By the time you finish reading these 6 real estate investment strategies I learnt from billionaire Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo and implement all of them you will be able to build a multi-billion real estate investment portfolio. Guaranteed!
A lot of things has been said about success, a lot written and much more will still be said and written. As we all know, success in anything in life is hard. It takes a lot of effort and time to become very successful in any industry.
Micheal Phelps, the greatest Olympian of all time who has a grand total of 28 Olympic medals, 23 of which are gold said that for 5 years he swarm every day. No days off for 5 years.
Medical students spend a lot of time and efforts studying, practicing and maneuvering to become top of their fields, athletes like Michael Phelps, Michael Jordan spend years training obsessively.
Of course success is any industry is hard, including real estate investing but do you know the best short cut to success?
The only shortcut that works 100% of the time?
The only shortcut that will save you years of trials and errors, years of constantly hitting a wall, of making silly mistakes and wasting precious time?
The only shortcut that if you diligently follow, you are guaranteed to land at the success that you seek?
That shortcut is constantly learning from those who are ahead of you. Those who have achieved the success that you seek. It doesn’t matter the industry or career you are in. Be it politics, business, or real estate investment.
To be successful, find those who are already successful in your industry , study them and model what they did to get to where they are at the moment.
As far as real estate investment is concerned, few are as successful as Matthew Ashimolowo. Today you might know him as the visionary and bold developer behind the biggest and most exciting real estate project in Lagos, Makarios Luxury Place, but he wasn’t always that.
Matthew is a clergyman, the founder of Kingsway International Christian Centre, a church based in London, United Kingdom.
If we go further back to his childhood, it was filled with extreme poverty, in his own words, “When I was growing up we were so poor, poor people used to call us poor.”
Born and bred in Zaria to a military man, things even got worse when his father died and he went to live with his father’s aunt who quickly turned him into street hawker.
To this day despite his best attempts to conceal it, he still spots an obvious circular patch at the top of his head which he credits to his days hawking heavy bread every day for almost 4 years.
He became a born again, and things started changing for him but I can’t really go into the details because the title of this article is not ‘The biography of Matthew Ashimolowo’.
The title and theme of this article is ‘the real estate investment strategies of Matthew Ashimolowo’ so let’s keep to that.
The best thing about success is that it leaves clues.
To become a successful real estate investor you need to study and implement the investment strategies of successful real estate investors like Pastor Matthew.
I spent hours studying him and his real estate investments, below are 6 Real Estate Investment Strategies from Billionaire Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo You Should Adopt.
1. Matthew Ashimolowo brings his wealth back home and invests in Nigeria real estate and 85% of his real estate investment are in Lagos.
One of the trends recently has been ‘investment gurus’ going online to give you unsolicited advice on real estate investments in Nigeria. They talk all kinds of things. Economy this, economy that. Scam this, scam that. Persecution of Igbo this, persecution of Igbo that.
They all talk different things and point to different factors but they generally come to one conclusion and that is that you should not invest in real estate in Nigeria.
That you will get scammed if you try to invest in Nigeria real estate. That the government will seize or demolish your property. That you will lose your property.
To be honest at the rate they are going I wouldn’t be surprised if they came out tomorrow and said that if you buy land in Lagos today and go tomorrow to inspect it, what you will see will be a gaping 100ft hole in place of where your land used to be or that if you build/buy a house in Lagos today and come tomorrow to move in, you will find that the house which was there yesterday has magically disappeared. That’s how ridiculous it is getting.
I call this people “investment gurus” because that is what they claim, that is how they pose when in reality they are just people who know nothing, absolutely nothing about the Nigeria real estate market. They talk out of pure ignorance, emotions and biased sentiments as opposed to logic and facts.
They see a house demolished and cry wolf about the persecution of this people or that people without trying to confirm if all necessary approvals was gotten for the house in the first place.
They look at the recent house demolitions in Lagos and conclude that the state government is heartless and mean, not knowing that about 80% of houses in Lagos do not have the necessary building approvals.
They look at the current inflationary economy and declare that the worst decision you can make is to invest in Nigeria real estate not knowing that historically Nigeria real estate has always, always outperformed inflation.
Do not be deceived!
Do not take advice from people who have no idea of what they are talking about. If you want to be a billionaire, and you have 2 people in your life. One is a very successful business man who turns over ₦10 billion annually in his business and the other is a teacher who all his life has never made up to ₦10 million.
Who would you take advice from on how to become a billionaire?
The answer is simple. It is a no brainer. Why then are you listening to people whose only qualification is that they have a phone camera, data and can speak good English?
Pastor Matthew was born and spent his early years in Zaria, Nigeria, but he is based in London yet for years he has been actively investing in Nigeria real estate. To be truthful, his real estate investments span across multiple countries but the bulk of his real estate investments are here in Nigeria.
According to him Nigeria real estate has given him the best returns.
So what should you learn from this? It doesn’t matter which part of the world you are in. Where you are based or which currency you are making your money in, bring it home and invest it in Nigeria real estate. Invest in Nigeria.
