CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The term real estate is commonly used interchangeably with real property to refer to land and all things permanently attached to it. Property in itself consists of valuable rights held to the exclusion of others (Betty and Ely,2008). The definition of real estate typically includes land, fixtures (attachment) to land, anything incidental or appurtenant to land that benefits the land owner and anything which is immovable by law. Real estate is a readable commodity with a specialized market due to its unique characteristics of geographical immobility, heterogeneity, fixity, indivisibility and indestructibility. In addition, investment in real estate requires a large capital outlay and is surrounded both by many legal factors and government regulations (Ventollo and Martha, 2001).

The decision to invest in real estate is fast becoming the preferred choice for most Nigerian investors who consider it one of the most stable forms of investment. In addition, the rapid increase in the price of Nigerian real estate has made many investors venture into real estate as a source of income. In recent years, the Nigeria real real estate market has seen a new breed of investors who are targeting capital growth/ appreciation as the most important source of return for real estate investment through their sale.

Nigeria in recent years has been flooded with developers bringing property into market for sale, rather than for the purpose of obtaining a stream of income in the form of rent. Ventollo (2001) simply defines a market as a place where buying and selling takes place. Due to the unique characteristics of related estate, the market for real estate all over the world does not conform to the definition of an efficient market. An efficient goods market is one where the products have close substitutes, many buyers and sellers who have perfect knowledge of prices and goods exist there is little government interference and the product is easily transferable. Real estate requires professionals who possess an understanding of the processes to mediate between the concerned parties who include but are not limited to financiers, developers, sellers and purchasers. The rapid increase in the prices of rel estate has made many investors and unregistered agents ve tire into real estate as a source of income.

1.2  STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The practice of estate agency is not a new concept in Nigeria. However, it has for a long time been associated purely with the commercial transaction of letting properties for landlords, buying and selling land, factories, houses, commercial premises, businesses as going concerns hotels and the ownership rights associated with them. The agents acts on behalf of the seller or on behalf of the buyer for a commission. In this regard, in addition to the firms registered to carry out this practice, there have also been a large number of estate agents practicing without any background knowledge and/or understanding of real property as a commodity and the real estate market as a special one. Hence there is need to assess the proliferation of unregistered estate agent in real estate market.

1.3  OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

 The major objective of the study is proliferation of unregistered agents in real estate market.

1.4  RESEARCH QUESTIONS

(1) what is real estate?

(2) what is real estate market?

(3) who are real estate agent?

(4) what is the rate of proliferation of unregistered agents estate market?

1.5  SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study gives a clear insight into the proliferation of unregistered agents in real estate market. The need for this study arise because estate agency as a profession in this country has seen an influx of numerous unqualified persons because there exists a conflict between professionalism and commercialism in the practice. These people come in to provide agency services in the real estate market yet they have no knowledge of either real estate or the market within which it is traded. As a result, the real estate market, is plaques by inefficiency and lack of transparency due to unregistered agents. The study also emphasizes on the need. to enforce a law that will govern the real estate agent.

1.6  SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The research focuses on the proliferation of unregistered agents in real estate market.

REFERENCES

Betty and Ely (2008) Basic Real Estate Appraisal: Principles and Procedures, (7th end) Thomson South Western, U.S.A.

Ventollo, L. and Martha, R.(2001) Fundamentals of Real Estate Appraisal, Dearborn Real Estate Educator, Chicago.