
Konnected Minds Podcast
Konnected Minds: Success, Wealth & Mindset. This show helps ambitious people crush limiting beliefs and build unstoppable confidence.
Created and Hosted by Derrick Abaitey
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Konnected Minds Podcast
Unlock the Real Estate Market: A Guide to Property Market in Ghana
The property market in Ghana presents a golden opportunity for both local and diaspora investors, with prime locations seeing values double within 5-6 years compared to 10 years in markets like the UK. This eye-opening conversation with Leslie Brobey, CEO of Ocean B Properties and a 13-year veteran in Ghana's real estate industry, reveals insider knowledge crucial for anyone looking to invest in Ghanaian property.
Leslie shares why East Legon Hills stands as his top investment recommendation, having seen land prices skyrocket from $6,000 to $60,000+ in just a decade. He breaks down the rental economics - how a $190,000 apartment in Cantonments can generate $4,000 monthly with good occupancy, potentially recouping your investment in half the time of other markets. For diaspora investors especially, he explains why apartments offer advantages over large houses: better security, lower maintenance, amenities like backup power, and strong rental potential when owners are abroad.
The conversation tackles critical aspects often overlooked by buyers: which documents are non-negotiable when purchasing land (land title, site plan, and full search reports), how to verify legitimate ownership, understanding the implications of Ghana's leasing system (50 years for foreigners versus 99 years for locals), and why ensuring your lease explicitly states it's renewable could save your investment. Leslie shares cautionary tales of common scams, from multiple sales of the same property to divorced couples selling jointly-owned land without proper authorization.
Whether you're considering a $50,000 investment or planning to relocate to Ghana, this conversation provides invaluable guidance on navigating one of Africa's most promising real estate markets. Subscribe to stay connected with more wealth-building conversations that can transform your investment journey in Ghana and beyond.
Watch the video episode of this on YouTube - https://linktr.ee/konnectedminds
If I had $100,000, I would be looking at a place called East Legon Hills. 10 years ago you could probably pick up one plot of land for about $6,000, $7,000. At the moment you'd be lucky to pick up land there for about $60,000, $70,000. Business in Ghana that is going to be booming for the next 10 years. So $4,000 a month. If you times that by 10, that's $4,000, plus another two, that's 4 000. Plus another two is 48 000. You times up by 10 years, you're looking at 480 000, which probably is double the money that you've made.
Speaker 2:My first six months I didn't make a payment. Six months you made nothing. I didn't make a penny. What kept you going? What's my? What's the worst mistake? You've seen some of your clients do one of the biggest mistakes I see people do is worst mistake you've seen some of your clients do. One of the biggest mistakes I see people do is, if I'm buying my property today, what top three documents must.
Speaker 1:I never skip.
Speaker 2:First and foremost, if you're buying a land the first question that you want to ask is what do you think that? Well, the top five places in Ghana. That people can invest their money in the top five in Ghana. That people can invest their money in the top five first performers. You're welcome to Connected Minds Podcast.
Speaker 2:My name is Derek and I'm so happy you joined us today to watch this conversation. Now, if you're planning to invest in a land, a home for yourself, if you're a local or from the diaspora, I'm having a conversation with the CEO of Ocean Bee Properties today, Leslie Brobey, who has helped thousands of people find the right investment in real estate in Ghana, and he has helped a lot of people and prevented them from getting into the hands of the wrong people. The conversation I'm going to have today on this podcast is going to allow you to stop making mistakes when you move to Ghana and when you are in Ghana, Because I know that in Ghana, a lot of people's dreams is to own their homes, and this is why you must sit through and watch this conversation.
Speaker 1:How are you doing my brother Very well, thank you, and yourself.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm doing amazing. You know, I feel like we've had this conversation on the golf course Every conversation. I feel like we've had the entire podcast on the golf course.
Speaker 2:We have, indeed yes, we've talked about properties quite a bit and, um, certainly I'm sure you have a lot of questions for me I, I have a few well, let's see how it's gonna go and I um, I appreciate all the knowledge, though, um, you know, doing this, I've had a lot of people who have consulted, ask questions to. Max is one of them, you are one of them, and your brother is one of them as well, and you have been very instrumental in the knowledge that I've acquired to also start myself on this real estate business. So, having you sit here to share your knowledge, the many years that you've moved to Ghana to do this, it's amazing. Thank you very much, yeah, yeah, so me, my first question is why did you choose real estate in Ghana?
Speaker 1:it's quite strange. I mean, when I finished university in England, I actually worked as a real estate agent for about a month and I actually liked it. I really liked it because it's an area where you basically don't get paid for, you get paid on commission, so you have to go out and work for yourself. So I actually like the fact that I was in control over my own faith. But then I left it because, I mean, I had other ambitions as well. I wanted to get into the IT market because at the time it was booming. So then I decided to pursue something in IT because I felt an area where it was going to be instrumental for the foreseeable future. So I actually set out there to go and learn a bit about IT. So I went in the Atlantic and worked in the IT industry for many years and then, when I decided to come to Ghana, I decided to come with my ex-missus and then I basically didn't actually plan to do real estate.
Speaker 1:I basically fell into it because I came in. I had a shop that was ready which I was going to use for something else, but then I didn't use it because my ex-wife decided not to come to Ghana anymore. So then I came in, I had a bit of space. I said, all right, what should I do? And then I met this lady, a friend of mine, who was doing real estate, and she said, listen, the business in Ghana that is going to be booming for the next 10 years will be real estate. I thought I don't really know anything about Ghana. I barely even knew the suburbs of Accra. I couldn't drive in Accra, I didn't know anywhere. She she said, listen, it's a process, just be patient, learn your craft. I can show you the ropes and then basically, you can get into it. So then she basically introduced me to the property market and then I started it, my first six months I didn't make a penny, but I was prepared to learn.
Speaker 1:So for that reason I took time out to learn the business, to understand how it works, and in the process I learned quite a great deal. And then I got to understand the market from the very basic to the very top. So that's where I am now at this stage.
Speaker 2:Six months you made nothing.
Speaker 1:I didn't make a penny.
Speaker 2:What kept you going?
Speaker 1:It was my quest to learn more. So I basically felt like one I didn't know. I cried very well. So I had to learn the different suburbs, understand the market, because the property market has got different paths to it. There's the high end, there's the low end, there's the mid-range and everything. So if you're going into the market, you need to put yourself somewhere so that you can basically be able to understand it well enough to be able to understand how that market works. And I pitched myself in the high end. So I basically was working in the high end, although when I was learning I aimed to learn everything. So I understood the low end as well as the high end. So that's why it took me time to actually get to a place where I could make money.
