User Application Software for Estate Management Practice ( a Case Study of Nurabam Global Services)
Chapter One
AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The aim of this research work is to design a user application for estate management practice
The objectives of the study are-
- To bridge the gap and create more awareness and adaptability into the use and sustenance of computer application in real estate
- To design an application that will keep information of size, location and owners of properties.
- Handle detail of rent and sales of property from clients.
- Provide security to the client’s data
- Handle different transactions with clients.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Smith, Rosen, and Fallis (1988) state that residential real estate composes roughly 38 percent of the country’s wealth. Of this 38 percent, real estate firms are responsible for the sales of 81 percent of single-family dwellings (FTC, 1983). Hence, understanding the role of the real estate industry is critically important. Much research has been devoted to examining the efficiency of the residential real estate market. Although the results concerning the degree of market efficiency are mixed, it is clear that intermediaries improve efficiency. Two of the ways they do so is through the use of computer technology such as user applications or through economies of scale.
Increases in the use of improved applications reduce the search time for buyers. This reduction in buyer search costs (time) in turn increases efficiency in the residential real estate market. One such example is the advent and increased use of the Internet for real estate purposes (Kabatim 1996, Royal 1995). Rodriquez, Lipscomb, and Yancey (1996) provided a comprehensive discussion of how the Internet affects the residential real estate brokerage industry. In short, the Internet offers a seemingly endless number of free sites that list (and picture) homes for sale across the country. The introduction of these low cost producers (of information) increases competition and arguably drives inefficient real estate brokerage firms out of business and forces home prices to be closer to equilibrium. Benjamin and Chinloy (1995) confirmed the finding that the adoption of technology increases efficiency. Innovations and improvements in computer software are also having significant impacts on areas such as leasing and property management. “Lease by lease” software programs such as Argus, Dynalease, Office/2 and Project are used extensively in valuing properties that are being considered for acquisition. Other uses of software include property management where managers use the technology for analyzing leasing strategies and specific lease potentials. In addition, there is usually a function available for developing property management budgets and for variance analysis (Hanrahan 1993).
The second source of improving economic efficiency in the real estate brokerage industry relates to the concept of economies of scale. Many of the studies in residential real estate brokerage that consider firm size do so in reference to a firm’s ability to reduce time on the market (TOM). It is widely accepted that there exists a trade-off between the selling price of a home and the time it takes to sell it. Haurin (1988), Larsen and Park (1989), Sirmans, Turnbull, and Benjamin (1991) find that larger real estate brokerage firms sell homes faster than smaller firms. Anglin (1997), Jud, Seaks, and Winkler (1996) and Yang and Yavas (1995) find that firm size has no effect on TOM. Somewhere in the middle of these two extremes is a study by Hughes (1995) who finds that buyers receive a higher selling price, everything else constant, when a larger firm handles the sale. However, this is only true for some of the large firms in the sample. Zumpano and Elder (1994) and Zumpano, Elder, and Crellin (1993) argue that there do exist economies of scale advantages in the brokerage industry. However, most firms are too small to take advantage of these possibilities.
HISTORY OF REAL ESTATE
The evolution of estate management as a distinct and recognized profession is a Middle Ages development rooted to the feudal societies of Europe. The lords of the Manor of Medieval Europe owned exclusive and sometimes far-flung land holdings. Usually, only a small portion of each of these estates was held and exploited by the direct landowners. The rest, which constituted the bulk of these holdings, was given out to tenants and serfs to use, either for a fee or under some Feudal arrangements. On the account of the size and disparate locations of these holdings, each land owners appointed stewards or agents to oversee the estates for them. (Adeniyi, 2013)
At the beginning, what was required of these stewards was that they were men of honor who could be trusted in fiduciary relationship. This explains the sobriquet, “Noble” which is attached to the profession of Estate Surveying and Valuation. As time went on and the business of managing these estates rose in sophistication, the requirements for the job increased.
First, it became necessary that the practitioners should also be lettered in order to keep pace with the demands of ever increasing record keeping. Next, a knowledge of book keeping was required to accommodate the accounting requirement involved.
Later on, the ability to tackle various proprietary and commercial relations involved in these estates introduced surveying, law, commerce, economics and statistics into the profession. The modern foundations of what is now known variously as estate management, estate surveying and valuation, or land economics was laid in the mid-18th century.
In the wake of the Industrial Revolution, a major re-organisation took place in most of Europe.
In the UK especially, this resulted in a massive population shift from rural to urban areas and a subsequent redistribution of land rights and property interest.
At the dawn of the 19th century, the practitioners of the various skills comprising estate management banded themselves into trade groups or guilds. Later on, there were definite moves to form a distinct professional group to embrace the various classifications. The most serious moves began in London on June 27, 1843 with the formation of the Land Surveyor Club.
These were in fits and starts until the establishment of the Surveyor Institution on March 23 1868, which metamorphosed into the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, RICS, in 1946.
The profession of estate surveying and valuation followed in the wake of colonialism in Nigeria, with F.G Gleave, an expatriate, being the first known chartered surveyors to set up a general practice or estate surveying and valuation firm in the country about 1955. Hitherto, there were few chartered surveyors in private and public employment in Nigeria.
