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House hunting in Lagos isn't a joke to be honest because I never for once gave it a thought that it will be this frustrating, like for real. It is almost 4years here in lagos and my friend had to move from his previous location because of some personal reason and also the house lawyer trying to extort him mainly because he is the gentle type that don't see big deal in stuff that should be offensive plus he is always bored because he is the introvert type make depression no kill him at home since he rarely step out normally unless someone drag him codedly. His plan was to move down to Ikorodu since he also need a place with good light/internet and somewhere not that far from home home.
The past 3 weeks now, we have been moving from one agent to another with the home of getting a good standard place that will suit out budget, he is trying to a room & parlour self contain (mini flat) which is the same with his previous apartment and our own definition of standard flat should have a pop ceiling, spacious sitting room and a good bedroom ( spacious if possible but not tiny like normal Lagos room), good kitchen which isn't tiny and also well spaced bathroom and toilet among other stuff and a good compound for safe car park ( the street aren't smiling, parking outside a compound at night is dangerous and thief can easily steal valuable car parts). We were referred to an agent which we though would be our bus stop, he shows us around after collecting a certain fee and also fuelled his car for easily transport but I was wondering maybe he kept the good house, just to show us some old small apartment, then referred us to another agent who was his friend and also did the same useless tour with some sweet mouth.
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After meeting like 4 different agent, we had to conclude this people were just using style to rip us, after a week trying to find a good agent, we finally saw a spacious apartment which we like even though the road wasn't that good but it is manageable, then the really problem start, Lagos landlord have this issue of bringing in unnecessary criteria, like you have to be married, have a good job they can see and even if you tell them your job and how legal it is, they will never believe because to them if you don't have a physical office job, then you are jobless even if it is legal, the had to delay us with just one quote "the house lawyer is yet to give them a final yes" and it took 6 days before the landlord decide to call us over just to see how we look and for some random questions. I almost laugh after we got there and he started with are you married question, the agent prep us, told him to say yes, that his wife to be is serving (nysc), they ask question about the imaginary wife to be, then to cut it short, he was like the only issue he think the lawyer might be having and what is delaying him from giving a final decision was the kind of job he filled into the form, how is a social media manager/content creator a big problem to a so called lawyer?
We can't mention a crypto/forex trader because it is a big crime to some landlord, they view it as an illegal stuff and it is a big no to them (from experience) and now we had to start explaining who and what is the work of a social media manager/content creator, why it is a remote based work and why we don't have an office. I actually knew it is over from their end though and he had to drop his social media details just for them to cross check and at the end they replied with we will get back to you in 24hours and we left, No feedback after 24hours.
Now, I'm kind of bothered about the whole situation, is the computer age job now a crime to some old people, the world is actually developing and people are gradually saying bye bye to the physical office work and picking up skills they can comfortable do and work from home, but some people still see it as imaginary work. Thinking of calling the man to give ask him why and probably give him a piece of my mind.