Speaker 1:And I realized looking for a place for someone to rent in the low end wasn't any different from someone who's looking for a place in the high end. But if you rent somewhere, somebody in the high end, they'll probably earn about. They'll probably what's it called? Be renting for about $5,000 per one unit, which is similar to finding someone who's going to rent a place for about 100 cities, and I was looking at myself. I'd rather put effort into earning 5,000 to rent to somebody, as opposed to just making 100 cities. So because I picked myself at the high end, it was a little bit more challenging, which is why it took me time to earn some money, but ultimately, once I cracked it and I stood how the market works, it became easy. So then that's just that.
Speaker 2:Let me take you back a bit, right. So you're moving to Ghana. The plan was to come and open another business, you know, with your ex-wife. That didn't happen. But then, when you were in Ghana, what was your move? To also own your property.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, my objective was I needed to live somewhere. Of course, when I came, the family had a property, so I lived in a family property, because one thing that's really difficult in Ghana is renting, because when you rent every year, the rental value goes up, so you have to pay rent yearly, so it becomes challenging. So my objective was all right, let me stay in a family property, save up some money and then ultimately I'll buy a place to live, but one.
Speaker 1:Something about me I always wanted to live in canterments right that's the top end of there was it called the property areas in ghana, and I always wanted to live there, so I set myself out that I'll give myself time, I'll save up and ultimately buy something within the canman's area, which I ultimately did the experience you had in real estate help you to understand the decisions to make when it came to buying your own certainly because, like with anything, any property around the world primarily is location.
Speaker 1:Location is key to any area in the world I can think of. When you think of London, areas like nice bridge, kensington, new York, you think of Manhattan, manhattan and all these parts. Wherever you think of the world, they've got prime area. So if you're looking for property to buy, anyone the value to be consistent, stay where is or probably appreciate it's best for you to think of location. So for me, location is key to anything, right when it comes to property okay, what's the worst mistake?
Speaker 2:um, you've seen one of some of your clients do some of my clients.
Speaker 1:One of the biggest mistakes I see people do is they've saved up money. They come to ghana to buy property and the first thing they look at is why should I pay 200 or 300,000 for landing in East Ligon? Because I think East Ligon is too expensive In landing. Probably I could buy something in landing for probably much lesser than this. Blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 1:But what they're forgetting is when you look at property, like I said, location is key and East Ligon is one of the primary areas in ghana, or the prime areas in ghana, where you can buy property and it was.
Speaker 1:The value will stay the same or probably appreciate. So for me, like I said, I can't emphasize it enough location is critical. So people come in and then they're like okay, well, I, well, I'm not paying 200 for East Ligon, but I'm going to build in Kaswa, for instance, building a house in Kaswa or East Ligon costs the same, but the difference is you build a fabulous house in Kaswa and you build one in East Ligon. The rental values are different and if you build in Kaswawa, for instance, you can't earn dollars because in ghana the market, the high end people pay in dollars, the low end people pay in cds. So no matter how beautiful that house looks in karsuwa, it's never comparable to one in east lagoon, which probably may not even look half as nice or decent as the one in karsuwa, and that's a mistake many people make. So if you're buying, if you want to buy in Ghana, it's always important to think of the location.
Speaker 2:Do you know where Akeem Wenchi is? It's a village, a suburb of Akeem Oda. I have someone who owns a seven bedroom mansion in that village.
Speaker 1:You think?
Speaker 2:he made a mistake.
Speaker 1:It depends on what the investment goal is. If your investment goal is to build to rent, then obviously you could rent it out there, which I'm not denying it. You could rent property anywhere in Ghana, but the rental value would depend on the location of the property. That would be critical for how much money you make. So mistakes is relative. It depends on how you see it. But if your goal is to build to rent, then you should be looking at a prime area, Okay great.
Speaker 2:So a client of mine says that they have $100,000 and they want to invest it into Ghana. If you had that money, what would you do with it as a real estate agent?
Speaker 1:If I had $100,000 right now, I would be looking at a place called East Ligon Hills, which is next to Adjenga, north East Ligon. It's one of the up-and-coming areas.
Speaker 1:Potentially you may not be able to buy a house, but you can buy an apartment there so I would definitely buy an apartment within East Ligon Hills with a hundred thousand dollars and you're guaranteed to get good rental value as well as that property would up within the next two to three years, I think you would appreciate or probably double your money.
Speaker 1:Why do you think so? I believe so because East Ligon Hills for the past 10 years is probably the area that the property values have risen more than any area in Accra, because 10 years ago East Ligon Hills you could probably pick up land like one plot of land for about $6,000, $7,000. At the moment you'd be lucky to pick up land there for about sixty, seventy thousand dollars. So it's appreciated by more than ten times the value. And that for me, I think, is potential because once they start building access road to because they're working on the motorways at the moment they've actually built some roads around east ligon. It was to make it a bit more appealing. Once all the roads network is done and accessibility from East Ligon Hills to East Ligon is probably about 10 minutes at the moment If they build feeder roads, which helps, enables East Ligon to have access to it easily, I think the property values are just going to fly.
Speaker 2:So you still think there's more room for East Ligon Hills to experience an upscale? Certainly there's more room for East Ligon Hills to experience an upscale.
Speaker 1:Certainly there's more room for East Ligon Hills to experience an upscale. I mean, recently a developer I know just sold a four-bedroom house for half a million. That's an head-off, because for East Ligon Hills I mean even canterments, places like canterments people are selling townhouses for half a million, but somebody I know definitely sold a four-bedroom house for half a million. So that's telling you that area is probably one of the biggest areas that is, up-and-coming areas, that's coming up in Ghana. So for me it's a place where I'll be looking at if I had 100,000.
Speaker 2:So let's say, you know I'm not from the diaspora, right? So I don't have $100,000. So talk the diaspora, right? So I don't have a hundred thousand dollars. So talk to me about some new areas that people can put their money in, because maybe, maybe for most people they've, they don't have the cash, that type of money well I mean.
Speaker 1:The nature of the property market in ghana is interesting because developers are flexible. They don't necessarily ask you to pay money up front. For instance, if a developer is developing they, you can go and speak to them and say to them listen, I want to purchase one of your properties, but I don't have enough money. So what I can do is can I put down a deposit and then periodically I'll be paying over a period of time so that by the time you complete a building we sometimes they take a year or two years to complete I would have paid off the the property.
