My odyssey to Ghana wasn't just a relocation; it was a transformation that demanded a deep dive into 'why.' I left the familiar hustle of the UK and US to embrace the vibrant yet patient pulse of life in Ghana. This episode peels back the layers of cultural adaptation and the seismic professional shift from salaried comfort to the unpredictable waves of commission-based earnings in Ghanaian real estate. Through tales of visualization and unwavering goal-setting, I'll take you into the heart of how my sales team turned aspirations into achievements, and how their success stories can ignite your own drive for excellence.
Venturing into the real estate realm of Ghana, we lay out the map for navigating a market rich with potential, particularly for those in the diaspora fueled by initiatives like Beyond the Return. I'll guide you through the essentials of assembling a reliable team—brokers, valuers, inspectors, and lawyers—to anchor your investments in value and security. This episode isn't just about finding property; it's about crafting a legacy, and the nuggets of wisdom shared here could be the compass that steers your own journey to lucrative shores.
As we pivot to the potent subject of women's empowerment in property investment, I reveal how we can shatter the glass ceilings of historically-rooted limitations. With only a fraction of Ghanaian land under female ownership, the pathway to equity is paved with strategies like starting small and smart partnerships. I open up about my personal foray into joint property investments and the critical importance of planting seeds for generational wealth. This narrative isn't just about buying land; it's about claiming your space and rewriting the script on what's possible. Join us as we explore these compelling stories, ready to inspire your next big move in the world of real estate.
Watch the video episode of this on YouTube - https://linktr.ee/konnectedminds
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Why are people handing money to other people to
buy land?
We're not buying a bag of ricehere.
Do you just go and handsomebody money and say I want to
buy that land?
It's never made sense to me.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I know you've been to the UK and then you also came
from the US and I'm sure you'vedone a lot of travel as well,
being around.
But why Ghana?
Speaker 1 (00:29):
you know, initially it was a spiritual journey.
You know, God led me to Ghanafor ministry first, and then the
marketplace, so that's how Iended up in Ghana.
It was a calling to be here.
So and it's one of the keythings, you know that I tell
people that.
You know, we don't want to justtravel, just to be traveling oh
(00:50):
I'm running from this nation orthat nation but there should be
a why, there should be apurpose.
You know what is the originalintent for which you are moving
to that nation and what are youhoping to accomplish?
What is the purpose of that?
So, if you have your why andyou have a plan, I think you can
(01:12):
make it anywhere.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yes, it's true, you can definitely make it anywhere
and I'm a strong believer ofthat.
Yeah, because I had to comefrom the UK myself to test the
waters here to do business.
Yeah, and just like you, whereyou gave up a lot of things in S
, I also had to put myproperties on rental to come, so
I bent the bridges.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I had no way of going back and then I came in and
COVID yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Oh, wow, yeah.
So I'm like, yeah, it's meantto happen, yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Now your transition into Ghana.
I'm sure you've gone through alot of challenges here accepting
our cultural, the differencebetween Ghana and many parts of
the West.
Yeah, how was that like?
Speaker 1 (01:51):
You know.
So initially I grew up inEthiopia and I went to school in
Kenya, then I went to school inthe UK, then I went to the US
and then came to Ghana.
So what I realized?
That whenever you'retransitioning to a new
environment, you've got tobecome aware of the culture, of
the mindsets, and you've got toquickly adapt or be flexible to
(02:18):
the systems within thatparticular nation.
So one of the challengingthings for me because I never
grew up in Ghana is I had tolearn the culture and I didn't
speak the language.
I actually learned Amharic,which is Ethiopian, when I was
growing up in Ethiopia.
So then you quickly have to tryand learn the language you know
, you have to assimilate intothat environment.
(02:39):
And then what was veryinteresting for me was I had to
learn the mindsets and try tounderstand and be patient with
people in terms of why are theydoing it this way and why are
they thinking that way?
Slow people even walk slower ifyou actually study.
(03:07):
Wait, yes, they do.
You know people walk muchfaster in the uk, in the states,
than they do in ghana.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yeah, you know, I, I met one of my lebanese friends
and then we're talking aboutwell, this was one topic, and
then I, I just said ghanaise aredifferent, aren't they?
Then he goes yeah, don't bringyour British way of thinking
here, otherwise you're going tobe packing your bags and go back
really quickly.
(03:30):
You know, you felt like that,didn't you?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
You have to adapt or you'll be frustrated.
You know you have a decision tomake.
You know, and my dad alwayssays when in Rome, do as the
Romans do, whatever nation yougo to, you've got to quickly
adapt to that culture, their wayof thinking and their way of
how they do things.
You know the way the systemsand processes are structured.
(03:54):
Learn it, you know and adapt toit, but don't just come in
trying to change everything towhat you were used to where you
were before.
I mean, it's not going to work.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
It's definitely not going to work.
It's not going to work.
I mean, it's interesting.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
The first thing you said was patience A lot of it
Plenty.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Yeah, I think that's the first thing that you tell
anyone.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Who wants to spend time in any part of Africa is to
be very patient with us.
But then, at what point do wethen begin to demand the change
that we want or instigate thechanges that we want?
Speaker 1 (04:34):
You know, first of all, I think one of the key
things is we have to understandwhy people are doing things the
way they do it.
So I'll just give you anexample.
Like in the real estateenvironment, commissions is huge
.
You know, overseas any salesposition is commissions.
People don't focus so much onsalary because salary has a
(04:55):
limitation, but commissions youcan demand how much money you
want to make a year based onyour sales.
So what I realized is that youknow a lot of times in Africa
right, or we'll talk about inGhana the way we're raised.
We are raised to go to school,do well and get a good job with
a good salary.
Nobody says go to school, dowell, get a good job with good
(05:20):
commissions.
It's salary-based.
So then you have people who arefocused on just getting salary
and they are satisfied with thatuntil you begin to change the
mindset and begin to show themthe possibility of earning what
they want to earn.
So at the beginning of the yearI talk to my sales team and I
(05:41):
say have a figure in mind howmuch do you want to earn this
year based on commissions?
What goals do you have in life?
Do you want to build a house.
Do you want to travel?
What are the costs for that?
How much do you need?
And now you're projecting yourfuture earnings.
So you begin to start with themindset, because the school
(06:02):
system didn't teach that, thehome didn't teach them that.
So now you have to begin to dothat.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
that's serious visualization.
That's.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
That's very and it's been working, because now what's
so interesting is that theycome to me saying I want to make
this amount of money becausethis is what I'm trying to do,
and I'm like, yeah, you can doit you go for it.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Go for it, that's it that's it.
Wow, I I was involved in aconversation with someone who
purchased a land okay, yeah, andwhen he got it it was at a set
(06:46):
price.
He paid for it, took whateverdocument they gave him, did the
search, everything was fine.
He came back a year after andthat spot had been given to
somebody else, and then thepeople told him that they're
going to give him another spaceelsewhere, but he needs to pay a
little bit extra.
This is someone who lives abroad.
(07:07):
Now how do we navigate thosesort of problems?
Speaker 1 (07:14):
You know, one of the things I'll say is that when I
talk to at least 90% of people,they don't do their thorough due
diligence, and I think it'sbecause they just don't know.
You know, and that's why I hostfirst-time homebuyer seminars
so that people can learn thehomebuying process in Ghana and
you can avoid becoming victimsof fraud.
(07:35):
Okay, so that particularsituation.
First of all, you need to doyour due diligence in five
places which people don't knowthat Everybody does their due
diligence, or most people dotheir due diligence at lands
commission.
Let me make sure and check thevalidity of the owner and that
they truly are the title holders.
After they've done that, thatchecks out right.
(07:57):
Woohoo, they're happy and thenthey move forward with the
purchase.
You haven't even gone to highcourts.
Are there any litigations?
Just because they are theowners does not mean that
there's no litigation on theland, right?
So there could be a litigationon the land.
For example, what kind oflitigation?
