There is a Japanese proverb that says, “If you can see 3 days into the future, you will be extremely wealthy for a thousand years”.
There is no industry where this is more applicable than in real estate.
Why is that? It is because real estate is all about Vision.
There is a 2 step secret to making billions investing in real estate in a developing country like Nigeria. Only 2 steps. Just two.
The first secret
The first step, first secret is that you need the ability to see what is coming before it comes.
You need the ability to see what will be, not what is.
The ability to look at a bush, and see the megacity it will become in 5, or 10 years.
This is the first step, first capability you need to possess to win in this real estate investment game.
Why is this important? Why do you need long term vision to make billions investing in real estate?
In the early 2000s, land in Lekki Phase 1 was selling between ₦1M to ₦10M per plot, today a plot of land in the same Lekki Phase 1 is selling for between ₦200 million — ₦500 million.
If you knew lands at Lekki would appreciate this much back in 2000, what would you have done?
Am sure that you would have liquidated all of your assets, even taken loans to acquire as many acres of lands at Lekki as possible.
Guess what, in the early 1990s if you told anyone that Lekki will become the high-end neighbourhood it is today, occupied by the top 1% of Nigerians, no one would believe you.
In the 1990s Lekki was a slum which was then called Maroko.
Lekki began its transformation from a waterlogged slum to a high end neighborhood when the then military governor of Lagos state Raji Rasaki ordered the forceful eviction of thousands of occupants.
In the early 2000s Lekki was still a waterlogged land.
As a matter of fact many people passed on the opportunity to buy land at Lekki for as low as ₦500k per plot simply because it was a marshy land.
Imagine if these people had the vision to see into the future.
Imagine if these people had the foresight to see what would be, instead of what was.
Imagine if they had looked past the marshy land and seen the ₦500 Millions mansions, the multi-billion villas that in just two decades would be standing there.
Just imagine if they had had the vision, the foresight.
They would have made the biggest real estate investment of the 2000s.
They would have bought acres of land at Lekki.
They would have created a multi-generational wealth for their offspring.
They would have become multi-billionaires just from investing in one location.
But they didn’t. They didn’t have the vision to see what will be, not what is.
They didn’t have the foresight to look at a bush, or in this case at a waterlogged slum and see the high-end neighbourhood it will be in just 15 years.
So they missed a generation changing real estate investment opportunity.
Do you now see why I said that to make billions investing in real estate that you need to see what will be, not what is.
You need to see what is coming. You need to look at a bush and see the megacity it will become.
Simply put, you need to see the future.
But you are not God, so how can you see the future?
How do you know a high-end neighbourhood when it is still a slum?
How do you know the next megacity when it is still a bush?
How do you see what is coming, what will be or like the Japanese proverb said, how do you see 3 days into the future?
The answer is quite very simple.
But before we get to that, please tell me,
How do you know that a woman is pregnant?
There are signs.
Even if you are so ignorant that you miss other signs, it is impossible for you to miss the swollen belly.
Same thing applies in real estate. The truth is that nothing in life happens overnight. It starts somewhere.
One minor thing leads to another, then another. A snowball effect.
For Lekki like I already said it started in the 1990s when Raji Rasaki cleared the slum, then took off in the early 2000s when the Lagos state government embarked on an ambitious infrastructure projects which opened the region up, connecting it to affluent city centers like Victoria Island, Ikoyi and the economically important Epe.
They also put many measures in place which in turn encouraged and incentified property developers to enter the slum and start building.
The truth is that the signs of things to come were there for those who were looking for them.
As far as real estate investments are concerned, that’s how you see the future.
Look at what is happening now, today. Which locations are all the major government projects going?
Which locations will benefit the most from the big project that the government is proposing?
If you want to know if a woman is pregnant, you look at her belly.
If you want to know the next bush that will be turned into a mega city in 5, 10 or 15 years time.
Look at the bush where the government is investing billions of dollars in.
Look at the bush where individuals with the economic power of sovereign states like Dangote are investing billions in.
That’s Vision. That’s foresight.
That’s how you see the future as far as real estate investment is concerned.
That’s how you win in this real estate investment game.
Remember I told you that this is a 2 step secret to making billions investing in real estate.
The first step is to see the future. I have shown you in great detail the importance of this first step and how to see the future as far as real estate investment is concerned.
Now comes the most important step which is the second step.
Second secret
Am sure that you must have heard the saying, “Knowledge is power”.
Maybe you even believe it but that is pure bullshit, it is one of the most untrue things I have ever heard.
Knowledge in and of itself is nothing. Application of knowledge is power.
A soldier that enters a battle field with an Uzi submachine gun but doesn’t know how to fire it can be killed by a hostile civilian with just a kitchen knife.
