The last time we had this discussion, we left you at the Architects office where you want to start your first steps of housing your family. Now, a number of you reached out to me and asked me to talk about one thing that i might have overlooked. so therefore, let us take you a few steps back….. Buroti maguta maguta!!!!
Did you know that we have a deficit of about 2million houses in Kenya? Yes, that is right, 2 million! I just thought you should know…
After you finish your degree, and the whole village comes for your graduation in the local secondary school bus, it dawns on you that a new chapter of life has just started. The reality is that the society has so much expectation from you. You old man has never renovated his house. Oooh, and now since you are the village hero with a degree, harambee invitations start streaming in. The kajob you have is paying 25k and Uhuru’s Government is asking for 3000 of it.
Your girlfriend is also pushing you to put a ring on her finger and you fall for the trap, after three months, she starts complaining of morning sickness.. There starts your hustle now, you have to house your people.
Fast forward, you are now 35 with 3 kids, and probably a mpango wa kando. You now need to step up and get a plot for your family. Brokers in Nairobi are more than the plots available. Gakuyo and Urithi are on the screen of Inooro TV every minute and you believe they have the solution to your problem.
The real estate market in the country is one of its kind. Upperhill plot is the cost of owning a premium plot in Manhattan! The pointers in Kenya are just out of this world. Believe you me, the marketing strategies in this country make Kibera look like upstate London. You fall for the line “Live four hours from the Coast!”
Here is the solution, there is nothing much that these real estate companies do to sell land making 300% profits. They only ensure that they do a little value addition and they are off to make their obscene profits.
Value addition is simply adding a little amenities to the land to make sure it sells. Grading the feeder roads, connecting electricity and drilling a borehole or two. Now, why cant you do it yourself? Because it is so expensive for an individual.
Are you in a chama? The only thing that your chama does is merry go round and goat eating. Don’t sleep on your dream to own land. Now, that chama of yours has an account running in hundreds of thousand and some millions. Others only take the money and do table banking. What if you enhanced your dreams and saved towards coming up with a gated community?
Mike you are crazy! We are just a few women and have no idea how to make that happen. We are just a few busy men and we only meet on Sunday at Climate Bar as we talk about our wives.
How is it possible?
Kenyans we are so good in raising money. That is all that matters and we can always start from somewhere.
Raise your 5million and you are able to buy land in Kilimambogo or Juja Farm. The next step, raise some more money and you do some upgrading of the feeder road. With that, you have a number of 1/8 for yourselves.
Get a professional, do proposals and you are on the path to becoming a home owner in a few years.
Talk to me today for more insight.
mykkareithi@gmail.com