By Ikenna Uwadileke
The Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) on Monday in Abuja decried inefficiencies in the country’s real estate sector.
Mr Fife Banks, Chairman Young Chief Executive Officers, ACCI, said this at the inauguration of an integrated market place for real estate transactions, “myrealdeals.net’.
He said that there were huge prospects in the real estate sector that required genuine platforms where transaction could go on.
According to Banks, `myrealdeals.net’ is going to be Africa’s number one integrated market place for everything real estate.
“The reason we got into this sector is that we found out that there is a lot of inefficiencies in this sector.
“If you have ever dealt with an agent before in this sector, you will know that mostly unprofessionals put you into a lot of trouble.
“So, what we have done is to set up an academy to train agents and we have gone further to create a platform for property listings and everything real estate.
“We have a market place, we have a listing platform and we have an academy,’’ he said.
Banks said that the academy was committed to training real estate agents to address irresponsible dealings.
He said “over the course of 2022 we have trained about five real estate agents and you can find them in the society.
“These are certified professional real estate agents who will deal with crime in such a way that it will leave a good taste in their mouth.
`Beyond that we have created what we are pre-launching today,myrealdeals.net’ a platform where you can list your properties either as a developer, an agent or a direct seller and people from all over the world can access those properties,’’ Banks said.
According to him, the platform would also accommodate other stakeholders from service providers, quantity surveyors, lawyers to perfect your title, merchants and product sellers, paints roofing sheets.
`Once you think real estate you have to think ofmyrealdeals.net’ and this is where you get every deal in real estate,’’ he said.
Banks identified skills, knowledge and the right attitude as critical in entrenching professionalism in the sector.
“It is not a crime that you want to do business because many of these people get into this to be able to provide for their families.
“For some people it is a passion as this is what they want to do but how do we ensure that they have the right skills and information and that they understand the entire industry.
`When it comes to professionalism, three things are very important- skills, domain specific knowledge and the right attitude and that is what we do atmyrealdeals realtors academy’,’’ Banks said.
On his part, Mr Umaru Lakorok, a Realtor, said that despite the challenges, there are several opportunities for making it as a realtor in Nigeria.
According to him, the real estate market is big but a lot of people are not doing the right thing.
“Currently, I buy and sell and I facilitate buying and selling for other people, it’s a good deal and having passed through the training it has given me more insight and more information on how to trade better, learn better and do better in the real estate business.
“Abuja is not filled up yet, in fact it is just beginning we have a long way to go and the market is big but a lot of people are not doing the right thing.
`Most of us are creating problems than solving problems because a lot of agents end up in courts or police station whereas ideally there is a market for it, and the market is big.
“A lot of demolitions you see is because things are not done properly,’’ Lakorok said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event highlighted government policies and frameworks as they relate to the industry, growth strategies for operators, brand positioning and promotions, investment opportunities and partnerships. (NAN)