Quackery And The Real Estate Business In Nigeria

Basically there are quacks in every human avocation, there are even quacks in the health sector where human lives are involved, how much more real estate? This article talks about ways quackery can be tackled in the real estate sector.

Quacks exist everywhere. They are untrained persons, with claim to have the knowledge to deliver on a particular project or business deal.

Quackery is a very disturbing issue that has eaten deep into every facet of societal and economic life in Nigeria. The menace of quackery in our society has been a talking point for years. That is how bad the situation is.

The situation becomes critical due to the fact that one way or the other, directly or indirectly everyone gets to be involved in real estate. Therefore it will be foolhardy to turn deaf ears to the cries to tackle quackery in real estate or to be blind to its menace to real estate growth in Nigeria. What can then be done to curb quackery in the real estate sector?

Before we can look into the means that can be adopted to tackle quackery, it is imperative that we delve into the root cause of the problem. The problems associated with quackery springs up from the fact that the average layman finds it difficult to discern a quack from a professional who has mastered the act of his business. The reason being that most professionals are no different from quacks in their line of business because they fail to ensure professionalism in what they do.

Real estate business is buoyant because the market is large, so you have all commerce into it. One strategy that can be adopted towards reducing the quacks inherent in real estate business is by acting professionally.

As a professional, if a client enjoys your service and invariably sees a huge difference in the way you render your service or do business as compared to the quack on the street, definitely, that client won’t go back to the quack on the streets.

So strategically, a high level professionalism in the way you run your real estate business can help fence out quackery in the real estate industry in Nigeria. Nigerian Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) already has the window through which anybody who is interested in the Estate Surveyors and Valuers profession pass through professional progressions to become an Estate Surveyor and Valuer.

As a professional body, NIESV have ethics and code of conduct that govern their members. Now, this is one of the basis of professionalism and one of the viable tools in tackling quackery in any sector. For instance, in setting up a professional firm, you have ethics that guide the type of name the estate firm should use. There are even ethics about what your description of your service should be.

Also, the surname of one of the partners must be there (minimum), asides that you will have estate surveyor or estate surveyors and valuers firm as part of the name and you will have NIESV logo. A non-member can never put NIESV logo on a corporate collateral. For the corporate collateral of an estate firm, NIESV logo will be there. Beyond that, if for whatever reason you want to patronize an estate agency company, it is not wrong to request to know if the firm is professional or not. It’s just a question of acting prudently. You must be sure that if something goes out of hand, you have a professional body to fall back to.

Many practitioners in the real estate business are custodians of people’s wealth. This is a business that generates millions and billions, so it’s not too wrong for such client to request to know whether the firm is a professional firm or not.

Truth be told, quacks cannot be compared to professionals in whatever way. Quacks only aim to cut corners, ignore professional rules, ethics and guidelines and eventually deliver substandard real estate products or services.

But, there exist the opportunity for any sincere person who wants to stop quackery as in recent times, professional associations and individuals in the industry across the globe have established real estate courses in schools and institutions to ensure that people who so desire can be trained and get certification to practice successfully in the profession.

No matter how much experience a quack garners in his line of business, he/she still remains the untrained person in that business that is prone to dubious acts and cannot be trusted in any way. And dealing with such person may literally mean shooting yourself in the foot.