5 REASONS YOUR HOUSE TAKES A VERY LONG TIME TO RENT OUT IN OWERRI
IN THIS ARTICLE WE SHALL TOUCH ALMOST EVERY ANGLE OF THESE PROBLEMS WITH FACTS AND EXAMPLES WITHOUT MANAGING WORDS. SO, RELAX AND READ.
- Location:
The Location isn’t always the major factor for you not getting tenants to take your property for rent in Owerri but putting a rental price that is above the average rental value for the area which the property is located, that is the reason your property will remain for a longer time in the market. - Price:
some landlords fix exaggerated prices on their properties you wonder what they have in there only to get disappointed when you go inside and see it doesn’t even meet the basic stands on a house that worth half the price they demand for. - Finishing:
some landlord has horrible finishing on their properties and yet want to get a high rent off it. When you build a house without a kitchen cabinet or wardrobe, you have your shower standing right on to the toilet sitter in some narrow bathroom, but you are expecting fast rents. Some landlords even tend to be picky and selective of tenants they want in such a low standard house, which is still ok, but you forget tenants are also very selective and picky of not moving into a crap house where they have to start upgrading and building or hitting walls to install wardrobes and kitchen cabinets, or even have to buy their own water heaters to install. Let me ask you Mr. Landlord & Landlady, can you live in such a house? Then why not build for your tenants at least the basic kind house you can live in? Some landlord’s houses are built so cheap they can’t even make the ceiling and paints look nice. Who builds with Ceiling Board again in this modern age? You don’t have POP? It’s fine, but at least put a nice PVC, nice paintings and nice lights, remove old KPAKO doors if you want fast rentals and a good rental price in rent.
- Engineers / Family Member / Caretaker / Security Man:
This part must sound like a shocker to you right? But I’ll break it down because I can spend 2 days talking about this part.
a) Engineers; most building Engineers, after building a house take advantage of that control and begin to charge commission for themselves, this will compel the Real-estate Agent to increase the Agency Commission to double its standard rate of 10%.
The Prospective Tenant must pay 20% commission (against 10%) which means 200k for a house rent of 1 million Naira.
In this stance, the Engineer takes a whopping 100k for doing absolutely Nothing after being paid a whooping sum too for the construction job, then the Real-estate Agents are left to argue and drag over 10% which doesn’t matter if they are 7 of them involved they’ll all have to share 100k while the engineer celebrates with 100k.
For this reason, very few clients will pay and the rental will drag for long while the landlord is losing his timely Returns o Investments.
b) Caretaker; The Caretaker does exactly the same as the Engineer. The two can lock up the full building, restricting any access for clients to inspect if the Agents don’t bow to their rules of Commission split.
Well, what do they care? After all, the Landlord doesn’t know what is going on. And in some cases, the property becomes an object to defraud people off their money.
c) Security man: a very hilarious scenario, I took my client for a house viewing at World Bank some time ago, and the Security-man refused to open the house for us because he insisted we must pay him the sum of N2,000 Naira before he will grant us access to go inside for the viewing, while our client stood devastated and confused.
Sadly, when we called the Engineer/Caretaker, he said we have to give the security man 2k, and I asked what if we don’t have? He said then we must go away till anytime we have it. E shock you? But it’s a daily occurrence here done with ignorant pride.
Shamefully, it happened that they were both in on this to share the money.
And sadly, this is someone’s hard earned money put up as an investment and people She or He believes are helping them get money are busy holding their business down.
In Owerri, it is almost a normal thing for security men to lock an Agent with their Clients outside while he demands money for access, refusing vehemently to open or else the money is paid to him. They care nothing about your investment, only about his pocket. The strange thing is, he is given a security house to live in for free, and he is paid monthly salary too. White most of the caretaker are probably given an apartment to live for free by the Landlord and this is how they pay him back by putting their selfish interests first.
d) Family Members: If your property is 90% completed and you have a relative living in one of the flats, then you might have a big problem renting it out. The reason is because, that family member who is living for free wants to be the only one occupying the entire building for as long as they can. One of the things I do while I work/scout for New properties is to visit Nearly completed block of Flats or Houses to check how I can reach the Landlords and encourage them to finish developing their property and I can assure them we shall get it rented out for them and they’ll smile happy with their Returns on Investment.