They could be the valid owners,but maybe they're going through
(08:17):
a divorce and now there's abattle about ownership, or maybe
it was an inherited land, orwhatever the case may be.
You need to check with that.
You need to check zoning.
You need to check and make sureit's not a stool lands or
anything like that.
And then you need to checkground rent, make sure there are
no back property taxes and thatsort of thing.
These are all things that youneed to check.
(08:38):
And then what we do is we havean escrow service in place.
We're the only real estatecompany in Ghana that provide
this right.
So escrow service means thatyou engage the services of a
legal entity and funds are keptin an escrow account until all
the due diligence is done andall the legal documentation is
(08:59):
done, and then you pay the saladout of the escrow account and
that lawyer will then go andregister the land for you.
So because a lawyer is involved, I guarantee you people will
not be doing half these thingsthat they're doing.
If a lawyer was involved, hewould not have sold you the land
and then said oh, I've given itto somebody else and so now you
(09:22):
have to get something else andpay more.
They wouldn't do that if alawyer was involved and there
was a legal entity about.
And my question to people is inthe UK, in the US, do you just
go and hand somebody money andsay I want to buy that land?
You don't.
You go through a solicitor.
(09:42):
You go through a title companyin the States, or you go through
a lawyeritor.
You go through a title companyin the states or you go through
a lawyer.
We're not buying a bag of ricehere.
Why are people handing money toother people to buy land?
It's never made sense to me.
Why don't we go through a legalentity?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
well, I get somebody who said that paying cash
existed before the legal system,so that's what they're still
used to right.
We're over that.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
We're over that.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
That's what they're still used to.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
No, it's what is causing a lot of issues these
cash transactions.
You know, and my whole thing iswe've introduced these escrow
services and people want toavoid the small upfront fee.
You have to pay for a lawyer orlegal service, but you end up
paying in court for 20 years, 30years, and you end up paying
(10:35):
more than you would have withthat small upfront fee.
Do you know that today, 70% ofcourt cases in Ghana are land
related 70%, 70% and I believeit's because people just pay
with cash.
You don't go through the legalroute and that's why people fall
(10:55):
victims of fraud.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I understand.
I think hopefully some of thethings you've said would
enlighten some of us and, youknow, make a different approach.
Like, take things differently Ihad to pay areas of ground rent
?
Yeah, I had to, I didn't know.
(11:19):
In fact, the first day I gotthe invoice I was like really,
we pay all of that in Ghana.
I didn't know, we pay taxes too, property taxes.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
See, I didn't know all of that 0.5 to 3%, depending
on where the location is.
So if you don't have a lawyerthat checks, you're going to end
up paying Kodjo's back taxesthat he hasn't paid in like 20
years, because they're not goingto look for Kodjo, they're
going to look for you.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
All right.
So let's go through the process.
Right going to look for Codjoe.
They're going to look for you,all right.
So, let's go through theprocess.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Right, someone wants to buy a land.
What should they do?
First of all, you should havefour members as part of your
team in any real estatetransaction.
Number one these areprofessionals a real estate
broker like myself.
Number two you should have avaluer, because everybody thinks
their home is worth a milliondollars around here, but you
need a valuer that can look atcomps and can give you the true
estimate of the home you'reabout to purchase, right?
(12:20):
And then you need a homeinspector, because not every
builder follows the buildingcode.
And then you need a lawyer thatcan make sure there's the
validity of the owner check, aswe're talking about this, ground
rent, check the property taxes,even utility bills.
(12:41):
If there's an ECG bill for10,000 Ghana CDs and the
previous owner has not paid it,you'll be paying it or your
lights will be turned off, right.
So you want to make sure thatthe legal entity, the escrow
services that we provide, goesthrough everything utility bills
, ground rent, property taxesand, at the closing table, will
(13:02):
ensure that all those things arepaid, so you don't inherit any
of this bad debt.
The valuer will make sureyou're getting value for your
money.
The real estate broker willmake sure you're getting value
for your money.
The real estate broker willmake sure you're signing the
necessary documents and theinspector will make sure that
you're not going to end up witha roofing issue in two years.
(13:23):
Or, you know, your house is notgoing to catch on fire because
the electrical wiring has beendone incorrectly.
So you don't want to invest ina property which is capital
intensive and then, two yearsdown the road now you have to
pay for uh, you know 20 000 cdsfor a new roof.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah, wow yeah, that's very insightful, very key
things, but what we see aroundhere is that oh, I've, I've seen
the house.
I like it.
You know, come, let's deal,that's it.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
You know, and then, a few months down the line, like
you said, the problems start.
Yeah, and that's why peoplelike yourself are in the
position to provide theconsultancy services, the
brokerage services for clients.
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Amazing the brokerage services for clients,
absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Now, in recent times there's been a lot of
conversations around investingGhana properties, investing this
.
Look, I've seen a lot of realestate companies go to the UK,
to the US, to do fairs.
You know, try to get peopleinterested in buying into the
property market in Ghana.
Why is that?
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Well, you know, derek , there are a lot of reasons for
it.
I mean, one of the key thingsthat people don't realize is I
mean, we're in a beautifulnation and there is a lot of
attraction that is coming fromthe diaspora to this nation,
especially after the Beyond theReturn initiative was
implemented in 2019.
(14:51):
So we get about.
Let me just look at justDecember.
Okay, just for the month ofDecember, with the Beyond the
Return December in Ghana events,we got 1.2 million visitors to
Ghana in just those 31 days.
Now, out of those 1.2 millionvisitors, 41% of them that's
(15:14):
over 410,000 people said thatthey would prefer to stay in an
Airbnb, a furnished apartment orfurnished house, as opposed to
the traditional hotel, motelsituation.
So you, as a landlord orproperty owner, you know that
all these visitors who arecoming to Ghana prefer to stay
(15:36):
in your unit, an apartment or atownhouse or house.
So that is attractive for aninvestor, first of all.
And then also, ghana has thehighest annual rental yields in
Africa, not just West Africa,the entire continent.
Ghana's number one and you knowrule of thumb is you want to
look at at least 7%.
You're looking at 18 to 20% insome areas, particularly prime
(16:01):
areas, so highest annual rentalyields.
You're looking at a lot ofvisitors that come that need
accommodation.
You're also looking at emergingmarkets is a great appreciation
, um, because it's a developingnation, and you're looking at
cash flow as well, and these arethe reasons why it's such a
great uh investment here, uh, inghana wow, I mean I guess we
(16:25):
need to put all that money inreal estate.
But yeah, and there are nohaircuts on real estate
investments remember they werehaircuts on government bonds?
Yep, there are no haircuts onreal estate investment.
Okay, it's a dollar backedsecurity, you know, and it's a
hedge against inflation, right,so go for it yeah, yeah,
definitely guys, we should.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Um, there's right.
So someone wants to, someonethat lives outside of the
country wants to buy a propertyin Ghana, right, what would be
the process for them?
Speaker 1 (16:58):
so the first thing I'll say is make sure you get a
professional real estate broker,okay, so GARAB Ghana
Association of Real EstateBrokers.
We have a website.
You can visit the websitedepending on where you want to
purchase.
For example, you want to buy inEast Ligon.
You type East Ligon, it'll listall the real estate agents that
specialize in the East Ligonarea.
(17:20):
Bear in mind that all theseagents have been vetted.
They have gone through the CIDheadquarters, got their
fingerprinting.
None of them have criminalbackground reports, which is
very good, very professionals.
We have code of ethics we haveto follow.
We have standardized formssales and purchase agreement,
tenancy agreement you could use,and we also make sure that we
(17:45):
have standardized commissions.
We cannot charge more than fora sale 5%.
If you're going to just pickany real estate agent that's not
a professional.
They can charge you 15, 20% ifthey want, because the real
estate agency market is notregulated in Ghana.
So we have certain codes andstandards we must follow.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
You know, sometimes you get an agent do a deal for
you and then they're like youknow, I want to charge 5%, you
know give me 5% of this deal andI'm not going to pay you 5%.
That happens a lot.
You know a lot of the agents.
