There is this belief that wherever you choose to live will definitely affect who you date, just like lack of money can lead to a failed relationship or marriage. Invariably, your location influences the kind of people you will be attracting, and I’m specifically talking about the guys. In the spirit of the season this article tends to address the relationship between love and real estate.

In recent times there has been a mass movement of people especially the single folks to Lekki and environs. Lagos babes who probably spent a greater part of their lives on the mainland have suddenly discovered that living on the mainland is one of the reasons they’ve remained single. Hence, they tend to change their location to the Island to attract supposedly potential husbands or eligible bachelors. Though it could take an arm and a leg to live on the Island, these ladies don’t mind. Most of them live above their means of and have to go the extra mile to keep up with living on the fast lane.

But would you blame them? Don’t you think they only just realized that to change their status in life they have to attract the right kind of crowd and staying put in Festac, Agege or Iyana Oworo won’t effect that kind of change?

Like they say, if the mountain does not go to Mohammad, then Mohammad should better go to the mountain. Staying on the Island and maybe attending a church like House on the Rock seems to be a viable option for supposedly classy single ladies who want to attract ELIGIBLE BACHELORS.

So what then happens to the guys who would rather remain on the mainland in places like Ogba, Ojota or even Ikotun, yet want to hang out or probably date high end/classy ladies? Would they easily attract that category of ladies regardless of their locations? Or is it just a case of cutting your coat according to your size?

I was driving along the prestigious Lekki-Ikoyi Link bridge sometimes in January and couldn’t help but notice a retinue of ladies of different shapes and sizes jogging by the bridge’s sidewalk. The intriguing part of the scenario was that most of them were not even on the big side. What am I driving at?

That was actually not the first time I would notice such on that bridge, so I did come to the conclusion that some of them were jogging on that bridge not necessarily because they were adhering strictly to a weight loss programme. They were even mostly skinny girls so where is the fat to shed. I stand to be corrected, but I could swear most of them were there basically for hook-ups, because before I got to the end of the bridge I saw a lady collect a complimentary card from a ‘Lagos big boy’ who had stopped to speak to her. So the truth behind the sudden rush to exercise on the bridge may not be far-fetched.

In view of the aforementioned there seems to be a strong link between housing and romance. Are people more interested in potential mates if they live alone or is that really enough? Does their location come into consideration too? Just how bad is your love life impacted if you live with your parents? Do we have guys who live on the mainland in overcrowded areas like Agege and Bariga yet date classy ladies that live in Lekki, VGC or Ikoyi? Is that even possible? When it comes to dating and housing, what’s hot and what’s not?

For many Nigerian ladies, it’s actually a big deal if a single guy owns his own apartment, and I’m not talking about “face- me- I -slap -you”. That brings me to this question; Does the kind and size of the apartment you live in play a huge role in the kind or manner of girl you will attract? As far as am concerned I think it does; I will explain.

Back then in my undergraduate years in UNIBEN, it was quite evident. The girls that visit their boyfriends in the hostels on campus were quite different from their counter-parts off-campus. The off campus big boys attracted the finest and classiest of the campus babes thereby leaving those in the school hostel with SU’s and nerds; most of them with faces devoid of make-up, not even powder.

Even the guys off campus were not entirely in the same category when it came to the kind of girls they attracted. The kind of girls had to do with the class of hostels they lived in and the size too. All these factors does come into consideration whether we like it or not.

But does living alone in choice locations and big apartments translate to preparedness for marriage? Are the single ‘Lagos big boys’ who live on the Island really ready to settle down? Are the single girls who live their childhood ‘hoods’ to go live on the Island in their search for a potential husband really looking where they should?

As for the ladies, it’s the reverse. Most guys don’t take ladies who live alone seriously. unlike what ladies will think of single guys who live alone. In fact the mindset is that, ladies who leave their parents to stay alone live a reckless life and should not be seen as wife materials.

Ironically, on an average most ladies would want to date a guy that lives alone rather than one that lives with a friend or friends while some won’t even consider a guy who still lives with his parents.

However with the situation of things in the country and the high cost of living, how many single guys can afford to live alone? Does that mean more ladies that are ripe for marriage will continue to be single? Will ladies have to drop some of their demands or expectations just to tie the Nuptial knots with that guy? Or should we all just resign to our fate?

Have your say?

Lekan Linkin ‘Lofinji

This article first appeared on www.nigeriarealestatehub.com