My dear investors, there are some things that appear to be common knowledge and common sense which upon closer examination turns out to be a costly mistake.
In real estate one of those things is buying dry land. For 99% of real estate investors, nothing is a deal breaker when buying land more than to see even a puddle of water.
“the land is waterlogged. I can’t buy it. I want a dry land. if it is not 100% dry I don’t want it. Find me a land that is 100% dry”
This is what they usually say whenever they see small water. As a matter of fact, maybe you yourself have even said the exact same thing to someone at one point or the other when looking for a land to buy.
So permit me to ask, What have you heard about wetland?
Why exactly are you running from wetland?
What is so special about all the dry lands you are buying up and down?
Above all, are you aware that wetland, that same wetland that you are running from, are you aware that wetlands appreciate much better than dry land?
Do you know that buying a wetland is one of the best ways to guarantee that the land you bought today for a couple millions or at most, tens of millions, you will resell for hundreds of million tomorrow?
This is hard to believe abi? Perhaps you are even thinking that finally Ugochukwu has lost all touch with reality.
But have you ever wondered why cities all over the world with the most expensive real estate are either surrounded by water or very close to a large body of water?
From the billionaires playground of Monaco, to the tourist hotpot of Venice, Italy. Equally not to be outdone is Manhattan, New York where housewives run domestic errands with carats in diamonds casually dangling from their ears or sparkling on their fingers and wrists.
One of the craziest things about Manhattan real estate is that there is no more land to sell. What developers are buying there now is air-rights which basically is a legal permission to add extra floors to an already built skyscraper.
The most expensive place to buy real estate in Dubai is The Palm Jumeirah. What is The Palm Jumeirah? An artificial island on the Persian Gulf.
But enough of talking about other countries and cities. Let’s come back home to Naija. Let’s talk about Lekki Phase 1. Are you aware that Lekki was once a marshy slum. Waterlogged and marshy.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s people, thousands of people were begged, I repeat, begged to buy land at Lekki but they refused. Why? For the same reason many investors today are passing up prime investment opportunities. Lekki is a wetland.
They said Lekki is waterlogged, that they won’t buy.
Where are these people today?
Where are their children today?
98% of them have regressed financially because they weren’t able to properly invest the money they had then.
What about the very few coconut head who like to zig when everyone else is zagging and to zag when everyone else is zigging who entered canoe to go see and map out the boundary of their land and took the risk, to buy a plot or two or even acres.
Where are they now?
Where are their kids?
All of them build a wealth, the type of wealth that will reach down to and benefit their children’s children. They created wealth for their entire generation. From a single location.
Paul Adefarasin the senior pastor and founder of House on The Rock church acquired about 10 acres of wetland at Lekki Peninsula, that’s Lekki phase 1, for just ₦25 million.
Today this land is valued at over ₦5 billion. The same wetland you are running from.
Do you know the most expensive place to buy land in the whole of Nigeria? That’s Eko Atlantic city. The price of land here starts at ₦5M/sqm.
Eko Atlantic city is an artificial island which in case you aren’t aware simply means that it is a part of the ocean that was sand filled.
Are you noticing a trend out of all these examples that I have shown you or do you still want me to spell it out for you?
Okay, I will.
The ultra-wealthy like water. They like to be close to lakes, oceans, the sea. You name it. As long as it is a body of water, they love it.
That’s why the cities with the most expensive real estate are either very close to a large body of water or surrounded by water.
So my dear real estate investor, why do wetlands appreciate much better than dry lands?
Earlier in this article I told you that one of the best ways to guarantee that the land you are buying now will be resold later for hundreds of millions of Naira is to buy a wetland.
Why is that?
In real estate just like other industries, there is what we call price filtration.
Price filtration simply means that you set a certain high price tag on your product as a way to discourage average consumers from buying your product.
This is a common business strategy for luxury brands who want to position themselves for the wealthiest individuals in the society.
That is why the starting price for Rolls Royce is from $500,000 USD. That is why a Jacob and Co. watch will set you back over $1M.
That is why Sijibomi Ogundele, MD of Sujimoto is selling a 4 bed penthouse at his iconic development, The Lucrezia, for $14 million USD. He didn’t put that price there because that is what it cost him to build it. NO!
He put the price there because there is a certain class of people that he is targeting.
This price filtration that I have explained to you is one of the reasons that wetland appreciates so much better than dry land.
A wetland by its nature and topography discourages the average income class people from buying your land because the high cost of sand filling and building on the land is too much for them.
When you have a wetland, the only people who can approach you to buy that land from you and build on it are only the very high income class who don’t give two cents about the cost of sand filling.
The wonderful thing about the very high income class is that before they or their lawyers approach you for anything, they must really need that thing. So they are always willing to pay any price. Just name your price.
However the one thing you should bear in mind about when you buy a wetland, the thing you should know is that when you buy a wetland, you will be among the last people to sell your land in that location.
This is because the average investors will buy up the dry lands first. However this works to your advantage people by the time they are done buying the dry lands, your land will be the only one still left.
This gives you all the leverage in the world because now, land there is scarce and you are the only one still left with undeveloped plot(s). What do you think this means for you?
You can name your price and you will get it.
Do you now see why you need to stop avoiding wetlands?
Why are you avoiding wetlands? It is not like you are the one that will develop and build on the property? So what are you afraid of?
Only average investors run away from wetlands and after reading this my article, your knowledge of real estate investments is no longer average.
You are now an enlightened investor who sees opportunity where others see challenges.
Who sees extra-ordinary ROI on wetland when others see only water. An enlightened investor who sees the opportunities in buying a wetland, where others see only water.
Congratulations, Enlightened investor.
I am, Ugochukwu.
Send me a Whatsapp Message
