The making of a condominium real estate agent

Going by the slogan, ‘affordable homes’, before 2016, Annette Babigamba had only done real estate management as a pastime. However, today, she sells condominiums to people in diaspora with a lot of ease. That started with a chat with friend who introduced her to another in England that needed help with managing his property back home. 
“They later introduced me to one of their cousins who was struggling with their property in Bukoto where clients came and went without pay,” she says.

These were all friends and relatives based in the UK and before long, Babigamba was managing property as well as helping some sell inasmuch as it was not her profession. 
Babigamba says property management makes one very busy because a client may call you for plumbing, power issues or she might be looking for a tenant to fill a vacant space hence engage brokers.

Over time, she had contacts of a plumber, electrician, as well as an agent. Owing to these connections, Babigamba was added to a group of agents and she believes one of the agents she had worked with had added her to it. 
The network became bigger when she found fliers of apartments for sale at a friend’s desk.

“A banker friend had them and she said that one of her Indian friends was selling one-bedroom apartments at Shs45m though the initial deposit was 20 percent with payment completed in six months,” she says.
That night, Babigamba got inquisitive, sent a message to the number on the flier, and was amazed when the man called back. He asked her to go and see the property. 

“Going with a friend, we finally met him and visited the project in Bweyogerere. However, to my disdain the rooms seemed very small but this friend, who was also in the property sector said the size was very fine coupled with the location; near the road,” she says. From then on, the developer called her to make a booking.

Six months later, he begun a project in Najjera and shared the information with her so she inquired from him if he needed land because a friend wanted to sell their land in Najjera. On saying she had a plot, he asked to see it and Babigamba was shocked at how fast he was moving.
 
“At 5pm, we were on site and he inquired about the price which was Shs1 billion then. There and then, he said, he could deposit Shs900 million, if he saw the land title. Unfortunately, the sale did not happen owing to land wrangles,” she said. In all this, Babigamba was mesmerised at how fast he dived into transactions. Something that she learned was his business acumen.

Later on, the man posted, in the agent group that he was looking for a house for office premises. Having a property in Bukoto, behind Kabira Country Club under her care, Babigamba reached out to him. 
“There and then, he asked to see it and with a caretaker on site, a property tour was arranged and later a meeting held where I told him that I was managing the home on behalf of someone in the UK, although I had never met them,” she says. 

Not deterred by that information, he asked that a WhatsApp group be created with him, his lawyer, the landlord and Babigamba as members. In that instant, she was texting the property owner about a prospective tenant and with the group created and the conversation started with the changes he needed to make and a promise to make payment, which he fulfilled with a seven months’ rent cheque. “That was when I got my first pay because the landlord gave me a commission of sorts,” she says.

With changes to handle, Babigamba was always at the premises to see to their implementation. That also gave her an opportunity to ask if he needed office staff hence helping her cousin to get a guard job and her sister, an administrator job. 

With a landlord-tenant relationship, she often frequented the new site where her sister was now helping to do off plan selling (selling houses still under construction). “In the start, this man was the chief marketer of the company and his post was Shell Najjera, from where he directed people to the site,” she says. 

Then he let Babigamba in on the commission she would earn through sales and though she was not as ferocious about the marketing as today, she made a couple of them. “With time, I liked the whole idea and also searched for land. The first sale was yet another piece in Najjera because he had told me his preferences such as location. That earned me more commission and it was good money. I was surely sold out because the man was also honest, updated me on what was going on, and protected me against the sellers because they often cheat intermediaries. With that, I became an agent and with time, became the one that either sourced or approved any land deals,” she says. 

As the business begun to grow, the premises in Bukoto became smaller and, two years into the facility, Babigamba was tasked with looking for another place to buy. Within three weeks, she had a house in Naguru that now houses Universal Homes.
 
“The amazing thing with working with him is that he is honest. Additionally, once I gained his trust, transactions and dealings became easy in that once he likes a property, the rest is left to me and the lawyer to ensure all goes well,” she says. 
Eventually, he made her a non-executive director and she has learned on the job coupled with reading on various topics. 

“He is one of the best marketers I have seen and I am always with him as he closes sales hence picking a couple of tricks and skills. He has also helped me understand things such as sizes and given me an amazing technical team such as the architect to work with,” she says.

Gaining trust
With clients mainly coming from diaspora, a deposit of Shs5 million and no interest rate flexible payment, she says they are selling trust and integrity. 

“With this method, clients pay in installments with less pressure. On the other hand, it also helps us to get financing to build. Nonetheless, the titles for these condominiums are ready as of the time we start selling a particular site. Therefore, if one paid fully, they would get their home title,” she says.

Leasing out the houses
Most of the diaspora clients buy houses with the mind of renting them out, which Babigamba says is enabled by the prime locations where one does not have to travel off the main road to get to their apartment. 
“Therefore, getting tenants is not always a problem as agents also market them. As such, one does not have to advertise,” she says.

Although there are short and long-term tenants, most clients are doing short term opting for Air BnB because should they decide to come home, they need a place of their own as well. 
“Therefore, in those months, the house is free which would not work for long term periods,” she says.

Having been in the business these many years, Babigamba attests to what her friend said that often times, people want something that is luxurious yet cannot afford or even need it. “I have come to appreciate that location beats size,” she says.