Thank God it’s Friday!!! This was the feeling I had when I headed out for a meeting with a client at Lekki Phase one. Apart from the fact that the weekend was upon us, I was also very excited that we were finally closing this deal with Alhaja Sekinat. We have been on this transaction for weeks with several back and forth on the agreed purchase price and commission accruable to existing agents. I was excited that we were at the final stage. Our meeting today was for Alhaja and her lawyer to inspect the title documents provided by the owner and for payment to be made.
Prior to this time, we encountered several unserious clients and agents who tried to boycott us and conclude the transaction with the owner (Mr. Rasheed) and developer in charge of the house. Our standing and cordial relationship with the owner and developer however protected us from the fangs of these agents and clients. We also encountered clients who were not willing to pay for the value of the luxury and well-furnished 4-bedroom apartment. Several letters of offer were sent suggesting lesser prices to us to which the owner of the property already gave strict orders that he was not selling the house for anything less than 70 million Naira. We finally met Alhaja Sekinat and her lawyer. She was a beautiful and polite woman in her mid-sixties, and she was well to do. As a matter of fact, she was a very busy woman who left most of her affairs to her lawyer and other members of staff. Due to her busy schedule, she was not very patient, and it was very difficult to catch her on a phone call or maintain an email correspondence. However, here I was, going for a meeting with my boss where we were going to conclude the transaction. How lucky can I get?
We arrived at the venue first and we tried to prepare for the meeting. The title documents were ready, and all was in place for the meeting. My boss was trying to keep at bay the traffic of clients who were also bidding for the property. The apartment was as good as gone and therefore we were not trying to encourage other clients. Alhaja’s lawyer arrived first, and we commenced discussions with him pending the time Alhaja came. He inspected the Deed of Assignment and purchase receipt by which the apartment was transferred to the owner who now seeks to sell. He noted that the instructions for payment was that purchase price be made into a corporate account owned by the owner of the house. The lawyer said he was not comfortable with this arrangement, and this was for the purpose of future reference. He said he would prefer that payment be made into a personal account so that they can hold the owner responsible should any issue arise in the future. At Alhaja’s arrival, there was a major disagreement on this issue. Alhaja accepted her lawyer’s opinion and said she would rather make payment into a personal account owned by Mr. Rasheed instead of his corporate account. She maintained this stance even after she got on a video call with Mr. Rasheed who confirmed that he gave the instructions for the mode of payment. He explained that the reason for this arrangement was because his personal accounts were now dormant as he had not been in Nigeria or interacted with these accounts for quite some time.
I was appalled at the situation we had at hand. This meant we were not sealing the deal today or anytime soon. There was a major issue hindering us from helping Mr. Rasheed achieve his objective of selling his apartment within a short while. We had also forgone some of our very potential clients who would have salvaged this situation we were in. At the end of the meeting, we reached a conclusion that Mr. Rasheed will try to get his Ecobank account ready for payment to be made in. Alhaja and her lawyer also decided they were going to meet with the Developer in charge of the property to confirm all the information we gave them. I rolled my eyes severally after this meeting. This could only mean one thing. We might be going back to square one to look for clients who might be interested in buying. I mean, we already discouraged other prospects who might be able to help us out of this dilemma.
The weekend was a long and stressful one because I had to boost and put the property back in the market. I had to make several calls to see if we could find a serious buyer who could pay within days of the coming week. My very sweet and well thought out plan for the weekend vanished into thin air. All hands need to be on deck to see how we can still achieve success in the coming week.
My take home from all of this is one thing. The most important client at the payment stage is the client who pays first. There is no prioritizing for any client because they are the friend of a friend or because we are from the same state. The highest bidder is the best client and the client who pays first gets the apartment. This is when a transaction finally comes to a safe conclusion.
