The myths and facts about investing in real estate

For some Nigerians, investing in real estate still remains a myth too difficult for them to understand. For some others, it is a scam while yet some others see it as a fact and truth. This later group sees beyond the investment. They also see opportunities.

Grace Ofure Ibhakhomu, the MD/CEO of Life Card International Investment Limited, who prides herself as a visionary business leader and iconic force in the global real estate market, says any opportunity to help demystify some of the popular beliefs about investment in real estate is one she finds really fascinating.

According to her, this is particularly so because an individual’s ability to create wealth has a direct correlation to the accuracy of his or her knowledge about investing and investments.

Wikipedia defines investment as allocation of money with the expectation of a positive benefit/return in the future. In other words, to invest means owning an asset or an item with the goal of generating income from the investment or the appreciation of an investment which is an increase in the value of the asset over a period of time.

Ibhakhomu discloses that her investment journey is one that has defied common myths and fears surrounding high yield portfolios, saying that she started by ploughing her earnings back into real estate and is today unlocking returns considered unattainable by other asset classes.

“I am not here to discredit the usefulness of investment risk analysis and assessment but rather to underscore how a total aversion of risk is the worst form of risk taking by itself,” she noted in a statement.

She recalled how, a few years ago, long before she ventured into the world of investing, she sold second-hand clothes and on one particular day she made sales worth N23,000. Compared to her typical daily average, it was a good day and she was excited but it was not long before one of the risk of excessive liquidity caught up with her. “The entire sum got stolen and I was left bereaved and devastated,” she said.

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“The point of this is to emphasize that sitting on cash is a high risk venture; if you intend to grow wealth, then your goal should be to ensure that you are not excessively liquid. As a salary earner, you must plan yourself in a way that as soon as your remuneration is paid, you already have a clear investment plan and immediately put forward these commitments not later than 24 hours.

“This way, you are reducing your cash hold to just what you require for sustenance. Cash held for eventualities will soon enough find an event for it to disappear,” she noted

She stressed that hers is true story, asserting that through access to the right information and understanding that high yield is not the enemy in considering the viability of an investment, she has been able to grow from feeling bereaved about losing $50 to becoming the MD/CEO of Life Card International Investment Limited, a pioneer expert in purpose-built and income spinning real estate development company, making affordable luxury investments a possibility.

She lists consistency and hard work as part of factors that made her establishment to be reckoned as a marvel of our time. Via Lifecard Investment, she has created a multi-million dollar real estate business from scratch, with no prior funding or experience,.

She has generated tens of billions in returns for investors through real estate sales and educated over 1000 entrepreneurs. She says she is now highly sought after and globally regarded as trail blazers among real estate investments experts.

Ibhakhomu laments that despite these proven results over the years, most Nigerians have continued to shy away from harnessing the opportunities that abound due to risk aversion arising from a dysfunctional orientation about Returns On Investment (RoI), Interest rates, investment guarantee because they have believed a scam. A scam that all high-yield investments are too risky and should be avoided.

As an expert in real estate investments, she has successfully structured and executed several investment offerings that recorded significant ROI in precisely 6 months. She is good at forecasting what a mortgage loan facility will amount to in interest and revenue for you when you invest in real estate.

She advises that rather than staying away, what you need to successfully navigate the waters of investment and grow your portfolio significantly is the capacity to gain an accurate and deep understanding of someone or something. The last statement coincidentally defines insight.

“Insight is required to call the status quo a scam, to challenge a status quo that says mortgages and other forms of loans that facilitate investment are traps that should be avoided. It is insight that enables one to see possibilities when they can be stifled by fear of making intelligent investments due to unforeseen circumstances, insight makes a whole world of difference,” she says.

Continuing, she said, “Insight can make you so much richer and elevate your MPS which is an acronym for marginal propensity to spend. Insight will bring enlightenment and knowledge that enables one to identify a good and secure investment opportunity.”

As an investment coach, Ibhakhomu presents an avenue for budding investors, to learn how to climb into higher tax brackets and dominate, transfer the requisite skills and tools to enable one to identify profitable and secure investments, and literally sharpen their skills and increase capacity to “hit the ground running” with results and output. According to her, participators are equipped with insight on how to transition into being profit oriented investor.

She is also the proprietress of Life Card University, an e-learning institute which was born out of sheer desire to improve business education, ensure that learning is delivered seamlessly and strategically with a mission to help people start a real estate business or grow an existing real estate business from scratch using tested and proven strategies through the provision of robust digital courses, personalised coaching and mentoring opportunities to aspiring entrepreneurs and investors. The commitment to the work done is to adequately provide insight that can change the narrative, a scam that says there are no intelligent risks.

This scam is eating into the fabric of Nigeria’s financial sector. Here is why: As of now, more than half of the Nigerian population do not have a bank account, only 47 percent of the Nigerian population have bank accounts and 30 percent of the bank accounts in Nigeria are dormant. These are staggering statistics.

“How then can the Nigerian people obtain financial instruments that can aid investment? Besides loans, our financial bodies offer a variety of instruments that can be leveraged. Now we must take affirmative action to give the insight that can instigate better financial habits and subsequently lead to robust investment portfolios that would consequently quicken the economy,” she said, arguing that if she could navigate from being a hawker, a road side seller, to becoming an income spinning investment expert, making a impact globally, anybody else can.