It's either they don't tell theclients that this is how much
they're going to be charging,Then after they start talking
(18:28):
about that, or some people alsocharge five days, five days.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
On both sides.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Which is fine.
If you're a dual agent, ifyou're representing both the
seller and the buyer, you cancharge as a dual agent.
However, there must betransparency.
You must let both the sellerand the buyer know that you're
representing both.
Okay, you have to let them know.
You have to disclose it thatyou're representing both.
Okay, you have to let them know.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
You have to disclose it.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
This same individual says that they want a mortgage
in Ghana.
What's the process?
Okay, so initially you talkedabout a diasporan coming or
anybody outside.
You want to use a real estatebroker that could also help you
with negotiations.
We understand the market, themarket trends and that sort of
thing right Now.
We also understand mortgages.
So now a lot of banks areintroducing what we call
(19:24):
diaspora mortgages.
So if you are a diasporan andyou're a Ghanaian and you want
to purchase, you can.
If you're a foreigner, you canalso purchase, not a problem.
Typically you have to putanywhere from 20% to 30% down
and then the rest is spread overa maximum of 20 years.
(19:44):
If you're a Ghanaian, 15 yearsif you're a foreigner.
However, there is a cutoff ageright, and the cutoff age is 60.
So if you're 55 years old, youcan only get a five-year
mortgage.
It's not like other countriesoverseas where there's no age.
You could be 85 and get a30-year mortgage, but here
(20:04):
there's a cutoff now, okay, andthey will look at your credit
report overseas.
So, if you're in the US, they'regoing to look at your Equifax,
transunion and Experian.
We're looking at credit history.
You're looking at ability topay back any lates, any
delinquencies, any bankruptcy,and then you're looking at debt
to income ratio to make surethat, typically, your debt to
(20:27):
income ratio should not be morethan 30, 35%.
And then also we're looking atjob history.
Make sure you're at your jobfor at least two years and you
want to make sure.
Well, some banks two years,some banks six months, and
they're looking at pay stubs andbank statements as well.
Now, if you're self-employed,they'll be looking at three
(20:48):
years financial auditedstatements.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
To look at cash flows .
That's very similar to the UK.
Check your SA302.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
And things like that from HMRC.
Now we always talk aboutridiculous rates.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
I knew you were going there.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, we always talk about that yeah.
Because sometimes you're seeingthese times.
I think you're seeing about 38%.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Absolutely.
Yeah, you're looking atanywhere.
A base rate would be, yeah,about 32% to 36% base.
Then, once they start addingthe margins, you can go up to
38%.
That's for a CD loan.
So the dollar is anywhere from11% to 13%.
But to get a dollar loan youmust be a dollar earner.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
You can't be a pound earner, it could work.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Yeah, it could work if you're a pound earner, but I
meant a dollar earner as opposedto a CD earner.
Right, but if you earn bothdollars and CDs, they'll go with
whichever one you get more of.
So if your salary is 60%dollars, 40% CDs, then you can
get a dollar loan.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
I think for the dollar mortgages it should be a
lot less.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Than the 11% to 13%.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
I think it should be a lot less all the way around.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
I do agree with you.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Yeah, I think it should be a lot less yeah but it
costs to borrow because theyhave to borrow to then lend, so
cost to borrow.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Okay, okay, I'm sure over time they will work out
better systems, it's actuallygotten better.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
It was before.
It was at.
13.5 was the base for a dollar,you know.
So now it's dropped at least to11.
So it's getting there.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Yeah, yeah, it is, it is, it is.
And there was this conversationabout the number of years of
lease a foreigner can have.
Now, even if you're Ghanaianand you're coming in with your
British passport or yourAmerican passport, you'd be
classed as a foreigner, wouldn'tit?
Yeah, so don't come with yourBritish or Ghanaian passport.
(22:48):
That solves the problem, yeah,so don't come with your British
passport.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
That solves the problem, so, yeah, so there was
a land act, land agency act thatcame out in 2020 with all these
new regulations, right.
So if you are a Ghanaian,please show your Ghana card or
your Ghanaian passport, right,and you can get up to 99 years,
(23:15):
right, and you can get up to 99years.
If you are a foreigner, themaximum you can get, I believe,
is 45 to 50 years maximum rightnow.
The question really is what?
If you are married to a ghanian, yeah, and you are a foreigner,
yeah, they will go by thenumber of years for a foreigner,
so you may not have to be onthe title for this one yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Right, right, right Now.
I purchased a property as aforeigner.
Right, I get 40 years on thelower side.
Now what happens after 40 years?
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Good question.
So after 40 years, what I tellpeople?
This is free information righthere.
Make sure that your lawyer okay, this is why it's good to use
the escrow services Make surethat your lawyer adds a clause
in the indenture that says thatafter the 40 years the land or
(24:01):
the property still belongs toyou and you will pay a sum you
know a reasonable sum to whoeverthe original owner is or the
family of the original owner.
So there should be a clause inthere so that it doesn't revert
back to the original owner.
But you want to keep it and youwill pay whatever is necessary
(24:22):
at that time.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
I think that someone is thinking in their mind and
I'm even thinking what'sreasonable, like you know, know
after 50 years and if my kidsare taking over that land, or
that property.
What do you mean?
Reasonable, like how is thatgoing to work?
Speaker 1 (24:39):
exactly because your definition of reasonable is
different to my definition ofreasonable.
Um, but you know, when you youtry to find out from lands
commission, it's more like, well, 50 years is in the future.
We don't know what it's goingto be then.
So you just need to have aclause in there covering you
(25:00):
that you will still haveinterest in this property at the
expiration of the lease and youwill pay something towards it,
is it?
Speaker 2 (25:06):
possible if you don't have that clause because I'm
sure there are people who haveproperties and they haven't done
that.
Is it possible for the land orthe property owners to say, look
, it's elapsed and we want totake it back?
Speaker 1 (25:20):
I.
I would say there is apossibility, because I mean, you
signed the document saying thatI have an interest in this for
90 years.
Now they're 90 years up.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Yeah, I was involved in a conversation with one of my
friends as well, and then hewas saying that he owns a land
somewhere, you know, far awayfrom Accra.
But he owns it as in freehold,he owns it and there's no issues
with it.
It's not 99 years like it is inAccra.
Do you think that there areplaces in Ghana where people own
(25:52):
the lands?
Speaker 1 (25:54):
I'm sure, like years and years ago there was freehold
, but now it's only leasehold.
It's only only leasehold andit's rare to find anyone who has
99 years.
Now Very rare, okay.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Very rare.
Is there a reason?
Speaker 1 (26:11):
why, with a lot of, let's say, builders or
developers, when they purchasethe property they may have 99
years, but they can decide togive it to you at 50 years or 70
years.
Some of them will give you forwhatever is remaining in the
lease, so if they have 78 years,they'll give you the 78 years.
(26:32):
Some of them will give you forwhatever is remaining in the
lease, so if they have 78 years,they'll give you the 78 years.
Others will just give you 50years.
So it really depends, but it'srare to find.
I haven't seen a 99-year leasein a long time in the UK we have
freehold and leasehold.
Yes, so what you're saying isthat right now, currently in
Ghana.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
You may not find that .
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Yeah, it's leasehold.
It's just leasehold.
It's leasehold based on theLand Act 2020.
Okay, and it's publicinformation.
So I would just encouragepeople to get the Land Act and
read it and know your rights.
It's public information.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Wow, that's interesting.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Yes, it is.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
In one of your posts you said that 8.1% of women own
lands in Ghana.
And I think that's ridiculouslylow.
It's very very low.
Considering the amount ofpowerful women we have in Ghana
who work so hard to feed theirfamilies.
When you go down the markets,you see them all over importing
(27:39):
and exporting.
What's happening there?
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Well, you know, I think we could sum it up in
three reasons.
If we look at it historically,we could sum it up in three
reasons.
If we look at it historically,it wasn't legal for women to own
properties in the olden days,so there wasn't a law that
allowed women to own properties.
