IMPORTANT NOTICE

Monday
I was driving around a large estate on the Lekki axis recently and noticed that there are quite a number of empty properties that had just been sitting there for months. There are also a number of waterfront properties that have been on our books for a while and have not moved, despite being in prime locations. I can only assume that this may be down to the terrible daily traffic on the expressway which most people want to avoid at all costs as well as the security implications.  

There have been a few security scares with robbers entering the estate by boat from the waterside. Although security patrols have stepped up on the estate, some are still afraid to take the risk of living near the waterside.

You now see that a lot of people are migrating towards the mainland to areas like Yaba, Surulere, Apapa, ilupeju, Ikeja etc. I can see these areas being regenerated in future and the communities taking on new injection of life

Tuesday
The heat of recent has been incredulous! I had to show a client around a property today and got there half an hour before the client. I decided to take a walk around the development and almost passed out from heat stroke. This got me thinking about developers who still build properties with incredibly small windows and poor air circulation. A lot of properties I have seen only have windows on one side of the wall in the rooms. The best way to get air circulating in any room is to have windows on opposite sides. I know there is the issue of security to contend with, but with the introduction of retractable burglary proof bars, homes can have the security they need as well as the air to breathe.

The extreme heat is something that we all need to be concerned about as this will also lead to other extreme weather conditions ie our rainy season which is due soon and which will lead to stresses on our properties and homes

Wednesday
We have been receiving a lot of enquires for commercial spaces like shops and offices, along the Lekki expressway. There are a lot of small and large complexes springing up along this road from Phase 1 to Eleko Beach near the Free Trade Zone. As a property speculator, I can safely say that one would not go wrong developing along this axis. The rent for shop spaces vary greatly from N250,000 per annum to 2mill per annum, depending on site and facilities provided.

Thursday
The roads in old Ikoyi are in very bad condition. It is annoying when you are making your way to the most expensive and amazing properties with a client and have to navigate through rivers and valleys to get to the properties. If you do not have a 4 wheeler it is almost impossible to use these roads.                           

It is also getting almost impossible to find your way around Ikoyi now, as the street names have and are still in the process of being changed to Nigerian names. It is much easier for me to tell someone to meet me on Kingsway road rather than Alfred Rewane road! Where is Bell Avenue again by the way?!

Friday
I told you a couple of weeks ago about a resident in one of our managed developments, who had taken over all the parking spaces in the compound with the cars he was selling. Anyway, I had a meeting with him, in which he immediately apologized profusely and acknowledged that he knew he should not have parked so many cars there and had removed the cars. So he disarmed me completely and I did not have to read him the riot act or ask him to remove the cars. I drove round to the property later in the day and true to his word, he had removed the cars.

I decide to send out letters to all the residents reminding them each household was entitled to two parking spaces and to let us know if they had any complaints. I sometimes feel like a school teacher who has to remind pupils how to behave and what rules to obey.

Until next week, stay blessed!
Ceeakin@aol.com.