That’s how the Nigeria’s economy grows and expands but that is not all, investing in Nigeria will give you the best returns and the ease of acquiring property here is unlike what you have in other places.
Are there risks involved in investing in Nigeria real estate? Yes. Are there some scam artists in the Nigeria real estate industry who will happily part you from your money and heartlessly disappear with your money? Absolutely.
But that is why we at Rose Garden Realty are here. We take you by the hands and guide you step by step through the entire process to reduce your risks to the barest minimum.
There are risks in every investments be it real estate or something else and we can’t possibly eliminate every risks but by getting a property from us, we reduce your risks to the barest minimum possible. Which is all you need.
Just like Matthew Ashimolowo, no matter where you are, where you are based. Invest in Nigeria. Invest in Lagos. Your property will be safe as long as you work with genuine professionals like us in the acquisition process and you will get the best returns.
2. Cheaper is not better. Don’t always be on the lookout for the cheapest deals in the market and avoid lands that don’t have good title.
When it comes to real estate investments, avoid real estate deals that sound too good to be true because in 98% of them, they are indeed too good to be true. Don’t be a penny pincher.
Some of us when looking to invest in real estate go about looking for the cheapest lands, the cheapest houses. But before you do that, always ask, why is this property so cheap?
I say this because the confidence of any developer to charge you high amount for his property is a testament to the quality of work he is doing on the property.
The cheapest lands available in the market are usually lands with bad title or with no title at all that if you buy, might develop issues later.
When making real estate investments in Nigeria, go for the ones you can afford, not the ones that are the cheapest. Avoid too good to be true deals. Buy 6 plots to get 2 plots free, beware of offers like this.
Do extra due diligence. Get a legally binding contract that protects your interest in that transaction as much as possible. That is if that is all that you can afford. If on the other hand you got the money, please buy only lands with good title even if that is more expensive.
In real estate investments, always be willing to spend more to get genuine properties than spending less to get properties that might have issues tomorrow.
Matthew Ashimolowo, in his interview with Achodo Confidence of Eden Oasis said that he bought the place that is now Lekki deep sea port, 20 acres for about ₦24 million. He didn’t mention the year but trust me, from the figures involved this was decades ago.
At that same time he bought that property, someone was showing him a land at Banana Island. 1,200sqm plot at Banana Island for just ₦42 million. ₦42 million!
But he turned down the Banana Island offer and took the money to buy 20 acres of land at the place that is now Lekki deep sea port. 20 acres which is 120 plots.
He chose the Lekki deep sea port land because to him 120 plots of land at ₦24 million was better than a single plot at ₦42 million. In theory, this mathematics makes sense. He is actually correct, the 20 acres would have given him better returns but the only mistake he made was that the 20 acres didn’t have a title.
The justice who sold the land to him assured him that everything was fine, that the title of the land would be perfected and he took the words of the justice who sold the land to him not knowing that there is no possibility of perfecting the title on the land because it is under committed acquisition from the government.
Long story short. He lost the land to the government. So he lost his money and his land, just because he took the cheapest deal in the market without doing due diligence.
A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Learn from this.
3. He thinks long term and makes only long term real estate investments. Not short term.
Today Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo is building Makarios which is the biggest, most audacious estate project currently in Lagos. A truly 1 of 1 estate, featuring the first multi-sensory water display park in Nigeria.
The water display is just breathtaking to be honest, looking at it, you might think that he just started the whole thing in 2022. You would be wrong. According to the man himself, he bought the land over 24 years ago.
He has been holding this land for over 24 years!
Some of us when we acquire a property today, tomorrow we are already talking about liquidating it. Someone acquires land today, next year when dollar goes up he wants to sell, next 2 years when dollar comes down he wants to sell.
Real estate is not a cryptocurrency. It is not an Nvidia stock. Real estate is not the the type of investment that when you make today, next year you are talking about liquidating it. Next 2 years you are talking about liquidating it. No!
The only reason you should liquidate a property quickly is if there is an emergency you need money for and the money is not available so you liquidate some of your assets. That is the only reason. Otherwise leave it.
Stop treating it like a stock. Like a crypto coin. Buy land and hold it long term. All your real estate investments should be long term.
Think long term. Invest long term. If you know that long term investing is not for you, that you can’t do it. Then investing in real estate is not for you. Go ask the crypto bros to ‘shill’ you some memecoins.
4. He diversifies his real estate portfolio. He buys lands in developed locations and at the same time, buys even more land in developing locations.
I already told you that Pastor Matthew bought Makarios over 24 years ago. Makarios is at Aiyeteju, Ibeju-Lekki. Just before Eleko Junction. Today that axis is still developing, 24 years ago, how do you think that place was?
When he started work in 2022 there were monkeys all over the place. When they started felling the trees and clearing the bush that’s when those monkeys migrated deeper into nearby forests.
If even today the area is still not fully developed, how do you think it was 24 years ago when he bought it? I will tell you, It was a total bush. But he bought it.
How much do you think a plot was selling then 24 years ago?
