When Is The Best Time To Look For Best Residential Apartment In Lagos?

I just want to share one very valuable tip on when you want to rent an apartment in Lagos so that you don’t painfully regret it.

First of all, let’s have a little introduction to the entity Lagos. Lagos State is the former capital of Nigeria. Lagos is the land of opportunity. It is the legendary Timbuktu of Nigeria. A place one must see before meeting the maker. As a kid when Lagos was the capital of Nigeria till now, there has been this mentality that people literally pick money on the streets of Lagos. If you can’t make it anywhere in Nigeria, you can always make it in Lagos the center of excellence. This mentality of Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike causes a tremendous inflow of all manner, shades and colour of people in droves into Lagos even when they don’t have any form of accommodation. Many claim to be indigenes even when they can’t speak yoruba, you can’t differentiate who the real Lagosians are.

What happens is that, the sudden population explosion in Lagos incredibly outpaces rate of growth & development and utilization of available resource. Jobs are not enough, transportation, infrastructure, healthcare, education, housing, etc. can no longer match demand. This is where daily living stops and daily hustle starts. Those American artists who sing/rap about hustling will be greatly humbled when they experience hustle the Eko style. Eko o ni baje o lol!

The Problem Of Accommodation In Lagos
This brings me to the problem of renting a residential apartment in Lagos. Anybody who understands Lagos very well will tell you that once you own your own apartment or house in Lagos and don’t pay rent, more than half your problem is solved. The money spent on rent in Lagos is astronomically high. The stress from the hands of most Lagos landlords is so hazardous to health more than anything. Almost all the residential apartments with exorbitant rent placed on them don’t worth it at all! They are grossly overpriced! Landlords just take undue, greedy and wicked advantage of demand being in excess of supply plus a government that don’t care about its citizens.

Flood Situation In Lagos
With the flood situation in Lagos getting out of hand, you don’t want to have an apartment in Lagos that is threatened by flood. It’s like all the undeveloped land in Lagos has been sold out. Rich politicians mostly control the real estate. That’s why some select privileged individuals can afford to own more than half of the property on a street. They want to buy up everywhere either by hook or crook. People don’t really buy land anymore to develop, they just buy shores, swamps, marsh, sand fill it and then erect structures as they desire or as their resources muscle can withstand. A large portion of Lagos sits on swamps, extended river banks, and all kinds of water bodies. Because the land is already saturated with water, the sand filling wasn’t done properly and no drainage system or the few drainage is blocked, flood effortlessly takes over most of the neighbourhood in Lagos once the rain starts.

Did I forget to mention the kind of disease you can contact via these floods?

When Is The Best Time To Look For Best Residential Apartment In Lagos?
The one best tip to avoid flood prone areas when searching for best accommodation in Lagos is to search during the rainy season! It’s very simple. That way you can easily tell the flood situation of the area. Unless you are ready live through any flood condition then don’t bother renting an apartment in any particular season. When I rented my place, it was dry season. That was the first time I rented a place. I was a novice, the compound is cool no doubt. The environment was ok. People asked if the area is flood prone I said NO. I didn’t quite understand their lingo until the first heavy rain. Like I said my compound is nice but the streets weren’t unfortunately no Moses to part the flood street for me. You don’t want to dress up in that lovely classy suit and be wading through flood water with elements of sewage and garbage.

You will know first-hand if the compound or accommodation is flooded. Also you can tell if the roof of the building is good or not. Don’t make the same mistake I made when looking for accommodation in Lagos.

Note, I focused on flood here, however it is not the only thing to consider when renting a place. Of course you’ll consider rent size, proximity to your office, proximity to a market, secure environment, clean water, power supply (unfortunately this may be the same for everywhere), transportation, peaceful landlord, etc. Good luck in your search for a place to live in Lagos. Eko o ni baje o!