For low income earners who have the lofty dream of owning their own homes without having to break banks, a new residential destination is beckoning. That destination is the New Badagry Homes being developed by Pertinence Limited, a relatively young but dynamic real estate development firm.
The new housing scheme made up of blocks of apartments comprising one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments is part of the company’s ‘City Invasion’ initiative it started in 2018 with special focus on low income earners who also desire good houses in good locations.
Officials of the company explained to BusinessDay in an interview that with the initiative, they started doing something that people would not ordinarily expect in such places, believing that they were not just estate developers but also city builders.
“We are in a place like Badagry where we are developing the New Badagry Homes. We are doing it in such a way that people must know that we are around because we must do something so significant that must attract attention. Our aim here is to open up Badagry for estate development so that people can experience that opportunity,” Sunday Olorunsheyi, Executive Director at Pertinence, explained.
Olorunsheyi explained further that they came into real estate business with full understanding of the demand-supply gap in the market which tilts towards the low income segment of the housing market.
“We told ourselves that we could be a part of the solution to this problem. This was how we started to look out for the low income class people. We started with them and then the middle income people,” he said, pointing out that their heart was with the low income people which was why 60 percent of their projects so far was for this group of home seekers.
He noted that some of these people could not even afford the cost of a plot of land and that was how they began to demystify owning a plot of land by helping them to see or understand that their first land might not even be their dream land.
“Your dream land could be in Ikeja or Magodo, but that does not mean that it should be your first land. You can start from the very remote locations like Ifo, Otta, Mowe, etc,” he counseled.
On the basis of that, the company designed schemes in those remote places and made them easy for low income buyers to buy because the prices were not so high and the payment plan was very flexible.
That way, the low income earners were able to conquer the fear that normally comes with acquiring land which is the issue of Omo-onile. The company also made them understand that buying from them meant buying peace of mind and flexibility of payment and affordability.
“Being able to do all these over the last seven years, we have recorded over 10,000 people who have patronized us in this business. Between 2012 and 2017, we were able to do all that successfully,” Olorunsheyi enthused.
CHUKA UROKO