ICT TOOLS AND SOFTWARES IN ESTATE MANAGEMENT
There are various ICT applications that are useful in the day to day running of real estate. This ranges from common applications such as telephone, laptops, tablets, modem, Microsoft packages such as word, excel, power point, etc. Few of the software directly related to estate management are described below:
ARGUS VALUTION DCF
For over 20 years (Abayomi et al), ARGUS has empowered developers, managers, investors, lenders and other real estate professionals to make better and more informed decisions. Using a lease by lease approach to building property models which have greater precision and clarity and therefore enables the clients to spend more of their valuable time building fortunes, not spreadsheets.
Its key benefits to practitioner in real estate are that it make data more accessible and valuable, enable forecast of property cash flows with precision and assists to know the risk of property and portfolio cash flow. It is therefore a good tool for property and portfolio cash flow models, forecasts investment returns, debt and partnership financing structures, support for global leasing methods, Ms. Excel import and export and detailed property and tenant reports.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
In other to attain quiet a reasonable acceptance of the research work, I made use of the internationally accepted software engineering model, which is waterfall model.
This is a system approach` to the analysis and design of information system. It involves the application of a sequence of analysis, documentation and design tasks concern with the analysis of the current system logical data design, logical process design, etc. The research methodology used helps to ensure that a thorough study of the present system is effectively carried out thus helping the researcher to completely understand the modus operandi of the present system so as to know how to the new system should be structured and the functionalities needed in it to address the seemingly existing problems discovered.
OVERVIEW OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM
The proposed system will adopt a computerized approach in solving the problems in the manual system of documenting, processing and retrieval of information in real estate practice. The new system is divided into modules where only authorized users will be given access to carry out operations which could have be done manually.
ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT SYSTEM
The analysis of this current system if the procedural study of the system operation with an attempt to discuss its basic and inherent problem areas. After this study, the reason the system was not fully efficient was discovered (i.e. the manual process), and this reduce the possibility that the new system will produce the same problem. During the course of this study, it was discover that estate management practice for many years has been facing difficulties in terms of data and record keeping.
The following problems have been discover in the course of this study
- Improper keeping of data
- Lack of data security
IMPROPER KEEPING OF DATA: According to the discovery in the course of this study, due to the manual process been used in estate management practice collection of data are not properly kept because, if for example want to trace back data that have been collected for about five years, it is very impossible because most this record books that contained the data collected have been bomb among or destroyed by water or any other thing due to this manual process inadequacy has occurred in keeping Q-ft records.
LACK OF DATA SECURITY: Using manual process in estate management practice for the collective of date are not secured. Data security is simply a way of protecting data from unauthorized users. Since there is no security, anybody can access data at any point in time and unauthorized users can not manager the data because of their lack of experience in the job. Apart from that, date files are loss through procedure by physical hazards. Also data are exposed to accidental or deliberate conception, modification or disclosure to unauthorized staff.
CHAPTER FOUR
SYSTEM TESTING AND IMPLEMENTATION
INTRODUCTION
A successfully designed application requires a proper implementation and installation. Implementation simply implies putting the application into use developed application becomes useful after implementation.
Activities include-
- System implementation/requirement
- Installation
- Documentation
- Conversion
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
SUMMARY
It has been discovered over the years that in the property market (Estate management) many have not availed themselves of the opportunity the computer offers. Besides, only very few people dare to investigation into this anomaly. This is why this study is to bridge the gap and create more awareness and adaptability into the use and sustenance of computer application in real estate. Will in no small measure enhance the efficiency of services to customers and the role to the entire socially.
CONCLUSION
Land and economic development share a symbiotic relationship. Nigeria’s land policies in the past were clearly informed by a monopolistic economic system. Following its failure, we are entering a free market regime. While reforms are going on for a legal and regulatory framework to support this, the legal framework for our land system remains unchanged and much needed activity in our real estate management sector is yet to be fact. This paper has attempted to draw attention to some of these problems, obviously because of space and time constraint; we cannot exhaust discussions on all of the problems. It is however hoped that government would as a matter of urgency make the necessary reforms needed to support the sectors development.
RECOMMENDATIONS
I will like to recommend that all estate agency firms should adopt computer systems in their mode of operation.
REFERENCES
- Adeniyi, A. (2013); Real Estate Surveyors. Retrieved from https://realestatesurveyor.blogspot.com/2013/11/history-of-real-estate-management.html?m=1 on July 7th, 2018.
- Agbola, T & Olatubara, C. (2003); Prívate sector real estate. Delivery in Nigeria: Issues, constraints, challenges and prospects. Retrieved from http://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/RHSS/article/download/9518/9840 on March 22, 2018
- Akomolede, K (2006). Estate Agency Practice in Nigeria, Lagos. Retrieved from http://xa.yimg.com/kq/reports/61367/EstateAgency/INTRODUCTION on June 2, 2018
- Chika E. U (2006); Introduction to estate management. Retrieved from http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/60016147/1889142012/name/INTRODUCTION on April 2, 2018
- Nubi, T.O. (2006); An assessment of the effectiveness of mortgage. Finance for real estate procurement in selected cities of Nigeria. Retrieved from http://ir.unilag.edu.ng:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/1203 on April 1, 2018
- Property Managers for Property Managers (2014); Apartment ManagerXP Key Reports. Retrieved from https://www.apartmentmanagerxp.com/resources/KEY-REPORTS.pdf on June 3, 2018