Speaker 2:So sometimes you don't always have to have the money up front to be able to purchase, but you are talking of plan sales yeah we've had a lot of issues with off plan with a previous company in ghana that scammed a lot of people in the diaspora and even local ghanaians and it's me. You know what that's happening to people. What's happening to people right now is that they're scared of going into things like that.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean there's a risk when it comes to off-plan, but, to be honest, they're reputable companies that have actually successfully completed projects. There's a project, for instance, there's a company called white wall properties that I actually work with on a regular basis. They've successfully built more than 15 projects and they tend to complete within the timescale that they actually put forward. So for me, it depends on who you're speaking to. You can't just speak to anybody who's going to rely on off-plan cells to actually build. But if you're speaking to developers, you need to speak to a developer that probably has got some money sitting now where they can use to build, and the off-plan sales that they make they just it's just supplementary to whatever they're building. So without off-plan sales, they can still carry on building and complete a task that they've put forward, they've actually set out to do. So it won't shouldn't be a problem you know some interesting thing right?
Speaker 2:um, there's a company that was I actually mentioned their name milo that they were doing a project in East Ligon, and there's a mate of mine that bought a property, a studio there, for $85,000 off plan, but he didn't have the money to pay everything. But he had already signed a contract and he paid, I think, about $30,000 before they finished. But he knew that by the time they finished building that property the finished value was going to be different from the off-plan value. So he waited when they finished, because I think he had a good relationship with Max who was the owner of the company. Once they finished the property, the dude now went to sell it and made a bit of profit on that. You see the way he worked it out.
Speaker 1:I mean I never thought about it. That's a smart move Because you see the way he worked it out. Yeah, I mean I never thought about it. That's a smart move because what people do in the property market the smart people that understand the markets you buy off plan at a cheap rate and then you flip it afterwards so by the time it's completed, the attention and the attraction of the completed building makes it more exciting for people. So people looking to buy or pay, so you can easily make like a 10 20 000 profit within a space of a year or year and a half while they're building. So it's actually a smart move to make.
Speaker 1:And mylar homes are north them. They they're probably one of the best in in the market. They actually got development coming up in um canterments, which I think is going to be a wonderful development because I think six floors and it's got free underground parking. It's a property that I would personally recommend to anybody that's looking to buy within the canterment Because, as it starts now, they've just started work, they've broken ground on the development and work is underway and it's coming up quite well. So I would definitely recommend it to people looking to buy within the canterment area.
Speaker 2:So there's something right where a lot of people buy. A lot of people, especially in the diaspora, they buy properties in Ghana purely for, you know, investment purposes. So, for example, the project you just mentioned um, how lucrative is it for somebody to invest in such a project and what can they potentially make? You know over what time span? And all of that Take us through.
Speaker 1:Okay, for instance, if you're looking at purchasing like an apartment within the Canterbury area. Canterbury's area is like high-end. That's where all the embassies are, that's where all the experts live. It is recommended by all the major countries that are in Ghana that if the espats come to Ghana, they should live within the Cantamens Laboni area, so it's an area where espats will come to Ghana and they will go straight there. Within that area there's always people looking for property because of the fact that the espas coming in planes are coming to Ghana every day.
Speaker 1:Tourism is growing in Ghana. Christmas is a boom time for Ghana. Easter is a boom time for Ghana, summer period is a boom time for Ghana. So tourism is growing in Ghana and I don't think there's enough properties to accommodate everybody that's coming into Ghana. You don't think so. I don't think so.
Speaker 1:A lot of people think they're empty properties, but the reality is think they're empty properties, but the reality is they're not empty properties, because if a property is empty, maybe whoever is marketing it for the person is not doing a great job. If you don't market it properly, then of course people are not going to know about it. But Cantamere's area is like a great catchment area for expats, that are, people coming into Ghana. So if you buy a property for, say, like a one-bedroom apartment for about $190,000, on Airbnb or even Bookingcom, you could put it out there and rent it out for, let's say, for argument's sake, about $150,000, sorry, $150 per night, and chances are you'll find somebody to rent that property. Even Christmas time properties just run out. People can't find properties to live in, so it spills over to other parts, like spinters to other parts of land if I spend, if I spend $195,000 or $190,000 on an apartment in Canterbury.
Speaker 2:If I spend that money today, how long do you think it will take me to make my money?
Speaker 1:If you're doing Airbnb and you're getting rental value of about 150 a night and you're getting up to about 80% occupancy rate, I think within about six to seven years you'll probably make your money back. And I'm talking numbers of 150 a night times 30, that be 4 500 a month. So a few times that for argument's sake even if you do 10 months of it, that's um 4 000 times um what's it called? Um 10 months that's 45 000. And I definitely know somebody who's actually making 4 000 every month in a, in a, in an apartment, a three-bedroom apartment in cantonment. So four thousand a month. If you times up by ten, that's four thousand. Plus another two is four thousand eight, eight hundred. So that's forty eight thousand forty thousand. You times up by ten years, you can have four hundred and eighty thousand, which probably is double the money that you've made. So we're looking at five years to get a return on investment.
Speaker 2:And if you did that because I hear you know a lot of real estate people in the UK where they speak about you know the UK property market doubles every 10 years. It's not exactly true. There's truth in it but it's not exactly a fact. Not everywhere 10 years. So let's say for argument's sake it takes 10 years for a property to double in the UK. You're saying that in Ghana, in the prime areas, it can take you about between four to five, max six years for that property to double.
Speaker 1:Certainly. It's amazing because 10 years ago properties in Canterbury were probably going for about a hundred thousand. For this I'm talking about townhouses. Townhouses, apartments were probably about 60,000, 50,000. But if you look at properties now, properties in canterments, like even one-bedroom apartments, are going for 190,000. So if you look at the rate of appreciation within a 5 to 10 year period, it's virtually double. So for me it's a no-brainer investing within those areas.
Speaker 2:But, leslie, don't you think it's a bubble, the whole property market in Ghana? Because almost everybody you know, and half of the people I know, are into real estate.
Speaker 1:It's because there's a demand for it. I mean, how many people have you met that have gone into real estate and lost money? I've never seen anybody that's gone into real estate.
Speaker 2:Apart from the big scam that happened, you know there's a company that scammed a lot of people which he can't recover because his numbers were crazy.
