“The Real Estate Playbook: A Strategic Guide to Real Estate Investing (Zaram, 2023),” written by Dr. Sola Owomoyela is a 14-chapter book on the real estate industry and it is a fitting exposé for current and future practitioners who intend to make a success and also solve society’s problems. Of course, a book of such import cannot be written by a novice or newbie.
The writer is not a clout chaser, but someone with about two decades of successful real estate and legal practice.
In the book’s introduction, the author sets the tone of the entire work. He explains that the book exposes the vast opportunities, wealth and financial security in the real estate sector. He insists from the beginning that contrary to popular beliefs, real estate is not just about owning property, or bricks and mortar. So the book sets out for the reader, tested strategies for investing, succeeding and thriving in real estate, as well as brand building and risk management, among other things.
The first step in your wealth creation journey through real estate is to have proper perspective about investing. This will involve goal definition and assessment of your risk tolerance, budgeting and mentor engagement. In particular, a mentor is properly placed, experienced and connected enough to guide you through the complex world of finance and investment, helping you to develop your investment muscles.
The author believes that investing in real estate guarantees that wealth is preserved in families and across generations. He cautions however that you must have a vision (p8) before going into real estate, stating that “not having a vision alongside the desire to make money is in itself a problem.” In fact, vision must be real in the sense that it must not just be intangible; you must also back it up by how much success others in the profession are recording. And vision must also produce understanding of the processes. And the processes involved in real estate development are extensively highlighted in the third chapter of the book.
In the fourth chapter of this book (Pp27-32), The Real Estate Playbook, Dr. Owomoyela delves into a critical, probably the most overlooked issue of challenges faced by real estate investors. He lists them to include insufficient capital, lack of market knowledge, poor property selection and inadequate management, legal and regulatory compliance issues, among many. But it is not all problems: Dr. Owomoyela deftly slots in suggestions for his co-practitioners and potential entrants to deal with those challenges. In addition, he includes a chapter (chapter five) in which he enumerates the pitfalls and how to avoid them. Some of them include lack of integrity, flamboyant spending, and lack of accountability. While real estate business can fall as a result of mismanagement, it can also become endangered by several risks. Thus the author dedicates chapter 11 to opening up the common risks associated with real estate investment, including how to mitigate them.
In this book, Owomoyela gives sufficient tips on starting and setting up a real estate business, getting premium deals, and launching out on a budget. He gives potent tips on how to get your marketing and branding right, including such key items like logo, colours, and so on. For him, a real estate practitioner must get it right with his or her choice of who works with them. So, the book also contains counsel on the type of people to have in your team. And equally important is the idea that you need to employ and keep the talented individuals in your team to remain on top of the game, especially in the real estate sector. So the author gives attention (chapter 10) to what to do to retain talents in your team.
In the real estate firmament, one needs to be properly guided and given a sound base on which to run and excel. That foundation is not something to leave to chance. So, one needs a mentor who knows the nitty-gritty and can show the way. The 12th chapter of The Real Estate Playbook has got loads of information about how to locate your mentor. And in chapter 13 of the book, the author details the strategy that he employed as a guide for his course in the real estate sector. The author also provides a peep into the future of the real estate sector in Nigeria, and offers critical postulations for the nation and practitioners on likely trends and approaches. Practitioners and policy makers will find this section (chapter 14) of the book quite helpful in their projections for the benefit of the sector and the nation at large.
In a nutshell, Dr. Owomoyela brings in many years of successful practice in the real estate sector to maximally show that real estate is a proven source of wealth if done properly. And that way to successful real estate investment is what this 14-chapter book has come to show. It is a detailed guide, an how-to book on how to navigate the real estate industry, giving tips on setting up your practice and shining light on mistakes to avoid. It is a great addition to literature on real estate practice.
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.Olatunbosun is a broadcast journalist, fact-checker and book reviewer at Splash FM 105.5, Ibadan, and he can be reached via [email protected], and @molatunbosun on X and Instagram.