Yes! The Uzi submachine gun is a million times more powerful than the knife but the soldier doesn’t know how to use his powerful weapon so he gets his intestines spilled with a kitchen knife.
Same thing applies with knowledge, it doesn’t matter what you know, unless you apply that knowledge to the accomplishment of a particular goal.
What does this mean, seeing the future, knowing the future is not enough.
You have to act on the knowledge you have.
After learning where the developments and government projects are going, you have to position your real estate investments in that location.
You have to focus your real estate investments in that location. That’s the step 2 secret to making billions investing in real estate.
After seeing the future and learning the bush that will become a megacity 10 years from now.
The next thing for you to do is buy that bush aggressively.
Same way you would have bought Lekki aggressively back in 2000s if you had known that in just 20 years the plots you were buying ₦500k, ₦1M, ₦2M then would be selling ₦200 million each.
Friends will discourage you, they will mock you.
Your partner might even exchange a word or two with you over it.
Your loved ones will question your decision regarding it and may even suggest other locations which they will swear to you is better than the current location you are buying.
But before you give in to them and relent, allow me to tell you the story of a client of mine, for anonymity purposes let’s call him Mr P.
According to the story he told me, in 1999. He was approached to acquire 2 acres (12 plots) of land at Lekki Phase 1, for just ₦10.2 million then.
He was skeptical at first, but then his business was booming so he had a lot of money, so much so that the ₦10 Million was an insignificant sum to him.
So he decided to acquire the property.
On the day he was ready to close that transaction, he brought his best friend with him.
They wanted to see the land before making payment.
The landowners took them to the site and it wasn’t funny. Water everywhere.
He said that he himself didn’t mind because he already made up his mind to proceed with the transaction but his best friend wouldn’t have it.
Told him that buying wetland in an undeveloped location like that is the closest he can get to madness.
In the end he ended up talking him out of buying the 2 acres, instead he bought just 2 plots.
He sold these plots in 2021 and he sold for ₦150 million each. Imagine if he had bought the 2 acres.
Before you listen and give in to your friends and family, who no doubt will try to discourage you.
Remember that there are countless others like Mr P who missed a once in a generation real estate investment opportunity because they listened to those around them who couldn’t see what they themselves saw clearly.
If Dangote who, like I said earlier, has the financial and political pull of a small sovereign state.
Who has access to privileged information and an army of economic analysts and advisers is investing tens of billions of dollars in Ibeju-Lekki.
What exactly is stopping you from going all in in the same location?
Just like a pregnant woman with a swollen belly.
Ibeju-Lekki is pregnant with the billions of dollars Dangote has invested there.
Ibeju-Lekki’s belly is swollen with the proposed Lekki-Epe international airport.
You know these things, you have heard about them.
You have heard about the Lekki-Epe international airport that is happening in that location.
You have heard about Alaro city, about the deep sea port.
You have heard about the potential of Epe.
You are seeing the transformation of Ibeju-Lekki.
Aiyetoro area of Ibeju-Lekki right before your eyes is shaping up into the next Lekki Phase 1.
You are seeing all these signs of what will be, you are seeing the future yet you are still dragging your feet, still hesitating.
Remember the Japanese proverb I shared at the beginning of this article, “If you can see 3 days into the future, you will be extremely wealthy for a thousand years”.
If you want to make billions investing in real estate, then you not only need to see into the future.
You need to see into the future and position your investments accordingly.
According to Matthew Ashimolowo about 20 years ago he bought lands at Ibeju-Lekki for ₦20, 000 a plot. Yes, ₦20k.
Today those lands is the site of his luxury estate, Makarios, and guess how much he is selling a plot? ₦150 Million.
Same land he bought at ₦20k per plot is what he is currently selling for ₦150 Million per plot.
I will leave you to calculate the ROI.
In case you do not yet get the message, then permit me to be your Oracle.
The future is Ibeju-Lekki, Aiyetoro area of Ibeju-Lekki to be precise.
But if your finances aren’t up to that, you can still position in Epe.
A rising wave lifts all boats.
Lekki was the investment of the decade in the 2000s.
All who bought Lekki and held the property for 5 to 10 years made extraordinary ROI.
Maybe you missed Lekki, maybe you bought Lekki. Either way, development has moved on.
A new decade is here.
Just like a pregnant woman, the signs of what to come are all over the place.
They are all showing you a glimpse into the future, it is now up to you whether you will position your investments accordingly and be among the people who will create multi-generational wealth for their offsprings or whether you will be among the people who 20 years from now will be telling your family and friends the sad tale of how you almost bought Ibeju-Lekki. Almost bought Epe.
The secret to making billions investing in real estate is quite simple.
See the future and buy it aggressively.
I am, Ugochukwu.
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