Speaker 1:It wasn't working out a lot of people which he can't recover because his numbers were crazy. It wasn't working out. No, I mean, scams do assist and when you're going into the property market you have to go in with your eyes open. You can't be naive and just go and just buy property from anybody. If somebody's giving you something which is too good to be true, then obviously there must be an element of you know, unscrupulousness being undertaken by this, this, this person. So you've got going with your eyes open. You can't be naive and think that anything that somebody's saying, or I can sell your property in cantonment for 50 000 and you believe you, and then you just go and put money down to buy. That for me is a bit ignorant. If, if you don't cause cautious about the mechanisms that goes into building a property, because 50,000 is impossible I mean the land itself how much would it cost for them to be able to actually build and sell it to you for 50,000? So you've got to go in with your eyes open.
Speaker 2:So that's how I look at it. So, to my audience and the people that are hooked onto this conversation, I want you to leave it in a comment right now If you had $50,000 to invest in a property in Ghana, where would you love to invest that money? Drop that in the comments and let people you know comment and then support you if they think that's a good idea or that's not. Where would you invest your $50,000 in Ghana property? Where would you do that? All right, so the next part of this, this conversation I really want us to go into some of the dangers and the mistakes that people can avoid, and my first question is you know, if I'm buying a land or a property today, what top three documents must I never skip?
Speaker 1:three. First, and if you're buying the land, the first question that you want to ask is do they have a land title? If they don't have a land title, it's still not a problem. But you need to find out if they've also got a site plan. And when they give you a site plan, sometimes people think having a site plan alone and going to lands commission to check to see or do do a search to see whether it's actually legitimized enough. No, that's not enough for me.
Speaker 1:One of the most critical things you need to do is you need to get a surveyor to go on the land that they're supposed to be selling to get the coordinates and your surveys. From the survey that they do, they'll come up with a cadastral plan which will be the site plan that they will give you. And that site plan that they give you is what you take to lands commission to actually do the search and the two types of searches. There's the basic search and there's a full search. The full search probably takes about two weeks. I'll recommend going for the full search and with the full search they. The full search probably takes about two weeks. I'll recommend going for the full search and with the full search, they'll give you a history of everything about that land and, based on that, that'll give you an insight into the land, to know whether, to know who owns it, who's owned it in the past. The history of the land, basically, and that's it, and then that's show.
Speaker 2:At which point do I say yes, I'm happy, you know, take the money okay.
Speaker 1:So now the person is telling you they own the land. You've gone and done the search. The search will give you results. So now you've got to verify that whoever's selling the land to you, the details they've given you matches whatever is on the site planning. So at that point you know whether there's a land title. If there's no land title, then you've got to be sure that whoever is telling you the land you can verify that that person is the actual owner of the land. And that will involve doing some research. It's best to also speak to the local people who live in the area that understand that land, knows who owns the land. Maybe they don't probably know, but they'll know who's probably had it or probably been involved with that land for a while.
Speaker 1:So you do your own due diligence in the process, just so that at least you can be confident that whatever the person that's selling you the land is saying is is actually the case. And based on that you can then be satisfied with your checks and whatever you've done, that this person is authentic. But even at that point, when you're paying for it, you should also go to try and pay in stages. I wouldn't just pay all the money straight away. I'll pay to a point and say, all right, you're selling me this land. Before we can get to the point where I've completed the payment, I may want to go and register the land myself. So then you go to lands commission, pay the stamp duty, pay what was the requisite cost. Then you go to Lance Commission, pay the stamp duty, pay the requisite costs that you need to pay and then go start starting that process of registration.
Speaker 2:Let me stop you here for a minute. If you've been watching this show, I want you to subscribe and become part of the family. We are on a journey of changing the lives of people on this channel and we appreciate you for being here, but if you haven't become part of the family, connect with us, hit the subscribe button and let's carry on the conversation. So there's a project I'm doing for one of my clients, um, through my company, crocs homes. Um, somewhere in oeb right and while my workers were working, opposite there's a woman that owns a property that she's building on and they came to stop her from working.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I went there to ask you know what's happening? And apparently they said there's a judgment on that land. She did everything, Everything she did, Everything you're saying she did, but they said there's a judgment on that land. For that reason she can't work. Why.
Speaker 1:Because what's happening is lands may probably have been sold to multiple people and one of the people that probably was the land was sold to took it to court. So it's critical that when you're actually engaging, when you're engaging people with, when you're buying land with from people, you should also get a lawyer involved, because they can then also go to the court system and go and check to see whether there's any judgment on that land or not, because it's very important to engage a lawyer in the process at this point, a client has lost their money no, they haven't lost their money, okay?
Speaker 1:I mean, obviously there's a judgment, so they would have to go and look into it and see what the situation is. So at that point you'd have to get in a lawyer to go and investigate and find out why there's a judgment against that land and for what reason. Maybe it could be like two people within a family that have a conflict and maybe this half wants to sell, that half doesn't want to sell, and then they're arguing. Or it could be, like we just said earlier, multiple people that purchased the land and one party feels like they owned it before you only so they entitled to that land.
Speaker 2:So those are the things that you need to. Basically, you are on the ground, right, so you know what goes on here. I mean, what I did not pick up, which I know, but I want my audience to know, is how many years have you been doing this? I've been doing this for about 13 years, right, so that's a great experience. Now, what are some of the scams that you hear on the ground?
Speaker 1:There's several scams Like, for instance, there could be a couple that are going through divorce. The board land is titled Both names on the land. So I'm buying from you, your name is on there, but your wife's name is also on there and your wife lives abroad. You decide to sell the land because she's not around. So you decide to sell it.
Speaker 1:But if you're diligent and you smile enough to understand the process of buying land, the first thing, like I said earlier, is you get a site plan, go to lands commissions, you do a full search. You do the full search, the person's name comes up and then there's an additional name on there. So you ask the person okay, so who's this additional person? Say, oh, forget about the person. And you're like, no, I can't forget about the person. So then at that point you ask the person can you bring that other party to the table so that we can all discuss it? And then all of you sign in and because obviously it's a scam, they can't bring them. So at that point you pull out a deal. So that for me is a red flag and straight away you have to pull out. Because you don't pull out, you go and buy. There could be litigation afterwards wow.
Speaker 2:Another question for my audience what scares you the most about investing in Ghana? And I want to. I want you to leave the comment below. Somebody else is going to tell you the experience in the comments, so let's drop it in the comments and, yeah, let's keep the conversation going. We are going to talk about from a diaspora perspective. You live abroad, you want to invest in a property in ghana, or either is a land or an investment property or a home that you want to have for yourself. Delhi's 99 years, 70 years in fact, from for. For a lot of the diasporas who are not Ghanaian, african diasporas who are not Ghanaians, they get 50 years, 45 years. Now talk to me about this lease.