So, historically, legally,spiritually if you look at
(28:05):
Numbers 27, whenever anybodydied in the family, the land was
passed on to the males in theland until the daughters of
Zelifat stood up and said thatwhy can't we inherit our
father's land?
And they were five girls.
And so spiritually orbiblically, you see that as well
.
And then you also see it asculturally.
(28:27):
You see, in the African home orin the Ghanaian home, a lot of
times women are discouraged frombuying properties before
marriage.
They can get the property withtheir husbands, because if you,
(28:48):
a lot of times they're told, ifyou buy a property before you
may intimidate the man, it's nota good thing for women to own
properties.
You got to wait and let the manbe the one to own the property
in the marriage.
So that's, you know, anotherone of the reasons.
But I believe you know, inraising up a generation of
(29:08):
millionaires through real estate.
I mean, if you look atstatistics in the US in the last
20 years and it's proven trackrecord, millionaires started
with a real estate portfolio,but we're not seeing it in the
African continent and it'sbecause of the lack of education
.
So if we can educate andempower people for financial
(29:29):
freedom, building generationalwealth through home ownership,
one house at a time, we'll beginto see that change wow the
average Ghanaian who earns 2,000cities a month mm-hmm wants to
own one of these 50-year leaseor 70-year lease properties,
(29:53):
Because right now, what'shappening is that everything is
in dollars when it comes to theproperty market, even though
it's city equivalent.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Now this amount 2,000 cities may not be able to do
anything.
What would be your advice tosuch an individual?
Should they buy off plan, buy aready property or get a land?
Speaker 1 (30:14):
okay.
So, first of all, when it comesto land, land properties right,
they're all in cds.
Lands are mostly in cds, right?
Um, it's usually properties andprimaries that they quote in
dollars, but mostly lands are inCDs.
What I would encourage thisindividual that makes 2,000 CDs
(30:35):
a month, you know everybodywants to buy encampments, buy an
airport, right, start somewhere.
Don't despise small beginnings.
Start somewhere.
There are lands you can get for5,000, 10,000, 15,000, 20,000,
25,000 CDs that are not in Accra.
They may be further out, theymay be in the outskirts, but you
(30:55):
cannot buy land and not seeappreciation.
We are in a developing nation.
I'll give you a perfect example.
Look at Chi Hills, you know.
Even look at East Ligon Hills.
At one point, east Ligon Hills,you could buy land for 5,000,
10,000 Ghana cities.
Today they're even quoting itin dollars $90,000, right.
But if you had bought the landsand at that time people said,
(31:19):
oh, the roads are very bad,we're not going there Now.
Look at East Ligon Hills.
It's one of the fastestemerging areas in Ghana, in
Accra.
So I would encourage thatperson making 2,000 CDs a month,
you know, find land in alocation that's in the outskirts
and get a payment plan.
There are a lot of landownersthat are giving payment plans
(31:41):
Three months, six months, ninemonths, 12-month payment plan
and then just slowly begin topay on that land.
That's one option.
Another option people are notgoing to be happy about.
This option is buy with people,increase your buying power.
But then, whenever I bring thisup, you can have an investment
(32:02):
club or you can get togetherwith friends and you can buy
land together, have a contract,have an exit plan.
Five years after appreciationwe can sell it.
Now you have seed capital tostart a business or reinvest in
real estate, right.
But people say oh, I don't knowif I could buy land with my
friend, I don't trust my friend.
Then you need to get newfriends, if you can't trust your
(32:25):
friends to buy land and build areal estate portfolio and build
wealth together.
So that's another option for a2000 cd earner month I love the
second part.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
You know, we our portfolio in the uk.
There's three of us right andwhen we saw the first project it
was about 50 000 pounds and wedidn't have the money to do it.
So we all came together, putmoney together and did it and
today we have more than threeproperties in that corporation.
So I think it's very powerful.
You know, partnership comingtogether to do things.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Increase your buying power.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
It's such an ancient principle that today people are
so much involved in ownership.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
Soul ownership.
I bought my first property inreal estate at 23 with my
brother, because I couldn'tafford it by myself and he
couldn't afford it by himself,and we came together and that's
how we bought our first property.
It's beautiful.
I encourage people to do that.
It's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
I would definitely say that's the option to go.
Yes, because 2000 cities isquite low.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
It's quite low, yeah, you know.
So either start low in an areathat's in the outskirts or come
together with others.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Yeah, yeah, yeah what are your top five locations for
investment?
Speaker 1 (33:42):
yeah.
So primaries are always good umfor cash flow, and emerging
markets are always good forappreciation.
So I would say airportcantaments, they're the most
sought after areas.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
East lagoon, east lagoon hills is good, or yarifa
is good, chado is good okay,yeah, so out of these ones
you've mentioned, which ones arethe emerging areas?
Speaker 1 (34:08):
so emerging areas.
You're looking at eastly gonehills.
These are areas where you'reseeing development.
Oh, shy hills is also good, too.
Shy hills is good.
Shy hills is has been um on thetop tourist attraction uh list.
Um, since 2018, it has eitherbeen the fifth or the sixth
(34:29):
tourist attraction area becauseof the wild animal reserve in
that area.
There's camping there, there'shiking there and that sort of
thing, and a lot of celebritiesthat come to Ghana actually go
to Shy Hills as well, so that isalso another emerging area as
well.
So, shy Hills, chado, oyarifa,east Lake-on-Hills.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
You heard that and you heard it here on Connected
Minds.
Once again, if you haven'tsubscribed, please do share this
content because I'm loving theconversation.
Now we have a few questions foryou.
Our previous guest thought thatyou'd do very well with this
question, so they had a questionfor you, and the question is
(35:15):
would you rather advise someoneto get into the space of
business, entrepreneurship orget a 9 to 5?
Speaker 1 (35:23):
And my question is who's the previous guest?
Who's asking me this question?
Okay, so this is a tough onebecause you know, to be an
entrepreneur you have got tohave incredible mental fortitude
, you've got to be able tomaneuver, have the wisdom to
(35:50):
maneuver, through challenges,situations and make the right
decision, not just for yourself,but for all those households
that are depending on thecompany right.
So if you have the mentalfortitude, you have the
resilience and you have theability to encourage yourself
and the discipline andconsistency and persistence and
(36:12):
resilience, I would say being anentrepreneur is very rewarding
so I love that.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
I love that.
I love that.
Um then our next question fromme is motivation or discipline?
Speaker 1 (36:31):
Discipline, discipline, discipline,
discipline.
Because motivation, I believe,is only fueled temporarily.
You can have a conference andmotivate people and after the
conference some will still havea little bit of motivation, some
(36:51):
won't.
But that motivation has toconstantly be fueled.
But discipline makes you bevery consistent.
There are consistent effortsfrom discipline and that's what
brings the results is theconsistency.
Discipline is my final answer.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
Well chosen, well, well, well chosen.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
Final answer.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
No, I mean.
Final answer is discipline.
That's right.
What's the best advice you everreceived?
We want to have it too, don'twe guys?
Speaker 1 (37:26):
My best advice is be spirit-led led wow that is the
best advice I've ever receivedbe spirit led wow, because you
heard that voice yep then youcame to garner yeah, and you
have to continue hearing thatvoice especially in business you
know, do I go this way, do I gothat way?
And we know that god is theknown and the unknown, so be
(37:47):
spirit-led.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Guys, you heard it Be spirit-led.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
Yes, Listen listen.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
What's your favorite personal development book?
Speaker 1 (37:58):
You know, what got me into real estate was Rich Dad,
poor Dad.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
Oh man, One of my favorites.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Really by Robert Kiyosaki Rich Dad, Poor Dad.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
He's an awesome guy.
I say it on this show anytimesomeone mentions that book.
He has a game called CashflowQuadrant.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
It's at the back of the book.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
You can get it on Amazon.
I've got a copy of that gameand I play it every now and then
with my wife.
It's amazing.
Yeah, it's amazing.
You learn how to invest.
