Blog

“A wise man builds his house on the rock” – Jesus Christ

 

 

The basic need of everyman is food, shelter and clothing; these needs actually come in the sequence mentioned. The instinct for survival is the mainstream in life and in order to consolidate to meet the challenges of the future, one needs to start building structures today. Basic shelter is one of the most progressive assets in life and actually the most liquid property that can be used for barter exchange. If you have a land, you are wealthy; if you own your house, you are sure of a stable asset. All said and done, renting (not to talk of owning) a house has become a worrisome burden for youths in Nigeria especially for those seeking to build a family. The rate of increase for rent is alarming; barely one year ago, a three bedroom flat that goes for 150K/year in an average mainland like Surulere is now 450K/year. This astronomical 300% increase accompanied with lethargic promotion in the work place calls for serious consideration.

 

 

I do not want to build a house because I know the hassles it involves – my father built his houses, my mother built hers and my elder ones built theirs also. So I am quite familiar with the heart ache involve. All I need to do is buy one or renovate one; whichever way, one needs to be prepared. With the proliferation of mortgage schemes in the country, one needs to be wise in choosing the ones that would not cut your throat so my research has landed me on the NHF fund. What is the NHF fund? NHF is an acronym for National Housing Fund; it’s a government owned scheme championed by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria. Your contribution of a minimum of five hundred naira (N500) to this scheme for six month authenticates your right to a loan of maximum Five Million Naira (N5, 000, 000) at 7% interest over an average of 35 years payment depending on your age. Wonderful, right but it comes with its own snag:

 

 

You can only obtain this loan through a mortgage bank that makes sure you have a Five Hundred thousand Naira (N500, 000) deposit in their bank and a charge of about Eighty Thousand Naira (N80, 000). It’s actually still not bad in comparing it with other mortgage scheme; this I have decided to do to build for the future. I do not want to wake up one day and realized that to rent a house in Lagos, you have to share your three bedroom flat house with three other families to be able to pay. Lagos is tending towards this trend that is why a wise man should build for the future. I can not forget the smile on my fathers face when he collected his rent from one of his tenant amounting to about 200K/year for a three bedroom flat that he collected 12K/year in my presence just barely some years ago. He even boasts that he is a generous and fair man; amongst other landlords he collects peanuts. What can we say; you only need to be wise.

 

 

Now coming to investment scheme, housing is actually a non-depreciative asset if I may use that language. It is actually an investment that has negligible risk except a “force majure” threatens. After going through coup is coup and you are successful (not that I am advocating coup is coup), this I would advise you to venture in because you really need to. God told Noah to build an ark for the future storm that he has never experienced and he simply obeyed. I am not God but I am prophetic; consolidate your life for the future challenges ahead because they definitely look grim.