Speaker 1:Okay, nature of the lease is. In Ghana it's a different type. There's a freehold, there's a lease, yeah, something they call assignment and all sorts. Ghana's law states that if you're a foreigner, you can buy property in Ghana, no problem. Nobody will have any qualms about you buying property in Ghana. But you limit to 50 years on a lease that 50 years is renewable. So you could buy a property for 50 years and it's renewable. If you go in and you live abroad, you can buy property here and you can get a 99-year lease. So that's essentially in a nutshell. You could buy property with no problems if you're a foreigner. If you're a local person, you could buy a 99-year lease.
Speaker 1:But what's critical about the lease is within the lease. Is this within the lease agreement? It is important that it states that it is renewable, because if it doesn't stay within the lease that is renewable, then once the 99 years or the 50 years is up, it reverts back to the person that sold their property to you and they're not obligated to actually renew it for you. You'd have to renegotiate that. They can choose not to give you a new lease and if they choose not to give you a new lease, there's nothing you could do about it, and for me, I think that is a major time bomb that could happen to the property market in Ghana, because nobody's talking about it and that worries me.
Speaker 1:I don't know why, but it's the law that once you lease to somebody and you don't put within the lease that it's renewable, you're not obligated to renew it. So that could be a problem and I think the government ought to look into it and probably do something about it. So that could be a problem and I think the government ought to look into it and probably do something about it. Why do you think it will be a problem? It will be a problem because if you've, for instance, if you've bought an apartment for like 200,000 and within the lease you're a foreigner and it says it's 50 years 50 years is not a long time, it could come within like a short period and then the 50 years is up there's no statement within the indenture agreement that that property is renewable. The person that owns that land can say to you sorry, but your lease is up, I'm not going to renew it. That property is theirs from that point onwards.
Speaker 2:So let's say a scenario where it's actually renewable. Let's say it states in there that it's renewable. Yeah, am I buying the land again or the property again?
Speaker 1:What's really happening. That is where there's a bit of an issue for me too as well, because it's not clear as to how much it will cost, because they would actually look at the market rate to determine how much it will cost. So, depending on how much they believe the market is at that time, that's what they'll be asking for, and also typically, of Ghanaians. Ghanaians don't like usually when it comes to these things. They probably say to you, we want our money up front. So unless the person is flexible enough and say, all right, I will take. Maybe the market rate of that land is maybe 200,000. I'll take it in installments, so maybe every year pay me 20,000.
Speaker 2:And then but that's crazy. I mean you own a land in East Ligon prime area. You bought it for $200,000 30 years ago and then now that land is a million and the family comes to you because the lease is over and then they tell you that pay even a quarter of that. If your income has not gone up exponentially or your children have not been able to carry on with the business, how are you going to be able to afford to pay that?
Speaker 1:well, that's a challenge that homeowners have to really, I mean, the reality of it most people wouldn't experience this in their lifetime is the generation, the people that they bequeath the land to, the ones that are going to experience it. But because of that reason, I think most people don't actually touch on that topic. People just overlook it. But it will be an issue at some point.
Speaker 2:And that as simple as it is. If my children can't, you know, go and build their own properties and they want to stay here and the time comes where the family wants them to pay a portion of the lease, it'll be a problem, you know it'll be a problem.
Speaker 1:They can't afford it, because whoever owns the land owns the land and they they can set the terms for terms of reference for the next generation to pay for that plot of land. And if they can't afford to pay for it, then they'll just lose the property. As simple as.
Speaker 2:I have a friend who usually posts something online and usually when he posts he's very much telling people in the diaspora don't build seven bedrooms, five bedrooms, ten bedrooms in Ghana and then because when you do, you probably never get to live in there long enough before you pass. What's your view on that?
Speaker 1:it's interesting because there's um always issues about this going on in social media, about some person who built a seven bedroom house and because they're old and they're retiring to ghana, they're not even strong enough to climb the stairs to go upstairs, so they're having to live in their room downstairs and basically it's the house helps and the other people that are family members that they build a house to look after and they're the ones that actually enjoying it. And for me, I think that's a classic case of people not really understanding what their needs are, because the reality is a seven-bedroom house you build, your kids you're building out that. You've come here and stay there over like summer holidays and whatnot of a period of time with your kids. Your kids probably are not interested in ghana that much, so they probably don't come. And even if they do come, they come on their own, but they want to stay in the prime parts of akra because if you say you built in katsua for argument have arguments and they come traveling from, say, east Ligon to cast well, where most of the nightclubs, the bars and the things that happen in the Encounterments Laboni is Ligon. Traveling back to cast, where every evening is just a chore. So they probably won't want to live there, so they'll probably want an Airbnb within their Laboni, cantermans, east Ligon area. So for that reason it doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1:And even if the kids live in Ghana and you build as time goes on, when they get to 21, 22, and they finish university, they all move out. So you've got a big house to live in. You've got an empty nest. Who are you going to stay there with? Even cleaning will be a challenge, because it's a big house. You can't do it on your own, so you have to bring people.
Speaker 1:So for me, if I'm advising people in the diaspora, there's so many apartments available to buy in the Labone-Cantamans area as well as East Legon. So why don't you just go there, purchase an apartment, a two bedroom apartment, even if you think you're going to be older and won't be able to climb stairs? Nowadays people are building with lifts in there. If you can't plan, you can even live on the ground floor or the first floor, where you wouldn't have to climb many stairs to get into your apartment and it's a lot more easier. And if you've got an apartment, you can lock your door.
Speaker 1:There's 90% of apartments in these areas have 24 hour security. They've got swimming pools, they've got gyms and all these modern facilities that you can think of in any property. They've got all that available. So it makes more sense to have those type of apartments. And coupled with that, you can also make money, because when you're out of the country which majority of them probably spend nine months out of the country you can rent that property for nine months and still generate money, so that can become an income for you as well. It makes more sense to have that.
Speaker 2:Do you think the whole apartment style is going to become a thing in Ghana, where people will be scaling down massively?
Speaker 1:Increasingly. That's where people are moving, people are looking at. Funny enough, my 95-year-old auntie lives in an apartment in Canterbury on the ground floor. She used to live in Kumasi but now she lives in an apartment in Canterbury, so for me it's a no-brainer. I mean, as you get older, apartment is easier to manage. It's small, it's a small unit. You stay there. You can access your room quite easily. You don't have to climb stairs to go into a bedroom. It doesn't. It just makes sense to actually have an apartment, live in an apartment.
