PROPERTY TRANSACTION GUIDE

HOB Estate developer offers free houses in promo
By Akinpelu Dada

Punch, Monday 1st March 2010

As an innovative way of beating the current economic hardship and in order not to unnecessarily tie down capital, a real estate developer has come up with an unprecedented promotional offer of generous discounts and free houses.

A big player in the nation‘s housing sector, HOB Nigeria Limited, is targeting corporate bodies, cooperative societies and government departments, agencies and ministries as well as individual citizens to buy units in its HOB Housing Estate, Akure, Ondo State.

The estate was developed by the company in partnership with the Federal Government under the public-private partnership arrangement with the latter providing the land, while HOB provided the fund, the bulk of which was sourced from the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria under the National Housing Fund‘s Real Estate Developers Loan Scheme.

Because of the funding source, the majority of the 196 houses built in the first phase of the project were set aside for purchase by NHF contributors at prices agreed with the authorities of the apex mortgage bank.

A number of subscribers are already residing in the estate, which is located in Alagbaka area of the state capital besides the Federal Secretariat complex, the state police headquarters and the state House of Assembly quarters. The area is the most exclusive part of Akure and accommodates the who-is-who in the state and high income earners in the society.

Desirous of moving into the second phase of the project, HOB Nigeria Limited is offering 100 units of three-bedroom fully detached bungalows for sale in the promotion, with the purchase of five units entitling the buyer to get one extra unit free.

Anybody or group that buys three to four units will get a discount of 15 per cent, while those who purchase one to two units will have 10 per cent of the cost of each building, which is N5.95m knocked off.

The Managing Director, HOB Nigeria Limited, Chief Olusegun Bamigbade, explained that the promotion was to encourage sales and empower the company to raise money from the houses to finance the subsequent phases of the 432-unit estate.

He said, "By the arrangement, we would have taken away the issue of bank charges on borrowing because it is very expensive. It is a dynamic response to the challenges of the market.

"If you borrow at an interest rate of 21 per cent plus another two per cent for administrative, legal and other charges and you don‘t sell the houses on time, you will have to pay a penalty for defaulting."

Bamigbade said that the estate was the first success story of the public-private partnership arrangement that the Federal Government entered into with private developers, noting that the Memorandum of Understanding for the project was signed by the current Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, as the then Minister of Housing and Urban Development.

It was subsequently inaugurated by the former governor of the state, Dr. Olusegun Agagu on behalf of the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, on May 27, 2007.

The estate boasts of standard plots of land that leave much space after the buildings, good network of roads, water, electricity supply with dedicated transformers, Internet connection to each household and 24-hour security. Intercom facilities are currently being worked on, while the perimeter fencing is being raised to improve security.