Previs Presents Premiere Apartments as Standard for Quality in Mid-Market

Getting affordable quality housing in the mid-market segment of Nigeria’s real estate industry is an onerous task, the Managing Director of Previs Developments, Peter Coker has said.

According to Coker, “Avaricious developers have, over the years, become more creative in offering schemes that only look legitimate on the surface. Upon further investigation, a prospective tenant, who is smart, realises that such schemes lack substance; for others, they ignorantly part with their money and in the best instance get an unsatisfactory and low quality house in exchange.”

To own a house in city centres is not for the lily livered, he said and that the burdensome process of acquiring legitimate land, securing building approval and other land documentation, as well as the cost of building and the supervisory time required, it is better to entrust it to professional developers who are trained to handle the process seamlessly.

“We have considered all the factors important to a prospective home owner,” said Coker. “Quality, affordability, good neighbourhood, infrastructure, ease of living, security: these are some of the features of our developments. We have recently began sales in Premiere Apartments, which embodies the vision of the company to provide quality housing to Nigeria’s middle market.”

Premiere Apartments, located in Lekki Scheme 2, consists of 12 blocks of 72 3-bedroom apartments. Each apartment comes with 3 bedrooms including an en-suite master bedroom, a shared bathroom with adjoining toilet, and a guest toilet/washroom; a spacious living/dining room; and a fitted kitchen, spaces that reiterate the joy and ease of modern living.

The Estate is conveniently located close to recreational centres, shopping malls, private schools as well as a fire station. The new Shoprite mall (the largest shopping mall in Lagos with popular brands including Genesis Deluxe Cinemas, Game and Shoprite), Atican beach and the Lagos Business School/Pan Atlantic University are all within 10 minutes of the Estate.

About Pay Rent Own Property…
On the company’s rent to own initiative, he said, “Our projects are delivered through the innovative Pay Rent Own Property model which we specifically designed for the Nigerian market,” explains Adebola Seun-Ayeni, the Marketing Manager for Previs Developments. “After about 3 -4 years of reviewing and using the rent-to-own model, which incidentally seems to be the most common model for developers today, we have successfully launched this modified plan that allows prospective home owners to own their homes while paying rent. A typical Pay Rent Own Property contract runs for about 10 – 15 years with annual rental payments that remain constant throughout the period.”

He said a distinguishing factor of this model is the documentation that we provide. A tenant enters into a contract with us that protects both parties and also explains the limitations. This means that without prior savings, and at no interest, you can own your home in Lekki or any other area in Lagos within 10 – 15 years.

In truth, it would be a fallacy for anyone, including Previs, to claim to be the pioneer of rent-to-own. This is an established model of home ownership in Europe, Australia and America. The Lagos Homs project uses a rent-to-own model and now, the Federal Government is also adopting it. The reason for its recent proliferation in Nigeria is not far-fetched: it is simply the best model for the nation to tackle its home ownership deficit with any hope of success.

Corporate Social Responsibility…
Having used the rent to own model in the past, and in fact proposed it to the Lagos State government at a point, we thoroughly understand how this model works and can immediately identify pitfalls and scams. Not all projects labelled ‘rent-to-own’ are actually using that model. For example, a developer who requests a 30% down payment for a project and staggered subsequent payments to complete the balance 70% within 3 – 5 years is not using the rent to own model. Or a developer who may actually be an investment banker using real estate to pool funds and thus does not do a full disclosure to tenants is also not staying true to the model.
We thus offer a free consultancy and advisory service to any rent-to-own prospect, regardless of the company offering the service. We will help ensure that you are getting the best deal possible and help you identify red herrings. It is our desire to help mitigate the risks in rent-to-own transactions.

Partnerships in the Industry…
Seeing that the company’s mandate is to deliver 10,000 lifestyle homes to Nigerian middle class families, they recently partnered with one of the leading cement manufacturers in Africa. Their partner, committed to making the best building and construction solutions available in the West of the continent, will be handling all concrete works for all of Previs Developments’ projects now and in the future.

“Quality is the hallmark of our projects,” said Adetokunbo Adefuye, the Projects Manager for Previs Developments. “Instead of buying up ready-made buildings where we cannot ascertain the quality of materials used, constructing our buildings gives us to the confidence to talk about our projects.”

Other projects for Previs…
“We definitely have several projects on the table apart from Premiere Apartments. Premiere Maisonettes is an upper middle class serviced estate consisting of 36 units of semi-detached town houses. This development is particularly attractive for those who value a quiet environment and privacy.

For commercial projects, Builder’s Market is our landmark development sitting on about 35,000 sqm of land in Ikota. The Builder’s Market is a massive warehouse development mainly for players in the construction industry to sell their products.

Why Choose Previs?
We must be explicit: Previs operates a social business model as defined by Nobel Laurette Professor Muhammad Yunus – it is created and designed to address a social problem. Our antecedents are also very clear. PREVIS Developments Ltd is a Special Purpose Vehicle of James Cubitt Developments Limited with a mandate to deliver 10,000 lifestyle homes to Nigerian middle class families. Our vision is to make property ownership possible, enjoyable and meaningful for our clients. The James Cubitt brand in Nigeria has a 60-year pedigree of designing and delivering projects for clients such as Mobil, Shell, Diamond Bank and the United Nations.

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