Fourscore Homes begins Shalom Place estate in Lagos

UNITED Kingdom-based property firm has made its foray into real estate development, with the approval for the commencement of 420 flats and another set of 110 flats also in Isheri North in Ogun State.

The estate by Fourscore Homes is less than a minute’s walk from the popular Isheri North estate built by the Lagos State Government, about a three-minutes drive from Shoprite, a three-minutes drive from the newly built fire station, and two minute’s away from the police station, making it the ideal residential estate for prospective homeowners and investors in the property market.

The company is a member of the NHBRC (National Home Builders Registration Council) in South Africa and Zurich Building Guarantee in Europe, as part of company’s presence overseas.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of Fourscore Homes, Femi Osibona, the firm specialises in the building of choice properties in different parts of the world, Osibona said. “ The infrastructure in Shalom Place is being handled by Julius Berger Plc, one of the most reputable construction companies in Nigeria, while architectural work is being handled by Play Architects, which have to their credit the design of exquisite homes in Ikoyi and Magodo.

The facility is being built on five hectares of prime land and each flat will be occupy 133sqm. Construction period is two years and a facility management company would take over the estate post-construction.

The land area has been secured and made better through a de-flooding programme of both the Ogun State Government and property owners.

Approval has been obtained from the government and construction work has started on the site and on completion, each home will sell for N25 million but the there is an agreement with Federal Mortgage Bank Nigeria (FMBN) so that prospective homeowners can secure mortgages at six per cent per annum.

Prospective homeowners at Shalom Place, he added would be given between two and three years to pay with “deposits as low as 10 per cent to start with but we can go as low as five per cent. Interested investors can do buy-to-let if they wish.”

He noted that elsewhere, developers ask for up to 30 per cent deposit but that he decided to go as low as 10 per cent to assist people buy the property. “Our rate is 20 per cent but we decided to do 10 per cent and we are ready to go even lower to 5 per cent. We want to put something in the market to help people.”

He observed that it is not that people do not have money to buy houses but that the deposit has always been the issue, saying “If someone wants to buy a house of N25 million and you ask him/her to deposit 50 per cent, they may not have N12.5 million but if you give them time, then they can do it.”

The company, he said would be flexible in the payment structure “because the main aim is to assist people to get their own homes. Now, you can have your own house because the first thing to measure success all over the world is your home, not your car because it is not an asset – a car is a liability because you spend money on it”.
He said the homes at Shalom Place would be sold off-plan and that prospective owners would have an opportunity to see their homes evolve.

Osibona further revealed that there is an arrangement with mortgage banks to fund people who do not have the money to buy homes in the estate. “The mortgage bank will give them loan at a maximum of seven per cent.”

Shalom Place would have top-notch facilities like a swimming pool, gymnasium, tennis and squash courts, a shuttle service, restaurants, a supermarket, laundry service, internet service, 24/7 security, 24/7 power supply, water treatment plant, health spa, ample car park, bar, street lights, salon, Jacuzzis, as well as steam and sauna.

“Shalom Place is going to be better than Shalom Apartments. I want to take Ikoyi to Isheri at a lower rate; at a cost price as a way of saying thank you because God has been faithful to me.