Speaker 2:One of my older mentors. He had a five bedroom beautiful house in his leg on many years ago and then another one in Hacho. Recently he's moved to bellagio. He said, derek, I just put all those properties together, sold them and moved into comfort, and the reason I did is because when the power goes off, I don't need to worry. When there's water issues, I don't need to worry. The only thing I need to worry about are the service charge and the other things. I need to pay the company so that they can take care of everything for me. I just drive in, park, there's security, everything, just like you said. So I think, yeah, definitely, it looks like that's the way people are going to be living.
Speaker 1:Oh, without a doubt. I mean, like you said, the security element, the fact that you don't worry because when the power goes off nowadays we've seen quite a lot of power cuts and the power goes off, the generator kicks in so straight away. So you live in an apartment, you don't even experience power cuts. Your corridors are being cleaned every day. The car park is clean every day when your car is parked. There's security there that's monitoring the car. There's CCTV all over the place. So you feel secure in a place like that and you know you're comfortable, essentially because nobody can come in trouble. If somebody wants to come and visit you, they have to go through. If you don't want to entertain anybody, nobody can just come to your door to come and disturb you. You don't have to worry about anything when you go. You lock your door, you leave secure.
Speaker 2:I've heard you say this a lot that the average Ghanaian has a dream of owning their own property. Why is that?
Speaker 1:I think generally Ghanaians have this idea that one of the biggest achievements for any Kainéan usually from my interaction with many Kainéans is to own a property.
Speaker 1:And so Kainéans in diaspora they aspire to just own a property. So first thing people do when they make money, first thing they do is go buy land in Ghana so that they can build on it. And also there's people that are living in diaspora go buy land in Ghana so that they can build on it, so that they can. And also there's people that are living in a dashboard. Living in Ghana, they probably live in properties which are not exactly the best. They probably got family living in properties, maybe in the villages or probably in some areas which are not exactly the most pleasant, so they want to upgrade once they make a bit of money to live in a nice house where they're more comfortable. So if you go to Ghana, anywhere you go to in Ghana, any suburb you go to in Ghana, you see buildings coming up. So it's something I think Ghanaians are just proud of and something everybody likes to do and accomplish.
Speaker 2:So that's young Ghanaian who doesn't have the hard dollar you're mentioning, but still has dreams and accomplish. So that's young Ghanaian who doesn't have the hard dollar you're mentioning, but still has dreams and aspirations.
Speaker 1:But the reality of it is there's so many options Like, for instance, there are mortgages. I mean, as long as you earn up to a certain amount. There's the option of getting a mortgage which obviously you mortgage. You can get it after about 15 years and you pay gradually, like you pay monthly, in over 15 year period you own the property. So for me I think it's not a lost cause. If you can't afford that front money of whatever people are requesting to actually buy a property, you can always go on the option of a mortgage. You could speak to developers. They'll give you payment plan.
Speaker 1:Even recently there was a client of mine that was looking to buy a property. She lives in america and she wants to buy a property in ghana, in italy gone. She didn't have enough money. So basically I negotiated with a developer and the developer said, all right, pay a set amount and tell me how much you can pay over like a one-year period, because the property is self-planned, it's going to be completed within about seven months. So he gave her the option to tell him how she would want to pay and so she came up with a plan and he agreed. So she put a deposit of 50,000 and then she's got like seven months to pay off the rest of the money and hopefully by the time she's back for Christmas the property will be ready and the property she can move in.
Speaker 2:How, how regular is this for the average Ghanaian? Because you see a lot of the young people. They don't have as much money, you know, and then you say that, okay, well, they can go through the mortgage route.
Speaker 1:But they don't even have. I mean there's an area where I think like, for instance, if you look at the Ghana market. I mean there's an area where I think like, for instance, if you look at the Ghana market, there's a 1.8 million deficit in homes in the lower to middle income bracket. It's a problem because for me, I think anybody who's able to crack the challenge of actually finding the right like maybe uh, how do I describe it? If the person that's able to crack like the right financial packages and the right building materials and everything to build for like the lower income, that person is just going to make serious amount of money because there's a massive gap of homes that needs to be built for the lower to middle income people. So that's where the challenge is and I think the government ought to step in, because I'm surprised that one of the biggest industries in ghana is the property market but the government hasn't really done much to actually alleviate people in the lower to middle income bracket to actually get onto the property market, because for me, that will create enough opportunities for even young graduates coming in.
Speaker 1:They could go into the insurance business, where they'll be providing insurance for these homes. They could go into the mortgage business, where they'll all be financial services people, where they'll be selling mortgages and different types of services to different people within the country. So I think it's an open and the government ought to step into this, and for me it's important. I mean, the ministry of housing always talks about going into building affordable housing, but even though they're building, they're not building enough to actually clear off that 1.8 million deficit in homes that we're actually lacking in Ghana at the moment. There's a big problem for us and I think it has to be done.
Speaker 2:Let me stop you here for a minute. If you've been watching this show, I want you to subscribe and become part of the family. We are on a journey of changing the lives of people on this channel and we appreciate you for being here. But if you haven't become part of the family, connect with us, hit the subscribe button and let's carry on the conversation. I mean, I understand what you're saying. You know, like in the UK we have, you know, the government introduced the help to buy. There was also, you know, something else which I think is by the banks the shared ownership. Yeah, I don't really like them.
Speaker 1:I don't like them as well, because the challenge in the end is when you're selling. The government makes quite a bit of money out of it.
Speaker 2:But in Ghana I have seen some ads on the internet where it speaks about the government is going to support people that have in rental. Something like that If you want to rent, they will support you, but I think if you went towards ownership rather, that would help.
Speaker 1:Rent to own? Yeah, something like that would help, but we don't have that at the moment. No, we don't have that at the moment. No, you know, but those schemes has to come from the government. I think if the government put $1 billion into the mortgage scheme in Ghana, that would make it easier for developers to latch onto it and then probably but don't you think that would also affect the property investment market in Ghana?
Speaker 1:No, okay, it won't affect it. Simply because developers focus on the middle to upper income bracket to build, because those properties within the middle to upper income bracket people in the lower to middle income cannot afford it, so it wouldn't have any impact on them and the people that purchase within the lower sorry, the middle to upper income, people from the diaspora who have had a big impact within that bracket, because a lot of them are the ones that are buying those apartments and renting them out.