I have been to so many of such houses and I hit the rock when it’s a family member occupying one flat as a caretaker.
The more I try to get them to link me to the landlord they more they raise numerous hilarious excuses why the house is still so.
One even told me the Landlord is not in a hurry to rent, oh so why get the building up to 90% completion if he is not in a hurry? Like, who isn’t in a hurry to get the returns on their investment?
Some say the Landlord doesn’t want to rent. So, who builds a block of 10 units of 3-bedroom flats and wants to live in them all?
Some of them even rent out the uncompleted flats for cheap without the Owners knowledge and they take the money.
Some discourage the Landlord from renting. But an 80% completed block of flats can be rented out and finished in less than a month’s using the funds the prospective tenants would pay, that’s if the Landlord I short on cash.
And same as engineers and caretakers, these lots also contribute their quarter in their way of sharing agency fee which makes most Agents either refuse to show their clients these properties or else they have to double the agency commission which scares clients away.
In such cases, the more worried persons are the Agent, just as I drive around Owerri having such experiences and seeing so many uncompleted Blocks of Flats in Owerri on a halt which makes me feel so worried, but some of you out there, your brother or sister or mother or father or relatives don’t care about your income from the house but what they want from it and from you.
f) Lawyers: I have met good Lawyers, and I’ve met super greedy lawyers. An honorable man like Barrister Nelson (I won’t mention his full name) whose office is in Owerri is an amazing respectable lawyer with integrity on the aspect of dealing with property agents.
He gives you the breakdown of payments for the property you intend to rent and doesn’t mention the agency fee because he knows “a laborer deserves his wages”.
One like Barrister Nwanchukwu (I won’t mention his full name) is another amazing Lawyer with integrity in dealing with Brokers. He Has no such time to talk about your agent’s commission.
Lawyers like the above two good lawyers mentioned are one I can refer or advice landlords to do business with confidence because those are the kind of lawyers the Brokers always rush to work with.
However, some lawyers are the reason most houses for rent stay Vacant for a long time in Owerri, mostly the houses whose landlords base abroad leaving the lawyers to sit on it as the Alfa & Omega which gives some the leverage to Triple the Legal/Agreement Fees. Meaning if a property costs 2 million Naira, instead of demanding that standard 5% Agreement Fee, they don’t just even demand for 10% of it which is double but they demand 20% of 2 million which is 400k.
What Tenant will want to pay such exorbitant mount as agreement fee which can be used to rent a 1 bedroom flat in Owerri Town?
Now, that is one part of the problem. Then you have Lawyers who want to take away 5% or the full 10% commission belonging to the Real-estate Agents Fee, it is fine to clearly NOTE that Agents do NOT take their clients to check properties that have lawyers who want to greedily take half their commission. but the Agents will rather demarket the property, give it a bad name, bad image, share the information in there many Social Media and WhatsApp Groups, they will tell so many other Real-estate Agents about that Lawyer and such a property making all the Real-estate Agents to hands off, leaving your property to the lawyer who can’t go into the streets himself to get clients who will pay you rent for your investment. Just sitting in the comfort of their office but yet wants to eat from the commission of those who run around. 1,2,3 years go by and your property is growing moot, termites and dilapidating from lack of use.
I have witnessed this Firsthand on a block of 6 units of 3 Bedroom Bungalows that stayed Vacant for 1 year and 8 months until I was able to get hold of the Landlord and told him what his lawyer is doing which he was totally unaware of, and he called the situation to order. It took the next One month, and all the bungalows were rented out.
The above is very rampant in Owerri and one of the major reason is because most Landlords base abroad so they hand properties over to a lawyers and this makes most lawyers feel they have like full ownership to do as they please with the property, caring less about the need of the property owner who built a house for investment.
