25 Signs Of A Fraudulent Real Estate Company And How To Avoid Them

This is the season of demolitions up and down Lagos and the majority of these houses pulled down were either sold by wayo real estate companies, fraudulent developers or dubious sellers. To help prevent your own house from being demolished in future, these are 25 Warning Signs to Help You Avoid falling victim to Fraudulent Real Estate Developers.

1. A Developer or Owner of a real estate company that roams around with mobile police security is a Fraudster. He has stolen people's money and cannot face them One-on-one to refund their money or land. He is only accessible when you want to pay money to them or when they want to collect your money but disappear afterwards. Alhaja Funke Run oooo!!!

2. A Real Estate company that sells land with only a Contract of Sale and no Deed of Assignment is a scammer. What are they selling to you? They don’t own the lands 100% and cannot pass good title to you since they still owe the Family/Village money and have not paid fully for the lands from the community land owners. Omalicha Run oooo!!!

3. A Real estate company that shows you only a survey coordinates to check without giving you a registered survey plan showing the land has been surveyed properly and registered at the Surveyor general’s office is a scammer. I.T Expert Dotun Run ooo!!!

4. A real estate company that promises allocation after a maximum of 1 month of full payment is a scam. Why should you be allocated a land 1 month after collecting full payment? It’s either they have oversubscribed the lands promised to you or they have issues. Either way, run away from them. Baba Kazeem Run oooo!!!

5. A Developer who does not send you the title documents of the land to verify but insists on showing it to you in private is a scammer. A Land Document is a public document. There is nothing to hide except the cost of how much the land was bought. If the developer does not want you to know how much the land was bought or who they bought it from, the names and prices can be redacted but for them to tell you that it's only in their office they can show you a land document means they have something to hide. My brother Run oooo!!!

6. A Real estate company that pressurizes you to buy a land without allowing you to do due diligence on it is a scam. When you hear "If you don't pay for the land in 48 hours, the price will increase" Why is it when it’s time for you to make inquiries to buy the land, that’s when the price of the land increases. Sister Zainab run ooo!!!

7. A Real estate company that shows you a large expanse of land and does not show you the layout of the land to show you the exact portion of what you want to buy is a Scam. What they show you today, is not what they might allocate to you tomorrow. Only a layout that specifies where you are buying would prevent this issue. If they start explaining rubbish about why they don’t have a layout or cannot follow the layout, Uncle Ejiro you better take-off ooo!!!

8. A Real Estate company that spends all its money to do only a fence and a big gate without any development on the land is a Scammer. Those lands have been there for months and years and it's only the fence and beautiful gate they spent money on to deceive you to part with your hard-earned cash. If there is no development there, Aunty Iyabo, Run ooo!!!

9. A Real Estate company that says it would only give you a contract of sale after full payment instead of a deed of assignment is a scam. Sister Ngozi abeg run oooo!!!

10. A real estate company that takes instalment payments from you and asks you to pay extra money not listed in the contract of sale is a scam. Broda Ahmed…Run oooo!!!

11. A real estate company that builds houses but cannot show you an approved building plan is a scam. Daddy Onome Run oooo!!!

12. A Real estate company that markets itself with slogans such as “close to the airport, close to Dangote Refinery, close to the seaport etc without good title documents such as a C of O or Governors consent is a Scam. Mummy Ekaette run ooo!!

13. A Real estate company that continues to give stories that touch the heart after receiving money but cannot allocate you the land paid for is a scam. Alhaji Abdullahi Run oooo!!!

14. A Real estate company that refuses to return your money after paying for a land that cannot be allocated or you cannot take possession of is a Scam. Mazi Chinedu Run ooo!!!

15. A Real estate company that tells you to pay for land in full but when they fail to deliver on their promises, they deduct 30% of the money to refund to you after forcing you to sign that wicked contract is a scam. Engineer Diepreye Run oooo!!!

16. A Real estate company that takes your money but fails to deliver and after telling them to refund your money they tell you that there is no money and until the availability of funds gets to them they cannot pay you. Doctor Tokunbo Run oooo!!!

17. A Real Estate company that hoodwinks you with the marketing slogan “Buy 5 plots and get 1 free” is a scam ooo! There is always one hidden clause somewhere in that contract of sale that would make you pay for that free 1 plot either by hook or crook. There is no free lunch in Moscow. If everyone is buying and getting one free plot, where did the free plots come from to dash you? Did it fall from heaven or the omooniles dash the real estate company lands who in return want to dash it to you for free? Pastor.Enahoro Run oooo!

18. A Developer who takes shortcuts to build a house without doing proper foundations and using quality materials is a Scammer. Such a Developer should be burnt alive with a tyre and petrol thrown over his head. The building would surely collapse and he would be in Seychelles eating your money. Once you inspect the house and you see low-quality materials used to build the house, Mrs. Enenche Run oooo!!!

19. A Developer who is not accessible to purchasers and always has to go through agents or marketers to get information or documents is a scammer. Oga Chukwudi Run ooo!!!

20. A Real Estate company that always has to explain verbally or with mouth why the estate project is not moving forward due to certain reasons without official documents from the land registry or the court to explain why there are issues on the land is a Scam. Architect Emeka Run ooo!!!
21. A real estate company that will never show you the original title documents of the Land for sale and always gives one flimsy reason why you cannot sight the original copy of the land documents is a scam. Alhaja Folashade Take-off oooo!!!

22. A real estate company that tells you that its documents such as the Survey plan or consent are in process at the Land Registry but they are still selling Lands without confirmed documents is a scam from the land registry, Mallam Shinkafi Run ooo!!!

23. Be very wary of real estate companies using Celebrities on their flyers and posters to market their estates to lure you to buy from them. These Celebrities would not help you if the land is bad and the documents are defective. Many of these celebrities don't even know what they are selling. They are just as clueless as you marketing an estate they have no idea about. Their own is to collect their Ambassador money as the face of the real estate company. If anything happens to the land or money, you are on your own ooo! Iya Bunmi Run ooo!!!

24.. The popular real estate companies are the worst scammers. Beware of buying a land sold by a popular real estate company. They are the ones that commit the most real estate crimes. When you check them very well, you will realise that they are only using their big nam[quote]es to lure you to buy lands that have no good title and have issues. They have spent millions on propaganda and marketing. Apart from that, they have nothing and you would lose your money for free. Corper Uchenna Run ooo!!!!

25. Real Estate companies that offer Bags of Rice, Goats, Palm Oil, and Christmas Chicken to lure you to buy their lands have the biggest baggage in their corner. After they have used 2 free Chickens to entice you to buy their lands, you will end up with the chickens but no land or very bad title documents on that land and that’s even if they allocate you these lands. Don’t mortgage your family’s life savings because of a free bottle of groundnut oil to buy a wayo land. Social media influencer Adewale Run ooo!!!