In my traditional society, a distinction exists between adulthood and manhood.
Consequently on some achievements, an adult male becomes a MAN and is entitled to take part in discussions and decisions concerning and affecting his ethnic nationality.
The possession of capital as evidenced by the ownership of real estate(a house in particular)constitutes one of three elements that poses to anyone who lays claim to being a MAN is whether he has a house? Whether he is married? And whether he has a child? Therefore in many if not in all societies, the investment in the ownership of real estate -the acquisition of the basis of the creation of capital-constitutes one of the most important and probably the largest and maximum personal single investment which one undertakes in his lifetime and sometimes significantly affects his financial and material well being throughout his lifetime.
Such property acquisition is a serious matter.
Simply put, property market is a place where willing sellers and buyers exchange landed property whether developed at mutually agreed prices.
A bit of imagination need s to be in play here because landed property has one unique quality, it is immovable.
Hence, you have to imagine a market where the production, in this case landed property cannot be brought to a common point for you to see.
You have to go where it is.
In this case, we look at different ways to enter the market and stages of investors.
(I) Level One Investors: This is inevitably the level at which most investors will enter into property investment and end it there! And it really is a question of attitude and the realization of the opportunity cost principle.
These kinds of investors chose to stay in their house rather than earn rents from it, they will appreciate their home as an investment and play a cautious attitude.
They therefore struggle to attain this level of "achievement" and secure a dwelling for the future and stop there.
They are unlikely to venture further as their social and economic conditions drive them to accept this state of equilibrium.
Once they have a "house of their own", they never access the gains of landed property investment.
(II) Level Two Investor: This type of investor is seen as a joker.
The principle of realizing that your home is an investment usually to coerce them to a point where they are ready to sell the only property they have but to open them up to the possibility of having several more properties.
He/she must have built his/her own place and now applies the extra income at his disposal beyond immediate consumption to build more houses to let.
The level two investor over a life time will build two, three, four, or more houses and earn rents.
He bothers not to do an investment analysis to discover whether the rent is worth his while as a fair return on his capital outlay in building the houses and will usually pass on this wealth on coming generations.
They usually sell one or two of these properties in old age in order to meet his living expenses.
(III) Level Three Investors:This person understands the possibility of making profit from buying and selling real estate.
The level player understands the principle of wealth creation and preservation in landed property.
Most successful Businessmen are key players at this level and thy end up building vast empire of land holdings.
Such people give close attention to acquiring real estate both within their country and outside their countries by analyzing investment opportunities to take a decision.
There are two categories of players in this level of investor.
The first is land speculators where the investor buys a parcel of land and waits until development gets near either due to city expansion or improvement works by government.
The second category of level three investor seeks an opportunity to buy landed property with a price advantage and tends to do some hard bargaining for a good deal.
They will keenly dig to spot distressed owners/vendors or auction properties or uncompleted buildings all of which can be bought and sold for profit or kept for durations which he the investor can determine.
The level three investor is skilful and experienced enough to understand that when you give your property to an Estate Surveyor and valuer to dispose of , it can take a range of time which is not as long as is usually called long term but will depend on the mood of the market as advised.
Finally, they appreciate professionals and holds his investments for five, ten, twenty-five years as the case may be.
(IV) Level Four Investors:They are called merchant builders because they build several units of houses and sell for profit.
Several construction companies participate in this level of investment.
This type of property investment appears more focused and organized with initiatives coming mostly from the corporate world.
There is usually access to sufficient funds and so projects have a life span, target time and target market.
The estates are usually on vast land areas with several units of houses constructed for sale after completion.
Bulk materials are used because of mass construction of housing units engaged in.
Marketing of these houses is usually done with flexible packages like mortgage facilities depending on who is promoting the project.
The financial institutions usually respond favourably to this investment level due to the organized nature of the handlers.
(V) Level Five Investors:These are developers and real estate investors who go to the capital market to raise money through the sale of shares