I came across a story on X (Twitter) about a man who wants to sell his house worth ₦30 million because he and his wife have been struggling to feed themselves for months. Despite applying for jobs everywhere, he has been unable to find employment, and with debts piling up, he believes selling the house might be his best chance at getting back on his feet. His plan is to sell the property, settle his ₦5.6 million debt, rent an apartment for ₦600,000, buy land worth ₦10 million, and use the remaining money to start a business. His wife, however, believes selling their house is a terrible idea. A friend of mine thinks otherwise, arguing that there is no point owning a house when you cannot afford to feed your family. For me, I can see both sides of the argument, but it got me thinking, if you were in his position, would you sell the house or keep it?
I think this is one of those situations where both sides have a point, and the more I think about it, the more I realise how difficult it can be to make financial decisions when you are desperate. On one hand, you have a man who owns a house worth ₦30 million but cannot afford to feed his family. On the other, you have a wife who is probably looking at the situation and wondering why they should give up something so valuable because of a temporary financial problem.
The question is, what happens when the temporary problem refuses to go away? Imagine owning a house worth ₦30 million and still struggling to feed yourself and your family. You have a roof over your head, but you cannot afford the things that make living under that roof worthwhile. You owe people millions of naira, you have been unemployed for months, and despite applying for jobs everywhere nobody seems interested in employing you. At this point, what exactly are you supposed to do?
For the husband, the situation is probably becoming unbearable and at the end of the day he is the head of the house, he has to provide, imagine waking up every day knowing you have debts to pay, a family to feed and no reliable source of income. You keep applying for jobs, hoping something will work out but nothing happens. Meanwhile, your responsibilities do not disappear simply because you are unemployed. You might own a valuable property but if you cannot convert that wealth into money you can actually use, your financial situation can still be miserable. You can have millions of naira tied up in a house and still struggle to buy food and from his own point of view we can see some sense in it like what is the point of owning a house if you cannot afford to even feed.
Of course, owning a house is a significant achievement, especially in Nigeria where property prices and the cost of building a home have become increasingly difficult for many people to manage. Selling a property that took years to acquire can feel like throwing away your security but their is also a cost to holding on to an asset while your financial situation deteriorates because debts do not wait patiently for you to get your life together, it only gets worse.
From this perspective, selling the house could be a reasonable decision. It would allow him to settle his ₦5.6 million debt, remove some of the pressure he is facing, and free up capital to rebuild his life.
He wants to sell a ₦30 million property, repay ₦5.6 million in debt, rent an apartment for ₦600,000, purchase land for ₦10 million, and use the remaining money to start a business. On paper, this sounds reasonable. He would eliminate his debts, retain some form of property ownership through the land, and hopefully establish a source of income but starting a business is not a guarantee of financial recovery. Businesses fail. Some take months or years to become profitable, and others consume the owner's capital before generating any meaningful returns. If he sells his house and invests most of the proceeds into a business that fails, he could find himself without his original home, without a reliable income, and with very little money left to start again.
Then in the flip side of the coin going by the wifes argument, I think his wife's concerns deserve serious consideration. A house is more than a financial asset. It provides security. If they sell it, they will be exchanging a home they own for rented accommodation, exposing themselves to future rent increases and the possibility of eventually running out of money.
Ultimately, I think this situation illustrates an important lesson about wealth and life itself in general. My sympathy goes to both the husband and his wife. One is trying to escape a situation that has become unbearable, while the other is afraid of losing something that may have taken years to acquire. If I had to make the decision, I would prioritise getting the family out of immediate financial distress while carefully protecting as much of their long-term security as possible. If that required selling the house, I would not automatically see it as a defeat. Sometimes, letting go of one asset can be the beginning of rebuilding something better.