That's the book that teachesyou assets, liabilities.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
I've said this in segment one.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
So if you, haven't heard segment one.
Please go listen to segment one.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
Um, then your question for the next guest.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
Okay, next guest is what is the craziest real estate
story that you you have?
I want it to be that they haveexperienced that they have
encountered the craziest realestate story.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
Wow that they have experience.
That they have experience.
Yeah, guys, you need to be veryconscious and then pick someone
who can answer this questionproperly because it has to be
someone who has got a lot ofexperience in this field.
We'll try.
You heard it here connectedminds now.
Thank you so much for stayinghere with us and listening to us
(39:23):
, and I love all the shares, allthe comments that you leave on
our videos.
And hey, the Instagram wasgoing crazy.
Stay connected.
Why are people handing money to other people to
buy land?
We're not buying a bag of ricehere.
Do you just go and handsomebody money and say I want to
buy that land?
It's never made sense to me.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I know you've been to the UK and then you also came
from the US and I'm sure you'vedone a lot of travel as well,
being around.
But why Ghana?
Speaker 1 (00:29):
you know, initially it was a spiritual journey.
You know, God led me to Ghanafor ministry first, and then the
marketplace, so that's how Iended up in Ghana.
It was a calling to be here.
So and it's one of the keythings, you know that I tell
people that.
You know, we don't want to justtravel, just to be traveling oh
(00:50):
I'm running from this nation orthat nation but there should be
a why, there should be apurpose.
You know what is the originalintent for which you are moving
to that nation and what are youhoping to accomplish?
What is the purpose of that?
So, if you have your why andyou have a plan, I think you can
(01:12):
make it anywhere.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yes, it's true, you can definitely make it anywhere
and I'm a strong believer ofthat.
Yeah, because I had to comefrom the UK myself to test the
waters here to do business.
Yeah, and just like you, whereyou gave up a lot of things in S
, I also had to put myproperties on rental to come, so
I bent the bridges.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I had no way of going back and then I came in and
COVID yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Oh, wow, yeah.
So I'm like, yeah, it's meantto happen, yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Now your transition into Ghana.
I'm sure you've gone through alot of challenges here accepting
our cultural, the differencebetween Ghana and many parts of
the West.
Yeah, how was that like?
Speaker 1 (01:51):
You know.
So initially I grew up inEthiopia and I went to school in
Kenya, then I went to school inthe UK, then I went to the US
and then came to Ghana.
So what I realized?
That whenever you'retransitioning to a new
environment, you've got tobecome aware of the culture, of
the mindsets, and you've got toquickly adapt or be flexible to
(02:18):
the systems within thatparticular nation.
So one of the challengingthings for me because I never
grew up in Ghana is I had tolearn the culture and I didn't
speak the language.
I actually learned Amharic,which is Ethiopian, when I was
growing up in Ethiopia.
So then you quickly have to tryand learn the language you know
, you have to assimilate intothat environment.
(02:39):
And then what was veryinteresting for me was I had to
learn the mindsets and try tounderstand and be patient with
people in terms of why are theydoing it this way and why are
they thinking that way?
Slow people even walk slower ifyou actually study.
(03:07):
Wait, yes, they do.
You know people walk muchfaster in the uk, in the states,
than they do in ghana.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yeah, you know, I, I met one of my lebanese friends
and then we're talking aboutwell, this was one topic, and
then I, I just said ghanaise aredifferent, aren't they?
Then he goes yeah, don't bringyour British way of thinking
here, otherwise you're going tobe packing your bags and go back
really quickly.
(03:30):
You know, you felt like that,didn't you?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
You have to adapt or you'll be frustrated.
You know you have a decision tomake.
You know, and my dad alwayssays when in Rome, do as the
Romans do, whatever nation yougo to, you've got to quickly
adapt to that culture, their wayof thinking and their way of
how they do things.
You know the way the systemsand processes are structured.
(03:54):
Learn it, you know and adapt toit, but don't just come in
trying to change everything towhat you were used to where you
were before.
I mean, it's not going to work.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
It's definitely not going to work.
It's not going to work.
I mean, it's interesting.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
The first thing you said was patience A lot of it
Plenty.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Yeah, I think that's the first thing that you tell
anyone.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Who wants to spend time in any part of Africa is to
be very patient with us.
But then, at what point do wethen begin to demand the change
that we want or instigate thechanges that we want?
Speaker 1 (04:34):
You know, first of all, I think one of the key
things is we have to understandwhy people are doing things the
way they do it.
So I'll just give you anexample.
Like in the real estateenvironment, commissions is huge
.
You know, overseas any salesposition is commissions.
People don't focus so much onsalary because salary has a
(04:55):
limitation, but commissions youcan demand how much money you
want to make a year based onyour sales.
So what I realized is that youknow a lot of times in Africa
right, or we'll talk about inGhana the way we're raised.
We are raised to go to school,do well and get a good job with
a good salary.
Nobody says go to school, dowell, get a good job with good
(05:20):
commissions.
It's salary-based.
So then you have people who arefocused on just getting salary
and they are satisfied with thatuntil you begin to change the
mindset and begin to show themthe possibility of earning what
they want to earn.
So at the beginning of the yearI talk to my sales team and I
(05:41):
say have a figure in mind howmuch do you want to earn this
year based on commissions?
What goals do you have in life?
Do you want to build a house.
Do you want to travel?
What are the costs for that?
How much do you need?
And now you're projecting yourfuture earnings.
So you begin to start with themindset, because the school
(06:02):
system didn't teach that, thehome didn't teach them that.
So now you have to begin to dothat.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
that's serious visualization.
That's.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
That's very and it's been working, because now what's
so interesting is that theycome to me saying I want to make
this amount of money becausethis is what I'm trying to do,
and I'm like, yeah, you can doit you go for it.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Go for it, that's it that's it.
Wow, I I was involved in aconversation with someone who
purchased a land okay, yeah, andwhen he got it it was at a set
(06:46):
price.
He paid for it, took whateverdocument they gave him, did the
search, everything was fine.
He came back a year after andthat spot had been given to
somebody else, and then thepeople told him that they're
going to give him another spaceelsewhere, but he needs to pay a
little bit extra.
This is someone who lives abroad.
(07:07):
Now how do we navigate thosesort of problems?
Speaker 1 (07:14):
You know, one of the things I'll say is that when I
talk to at least 90% of people,they don't do their thorough due
diligence, and I think it'sbecause they just don't know.
You know, and that's why I hostfirst-time homebuyer seminars
so that people can learn thehomebuying process in Ghana and
you can avoid becoming victimsof fraud.
(07:35):
Okay, so that particularsituation.
First of all, you need to doyour due diligence in five
places which people don't knowthat Everybody does their due
diligence, or most people dotheir due diligence at lands
commission.
Let me make sure and check thevalidity of the owner and that
they truly are the title holders.
After they've done that, thatchecks out right.
(07:57):
Woohoo, they're happy and thenthey move forward with the
purchase.
You haven't even gone to highcourts.
Are there any litigations?
Just because they are theowners does not mean that
there's no litigation on theland, right?
So there could be a litigationon the land.
For example, what kind oflitigation?
They could be the valid owners,but maybe they're going through
(08:17):
a divorce and now there's abattle about ownership, or maybe
it was an inherited land, orwhatever the case may be.
You need to check with that.
You need to check zoning.
You need to check and make sureit's not a stool lands or
anything like that.
And then you need to checkground rent, make sure there are
no back property taxes and thatsort of thing.
These are all things that youneed to check.
(08:38):
And then what we do is we havean escrow service in place.
We're the only real estatecompany in Ghana that provide
this right.
So escrow service means thatyou engage the services of a
legal entity and funds are keptin an escrow account until all
the due diligence is done andall the legal documentation is
(08:59):
done, and then you pay the saladout of the escrow account and
that lawyer will then go andregister the land for you.
So because a lawyer is involved, I guarantee you people will
not be doing half these thingsthat they're doing.