Speaker 2:So I've got a question for my audience before I ask you this question If you're in the diaspora, have you ever tried to own a land or a house in ghana, and what challenges did you face? Okay, leave that in the comment. Rent is very expensive for the average person in ghana. Why?
Speaker 1:it's interesting because if you look at development in Ghana, most of the materials that goes into development are imported.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:So, for instance, if you're buying a sink, you're buying towels, you're buying okay, you get roofing in Ghana, but even the materials that are used to build these roofing, half of them are probably imported. So most, even the materials that they use to build these roofing, I think they're probably imported. So most of the things that goes into building is imported. So if you import stuff and you build, it's very difficult for you to charge in cities, which actually wouldn't get you, the developer, your money quick enough for you to be able to make a real profit. So it's best for you to charge in foreign currencies, because by so doing it gives you some semblance of making the money that you put into developing your building back. That's why rent is so high in Ghana.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but even the ones that are in cities, they keep going up. The property has already been built, it's been built, the person is living in there, they've lived there for two years and after two years you're telling them that it's going up by 120%, or 150% to be honest.
Speaker 1:I mean legally. The people can't just put up rent by any amount that they want, but they do. If they do, then there's always mediums where you can seek redress from these situations, like the rent control people. They can come in and you can take the landlord to rent control and then just advise them about the situation they're in, where the landlord is probably exploiting you by charging you exorbitant rent. So Ghana is not a lawless country. You can't just do what you want. There are always mediums where you can actually seek redress and rent control is a. Ghana is not a lawless country. You can't just do what you want. There are always mediums where you can actually seek redress and rent control is a very good place where you could take your landlord to seek that self-redress if you feel like you're being exploited.
Speaker 2:I think what we haven't really touched on as well is the top. You've mentioned it right, so I was very careful in coming back again to ask you as what you think that well, the top five places in ghana that people can invest their money top five in ghana all right in the top five.
Speaker 1:First and foremost, akra, being the major capital, major major city in ghana, is probably the number one place to invest. The areas like Kantemens, laboni, osu Ridge, joe Luis, legon and where else who else haven't I mentioned. So those are the top places where you can invest because there the return on investment is absolutely great, so you can't go wrong there. The next place I'll say is Kumasi. There's areas like Ujur that are buying Asukwa and a place called Santasi. Those are like the four areas in Kumasi where at the moment it's booming, where you can actually, you know, buy land and property there and probably still make a good return on it. And then the third place is Takradi. Takradi, also the port city, still makes a good return on it. And then the third place is takratakrati. Takrati, also the port city, is also an area where it's also booming.
Speaker 1:A lot of people because of the discovery of oil, a lot of people go into takrati and there's more commercials.
Speaker 1:So hotels and like apartments are being built around that part of of takrati where people go there, rent and live there. So those are the places, but not forgetting there's also places like adan and places like abri which are up and coming. Abri is not so expensive, but abri is probably one of the areas where most people are moving to because of the temperature and stuff about abri is very nice lines, environment, the, the landscape and everything is quite beautiful. So people actually are attracted to that. They like girls, so, if you like places where it's close to the sea also, places like hukubita is also attracting a lot of people. It's not so expensive but because of the sea it becomes a bit more interesting for people now wanting to live close to the sea and also be close to Accra. Prampram is also another place which is also interesting where people also look to those areas and it's not too expensive. But you get close to the sea and it's attractive for a lot and panthers are looking for places where they can build and have beautiful homes there.
Speaker 2:If you were coming back to ghana today without the experience right that you have right now, what would you have done?
Speaker 1:in terms of in terms of coming to settle here and have your business here me, I always advise that because of what you just mentioned earlier about rents being so expensive, because sometimes people underestimate how difficult it is, because you might have enough money to pay your first and second year rent, but then you're hoping to work to earn money to pay your third and fourth, fifth rental rent that you're going to be living in.
Speaker 1:That, for me, I think, can be a bit dangerous. So for me, I advise that you should always own a home before you move into Gamma, because once you own a home, that headache of having to pay rent is gone, because if you've got young kids, for instance, you still have to pay school fees. School fees is probably one of the most expensive things, especially if you want to take your kids to an expensive school. So you've got to think about where you want to live and the schools that you want to go to, and then buy a home close to where you're going to live so that it makes it easier for you to access your school back and forth. Obviously, you have to pick them up and take them to school as well. So for me, I believe it's important to own a home when you come into Ghana to live here.
Speaker 2:Own a home. You heard it Own a home. I'm of the same view. Actually, when I was moving to Ghana, I was considering an apartment as well. As you know. A house, A house. And the reason I didn't go for an apartment was because I had young kids and, you know, I wanted them to be able to play around. But when I moved to Ghana, that's when I realized that there are so many places that my kids can go and then ride a bike and run around that I didn't really have to do it in my house, In close proximity to some of the places where people like to live.
Speaker 1:they places where people like to live.
Speaker 2:They're like the desirable area, so it's a no brainer. You don't necessarily need a house, but I didn't know, I didn't know. But when I came here that's when I was like, hold on, they don't even run around in the house as much. They do it indoors and if they want to go out there are so many places they can go to. So I definitely do think embracing the apartment style a lot. It's, it's much easier and if you're moving and then you're concerned about security, then apartment is probably a good place to. You know, um, to start from now I I get a lot of questions from people and one of the questions I usually get is derek, I want to get into real estate. You know something like what you're doing. How can somebody get into it?
Speaker 1:well, I mean, first and foremost, you need to understand the different areas. You need to understand where it's prime, where it's not prime. Um, you need to um have an understanding of who the developers, who the good developers, who the bad developers, who the ones the good developers, who are the bad developers, who are the ones to speak to, who probably are consistent in terms of the delivery and the quality of the work that they do. You need to understand the basics of the business. Once you understand it, because our job is to recommend properties to clients.
Speaker 1:If you're going to speak to someone and you're not sure about the developer, that's quite dangerous, because if the person puts a deposit down and the developer doesn't deliver, your reputation is down the drain. So you've always got to be careful about who you recommend and you should know exactly who you're talking about. If the person is not a reliable developer, they could let you down big time. So, for me, I think you need to understand the market from that perspective, so that you know exactly what you're talking about, what you're doing, rather than just looking at the shiny websites and whatnot that people have actually built and based on that thing, because they've got a lovely website and it's saying the right things. That means they, equally, will be delivering as they say. It doesn't always follow, because people will let you down if you're not careful. So understanding the market, understanding who the best people to recommend their properties, is probably key to being a good there was an agent that um, I know a man who worked with him.