FYI: NO ONE CARES MUCH ABOUT YOUR INVESTMENT THAN YOU DO. To some out there, it’s just an opportunity for them to make money for themselves.
Meanwhile, I have heard a layer handling someone property in Owerri, this was a 2-bedroom apartment and the rent was 900k.
The agency fee was 90k
The caution fee was 100k
But the Agreement fee was 200k.
See screenshot below:
And my question to the above was, WHY IS THE AGREEMENT FEE RIDICULOUSLY EXPENSIVE????? THAT’S A CRAZY 22% OF THE RENT…….
Just enough to rent a self-contain (studio apartment) for rent in Owerri and you want a prospective tenant to cough that out as agreement?
I could bet with any amount that the owner of that investment is based abroad and doesn’t even know what’s going on, which is why the lawyer can play with his investment and try to enrich himself with it.
Some landlords are desperately in need of this money for something personal or family problems / concerns, but who cares? Let’s make money off this opportunity that comes but once, one will say.
Another lawyer once told me She manages a certain property, so She is entitled to take half (50%) of our commission, and I asked if she knows the difference between management fee and agency commission? She either wanted to make a chunk money out of both ends, or she didn’t know the landlord has to pay her management fee, and there is a lot of work involved which can’t be handled by an always busy practicing Lawyer which is the reason there are companies that focus solely on “Property Management Services” which is part of what a Real-estate company like MC CAPITAL Properties Limited also does.
We do manage over 15 properties in Owerri including this one located at New Owerri, a block of 9 Flats. 3 units of of 3 Bedrooms Apartments and 6 units of 2 Bedrooms Apartments.
With our banner shining right at top of it
5) YOU LANDLORDS:
Most landlord in Owerri want to get out of the tenant’s “in one year” all the whole money they spent building the house. No Sir, it is called INVESTMENT, You cant get it at a blow, it is gotten gradually and benefits you more in your retirement. if you want a one off return then you should build and sell out. MC CAPITAL Property Developers we also develop houses for some of our investors and help them sell off for instant cash.
You cant just build a 3 bedroom flat in a part of Owerri with rental value of 2 million naira and you want to put yours at 5 million Naira. not reasonable at all. and even if you get the tenant can they renew the rent?
are they responsible kind of tenants you want? or the type that will damage your property and make you spend 6 million renovating it.
some tenants now share rent, which means they can be up to 7 in a 3 bedroom apartment and ruin it all because you want high rent. Why not set a decent price and scrutinize all prospective tenants so you can get good tenants that will take care of your property and give you peace of mind.. minimal rent, good tenant, excessive rent then what you see you take.
But some landlords are so greedy though, they’ll ask a prospective tenant to pay the Agency commission to them or demand to take half the commission which we totally object to.
I have negotiated on getting tenants for a landlord who’s block of flats had been vacant for over 6 months, then he said my client has to pay him commission, and I asked, “Sir are you an Agent?” No, he responded.
So, if my client pays you commission how do we get paid? Or do you think I work for “THANK YOU?”
Surprisingly he said my client can pay me also my commission.
And my question was, “Why does my client have to pay two Commission for one apartment?” I worked for my client, but You did nothing for them so why are you demanding Agency fee from us? Are you not supposed to pay me a fee for getting you a client too? (Because, in a sane country, yes, you pay an Agent for services they render to you).
Then, a while later, he sent me the text in the screenshot below:
This made no absolute sense to me untill date. Firstly, the Apartment was up for rent for 1.2 million Naira, which means the Agents’ commission should be 10% of the rent which is 120k. Right? right!!
Secondly, a landlord has no RIGHT whatsoever, to decide what the Agent takes as Commission/Agency fee from his client, so long as it isn’t above the standards 10%.
You are not even supposed to mention Agency fee because firstly again, you are not the one paying the Agents fee.
Secondly, you are not the one who rendered the services to the customer.
If you have right to speak on any fee the it has to be the Fee you Landlords are required to pay to an Agent who rendered services to you, but you refuse to pay and won’t talk about it.
