There are many ways to invest in the unknown future. My parents believed in real estate and put all their life savings in those assets. They lost most of them to other people who also thought that those things were valuable as well. I became quite skeptical about real estate.

My uncle went all in and had real estate as a hedge to his other corporate investments. He made me realize that they were assets you could take loans against to do other things. Real estate can multiply. He multiplied his real estate investments with those loans amongst others.

He is in a different generation from my parents as he is a British trained accountant and banker with an MBA. He is also a good speculator. There was a time he owned almost one side of Chevron drive at Lekki and he was one of the first people to own homes in VGC and Banana Island

He also had real estate losses too as well. All of that Chevron Drive land was lost to the government as the certificate of occupancy was withdrawn by ”a governor.” That is the greatest danger of owning land in Africa and maybe most of the world. Property rights aren't guaranteed

This forms the bulk of the work we do at @placefund. Everything to help guarantee property rights by learning more about the places where people live. You need to be able to live somewhere before you can start thinking or planning to grow wealth in other ways. It is fundamental.

I had a chat with my brother @stevoncook on his podcast recently. It is pinned on my profile. The thing he said concerned him most was his rent in San Francisco which was around $3200.
That has to be sorted out monthly before anything. It is the same concern for most people.

For young people, where you now live determines almost everything about your future. I had girlfriends who were my girlfriends only because I lived in Parkview Estate, Ikoyi. An expensive part of Lagos with my uncle. I lost others simply because of that.

Before I got married, I had the conversation with my wife about living in a rented apartment. She wanted a more secure place as I was spending a fortune just to be comfortable. I also made her understand that the comfort was important to my work as I work mainly from home.

It didn't help that burglars kept breaking into my apartments and I kept moving up to more expensive neighborhoods. Eventually, we decided to buy a house. I had also preferred commercial property over residential property as I saw the rent I was paying for offices in Africa.

I decided to do a calculation recently and tried to compound all the money I had spent on residential and commercial rent. I was quite sad. I realized that maybe my parents and uncle were right after all. The problem was that I didn't ask them and discuss with them. I assumed.

I made money helping my uncle sell houses. I tried to invest in real estate in the UK and almost lost my initial deposit. Funny thing is that the advice I gave to my friends about my mistakes helped them to do well in real estate investments. They too realized something...

...Commercial real estate provided better returns than residential. All of this was true until the pandemic. Now, commercial real estate is a burden in most places. I own a few that I inherited and the tenants aren't paying as there is no business. I also cant blame them.

The thing I have learned about real estate is that the very first thing you try to do is not pay rent for where you live. A mortgage is still rent in a way. Try to own it outright as soon as possible and then use it as leverage. The problem with urban areas is that this is hard.

Maybe remote work will change all of this. I know someone who lives in Warri in Nigeria and works very well from there with global clients. He has refused to move to Lagos to suffer. My brother @SimShagaya is doing great in Jos, Plateau state. This should be encouraged.

I moved away from Ridge and I didn't die. I am actually now more productive. I remember that we started a tech company from Benin City, the most unlikely place at that time, and now, many more people are doing the same thing. We are in a new future and not going back to the old.

My biggest real estate regret is Calabar. My friend bought 4 houses for less than 500k. I bought a BMW.

Don't make the same mistake.

Something I forgot to add to this thread. Real estate speculation is also very risky in places without full property rights guaranteed. My father used to own most of the land beside UNIBEN at Ekosodin. He lost it all as the community became ”self-aware” that it was a gold mine.

You can also lose a lot of money. My dad lost maybe almost 41 plots in his lifetime and once they even shot at him as tried to kill him. Another land case lasted for over 20 years and was won after he died. That was why I was skeptical about land. Still am.

One last thing...I learned a valuable lesson from my uncle. Don't get attached to any property. The richest people sell their properties regularly.

Free real estate lesson from my best man:

”Never lose your advantage” - Dr. Fidelis Osuide.

He doesn't do real estate FOMO and drives a hard bargain. He wins as he buys.