If a lawyer was involved, hewould not have sold you the land
and then said oh, I've given itto somebody else and so now you
(09:22):
have to get something else andpay more.
They wouldn't do that if alawyer was involved and there
was a legal entity about.
And my question to people is inthe UK, in the US, do you just
go and hand somebody money andsay I want to buy that land?
You don't.
You go through a solicitor.
(09:42):
You go through a title companyin the States, or you go through
a lawyeritor.
You go through a title companyin the states or you go through
a lawyer.
We're not buying a bag of ricehere.
Why are people handing money toother people to buy land?
It's never made sense to me.
Why don't we go through a legalentity?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
well, I get somebody who said that paying cash
existed before the legal system,so that's what they're still
used to right.
We're over that.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
We're over that.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
That's what they're still used to.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
No, it's what is causing a lot of issues these
cash transactions.
You know, and my whole thing iswe've introduced these escrow
services and people want toavoid the small upfront fee.
You have to pay for a lawyer orlegal service, but you end up
paying in court for 20 years, 30years, and you end up paying
(10:35):
more than you would have withthat small upfront fee.
Do you know that today, 70% ofcourt cases in Ghana are land
related 70%, 70% and I believeit's because people just pay
with cash.
You don't go through the legalroute and that's why people fall
(10:55):
victims of fraud.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I understand.
I think hopefully some of thethings you've said would
enlighten some of us and, youknow, make a different approach.
Like, take things differently Ihad to pay areas of ground rent
?
Yeah, I had to, I didn't know.
(11:19):
In fact, the first day I gotthe invoice I was like really,
we pay all of that in Ghana.
I didn't know, we pay taxes too, property taxes.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
See, I didn't know all of that 0.5 to 3%, depending
on where the location is.
So if you don't have a lawyerthat checks, you're going to end
up paying Kodjo's back taxesthat he hasn't paid in like 20
years, because they're not goingto look for Kodjo, they're
going to look for you.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
All right.
So let's go through the process.
Right going to look for Codjoe.
They're going to look for you,all right.
So, let's go through theprocess.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Right, someone wants to buy a land.
What should they do?
First of all, you should havefour members as part of your
team in any real estatetransaction.
Number one these areprofessionals a real estate
broker like myself.
Number two you should have avaluer, because everybody thinks
their home is worth a milliondollars around here, but you
need a valuer that can look atcomps and can give you the true
estimate of the home you'reabout to purchase, right?
(12:20):
And then you need a homeinspector, because not every
builder follows the buildingcode.
And then you need a lawyer thatcan make sure there's the
validity of the owner check, aswe're talking about this, ground
rent, check the property taxes,even utility bills.
(12:41):
If there's an ECG bill for10,000 Ghana CDs and the
previous owner has not paid it,you'll be paying it or your
lights will be turned off, right.
So you want to make sure thatthe legal entity, the escrow
services that we provide, goesthrough everything utility bills
, ground rent, property taxesand, at the closing table, will
(13:02):
ensure that all those things arepaid, so you don't inherit any
of this bad debt.
The valuer will make sureyou're getting value for your
money.
The real estate broker willmake sure you're getting value
for your money.
The real estate broker willmake sure you're signing the
necessary documents and theinspector will make sure that
you're not going to end up witha roofing issue in two years.
(13:23):
Or, you know, your house is notgoing to catch on fire because
the electrical wiring has beendone incorrectly.
So you don't want to invest ina property which is capital
intensive and then, two yearsdown the road now you have to
pay for uh, you know 20 000 cdsfor a new roof.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah, wow yeah, that's very insightful, very key
things, but what we see aroundhere is that oh, I've, I've seen
the house.
I like it.
You know, come, let's deal,that's it.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
You know, and then, a few months down the line, like
you said, the problems start.
Yeah, and that's why peoplelike yourself are in the
position to provide theconsultancy services, the
brokerage services for clients.
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Amazing the brokerage services for clients,
absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Now, in recent times there's been a lot of
conversations around investingGhana properties, investing this
.
Look, I've seen a lot of realestate companies go to the UK,
to the US, to do fairs.
You know, try to get peopleinterested in buying into the
property market in Ghana.
Why is that?
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Well, you know, derek , there are a lot of reasons for
it.
I mean, one of the key thingsthat people don't realize is I
mean, we're in a beautifulnation and there is a lot of
attraction that is coming fromthe diaspora to this nation,
especially after the Beyond theReturn initiative was
implemented in 2019.
(14:51):
So we get about.
Let me just look at justDecember.
Okay, just for the month ofDecember, with the Beyond the
Return December in Ghana events,we got 1.2 million visitors to
Ghana in just those 31 days.
Now, out of those 1.2 millionvisitors, 41% of them that's
(15:14):
over 410,000 people said thatthey would prefer to stay in an
Airbnb, a furnished apartment orfurnished house, as opposed to
the traditional hotel, motelsituation.
So you, as a landlord orproperty owner, you know that
all these visitors who arecoming to Ghana prefer to stay
(15:36):
in your unit, an apartment or atownhouse or house.
So that is attractive for aninvestor, first of all.
And then also, ghana has thehighest annual rental yields in
Africa, not just West Africa,the entire continent.
Ghana's number one and you knowrule of thumb is you want to
look at at least 7%.
You're looking at 18 to 20% insome areas, particularly prime
(16:01):
areas, so highest annual rentalyields.
You're looking at a lot ofvisitors that come that need
accommodation.
You're also looking at emergingmarkets is a great appreciation
, um, because it's a developingnation, and you're looking at
cash flow as well, and these arethe reasons why it's such a
great uh investment here, uh, inghana wow, I mean I guess we
(16:25):
need to put all that money inreal estate.
But yeah, and there are nohaircuts on real estate
investments remember they werehaircuts on government bonds?
Yep, there are no haircuts onreal estate investment.
Okay, it's a dollar backedsecurity, you know, and it's a
hedge against inflation, right,so go for it yeah, yeah,
definitely guys, we should.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Um, there's right.
So someone wants to, someonethat lives outside of the
country wants to buy a propertyin Ghana, right, what would be
the process for them?
Speaker 1 (16:58):
so the first thing I'll say is make sure you get a
professional real estate broker,okay, so GARAB Ghana
Association of Real EstateBrokers.
We have a website.
You can visit the websitedepending on where you want to
purchase.
For example, you want to buy inEast Ligon.
You type East Ligon, it'll listall the real estate agents that
specialize in the East Ligonarea.
(17:20):
Bear in mind that all theseagents have been vetted.
They have gone through the CIDheadquarters, got their
fingerprinting.
None of them have criminalbackground reports, which is
very good, very professionals.
We have code of ethics we haveto follow.
We have standardized formssales and purchase agreement,
tenancy agreement you could use,and we also make sure that we
(17:45):
have standardized commissions.
We cannot charge more than fora sale 5%.
If you're going to just pickany real estate agent that's not
a professional.
They can charge you 15, 20% ifthey want, because the real
estate agency market is notregulated in Ghana.
So we have certain codes andstandards we must follow.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
You know, sometimes you get an agent do a deal for
you and then they're like youknow, I want to charge 5%, you
know give me 5% of this deal andI'm not going to pay you 5%.
That happens a lot.
You know a lot of the agents.
It's either they don't tell theclients that this is how much
they're going to be charging,Then after they start talking
(18:28):
about that, or some people alsocharge five days, five days.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
On both sides.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Which is fine.
If you're a dual agent, ifyou're representing both the
seller and the buyer, you cancharge as a dual agent.
However, there must betransparency.
You must let both the sellerand the buyer know that you're
representing both.
Okay, you have to let them know.
You have to disclose it thatyou're representing both.
Okay, you have to let them know.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
You have to disclose it.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
This same individual says that they want a mortgage
in Ghana.
What's the process?
Okay, so initially you talkedabout a diasporan coming or
anybody outside.
You want to use a real estatebroker that could also help you
with negotiations.
We understand the market, themarket trends and that sort of
thing right Now.
We also understand mortgages.