Another time you can speak on the Agency fee is when the Agent goes out of hand and begins to charge above the standard 10% commission (which affects the speedy rental of your property) like some do, then the Landlord can come in and say “hey! No, not on my property will you Real-estate Agent go greedy and demand above standards from my prospective tenants”. Bravo Landlord!!
We also have some Agents that rent to double the Agency Fees in Owerri which is totally unethical and unprofessional,
I site examples like this below from one of the Agents groups:
And you might be impressed to see that so many Real-estate Agents are totally against such dubious practice as you can see someone rebuked that demand bellow.
Then we came in and objected to the high commission demand and stated some reasons that might be which I also mentioned in this article about engineers, caretakers and lawyers.
Our response was below;
10% is standard fee. Or else for commercial properties then it could go above 10% or the Agents’ fee can go according to how many years rent the tenant is paying than moment, which is mostly applicable to Commercial Lease.
Example, if the company is renting a commercial property and wants to pay 3 years lease, then Agency Fee can be 10% of the total rental amount / of those 3 years and this is also open for negotiations.
And if they want to sign a 7 years lease contract but their first payment will be for 4 years, then the agency commission will be only for that 4 years payment. Which is also open to negotiations.
SOME REAL-ESTATE COMPANIES:
Commission sharing formula between two Agencies is 5% / 5%.
But sadly, there are some two Real-estate companies here in Owerri that insist they must take a whopping 7.5% out of 10% total commission when an external agent brings his/her client to a property they are handling. It’s not so.
So the Agent brings a prospective tenant, and he is given 2.5% while this Real-estate company takes a whopping 7.5%.
That is, they get 7.5% for just sitting in the office while the Agent who does all the job in the sun on the streets gets a chicken feed 2.5%.
So, if the commission is 300k, this company takes a whole 225k and leaves the external Agent with 75k after all the work s/he did.
Well, unfortunately I feel sorry for most landlords who hand there properties over to such Agents because such properties are in for a long stay in the market because most of such companies don’t do aggressive marketing and their Agents don’t go out to source for clients because they live on basic salary. But the external agent lives on Commission, and he either make that money or he will starve, so he or she as a commission base agent must be on the move 24/7 searching for clients to supply to the Salary Agent. Yeah!
In the long run, taking 75% for doing NOT MUCH isn’t acceptable by the hustling Agents so they simply won’t take their clients to such properties. And this makes the property sit vacant for a long time in the market until some house hunter mistakenly finds it.
The question now is, which Agent will want to work for such pennies? We Won’t. Many Won’t. and this is why when you hand some Real-estate companies your property it takes them ages to get it rented out because while they sit in the office waiting for the clients to located that hidden property which is mostly impossible, the Agents who are supposed to bring them the clients will refuse to work with them for the reason stated above.
How MC CAPITAL Properties works:
Good-News is, a Real-estate company like MC CAPITAL Properties don’t just sit, they go all the way-out grabbing clients from all angles to make sure the landlords gets a quick money back on their investments.
We work with other agents and in some cases, we even offer external agents 60% commission, which motivates them, which makes them work even harder and for speedy rent.
We market your property to other agents/agencies and get it all rented even in less than a month, so long as it’s within market price and you put up a nice place and finishing.
Other Agents are always happy to work with us, no long protocols, just Money in Money out.
And most of all, our marketing is the best, Real-estate is 80% marketing and we have that and we are like probably one of the best if not the best in Owerri Imo State.
You want to find out? Just Google “MC CAPITAL Properties Limited” and find out, see for yourself how we are all over the internet. Don’t Play!
We are on almost all known PAID Real-estate Marketing and Advertising Portals in Nigeria, and not cheap ones. This can tell you we spend a lot of our own money to give your property the best exposure ever and get you the fast and expected customers for that your PROPERTY YOU WANT TO RENT in Owerri or THOSE PROPERTIES YOU WANT TO SELL in Owerri.
WE OFFER FAST RENTAL AND SALES SERVICES AND WE GET THE JOB DONE – MC CAPITAL Property Management Owerri Imo State
I mean, you built a house to make money not to keep in a storage, right?
So, let’s help you make that money today.