Iotap Silambda

Investment is very necessary for every person. Real estate is an asset form with limited liquidity relative to other investments. We invest in real estate with certain objectives in mind and there are:

a) Immediate requirement for residence purpose

b) To secure future requirements of family to avoid congestion, this will accommodate even division of family.

c) For earning rental income after proper construction or say investments in commercial properties.

d) To avail long term appreciation on investment in real estate.

To invest in real estate one must be conversant with its pros and cons. While deciding to invest in real estate, there are hundreds of things in mind but one must have proper knowledge about real estate market as blind investment in real estate may put the investor to huge losses.

We invest in real estate with above mentioned four objectives in mind and each objective calls for particular attention. If we are to invest for immediate residence then its proximity must have all basic amenities. If it is for future requirement then the basic facilities will be developed with the pace of time. If we are to invest in real estate for commercial purpose, the property must be surrounded by good habitation including industrial establishment and if the investment is done purely to avail appreciation in future then the location counts much as such type of properties can be agricultural land, far off residential, commercial or industrial plot as the main objective to invest in real estate is to get best returns/appreciation on log terms basis.

You may have heard about Nigerian stocks already but you have no idea what it is all about. This is one of those opportunities to invest in the stock market and earn high profit from it while it is still hot. It was acknowledged that this is the best time to take the winning side.

Before, Nigerians are not aware of their capital market. It was the time that only a few rich people in their country took the advantage of the market stock’s benefit. Most Nigerians simply do not know anything about Nigerian stock market. With the manifestation of democracy essential changes happened in the area of telecommunications. Finally, reconstitution of stock exchange activities was carried out. The restructure that was brought was trading live on computers and credited the transactions into the account of investors within four days. This radical change brought clarity and special sensation into the sector. After that, more numbers of Nigerians abroad and at their country got involved in the activities of Nigerian stocks in the market.

As time goes by, people are having difficulties with life due to the global economic crisis. Almost every employee has the fear that they might get jobless anytime that their company dive down. This is a very common scenario these days which made people look for other options to earn money. They will not just sit back and wait for the time that they will get laid off from work. They will be willing to try any other offers of business that can make them earn a good profit for their family to survive. The impact of Nigerian stock market gave some people the idea to enter and now they are enjoying the good benefits that it brings.

There are two very major differences between investing in stock and investing in real estate. When investing in stocks you are typically investing for capital gains versus cash flow and have no control. In stock you are investing for capital gains, for the hope that it goes up over time but with very little control over the value increase or decrease. Most people, other than those that invest for cash flow dividends, invest for capital gains in stocks. But without control or seeing any return on your money without selling you are in a losing situation. You should NEVER buy an asset that you do not control, unless the return on investment is substantial enough to balance out the control. Historically stocks have not averaged a high enough interest rate to justify the lack of control and increased risk. You have to be a professional stock investor, know some insider trading information and have some luck to beat the historic performance of stocks. In addition, as most people have seen in the stock market, half of your wealth can be gone literally overnight. Now if that is not a scary situation I don’t know what is. I know, I know, but the stock market has gone up so much in the last year. It has gone up because of all of the artificial government stimulus and extend and pretend economics. Not to mention the massive influx of cash into the banking system which is being hoarded by the banks and not being lent out, only for them to go invest it in the stock market for the short term. Why do they care, it’s not their money anyway, it’s the taxpayers money. Also, there are millions of people not paying their mortgage payments which is also adding to the amount of money people have available to spend. What did you think they were saving it?