So now a lot of banks areintroducing what we call
(19:24):
diaspora mortgages.
So if you are a diasporan andyou're a Ghanaian and you want
to purchase, you can.
If you're a foreigner, you canalso purchase, not a problem.
Typically you have to putanywhere from 20% to 30% down
and then the rest is spread overa maximum of 20 years.
(19:44):
If you're a Ghanaian, 15 yearsif you're a foreigner.
However, there is a cutoff ageright, and the cutoff age is 60.
So if you're 55 years old, youcan only get a five-year
mortgage.
It's not like other countriesoverseas where there's no age.
You could be 85 and get a30-year mortgage, but here
(20:04):
there's a cutoff now, okay, andthey will look at your credit
report overseas.
So, if you're in the US, they'regoing to look at your Equifax,
transunion and Experian.
We're looking at credit history.
You're looking at ability topay back any lates, any
delinquencies, any bankruptcy,and then you're looking at debt
to income ratio to make surethat, typically, your debt to
(20:27):
income ratio should not be morethan 30, 35%.
And then also we're looking atjob history.
Make sure you're at your jobfor at least two years and you
want to make sure.
Well, some banks two years,some banks six months, and
they're looking at pay stubs andbank statements as well.
Now, if you're self-employed,they'll be looking at three
(20:48):
years financial auditedstatements.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
To look at cash flows .
That's very similar to the UK.
Check your SA302.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
And things like that from HMRC.
Now we always talk aboutridiculous rates.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
I knew you were going there.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, we always talk about that yeah.
Because sometimes you're seeingthese times.
I think you're seeing about 38%.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Absolutely.
Yeah, you're looking atanywhere.
A base rate would be, yeah,about 32% to 36% base.
Then, once they start addingthe margins, you can go up to
38%.
That's for a CD loan.
So the dollar is anywhere from11% to 13%.
But to get a dollar loan youmust be a dollar earner.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
You can't be a pound earner, it could work.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Yeah, it could work if you're a pound earner, but I
meant a dollar earner as opposedto a CD earner.
Right, but if you earn bothdollars and CDs, they'll go with
whichever one you get more of.
So if your salary is 60%dollars, 40% CDs, then you can
get a dollar loan.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
I think for the dollar mortgages it should be a
lot less.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Than the 11% to 13%.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
I think it should be a lot less all the way around.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
I do agree with you.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Yeah, I think it should be a lot less yeah but it
costs to borrow because theyhave to borrow to then lend, so
cost to borrow.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Okay, okay, I'm sure over time they will work out
better systems, it's actuallygotten better.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
It was before.
It was at.
13.5 was the base for a dollar,you know.
So now it's dropped at least to11.
So it's getting there.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Yeah, yeah, it is, it is, it is.
And there was this conversationabout the number of years of
lease a foreigner can have.
Now, even if you're Ghanaianand you're coming in with your
British passport or yourAmerican passport, you'd be
classed as a foreigner, wouldn'tit?
Yeah, so don't come with yourBritish or Ghanaian passport.
(22:48):
That solves the problem, yeah,so don't come with your British
passport.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
That solves the problem, so, yeah, so there was
a land act, land agency act thatcame out in 2020 with all these
new regulations, right.
So if you are a Ghanaian,please show your Ghana card or
your Ghanaian passport, right,and you can get up to 99 years,
(23:15):
right, and you can get up to 99years.
If you are a foreigner, themaximum you can get, I believe,
is 45 to 50 years maximum rightnow.
The question really is what?
If you are married to a ghanian, yeah, and you are a foreigner,
yeah, they will go by thenumber of years for a foreigner,
so you may not have to be onthe title for this one yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Right, right, right Now.
I purchased a property as aforeigner.
Right, I get 40 years on thelower side.
Now what happens after 40 years?
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Good question.
So after 40 years, what I tellpeople?
This is free information righthere.
Make sure that your lawyer okay, this is why it's good to use
the escrow services Make surethat your lawyer adds a clause
in the indenture that says thatafter the 40 years the land or
(24:01):
the property still belongs toyou and you will pay a sum you
know a reasonable sum to whoeverthe original owner is or the
family of the original owner.
So there should be a clause inthere so that it doesn't revert
back to the original owner.
But you want to keep it and youwill pay whatever is necessary
(24:22):
at that time.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
I think that someone is thinking in their mind and
I'm even thinking what'sreasonable, like you know, know
after 50 years and if my kidsare taking over that land, or
that property.
What do you mean?
Reasonable, like how is thatgoing to work?
Speaker 1 (24:39):
exactly because your definition of reasonable is
different to my definition ofreasonable.
Um, but you know, when you youtry to find out from lands
commission, it's more like, well, 50 years is in the future.
We don't know what it's goingto be then.
So you just need to have aclause in there covering you
(25:00):
that you will still haveinterest in this property at the
expiration of the lease and youwill pay something towards it,
is it?
Speaker 2 (25:06):
possible if you don't have that clause because I'm
sure there are people who haveproperties and they haven't done
that.
Is it possible for the land orthe property owners to say, look
, it's elapsed and we want totake it back?
Speaker 1 (25:20):
I.
I would say there is apossibility, because I mean, you
signed the document saying thatI have an interest in this for
90 years.
Now they're 90 years up.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Yeah, I was involved in a conversation with one of my
friends as well, and then hewas saying that he owns a land
somewhere, you know, far awayfrom Accra.
But he owns it as in freehold,he owns it and there's no issues
with it.
It's not 99 years like it is inAccra.
Do you think that there areplaces in Ghana where people own
(25:52):
the lands?
Speaker 1 (25:54):
I'm sure, like years and years ago there was freehold
, but now it's only leasehold.
It's only only leasehold andit's rare to find anyone who has
99 years.
Now Very rare, okay.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Very rare.
Is there a reason?
Speaker 1 (26:11):
why, with a lot of, let's say, builders or
developers, when they purchasethe property they may have 99
years, but they can decide togive it to you at 50 years or 70
years.
Some of them will give you forwhatever is remaining in the
lease, so if they have 78 years,they'll give you the 78 years.
(26:32):
Some of them will give you forwhatever is remaining in the
lease, so if they have 78 years,they'll give you the 78 years.
Others will just give you 50years.
So it really depends, but it'srare to find.
I haven't seen a 99-year leasein a long time in the UK we have
freehold and leasehold.
Yes, so what you're saying isthat right now, currently in
Ghana.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
You may not find that .
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Yeah, it's leasehold.
It's just leasehold.
It's leasehold based on theLand Act 2020.
Okay, and it's publicinformation.
So I would just encouragepeople to get the Land Act and
read it and know your rights.
It's public information.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Wow, that's interesting.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Yes, it is.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
In one of your posts you said that 8.1% of women own
lands in Ghana.
And I think that's ridiculouslylow.
It's very very low.
Considering the amount ofpowerful women we have in Ghana
who work so hard to feed theirfamilies.
When you go down the markets,you see them all over importing
(27:39):
and exporting.
What's happening there?
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Well, you know, I think we could sum it up in
three reasons.
If we look at it historically,we could sum it up in three
reasons.
If we look at it historically,it wasn't legal for women to own
properties in the olden days,so there wasn't a law that
allowed women to own properties.
So, historically, legally,spiritually if you look at
(28:05):
Numbers 27, whenever anybodydied in the family, the land was
passed on to the males in theland until the daughters of
Zelifat stood up and said thatwhy can't we inherit our
father's land?
And they were five girls.
And so spiritually orbiblically, you see that as well
.
And then you also see it asculturally.
(28:27):
You see, in the African home orin the Ghanaian home, a lot of
times women are discouraged frombuying properties before
marriage.
They can get the property withtheir husbands, because if you,
(28:48):
a lot of times they're told, ifyou buy a property before you
may intimidate the man, it's nota good thing for women to own
properties.
You got to wait and let the manbe the one to own the property
in the marriage.
So that's, you know, anotherone of the reasons.
But I believe you know, inraising up a generation of
(29:08):
millionaires through real estate.
