The past Recently I met a 50 something-year-old lady who has been living in Ruiru since the year 2000. This is her story in brief. Let's call her Mary. Mary, then in her early 30s bought two 1/4 acre plots in Ruiru in the year 2000 for Kshs 60,000 each. The following year, she sold one plot for Kshs 80,000 making a 33% profit. She then managed to buy several more plots in the area. It was a coffee...
A right/competitive price can be achieved when the developer gets funding using cheap money borrowed from the Government, pension funds, or foreign banks and extends the same discount to the buyers. Another cheap source of money is off-plan sales. If one developer gets a loan at say 4% and another at say 14% and they both want a 20% profit, then one developer will have to sell his property at a 24%...
"Sometimes people don't really know how to assess their future needs"Charlotte Dougherty. Certified financial planner. Have you been thinking, either actively or passively, about retirement? Would you like a few real estate suggestions to be better prepared for the next phase? Retirement is the “last phase” of your life.Valuer Kariùki, MRICS Follow your dreams Do you dream of...
At various stages in life, there are certain things that you consider as a "rite of passage". Let's take a few examples When you are in high school, you want to finish and go to the university. When you are in the university, you want to graduate and get a job. When you get a job, you want to buy a car and get married... in whichever order. When you get married, you want to get kids. When the...
"Hedonic" literally suggests that the buying of the target property, and hence living in it, is a source of "pleasure". The better (and hence more expensive) the property, the higher this specific notion of real estate pleasure, stemming from property characteristics leading to such sensations: a nice view, proximity to services and pleasant life, the presence of an elevator, safe and sufficient parking...
This Covid19 season has taught us that only the versatile survive. Nothing is certain but death and taxes. Benjamin Franklin 1789 Versatile will have the meaning of multipurpose or adaptable. What does versatile look like in real estate? Residential house If you are planning on building a residential house, you can consider the following; Design it to have a home office or workshop or whatever...
Today we look at stand alone houses. Recently we saw how apartments depreciate in value. Read more about that here Scenario 1 John* builds a stand alone residential house in an uncontrolled area with the following neighbors. Single rooms made of iron sheets on one side A hostel with 6 floors towering over on the other side A church on the other side A boda boda stage on the front side. He...
For about a decade, I have worked as a valuer (some pronounce it as varier, others varuer). Click here to learn more about what a valuer does. I have seen properties appreciate in value from 1m per plot to 10 million per plot in 10 years. I have also seen properties (both stand-alone and apartments) lose value from 12 million per unit to 7 million per unit in 10 years. What went wrong for the person (Call...