOV Group Limited which has acquired Abijo GRA with government allocation title.

In this interview, Dr. Valentine talked about the estate that was just launched in Abijo GRA, called ‘PLUS LAGOS ‘ which has been approved for residential and commercial use.

Excerpts:

What solution do you want to bring to the real estate sector through TOV Homes?

As a lawyer, I have seen so many cases involving land litigation in Nigeria and how people fall victims into different schemes from so many people. We have therefore decided in TOV Homes to major more on the issue of land title documents. Without having a proper land title document and knowing what it implies to any buyer, we would continue to have problems pertaining to real estate. Because owning a property, owning a house, owning a land starts from the title document. Once you get it wrong there, you have really gotten it wrong. So our first primary assignment is to create awareness on the importance of good title before you can talk about ownership.

How do you intend to go about this?

Now we do some training, where we educate the public on the importance of documentation. We organise it quarterly, telling people the need for them to embrace themselves with good title. That’s why you don’t go to real estate without a lawyer. A lot of people think they can just wake up and go and buy a property. You need a lawyer for everything you do in life. They guide you. No matter how much the property is, no lawyer charges above what you are buying. They just take 5% to 10% of whatsoever. Or if you have a better understanding, they may even take only N100,000 just to help you do proper verification on a particular property before you can go ahead. So that is a sensitisation. We sensitise the public regarding why you need a lawyer in everything you do. It’s very important. When there is no proper documentation, don’t be surprised the property will be taken over by those who claim to be the owner or government.

What about the issue of Omonile here in Lagos which is serious?

On Omonile issue, why you have an estate is not to face Omonile. It is the estate people that face Omonile, not clients. Not people coming to buy. Every estate owner must have solved the problem of Omonile before you can even put your signboard that you want to open a real estate company there.

That is taken care of already by us so that people will not go through that route of having problems with Omonile. So, the issue of them breaking your block, or you fence is removed. This is the solution that real estate companies give to buyers. Omonile does not enter any real estate land. Because there is already a resolved agreement between the owners of such estate and the Omonile people.

Where can buyers access your properties?

We have properties in Luna City, we also have in Plethora City. And this is our third estate that we are launching, called Plus Lagos.

Can low and middle income earners afford it?

Lands in that area go for 80 million or 75 million. But we started what we call the launch price of 47 million for 500 square metres. 29.5 million for just 300 square metres. It is the cheapest in that area. We’re going to do this for just three months and we’ll find a way to take it back to the proper price.

How do you think low and middle income earners can own a home in Lagos?

The middle income earners can own a home in Lagos. In ‘Plus Lagos’, we have decided to split the money for those who can’t pay out the payment for a period of one year. Not more than one year if the terms and conditions are met. There are terms and conditions applied to that. We, in ‘Plus Lagos’ what we do is, we split this 47 million into 10. After you must have paid your first initial deposit of 10 million Naira, then you split it for a year, so that you can be able to pay.

How do you think that the issue of housing deficit can be solved in the country?

Number one, the government need to come in. But the truth remains that as long as government doesn’t control price mechanism, even the real estate cannot solve it. Because you can only sell based on what you bought. If you buy iron for 10 million Naira, and you are able to build two rooms and a parlour, will you sell it for 10 million Naira? 

So prices are regulated by what the government gives us. Again, we need to put Nigeria back to the track. There is nothing real estate sector can do if building materials are skyrocketing. Government need to have very stable price control. Once we get it right in the country, we can get it right around the real estate industry.

What role do you actually want government to play in the real estate sector?

Government has to start with providing a great support for developers in Lagos state and all over Nigeria. How? You cannot talk about the land without talking about documentations, we cannot talk about the people who are renting houses without talking about the land regulations. Houses and rentals are influenced by land markets or what the land is being sold for. So government needs to come in to regulate. Again, the rate of inflation in the country is very high. It’s too much. You know, because you can’t talk about less, you’re not talking about the building material, the market, the transportation, the fuel, everything. Until we have good governance, that person that can make it better for this country to regulate the price of materials, we can never see a cheap rent in this country. It will continue skyrocketing for the rest of our lives.