I’ll be graduating from med school this August; and the next thing is to start applying for an internship/housemanship position in hospitals of choice. Now the problem for most fresh medical graduates here in Nigeria during the early months of internship is accommodation (though some hospitals provide accommodation). So any service that will list apartments(between one and 3-bedroom) within a mile or considerably short distance from hospitals accredited for medical internship and residency training programs in Nigeria will really help fresh medical doctors and medical officers planning to start specialist training program in these hospitals in the vital area of accommodation even before they start their programs. Medical internship takes one year, whereas residency training to become a specialist lasts between 6 and 9 years depending on the specialty; hence, such service will always see a pool of prospective clients and could lead to development of new residential properties in communities where these hospitals are located. My interest as regards entrepreneurship is not in this segment, that’s why I can’t dedicate myself to building the service. However, someone out there with interest should take this up. @efemoney help me tell anybody interested to do something in this niche
Will a Google map with markers for available properties suffice?
Maybe; however, a kind of website that lists properties near accredited hospitals and enables prospective clients to choose open apartment of choice and make enquiries about payment all on the site captures what the idea
I was thinking of a small app that allows agents or landlords to
- Update the GPS, photos, and descriptions of their properties
and allows you to
- Find the property using a filter such as “10km from Eko Hospital, Ikeja”.
- Click each marker to open a popup preview that includes a button that clicks into a page with photos, description and a contact form.
But you do know that a lot of Nigerians do not install apps outside a certain category on their phones, and a residential property search app in this niche may not worth the time for the developer since clients may not need it after settling in their chosen apartments; that’s why a website with an-easy-to-remember-easy-to-spell domain name may be the right model to adopt: no need to download and install anything; can easily be recommended to and used by a colleague searching for accommodation.
@Okaychukwu. Vacationhosting.com.ng will solve that problem. Users can rent properties on a daily, weekly or monthly basis on Vacationhosting.com.ng. We currently provide the kind of search criteria that you are talking about and our apps are coming soon. We are currently in private beta and you can check it out.
Well the category of users I’m talking about in this idea are not looking to rent on daily, weekly or monthly basis; and may not have the time and patience installing any apps in this regard. A website that offers a customized listing of residential properties in areas where there are big hospitals accredited by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria for medical internship program and specialist training of medical officers is what will solve the problem of accommodation for this category of users.
A property search site is going to focus on just that - property search.
If you need to search by proximity to a specific place, you’ll need to provide the location so that they can show you the listings. I don’t think the niche that consists of medical students with non-recurrent accommodation needs is large enough for the niche website you suggest.
You might be better of framing your question as “I need a property search site with advanced proximity search”
Implementing proximity search also raises the question about how the property listings will be geo-tagged.
@Okaychukwu. Our properties will be everywhere in Nigeria, including around hospitals and property owners are free to rent for as long as they want, as long as the property is available and as long guest is ready to pay rent. We have both website and apps, but we are going to launch the site first before apps.
However, you won’t find any entrepreneur that will engage himself in such a small area that you are describing, because the niche is just too small for profitability and sustainability.
@Johnny It’s too small from the outset, but if anyone who is interested in it pursues it to the extent of getting most states in Nigeria covered and enter other African countries, one may have a very small niche with a recurring pool of users (medical internships leave after their one year internship, creating an opening for rent by a new fresh medical doctor which ensures revenue for such site) @techscorpion I’m not talking about proximity search here; such a niche website lists all the accredited hospitals in a state and allows fresh medical doctors (not medical students) to search for apartments to rent in communities where these hospitals are located: for instance, if I want to do my one-year medical internship at Yaba Military Hospital, this site should allow me to search for and consider to rent one- or two-bed room apartments within a mile from this hospital.
@Okaychukwu. Furthermore, our site has a feature called Property Request. This feature enables guests to request a desired length of time, amenities, bedrooms, bathrooms, amount of rent he is willing to pay and features from property owners on the site and the owners who have properties within that requirements can respond with their offers. This is different from regular listings on the site.
So, a resident doctor for instance can request a property for a three year period and property owners who have such properties can respond to his request.
If you can include a feature that aggregates apartments near accredited hospitals for medical internship and residency training programs across the country on your site, the purpose is served.
Fair enough. Well mine was just an idea. I’ll yield and let other fresh minds suggest a better solution.
@Okaychukwu. Of course, the site has maps powered by Google. You will see all properties in any particular area on the map. This is available for both regular listings and Property Requests. All you needvto do is type the area name in the search field, and Google maps automatically aggregate the properties in that area on the map and the page.
Our site is the closest to what you need.
Typing what name–an area or a hospital? If I can type a hospital’s name and see aggregated properties within a mile distance from it, problem is solved. Proximity of residence to hospitals is very important for medical doctors (especially house officers and resident doctors) working in such hospitals.
Brother… nobody will understand your pain better than you,so the best way is to create it yourself…many people weren’t entrepreneurs they were just trying to solve a problem for themselves…then before you know it… everyone wants their solution.
@Okaychukwu Yes, you can search by hospital name and it will bring out all the properties around that hospital. You can also refine your search by proximity and other criteria. Go to http://vacationhosting.com.ng and request an invite. That way, you will be able to see everything I’m talking about.
@Okaychukwu Unless you want to create one like @Emeka suggested.
bro if you read the post, your response wouldn’t be in this direction
@Okaychukwu great idea!
However not all great ideas are worth a standalone app if the addressable market size is not attractive. Med grads looking for accommodation close to hospital of housemanship is not. As @techscorpion mentioned, what you have described will make more sense as part of feature set of an existing property search app, but then again I don’t think the struggling property search app providers out there will find this attractive enough to invest resources into building it out.
I will attempt to solve this differently. I will take a person-to-person/community approach – a platform (think Facebook, WhatsApp or Telegram groups) that connects outgoing med grads on housemanship with incoming ones for the purpose of lease transfers.
@Okaychukwu what do you think?