DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A REAL ESTATE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

An estate can be defined as an area or amount of land or property. Estate management is quite a broad term for a number of areas that include property management, surveying, business and finance and the built environment. Closer ties are beginning to emerge between estate and property management and business and financial practices, and essentially the subject is primarily concerned with the valuation and management of land and buildings in the public and private sector.

With house prices rising at an astonishing rate over the last few years and now the recession, the government has come under increasing pressure to be relieved from a ‘housing crisis’. This crisis has come about because of the rise in house prices which first-time buyers can no longer afford and a lack of affordable housing for the citizens. Also, the rise in investment buyers has meant that a lot of properties that those on average wages could have once been able to buy, now have to rent instead. All of this has become an area of tremendous interest. The government has predicted that more homes are needed, but where these houses are to be built has also courted controversy.

Estate Managers typically set the service standard and are responsible for the hiring, training, and ongoing management of staff required to meet the service needs of the household. In addition to personnel management, the administrative functions are many. All related financial matters including accounting, budgets, and payroll normally pass through the estate manager’s hands. Based on the size of the property, the Estate Manager may wear many other hats. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property has the right to consume, sell, rent, mortgage, transfer, exchange or destroy their property, and/or to exclude others from doing these things.

A title, or a right of ownership, establishes the relation between the property and other persons, assuring the owner the right to dispose of the property as they see fit. Some philosophers assert that property rights arise from social convention. Others find origins for them in morality or natural law. So, estate management system is needed to take care of keeping records of the estate transactions in terms of allocation, transfer of property, revoke or sale of a property. Maintaining such record manually will be cumbersome hence the need for an estate management system that will automate all estate transactions.

This research work is sub divided into five chapters as follows: chapter one which contains the introduction of the work, Chapter two contains the literature review of existing systems, their successes and limitations shall also be discussed in this chapter. Chapter three contains the analyses and design of the proposed system including the methodologies adopted while carrying out the research. Chapter four is where the actual implementation using the appropriate programming language is discussed, and finally chapter five contains the summary, conclusion and recommendation.

1.2 Background Of The Study

Land use, land valuation, and the determination of the incomes of landowners, are among the oldest questions in economic theory (Shavell, 2004). Land is an essential input (factor of production) for agriculture, and agriculture is by far the most important economic activity in preindustrial societies. With the advent of industrialization, important new uses for land emerged, as sites for factories, warehouses, offices, and urban agglomerations. Also, the value of real property taking the form of man-made structures and machinery increases relative to the value of land alone. The concept of real property eventually comes to encompass effectively all forms of tangible fixed capital. With the rise of extractive industries, real property comes to encompass natural capital. With the rise of tourism and leisure, real property comes to include scenic and other amenity values. Starting in the 1960s, as part of the emerging field of law and economics, economists and legal scholars began to study the property rights enjoyed by tenants under the various estates, and the economic benefits and costs of the various estates, Epstein (2007). This resulted in a much improved understanding of the:
Property rights enjoyed by tenants under the various estates. These include the right to:

· Decide how a piece of real property is used;

· Exclude others from enjoying the property;

· Transfer (alienate) some or all of these rights to others on mutually agreeable terms;

· Nature and consequences of transaction costs when changing and transferring estates.

1.3 Statement Of Problem

Housing is a basic need for all. Over the years, increase in population and income has led to an equivalent increase in housing demand. Managing these demands manually will pose great challenges and difficulties; hence there is a need to automate the management process. Keeping record in an estate concerning lands, buildings and their owners has been a great task to the government and the governed. Access to estate information proves difficult that most times people are defrauded due to lack of property information. Illegal sales of lands and houses without the consent of the owner are very common. Valuation of estate for the purpose of paying tax to government is not achieved, hence the need for computerization of estate management system.

1.4 Aim And Objectives Of The Study

The aim of this research work is to develop a real estate management system to make estate information accessible to both government and individuals who may like to acquire building or landed property.

The objectives of this study are as highlighted below;

1. To develop a software that will keep information on land size, land location and land owners in an estate

2. Handle details for rent and sale of property from clients.

3. Carry out data analysis and statistical inference.

4. Produce financial and customer reports with detailed statistical analysis.

5. Handle staff’s details and their different transactions with clients.

6. Provide security to the client’s data.

1.5 Significance Of The Study

This research work is of great importance in that it seeks to provide innovative services relating to estate management such as providing information on land use as quickly as possible. Other significances it offers are found in the following areas;

1. Updating and modification of information concerning land parcels, buildings, social amenities in a country or area.

2. Faster and easier retrieval of estate information for instantaneous use of recipient such as government agencies, demographers, tourists and individuals.

3. Identification of the amenities in the Estate so as to know which other ones are needed.

4. Keep a database of all the lands and buildings in an estate

5. Guide buyers on how to buy property and who to meet

6. Educate buyers on the type of land to build in an area for proper estate planning.

7. It will also aid in urban and regional planning.

1.6 Scope Of The Study

Every project is carried out to achieve a set of goals with some conditions keeping in mind that it should be easy to use, feasible and user friendly. As the goal of this project is to develop an application to manage real estate efficiently, this system will be designed keeping in mind the conditions (easy to use, feasibility and user friendly) stated above. The proposed project would cover:

1. Developing a software to effectively manage real estates

2. Implementing it on a computer system.

1.7 Definition Of Terms

ESTATE: An Estate can be seen as a property to which a person is lawfully entitled. In traditional law, it refers to property in land; a person’s Estate consists of the interest or rights that the person held in land.

MANAGEMENT: Management is the function that coordinates the efforts of people to accomplish goals and objectives by using available resources efficiently and effectively.It includes planning, organizing, staffing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization or a system to accomplish a goal.

LAND: Landis the solid surface of the Earth that is not permanently covered by water. The vast majority of human activity occurs in land areas that support agriculture, habitat, and various natural resources.

PROPERTY: Property is one or more components (rather than attributes), whether physical or incorporeal, of a person’s estate; or so belonging to a person or jointly owned by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation or even a society.

GIS: A geographic information system (GIS) is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of spatial or geographical data.In a general sense, the term describes any information system that integrates, stores, edits, analyzes, shares, and displays geographic information.

SURVEY: This can be seen as the mapping of the properties and varieties of soil in a given area. It could also mean the locating of structures relative to a reference line, used in the construction of buildings, roads, mines, and tunnels.

AUTOMATION: Automation is the use of various control systems for operating equipment or applications with minimal or reduced human intervention.

SYSTEM: A system is a set of interacting or interdependent components forming an integrated whole.Every system is delineated by its spatial and temporal boundaries, surrounded and influenced by its environment, described by its structure and purpose and expressed in its functioning.