More Than The Real Estate Industry

Nwamaka Vivian Ofoma is an Associate Member of Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) and a registered Member of Estate Surveying and Valuation Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON). The Head of Practice at Viva Ofoma Consulting Firm of Estate Surveyors and Valuers. She is also the current Honorary Publicity Secretary of NIESV, Abuja Branch.

The Estate Surveyors and Valuers are one of the allied and key professionals in the Real Estate Industry; however, their scope of expertise exceeds it. For us to have a holistic understanding of the proficiencies of the Estate Surveying and Valuation Profession, it is essential to note the distinction between ‘Estate’and ‘Real Estate’. The profession is not limited to the Management, Surveying and Valuation of Real Estate (which is the general perception),but encompasses the Estate in its entirety.

Investopedia refers an Estate to mean: everything of value that an individual owns, that is, everything comprising of the networth of an individual – including all land and real estate, art collections, antique items, investments, insurance possessions, financial securities that the individual owns or has a controlling interest in, any other assets [tangible or intangible] and entitlement.

While Real Estate is consisted in real property, which includes physical land with the building, structure, resources and any attachments to it, as well as the interest or title subsisting in it.

This implies that the Real Estate is a major subset of the Estate.

And that is the reason an Estate Surveyor and Valuer who is proficient in such knowledge, can determine the value of items or possessions, and may be call upon to:

Auction Personal, Public or company Properties/Assets exhibited to the general public for sale to the highest bidder.
Provide a Certificate of value for Asset disclosure or Asset Declaration, Listing and Registration.
Assess both opportunities and opportunity cost, while ascertaining the value of businesses for eventual transition by business owners during Mergers, Acquisition, Takeover Bid or Management Buy-Over;
Establish the total value of a business asset, together with the current business operations, during Going Concern or Gone Concern for a Business in order to make decisions that are highly impactful, understand the subtle dynamics of the business and increase the overall performance for future growth.

Indeed, the expertise of an Estate Surveyor and Valuer is quite extensive.