I mean, if you look atstatistics in the US in the last
20 years and it's proven trackrecord, millionaires started
with a real estate portfolio,but we're not seeing it in the
African continent and it'sbecause of the lack of education
.
So if we can educate andempower people for financial
(29:29):
freedom, building generationalwealth through home ownership,
one house at a time, we'll beginto see that change wow the
average Ghanaian who earns 2,000cities a month mm-hmm wants to
own one of these 50-year leaseor 70-year lease properties,
(29:53):
Because right now, what'shappening is that everything is
in dollars when it comes to theproperty market, even though
it's city equivalent.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Now this amount 2,000 cities may not be able to do
anything.
What would be your advice tosuch an individual?
Should they buy off plan, buy aready property or get a land?
Speaker 1 (30:14):
okay.
So, first of all, when it comesto land, land properties right,
they're all in cds.
Lands are mostly in cds, right?
Um, it's usually properties andprimaries that they quote in
dollars, but mostly lands are inCDs.
What I would encourage thisindividual that makes 2,000 CDs
(30:35):
a month, you know everybodywants to buy encampments, buy an
airport, right, start somewhere.
Don't despise small beginnings.
Start somewhere.
There are lands you can get for5,000, 10,000, 15,000, 20,000,
25,000 CDs that are not in Accra.
They may be further out, theymay be in the outskirts, but you
(30:55):
cannot buy land and not seeappreciation.
We are in a developing nation.
I'll give you a perfect example.
Look at Chi Hills, you know.
Even look at East Ligon Hills.
At one point, east Ligon Hills,you could buy land for 5,000,
10,000 Ghana cities.
Today they're even quoting itin dollars $90,000, right.
But if you had bought the landsand at that time people said,
(31:19):
oh, the roads are very bad,we're not going there Now.
Look at East Ligon Hills.
It's one of the fastestemerging areas in Ghana, in
Accra.
So I would encourage thatperson making 2,000 CDs a month,
you know, find land in alocation that's in the outskirts
and get a payment plan.
There are a lot of landownersthat are giving payment plans
(31:41):
Three months, six months, ninemonths, 12-month payment plan
and then just slowly begin topay on that land.
That's one option.
Another option people are notgoing to be happy about.
This option is buy with people,increase your buying power.
But then, whenever I bring thisup, you can have an investment
(32:02):
club or you can get togetherwith friends and you can buy
land together, have a contract,have an exit plan.
Five years after appreciationwe can sell it.
Now you have seed capital tostart a business or reinvest in
real estate, right.
But people say oh, I don't knowif I could buy land with my
friend, I don't trust my friend.
Then you need to get newfriends, if you can't trust your
(32:25):
friends to buy land and build areal estate portfolio and build
wealth together.
So that's another option for a2000 cd earner month I love the
second part.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
You know, we our portfolio in the uk.
There's three of us right andwhen we saw the first project it
was about 50 000 pounds and wedidn't have the money to do it.
So we all came together, putmoney together and did it and
today we have more than threeproperties in that corporation.
So I think it's very powerful.
You know, partnership comingtogether to do things.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
Increase your buying power.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
It's such an ancient principle that today people are
so much involved in ownership.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
Soul ownership.
I bought my first property inreal estate at 23 with my
brother, because I couldn'tafford it by myself and he
couldn't afford it by himself,and we came together and that's
how we bought our first property.
It's beautiful.
I encourage people to do that.
It's beautiful.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
I would definitely say that's the option to go.
Yes, because 2000 cities isquite low.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
It's quite low, yeah, you know.
So either start low in an areathat's in the outskirts or come
together with others.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Yeah, yeah, yeah what are your top five locations for
investment?
Speaker 1 (33:42):
yeah.
So primaries are always good umfor cash flow, and emerging
markets are always good forappreciation.
So I would say airportcantaments, they're the most
sought after areas.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
East lagoon, east lagoon hills is good, or yarifa
is good, chado is good okay,yeah, so out of these ones
you've mentioned, which ones arethe emerging areas?
Speaker 1 (34:08):
so emerging areas.
You're looking at eastly gonehills.
These are areas where you'reseeing development.
Oh, shy hills is also good, too.
Shy hills is good.
Shy hills is has been um on thetop tourist attraction uh list.
Um, since 2018, it has eitherbeen the fifth or the sixth
(34:29):
tourist attraction area becauseof the wild animal reserve in
that area.
There's camping there, there'shiking there and that sort of
thing, and a lot of celebritiesthat come to Ghana actually go
to Shy Hills as well, so that isalso another emerging area as
well.
So, shy Hills, chado, oyarifa,east Lake-on-Hills.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
You heard that and you heard it here on Connected
Minds.
Once again, if you haven'tsubscribed, please do share this
content because I'm loving theconversation.
Now we have a few questions foryou.
Our previous guest thought thatyou'd do very well with this
question, so they had a questionfor you, and the question is
(35:15):
would you rather advise someoneto get into the space of
business, entrepreneurship orget a 9 to 5?
Speaker 1 (35:23):
And my question is who's the previous guest?
Who's asking me this question?
Okay, so this is a tough onebecause you know, to be an
entrepreneur you have got tohave incredible mental fortitude
, you've got to be able tomaneuver, have the wisdom to
(35:50):
maneuver, through challenges,situations and make the right
decision, not just for yourself,but for all those households
that are depending on thecompany right.
So if you have the mentalfortitude, you have the
resilience and you have theability to encourage yourself
and the discipline andconsistency and persistence and
(36:12):
resilience, I would say being anentrepreneur is very rewarding
so I love that.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
I love that.
I love that.
Um then our next question fromme is motivation or discipline?
Speaker 1 (36:31):
Discipline, discipline, discipline,
discipline.
Because motivation, I believe,is only fueled temporarily.
You can have a conference andmotivate people and after the
conference some will still havea little bit of motivation, some
(36:51):
won't.
But that motivation has toconstantly be fueled.
But discipline makes you bevery consistent.
There are consistent effortsfrom discipline and that's what
brings the results is theconsistency.
Discipline is my final answer.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
Well chosen, well, well, well chosen.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
Final answer.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
No, I mean.
Final answer is discipline.
That's right.
What's the best advice you everreceived?
We want to have it too, don'twe guys?
Speaker 1 (37:26):
My best advice is be spirit-led led wow that is the
best advice I've ever receivedbe spirit led wow, because you
heard that voice yep then youcame to garner yeah, and you
have to continue hearing thatvoice especially in business you
know, do I go this way, do I gothat way?
And we know that god is theknown and the unknown, so be
(37:47):
spirit-led.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Guys, you heard it Be spirit-led.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
Yes, Listen listen.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
What's your favorite personal development book?
Speaker 1 (37:58):
You know, what got me into real estate was Rich Dad,
poor Dad.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
Oh man, One of my favorites.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Really by Robert Kiyosaki Rich Dad, Poor Dad.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
He's an awesome guy.
I say it on this show anytimesomeone mentions that book.
He has a game called CashflowQuadrant.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
It's at the back of the book.
Speaker 2 (38:17):
You can get it on Amazon.
I've got a copy of that gameand I play it every now and then
with my wife.
It's amazing.
Yeah, it's amazing.
You learn how to invest.
That's the book that teachesyou assets, liabilities.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
I've said this in segment one.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
So if you, haven't heard segment one.
Please go listen to segment one.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
Um, then your question for the next guest.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
Okay, next guest is what is the craziest real estate
story that you you have?
I want it to be that they haveexperienced that they have
encountered the craziest realestate story.
Speaker 2 (39:01):
Wow that they have experience.
That they have experience.
Yeah, guys, you need to be veryconscious and then pick someone
who can answer this questionproperly because it has to be
someone who has got a lot ofexperience in this field.
We'll try.
You heard it here connectedminds now.
Thank you so much for stayinghere with us and listening to us
(39:23):
, and I love all the shares, allthe comments that you leave on
our videos.
And hey, the Instagram wasgoing crazy.
Stay connected.
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