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.
3. Produce financial and customer reports with
detailed statistical analysis.
4. Handle staff’s details and their different
transactions with clients.
5. 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 asgovernment 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’sEstate 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 organizationor 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.