Today a plot at Makarios is currently selling for ₦150 million. However according to some sources, though to be honest I can’t confirm this. He bought those lands at just ₦20,000 per plot.
Why did he buy it that cheap? He bought it when no one else, I repeat, no one else was buying that area because it was all bush and forests.
Why is he selling it this high now? It is because he held the land for over 24 years. All this time he held it the value has been appreciating and accelerating. When he bought it that whole area was bush.
Today that same area is one of the fastest developing areas in the entire Lagos. Apart from all this he is adding extra-ordinary value to the land, to Lagos and the entire Nigeria as a whole. He has invested and still investing billions to bring to life what is a first of its kind estate.
So buy Victoria Island, buy Banana Island, buy Eko Atlantic, buy Lekki Phase 1 if you got the money but make sure you buy Epe too. Make sure you buy Ibeju-Lekki too. Diversify your investments.
Buy the developed areas if you got the money but never ever look down on the developing areas too, even if all you can see at the moment is a bush.
5. He buys lands in bulk. In acres and hectares. To maximize your returns on any real estate investment you make, always buy in bulk.
I told you the story of how Pst. Matthew bought albeit lost 20 acres of land at where is now the Lekki deep sea port.
I next told you how he bought Makarios over 24 years ago. The size of Makarios is about 110 acres. To get the best ROI from your real estate investments, always buy in bulk.
I understand that you might not be as rich or you might not be as liquid as Matthew Ashimolowo but always buy as much as you can. As much as you can.
This opens up so many opportunities for you. Let’s say that what you can afford is only 2 plots of land so you buy that, later when the area is matured and your investment is ripe.
You can sell one plot off, use the money you made from selling that one plot to build a beautiful house on the other one and either rent it out and from it get annual cash-flow for the rest of your life or you can sell the house and make much more that you would have made selling only the land.
Let’s assume that you bought an acre which is 6 plots. When it is mature you can sell 2 plots. Use some money out of that to build your family house on one plot and the remaining money to build a house and rent it out annually or sell it outrightly. After all this you will still have 2 plots available which you can resell much later at a much higher price.
Do you see? The more you buy, the more your options so whenever you are making a real estate investment, remember to buy as much as you can.
6. He is resilient, persistent and patient. Just like everything else in life, the only way to win in real estate investments is to learn how to bounce back up.
At the beginning of this article I told you that recently many people have become ‘investment gurus’ talking about why you should never invest in Nigeria real estate and all that.
Have you ever wondered where they came from?
Many people talk about losing their money in real estate. Buying a property and losing it, and all that. More often than not once they encounter a challenge like this, they swear on their grandfather’s and grandmother’s grave that never ever will they invest in real estate.
Most of these people who are online giving you unsolicited advise belong to this group. They made one real estate investment that went bad and automatically they swore that not only will they never invest in real estate here again but that they will try their utmost best to drag as many people with them as they can.
Like that insecure young man who finally summoned the courage to ask his crush out and upon getting rejected decided that if they can’t have her, then no one else will so they start a smear campaign.
Most people when they experience one bad real estate investment automatically throw in the towel and declare that they are done. If you want to become a very successful real estate investor, you can’t be like most people.
You must be resilient like Matthew Ashimolowo. I told you that he bought and lost 20 acres however that didn’t stop him. When he saw the opportunity to buy where is now Makarios he jumped at the offer and bought it.
The only thing the loss of 20 acres did to him was make him wiser. If you remember, the reason he lost that 20 acres was because the land is committed to the government so he couldn’t get the papers, couldn’t perfect the title. If he had done necessary due diligence he would have known and not bought but he didn’t.
So when he bought Makarios. Makarios still didn’t have a title but he did his due diligence and found that there is no government interest or commitment on the land so he bought and immediately started the process of getting a good title.
According to him it took him about 10 years and over a ₦1 billion Naira to get the C of O for the whole expanse of land but he did it.
Suppose that he had stopped investing in Nigeria real estate after he lost his 20 acres, will we be talking about Makarios today?
The legacy he is creating currently at Makarios, would that be possible?
The answer is of course NO!
Every investment has its risks. trillions of Dollars are lost and gained in the forex, crypto and stock markets on a daily basis. The traders learn both from loss and gains and continue trading.
Here in Nigeria someone buys a cheap land that obviously has issues and loses the land and that’s that. Just Like that. One loss and what you will hear next is real estate in Nigeria is a scam, don’t invest. Realtors are scammers, developers are scammers.
Are there bad eggs in the industry? Yes sir. Are their scam artists in the industry? You bet, but be careful that you don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
If you have lost money investing in real estate before here in Nigeria, apologies but don’t give in. Don’t give up. Learn from the experience and do better on your next investment. Work with genuine professionals. You can get in touch with us.
If you are yet to lose any money, that’s good, but don’t bolt at the first sight of trouble. Be resilient. All businesses lose money. All investments lose money. Only the resilient and persistent survive and dominate.
If you are interested in safe real estate investments that will give you extra-ordinary returns, you can click on the link below. Helping people like you make safe and profitable real estate investments is what we do.
I am Ugochukwu.
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