Free investment advice for property investors as Talk2Andre initiative hits market

In spite of the lull in the Nigerian property market which has been deepened by the economic recession in the country, the market occasionally experiences exciting moments  with the entry of new initiatives, innovations and products that bring relief, advice and guidance on the right and rewarding investment decisions investors could make even in times of recessional.

The latest arrival of such initiatives in the market is Talk2Andre—an initiative being promoted by NatanelFlorence focusing on property investment advice for those who want to invest in, buy or rent property at any level of the market.

NatanelFlorence is a real estate investment, advisory and consultancy firm that has, in the past 12 months of coming into the crowded Nigerian property market, taken the market to new levels with its novel and trail blazing initiatives that have provided homes to many Nigerian families.

“Talk2Andre is a campaign which we have just started; Andre is not a particular individual but just a catchword that we think people can latch on. It is another way of telling people that before they make any property decision—to buy, sell, rent or invest, they should talk to Andre”,  Oguche Aguda, Executive Director, Funds and Investment at NatanelFlorence, explained at a media lunch of the initiative in Lagos at the weekend.

“It stands for free property investment advice which we are out to offer to the public”, he added, noting that sometimes people buy property for investment purposes and bother themselves with looking for tenants. Often times  it takes them ages to find tenants and when they find them, they begin to chase them for rents.

“We are saying that if you are a property investor, just bring the cash to us and it becomes a hassle-free investment for you. We offer property investors hassle free investment and make above market returns for them even in a recession as we are in presently”, he assured.

During recession, people generally withhold cash, and hardly make investment decisions, especially in property, but Aguda said property  was the only investment asset that was recession-proof;  “it is a hedge against recession and we are out to ensure that all properties we provide are 100 percent occupied”.

To accommodate all interests in the property market, the company plays in the whole property value chain, so that anybody who wants to rent, sell, develop or invest in property should just talk to us. “We advise developers on the pricing in an area and the kind of model they have to adopt”, Aguda said.

The property market in Nigeria is still largely undeveloped and it is such that a good percentage of the few housing units in the country are ‘dead assets’. This number is quite huge, but there is hope now. “We are pushing the issue of dead assets which is quite huge in this country. People just live in houses without knowing that they can use them to do so many other things”, Aguda said, explaining that equity could be released from such houses and used for other purposes such as business transactions.

Early last year, NatanelFlorence introduced its unique homeownership initiative called Rent-to-Own by which home seekers could acquire houses, pay rents over a period of 20 years and own the houses.

Yinka Daramola, executive director, Marketing, recalled at the launch of the Talk2Andre initiative how NatanelFlorence came as a child of necessity.

“Many Nigerians had lost hope of owning homes because the means of acquiring homes was not there. The mortgage system is almost non-existent in this clime. Mortgage here is not affordable. People save for upwards of 15 years to be able to build or buy homes and this is a major challenge”, he noted.

Continuing, he said, “we reasoned that there must be a way out and this reasoning was what gave birth to Natanelflorence. Our mandate is to ensure that we reduce the difficulty in access to housing by at least 1 percent in the next 10 years. The figures are huge but we have started”.

Daramola noted also that today, there are people who are also offering Rent-to-Own but have not been able to deliver as much as they have because, to a large extent, what those people are pushing on to the market come with some elements of interest which NatanelFlorence doesn’t ask for.

“Ours remains zero-interest, zero-equity contribution and the rate remains flat throughout the duration of that transaction. Over one year of our corporate existence, we have stayed through to our vision. We may have had our challenges, but we have been able to provide accommodation for quite a lot of people. People also know us to a reasonable extent and that okay by us”, he enthused.