Today is exactly 60 days since I lost a prominent customer. It was traumatic to have lost a dear friend who has been the middle man for my real estate adventure. I delved into the real estate business as a side hustle. The business is lucrative when you have genuine lands to advertise and draw willing individuals.
My first sales were very profitable. It got me attracted to joining the real estate business. I felt like I have been wasting my time doing almost nothing.
Fortunately enough for me, I got some very genuine lands to advertise over the years and I have got some very good buyers. Like a scavenger, I go around the towns and villages of Lagos to seek the attention of families that want to put their land on sale and their responses are very encouraging.
In one of the towns after the location of Dangote Refinery, where the cost of land has skyrocketed, I met a man who intended to sell a land he acquired for residential purposes but has to let go of it because the place is becoming industrialised.
I could not have a one on one contact with the owner of the land. So, the middle man, Mr Friday, who has a vast knowledge of lands that are put up for sale around the axis carried me along on the intention of the owner to sell the particular land for sale.
Mr Friday has been a good friend and land agent. But on this note, he fouled me. It was a huge blow. I brought a customer to the land who is willing to pay and make documentation. After all the discussion, we made the deal.
As the major agent, I was supposed to get 55% of the agency fee while Mr Friday will get 45%. We concluded the deal but during the documentation process, I discovered that Mr Friday had inflated the real price of the property and would be getting a huge cut from the family whereas, as the major agent, I got to go home with the 55%.
I was not aware of all this arrangement before now but sooner than later, the different family units started reaching out to me to find out the exact amount the land was sold because on the document that would be signed, the price has been reduced. My customer and Mr Friday got into a hot argument that almost led to a serious fracas. When the whole scenarios became bleak, I was invited. It was at this point that I got to know the game Mr Friday played on me. I was so disappointed that I decided to break ties with him.
Mr Friday knew he has done wrong, he walked away and never looked back. Perhaps, he knew that he has betrayed the trust I had for him.
Fortunately for me, I have been able to find my way around the families and how to get vacant land that would be going for sale.
The last customer who was the reason why Mr Friday was exposed started contacting me for other companies that needed land in the axis.
It appeared at first that I would soon be out of the real estate market but my sincerity opened more opportunities for me. I didn't get to struggle with Mr Friday when the issue of betray came up. We just went out different ways naturally.
Today, it is an entirely different ball game as we are famous and popular land agent in that axis. All we do is to keep it real while maximizing our profit.