Israel Olaleye: What Selling Land Taught Me About How Nigerians Think About Money

In 2021, I graduated from the University of Ibadan with a degree in Mathematics. I thought my life would be about numbers on a whiteboard. I did not know it would become about numbers in people’s bank accounts, and the fears, hopes and contradictions that sit behind them.

By mid-2023, I had taken a job selling real estate. I started at the very bottom, as a sales development representative: the person who makes the first call, sends the message and follows up when nobody replies. Today, I manage a sales team. Somewhere between then and now, I stopped seeing real estate as a business of land and buildings. I started seeing it as a mirror. Put a property in front of a Nigerian, and you will learn, very quickly, how they think about money.

Here is some of what that mirror has shown me:

A prospect once told me, with complete confidence, “I have my money ready for the land.” We fixed an inspection. We walked the site together under the afternoon sun, red earth on our shoes. Then, standing on the plot, the prospect asked if they could pay next year. I was not angry. I understood. Saying “I am ready” feels good. Being ready is different. It means you have decided what the money is for, and you are willing to let it go.

I have seen versions of that moment many times. The client who books an inspection for 2 pm and is still not there at 4 pm. The person who asks for options, receives ten properties that match exactly what they requested, and replies, “Do you have something else?” The buyer who is ready until it is time to decide, and then needs three more months to think. The one who disappeared after asking for a price came back after the price went up, and asked for the old price.

For a long time, these moments frustrated me. But they taught me that most people do not have a money problem. They have a decision problem. We are a generation that earns, spends, plans and postpones, often all at the same time.

You can earn a lot and still not be wealthy

One idea I keep returning to is that you can earn twenty million naira a year and still not be wealthy. Income is what comes in. Wealth is what stays and grows. Two people can earn the same salary and end up in completely different places ten years later, simply because one converted part of that income into assets and the other converted all of it into lifestyle.

Wealthy people do not always look wealthy. Some of the most financially secure people I have met do not drive the loudest cars. And some of the people who look the richest are one bad month away from panic.

So the question I now ask myself, and the people I speak with, is simple: what exactly are you converting your income into?

Real estate is bigger than land and a house

One conversation changed how I explain property to people. A Nigerian living in Canada called me after watching a video I had made about a commercial development in Ibadan. A few minutes in, he said something I have since heard from many people: “To me, real estate has always meant two things. You buy land and keep it, or you build a house to live in.”

That is how many of us were raised to think about property. Land is pride. A house is security. Both are good. But they are only part of the picture.

Some assets are for appreciation. Some assets are for cash flow. Land grows in value while you wait, but it does not pay you while you wait. A shop, a rental apartment or a short-let can pay you while it grows. When I explained this, the whole conversation changed. We stopped talking about a single plot and started talking about a plan.

Not long after, I had almost the same conversation with another Nigerian abroad. He had never considered property as something that could produce income. He liked what he heard. He even had a deposit ready. But he planned to buy more than a year later. I had to tell him honestly that the option he liked might not be there by then. The right asset rarely waits for our calendars.

Patience is not the same as understanding

Another lesson came from buyers who purchase property with a five-year plan and then become anxious when the value has not doubled in eight months.

I used to think the answer was simply to tell people to be patient. Now I think the real mistake is not impatience. It is entering an investment without knowing what you are waiting for. Is it a road under construction? A growing population? New businesses moving in? If you do not know what should drive the value, every month of waiting feels like a loss.

The hardest lesson is about trust. Many Nigerians abroad send money home and leave a relative to handle everything. The intention is love. But love is not a process. Money gets misused. Documents are not checked. Sites are not visited.

My advice is never to stop trusting family. It is to stop relying on trust alone. Have a lawyer who checks the title. Have a surveyor who confirms the land. Let family monitor. And yes, check the consultant too, including people like me. Professionals can be dishonest. Don’t just trust. Verify.

I would rather a client ask me ten uncomfortable questions before buying than discover after payment that there was something they should have checked. Closing a deal is good. Knowing that the person understood exactly what they were buying is better.

When I started, I thought success in sales would be measured by how many properties I sold. I still care about that. But I care more now about something harder to count: whether the people I speak with make better decisions with their money because of the conversation we had.

I want to keep learning, keep growing and keep building something that means more than a sales record. And I will say it plainly, the way I sometimes say it to myself on difficult days: watch out for a few years when you hear my name.

Not because I will have sold the most land. But because I hope my name will stand for something many Nigerians are still searching for when it comes to money and property: honest guidance, good judgment and trust that is earned, not assumed. The mirror is still there. Every inspection, every delayed payment, every late-night call from abroad shows me something new. And the biggest thing it has shown me is that before people buy property, they need to understand their own relationship with money.

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Israel Toluwalope Olaleye is a real estate professional, Sales Development Manager at Land Republic, and founder of Asset by Israel, a real estate advisory brand focused on helping Nigerians make informed property investment decisions.

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