Uganda - In the past, people would acquire land through different individuals where one could even sell land more than twice to different people. During that time, it was difficult to get a trustworthy person selling a plot of land, even the middle man could sometimes be an impostor. The only rightful way one would acquire land with no strings attached, was when they got it from their relatives, which is not the case today. Today, real estate dealers have made the work of buying and selling land easy because in case anything happens, no one else will be sued except a specific property agent that one dealt with. Mr Nathan Obbo, the sales executive with Hosanna Real Estates, defines a real estate agent as person who buys and sells property or land to different people.

Their role

A real estate agent has a number of roles which include; offering a less risky option for land and property transactions, reflecting on the unscrupulous tendencies in which people have been cheated and giving professional advice to clients.

"The land has to be already established with authentic contacts of stakeholders such as the District Land Boards and Ministry of land. It helps us in surveying, valuation, development, documentation and planning of land sites or properties involved. This is because people are in most cases comfortable dealing with institutions other than individuals," he explains.

Considerations

Mr Obbo advises that before one decides on an agent to deal with, he or she should consider the credibility and reputation of the company. He asserts that reliability is another aspect which is reflected on by the people who have used the products from an agent. One should have the advertising details and profile of the agent as well as the agent's connection to the rest of the world on both local and international levels.

A real estate agent charges according to the operational cost involved as well as the location, accessibility, neighbourhood and utilities of the property or land available. Mr Obbo says that a genuine real estate agent should be licensed under the laws of land. He should be able to meet the expectations of a client such as providing the land titles for pieces of land bought, handing over vacant possession of land to those who have bought it and sticking to the contracts signed with clients. "The land and property titles have to aboard with rightful address and contacts and should have some form of administrative structures and hierarchies that communicates clearly and effectively," Mr Obbo says.

He adds that an imposter does vice versa of what a genuine real estate agent could have done. He will keep tossing the customer around when he is asked for the land titles and when he helps to surrender the papers, wrong documents are provided until one seeks for help in the courts of law.

Mr Obbo cautions that one can find genuine real estate agents in urban areas where most head offices are located though some might have established branches in localities where they have land or property. "One can get to such agents through the adverts that are put in both print and electronic media. A number of them have websites so they can be accessed from any part of the world," he says.

Land prices

The smallest standard unit 50 by 100 feet costs between Shs2m and Shs5m Mr Obbo says that it can even cost more depending on the accessibility, nearness to the city or town, development of the neighbourhood, facilities and utilities available. This varies from one real estate agent to another.

Juliet Kigongo

The Monitor/16/06/2011