Amazing Property

The first step in any selling journey is a carefully considered decision to put a property on the market. While every situation and seller is different, there are some common reasons why Australians look to sell and what they weigh up in making the final call. There’s myriad of reasons why people choose to sell, ranging from getting a new job in a different city and having to move, to just wanting a change of scenery, to needing more space because of a growing family or even a relationship breakdown. Nelson Alexander Ivanhoe partner and auctioneer James Labiris says the main motivators among his clients are up or downsizing, a change in lifestyle or desire to be close to family. But before pulling the trigger and going to market, he says owners need to weigh up a number of factors to work out if it’s a wise move or not. “Buyers need to consider the current market conditions, their motivation to sell and how their type of property is currently selling in the market,...

Kaduna-Abuja train The train travels at a stately speed, taking more than two and a half hours to traverse little more than 150 kilometres (90 miles) of countryside in southern Nigeria. But the fledgling service is developing a fanclub among travellers exhausted by the country’s notoriously choked, chaotic and dangerous roads. The $1.6-billion (1.34-billion-euro) Chinese-built link between Nigeria’s economic hub Lagos and Ibadan, capital of the southwest region, began partial operations last December. It counts Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka among its supporters. “This is my sixth trip,” the playwright told AFP, as the whistle blew for the 156-kilometre (97-mile) journey. He recalled the 1960s and ’70s when the train was king. “We grew up to see a working railway in Nigeria,” said Soyinka, who won the 1986 Nobel prize for literature, the first Nigerian to be so honoured. In those days, the railway was the main means of moving people and goods ar...

[FILES] The UNHCR headquarters are pictured before an interview with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi in Geneva, Switzerland June 13, 2018. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse<br /> Fresh concerns loom large in the real estate sector, as operatives are apprehensive that housing deficit may worsen and investments will drop due to security challenges in the country. They acknowledged that the rising insecurity and tension arose from dissatisfaction among the population of jobless youth, activities of insurgents, bandits and herdsmen, which resulted into loss of lives and destruction of properties. According to United NationsHigh Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), over 3.2 million people are displaced, including about 2.9 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in north-eastern Nigeria.  UNHCR said $848 million (N259, 488, 000, 000) is needed to provide basic amenities such as water and shelter to the most vulnerable people inside Nigeria. It...

Some housing constructions on the 5000 housing units in Taraba: PHOTO: CHARLES AKPEJI Despite the place of shelter in the Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs, housing delivery in Nigeria has remained abysmally poor. This is despite of governments’ access to factors of housing production. With about 20 million deficit and substantial contributions expected from public and private sectors, the country could at best expect 4.2per cent of the annual requirement. The state governments are most culpable in terms of lagging behind in house deliveries despite huge yearly budgetary allocations to their housing ministries. Apart from Lagos state, which recently announced the completion of about 712 new homes through a partnership with private investors, others states seem not to make housing a priority. With N33.952 billion budgeted for housing and community amenities in 2021, Lagos state recently added a total of 244 homes in two schemes, notably Courtland Luxury Villas, Igbokushu...

Former urban dwellers who have fled to quieter, smaller towns during the pandemic may find resistance to their big-city lifestyles among their new neighbors. An estimated 5% of New York’s population—or more than 300,000 people—moved to the suburbs over the last year, according to U.S. Postal Service data. Olga Avdaev, a resident of New York suburb Rockaway, N.J., told the New York Post about her new neighbors arriving from the Big Apple: “They seem to have a different life understanding: That living in New Jersey is just like living in the city—the constant noise, hosting friends until the wee hours of night. I used to live in the city. I know the mentality. But after living so long in the suburbs, you become neighborly. They are not there yet.” Similar complaints are growing. Many new suburbanites may not be in tune with the slower, more neighborly vibe of suburban life, taking on noisy remodeling projects that irk their neighbors, letting their dog...

When leaving a share house, there will be some things you’ll want to take with you and some items you’ll be glad to see fade into your past. We spoke to some present-day renters in Sydney to get an idea about what does and doesn’t make the cut when waving goodbye to a share house. Take: Your utilities If the utilities at your rental property are in your name, don’t forget to move them to your new address. This includes your internet, which you’ll want to set up in advance to ensure you’re connected as soon as you step foot in the door. “It seems weird, but I always take my modem,” Jess, who has shared homes in Sydney and internationally, tells realestate.com.au. “It can be such a hassle to organise a new one.” However, if you decide to dissolve a shared internet contract and start fresh, you can establish a new connection quickly with Optus 4G or 5G Home Internet if you’re in a coverage area. Neither require professional ...

Baring any unforeseen circumstances, the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) will soon release regulations for engineering practice. When released it will cover all aspects of engineering practice in Nigeria. The decision followed concerns raised by the Nigerian Institution of Structural Engineers (NISTRUCTE) on non-regulation of their practice. President of NISTRUCTE, Dr. Kehinde Osifala, recently noted the reluctance of COREN to come out with a practice guide for all structural practice in the country, which was in line with the new (COREN) Act. He lamented that the reluctance was in spite of a proposal sent to COREN’ s president for a practice guide for all structural practice in the country, which could help reduce incidence of building collapse. But COREN president, Ali Rabiu, told The Guardian that the council is working on the regulations and in the next couple of weeks, some of them will be released soon. He stressed that the new COREN act has empo...