Choosing the right new estate

Abiodun Doherty

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There are lots of new estates springing up weekly and for those
seeking to invest in such developments they are spoilt for choice.
Many of these property development projects come with catchy
advertisements and enticing offers. The option available to a new
investor is to follow the advertisement which may or may not
conform to the reality.

This is the equivalent of gambling. To avoid this scenario,
experienced investors have clear criteria’s that they work with.
They try to remove their emotions from the decision-making process
.They work towards making informed decisions based on facts. This
is what you need to do when faced with various options.

In real estate, location is very important. There are growth
areas where you should target for investment. A growth area is a
location or area that has key indices that shows that properties in
those areas will continue to grow in value.

Some of the features of such areas are presence of a major
project that will bring jobs and businesses to the area. This could
be a major infrastructural project by the government or a big
private investment.

The movement of businesses to these areas also means that there
will be an increase in the demand for housing by the workers and
several ancillary businesses will develop in those areas.
Properties within a growth area will continue to appreciate in
value.

Buying a property is one thing and owning a property in the real
sense of the word is another thing. The government has strict
requirements when it comes to developing an estate. The government
is also very aware of growth areas and they are usually the first
to know when the interest of investors is focused on a particular
area.

Since the government is the one granting approvals and permits
they can easily spot a growing area from the spike in the number of
people applying to survey their lands and obtain building
approvals.

To ensure that you do not have any problem with the government
in future, you need to ensure that those you intend to buy your
property from have the necessary government permits, approvals and
concessions. Their title to the land should also be registered with
the government.

In addition to a good title, you need to carry out due diligence
on the company that is promoting the estate project. There are many
proposed estate projects that never took off. There are also a few
that took off but never the project never got to an appreciable
level and there are a few that were successfully completed. Finding
serious companies with the right track record will involve you
doing a bit of research.

This is more than publicity and advertisement. You can ask for
and check past successfully completed projects.

Companies that deliver quality jobs and on time will help boost
the value of your property.It is good to discuss with the company
their future plans for the estate and you can request to take a
look at their master plan for the estate.

Depending on your plan for the property, it is usually better to
focus on investing in an estate with functional design and low
maintenance cost. If you intend to live in the property, you might
not mind if the maintenance is high.

The maintenance cost of a property is the amount you need to
spend on a weekly,monthly or quarterly basis to keep the property
in a tenantable state. For instance,if a property has its own
swimming pool, you need to factor into your expenses the cost of
maintaining the pool. Tenants also generally do not like properties
that will cost them additional money to maintain. If you intend to
rent out the property, then keep to functionality rather than
aesthetics alone.

Finally, you could do a S.W.O.T analysis on the estate. S.W.O.T
stands for strength, weakness, opportunities and threats. For
instance, there are areas that are under constant threat of
flooding. If this is a persistent problem, it might make more sense
to avoid buying into such an area because sooner or later this
could negatively affect the value of your property.

You might also be able to spot a trend that could present an
opportunity in the near future.Consider things such as
accessibility, proximity to shopping malls and security.You need to
carefully consider these issues as their impact on your property
investment could be significant.

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