Speaker 2:He was abroad when the property was being sold. It got sold. He had the keys abroad because the client came to check everything on the property before he traveled, so he didn't know the transaction was going to go through. He traveled abroad and while he was away the property got sold. And when he got, when he got to ghana, he started getting phone calls from the client. And you know properties being sold, I want traveled abroad. And while he was away their property got sold. And when he got to Ghana he started getting phone calls from the client you know property's been sold, I want the keys, I want to get into the property. And then the man goes wait, who did you give the money to? And he said I gave it to your agent, called the agent, booked the flight, came to Ghana and realized that the guy was waiting for you to mature before he pays the money to the man. And the man told him look, if I don't have the money, I'm not going to give the keys to the client, because I should have been paid.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:What's your view on that?
Speaker 1:Well, for me, I think the person buying the property had too much trust in the agent, because if you buy a property, you obviously know the agent is just a broker and if you're going to pay through the broker or you're going to be working with the broker, you've got to be certain that the person that owns the property which comes down to what we were speaking about earlier about the checks that you need to undertake, the due diligence that you need to undertake you need to be certain that whoever you to undertake the due diligence that you need to undertake, you need to be certain that whoever you're buying the property because, like you said, he put in treasury bills and was gonna the person could have just taken off with the money and that would have been it and you would have a problem because whoever you're buying the property of probably never signed off.
Speaker 1:The broker may have signed off. So you, thinking that you were buying a property from this person via the broker, you probably, from what you've said to me sounds like they bought the property of the broker yeah which, for me, can be a bit dodgy.
Speaker 1:so I think it's important that when you're buying a property, you look at the due diligence part of it and be didn't take that seriously and make sure that whoever you're paying the money to is actually the owner, or else you could come unstuck if you're not careful.
Speaker 2:Is there anything?
Speaker 1:And also, you never mention the sales and purchase agreement in the process. I don't know if the producers, because when you're buying a property, they've got to give you a sales and purchase agreement and that agreement stipulates the conditions of the sales. So at that point, whoever's buying? Now, if you're buying a property, you need to be able to read through it and know that the person is signed off, because it's a bid for the owner to sign off, not the broker, and the broker usually tends to be a witness. So if all that's done and they provided you with that then I don't see why you'd give the money to the broker. So for me, I think the buyer made a big mistake. That was definitely dodgy, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2:Leslie, is there anything that I could have asked you that I didn't?
Speaker 1:Lots of things that you could have asked me.
Speaker 2:Okay, let's talk about it.
Speaker 1:Professionalism within the industry. Okay, I think it's important that when you're dealing with property, you deal with professionals, because there's so many types of agents. Some agents just sit on the trees and, because they're local, they understand who's selling. Because if somebody wants to sell and they put like a for sale outside the house, even though it's an agent maybe a professional agent that's put up property outside the property, the local agents who probably don't have an office they're just people that are local agents who probably don't have an office, they're just people that are local might probably see it and then they'll probably find out from somebody that this person is looking to buy.
Speaker 1:And if you want to sell your house and somebody approaches you to buy, you probably just welcome the idea that they've got your buyer. But in the process, like, like we just mentioned, that somebody sold property, the broker took the money and blah, blah the person probably could do exactly the same, the same thing, and then you can have a problem. So for me, I think it's important to be dealing with professionals when you're buying or if you're a seller or a buyer. Either way, it's important to find the right people within the industry to work with, or if you're a seller or a buyer. Either way, it's important to find the right people within the industry to work with, or else you'll be making a grievous mistake.
Speaker 2:If somebody has a lot of money on your last sentence or two, you would advise them to invest into properties now in Ghana, I mean it's a no-brainer, okay.
Speaker 1:The returns in properties is phenomenal. There's no other business in Ghana where you can get that type of returns. And that applies to properties wherever you are in the world, because people always need a home, especially in a society where, like Ghana for instance, there's a lot of urbanization going on, so people are constantly moving from the rural areas to the urban areas. When they're moving to the urban areas, they have to live somewhere. There are people going abroad. Ghanaians go abroad. Like I said earlier, ghanaians' ambition is always to own a property. Once people go abroad and work and earn lots of money, they want to come and buy a property here. So, as an investor, it just makes sense to actually invest your money within the property because, no matter, it could take you a year or two to sell it, but you still sell it.
Speaker 2:For someone who's been-.
Speaker 1:Or the rental. You'll still be able to rent it.
Speaker 2:For someone who's been in this industry for many years, built yourself around it. I've got a question for you Motivation or discipline in life? Which one helps Discipline Okay?
Speaker 1:Because discipline implies that you're consistent. If you wake up at five o'clock every day, you wake up at five o'clock that requires a lot of discipline and for me, that's critical for your well-being as a human being what's the best advice you've ever received that you can share with us?
Speaker 2:always stay positive. Wow, that came up pretty fast. It was right there in your mind. That came up pretty fast, and I want you to recommend a book. I know we spoke about a book that I'm really waiting for you to bring that book because I want to read it. Right, so recommend a book that my audience my young audience and older audience can benefit from.
Speaker 1:There's a book about the law of attraction. Yeah, the secret, the secret. I think that's probably one of the most basic books about philosophy that anybody can read and understand. It's simple, it's basic. It gives you the tenets of we need for positivity and I think anybody reading that book would learn a lot from it and it'll be a platform to start learning about philosophy and knowing how the mind works I 100 agree.
Speaker 2:I first read that book when I had my first son. He was about four or five months old. I was on, I was in bed, we were playing with him and myself my wife, were reading the book. And when we finished reading the book, we moved on to a few days after. You know. We went on youtube and we saw a movie on the secret as well, and while we're watching it we're having a lot of conversations around around it and we were actually excited. It was mentally stimulating to actually watch and then read that book. So you're absolutely right and I recommend that as well. I second that.
Speaker 1:I've read it several times and I remember there was a time I was traveling from London to Ghana. I read it on a plane. The whole book my head was. I didn't even eat anything. I just kept my head down Six hours. I finished reading the book and it helped me a lot. I've recommended it to many. The amount of time cues I've had for recommending that book is just phenomenal.
Speaker 2:I would like to thank you for your time, your expertise, information and knowledge on this podcast. I don't take it lightly and I will see you on the golf course again. Hopefully, this time, hopefully, you win, you win this time, hopefully you win. You win this time, hopefully, hopefully. But thank you viewers, thank you listeners, wherever you're listening, wherever you're watching from and, as usual, if you made it to the end, leave a comment below and let me know. My name is Derek Abayte and I hope you're staying connected.