Founder, Paradise Investment Network Cooperative (PINCOOP), Mrs Christy Kanu, yesterday advocated equal opporunities for real estate investors,irrespective of status or income level.
She made the call in Lagos during the inauguration of Paradise Investment Network Cooperative (PINCOOP), a real estate cooperative society.
Kanu, who is also General Managing Director of Paradise International Holdings, said PINCOOP would impact lives as it was set to change the narrative in the real estate sector.
She said the inauguration was borne out of her inability to invest in developed properties at choice areas, years back, as that was almost impossible to afford for a low income earner.
“It’s like a situation whereby the rich gets richer and the poor gets just the crumbs, because I had my money and I went into the real estate market and I found out that I couldn’t invest in some developed property in prime locations.
“I was just left with properties in the outskirts of the city, but i wanted to own a property through which I could generate cash flow, through which I could at least get rental returns yearly,
“But it was not possible because the rates were very high.I wanted developed property that would give good rental income and capital appreciation. It was almost impossible and I thought that wasn’t fair.
“The cost was high because of inflation and rising cost of building materials. So basically, I thought about it and I said no, this market does not offer a level playground for the all networks.” she said.
The GMD added that she wondered how medium and low-income earners would be able to benefit from real estate investment with high prices of properties.
According to her, one needs huge capital to own a property in Nigeria, especially in Lagos and some other major cities.
She said she conceived the idea of the cooperative society and co-ownership of properties to enable the ordinary man i benefit from the real estate sector.
“I want a situation whereby both the rich and the poor benefit equally based on their share in a property without a situation where only the rich get richer and the poor gets the crumbs.
“I just want a situation whereby the market is fair. So we’re just basically disrupting the real estate market place so that everybody will get their own share of interest regardless of your income.” She said.
Mrs Kanu said with a minimum of N50,000 ,low income earners like the market woman , could key into the cooperative, to invest and co-own property in prime locations.
“We are looking at bringing out different real estate products for co-ownership, bringing properties that would bring high yoeld to the co-owner or co-investors as we call them.
“Most property in Nigeria has a 99 years lifeline, so you earn rental income for life. So what we are fostering is to ensure that everybody will be able to partake in this real estate co-ownership platform.” she said.
The real estate boss assured investors that it was not an investment scam as assets could be verified including documents backing the existence of PINCOOP.
Mr Azeez Sadiq and Mrs Olorunkemi Salau, both Community Development Officers at Eti Osa Local Government,presented present PINCOOP with certificate of registration and recognition at the inauguration.
Mr Sadiq said the certificate was to recognise the operation of PINCOOP within Eti-Osa Local Government, and most importantly in Lagos State. (NAN)