Why the Rainy Season is Considered the Best Time to go House Hunting

Every day in Nigeria, especially in the metropolitan city of Lagos, people troop out to hunt for a place to call home. You should count yourself among the fortunate ones if it takes you just a day to get a place of your choice. For most persons, it takes at least 2 weeks or more to finally find a place they consider worth settling down in. But do you know there is actually a season when house hunting becomes a top priority?

The Rainy season is here again and people are apparently becoming aware of their environment. The rains usually come with its merits and demerits. It could get pretty messy on some days while the rain might just be the soothing relief or cooling effect needed on other days.

Albeit if you live or work in Lagos, you would agree with me that the rainy season is the best time to go in search of an apartment to avoid stories that touch. When it comes to houses or properties, water is no respecter of value, aesthetics, worth, landlord or tenants. It destroys all in its path with reckless abandon.

Even the beautiful houses in Lagos Island have had a fair share of it’s might. When water comes surging in Lagos following a downpour and even a shower sometimes, you can’t help but wonder if there is actually a ministry of town planning in the state because of the havoc that comes to sight.

The way and manner structures are summarily erected in the city of excellence already gives any form of mishap that may arise from heavy rains the leverage to operate with no holds barred.

Poor drainage in one of the reasons rain has become a constant menace in Lagos, and the singular fact that the city is a low-lying area surrounded by a sea of water makes it a disaster waiting to happen, what the French would call fait accompli

According to  UN-HABITAT’s report, titled, ‘The State of African Cities 2010: Governance, Inequality and Urban Land Markets’, more than 25 per cent of Africa’s population, of about one billion people, who live within 100 km from the coast will be at risk from sea level rise and coastal flooding over the coming decades due to climate change.

Allwell Okpi, a correspondent with Punch reported that the implication of this is that the whole of Lagos State will be overtaken by the ocean, considering that Ifako-Ijaiye, the north-most part of the state, which is farthest from the ocean, is just about 40 km from the coastline measured in a straight line.

The singular fact that places like Lekki, Ajah, Ikoyi, Victoria Island to mention but a few are super close to the Atlantic Ocean makes such areas vulnerable to flooding.  Now that is putting it rather mildly. Many places on the Island are akin to flooding; more like saying flooding is synonymous to Lagos Island.

Invariably, flooding in Lagos is no longer news. Imagine a place like Abuja making the news for immense flooding, before long the town criers will be out to sound their gongs to report what you may want to term an “Unnatural disaster”

Stating the areas in Lagos that are prone to flooding in this article doesn’t mean your location is any better if it doesn’t get a mention. All I am going to say here is that if you are searching for an apartment to rent in Lagos, the best time you should go on that hunt is when the rains have peaked; that period of the year when it rains heaviest.

Expectedly, you won’t have to be told fairy tales about the house you intend moving into. Leaky roofs and other anomalies in the location will be detected easily.

Only then will you be rest assured that you’ve found yourself a safe haven in relation to the havoc water causes when it decides to become unfriendly.

Remember, all gold glitters but not all that glitters is gold!