Eastlandization of Formerly Leafy Burbs

Today I met my cousin in his early forties and he deeply regrets buying his apartment in one of these formerly leafy suburbs. I attended the house warming party a few years ago and in my view, the apartment was good so I was curious and asked him why he seemed pissed.

His response was concise. He can’t customize his apartment to deal with the Eastlandization of his area. In his view, he would have already bought two large water tanks to deal with water shortages and sank a borehole if he owned a mansion in the outskirts of the city. He would have a standby generator that he controls and solar panels to deal with blackouts. In his view, the problems that he worked so hard to escape from in Eastlands have started showing up again and by virtue of owning an apartment, he can’t customize the property to solve these pressing issues. He thinks these problems will only get worse because of climate change and rural-urban migration putting more pressure on resources, specifically water and electricity.

He claims that while he still has the energy now, he wouldn’t wish to deal with such issues in his fifties. The interaction just reinforced my previously held beliefs that buying an apartment is a bad idea unless you get it at a highly discounted price and flip it.

Huu uzi unanuka your classic plagiarism.

sell the house anunue shamba ajenge a budget house

Even with that standalone house, slumification is still a threat. Very few places stay as leafy suburbs because the profit motivation for flats is too high. Alafu pia it’s mostly people in government building these flats kwa hivyo they won’t protect you with regulations. But on the other hand, there are cities like Tokyo and New York that have embraced flats kila mahali and they still function well

Mtu hafai kujifuga mahali moja kama mbuzi. Ile mahali mzuri ukiwa miaka 40 haitakuwa mzuri kwako ukiwa miaka 60. Watu wanafaa kuwa ready kuhama every 10-15 years, na ukifika 70 unauza properties zote unabaki na kwenye tu unaishi ukingoja kifo

Shagzmondos mnadictate vile leafy suburbs zinafaa kuwa :D:D

mwizi, pia wewe una clap back? :D:D

The whole of Nairobi will finally end up being one vast slum. If things like rural-urban migration, pollution, population growth are not regulated

Huyo jamaa wako anaishi peasant Boulevard and he bought into a cheap development. Apartment bila borehole, security na stand by generator hakuna tofauti na kuishi pipeline. Zile watu wanaanika nguo kwa balcony is usually a giveaway.

If you’ve been to a well developed property hizi sio shida.

Boreholes zinakauka na zingine zimekuwa contaminated

Exclusive estates in Abuja, Lagos, Pretoria, Johannesburg or capetown are all atleast 30km from the CBD. All our government and commercial functions are all concentrated in a tiny 7km radius from cbd meaning that with the exception of Muthaiga we should expect all estates within 10km radius to CBD to deteriorate…or basically change function from mostly residential to commercial.

You are assuming he will advertise his house then buyers will come running.

Kuna ingine Kiambu well controlled sijui mpaka lini inaitwa Mugumo. Huko lazima upeane plans za nyumba yako sio kujenga kiholelaholela. Ukianza kujenga apartments wanakuja kusimamisha. Hapo ndio most media guys kina Gachuri, Kamau wa Kangethe huishi

Water shortages and power blackouts aren’t exclusive to Eastlands. Lavington, Kitisuru, Loresho etc hutegemea water bowsers na sote tunatumia KPLC hata ukiwa na solar farm. Huyo cuzo aligongwa na picha za brochure. Apambane.