I am following up on a previous thread of mine. Basically, I am about to pull the plug on purchasing a 1/2 acre piece of land in othaya town so that I can put up a ghorofa (cliche, I know but when you’re in the diaspora, you don’t have the time to run a manufacturing factory which requires on the ground physical presence). Looking at 5 floors, 1 and 2 bedroom apartments with medium finishings.
However, I fear that Othaya might not turn out to be the right location for such a venture and that I am better off doing so in somewhere like Kitengela or Nairobi and its environs. The reason I’m opting for Othaya is that I can get the 1/2 acre for way cheaper than what I would get a 50 by 100 plot in Nairobi (Kitengala) for. The other reason is that Othaya is starting to boom but I still fear that the people there might not afford rent bordering 10k+ which is what I plan on charging. It looks like Kitengela will have a more upwardly mobile populace whereas Othaya people are mostly farmers / teachers / nurses / some doctors / some college kids etc etc.
I need to invest in Kenya because last time I was there, foreigners had already started taking over! I might come back home in the future and find that my country was auctioned to Xi and his cronies. I want to own a piece of it (however small) before I become a slave and start serving these “expats” when I move back in the future. A few of you will point me towards stocks etc etc but I already have those.
Basically, if you had 30m+, where would you put up your ghorofa? An upcoming county town like othaya, or the good old safe Kitengela / Eastlands / Ruai / Kasarani / Kahawa etc. If I am buying a 50 by 100, I am not willing to sink in more than 5M. In Othaya, that 5M is getting me almost 1 acre but I can settle for those Kitengela plots if the BIRRIONAIRES here can convince me that it makes more sense to invest huko Nairobi.
Cash is king but it doesn’t last forever. However, you can use cash to beget more endless cash which is what I’m trying to do. I want “forever” liquidity.
Maybe it doesn’t make sense to you but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.
Decide! You were told Nyeri is better than Othaya. Depending ni kitengela wapi, kitengela is also better than Othaya. Nyeri iko maji kwa wingi. Kitengela lazima uchimbe borehole. Come to kenya for one month and do market research before deciding. Whatever we tell you here is pure guesswork. What you want to do is a very long term investment, so you need to consider many factors. Longevity of the factors you consider is very important, not just the present
Nyeri-Nanyuki is ripe for Tourism based housing investments, badala ya Ghorofa, look at alternative high end housing options. Othaya/Karatina, you’ll grow old before those places develop to meet your ROI. That fool up there saying cash is king, he got 10k in his pocket, he thinks thats what matters, not knowing value of money is not cash at hand. Anyway If lazima ikue flats, and had to be in a Greek/Gikuyu region as you have portrayed, I would consider other cosmopolitan areas, Thika, Nakuru, that Utawala-Kamakis stretch of road, sijui kunaitwaje, but thats prime for mid-level finished apartments.
In growing areas like Othaya, there is always a fraction of people with the ability to afford high quality housing but can find none in the market. If I were to invest in Othaya, I would use the space advantage to put up super-high quality flats to attract this class. You don’t need to go with the shoebox paradigm that dominates real estate development. Design the housing decent enough to accommodate a wide range of clientele - from teachers to principals to nurses to doctors to bank tellers to bank managers. Think of other user cases that might apply in future and consider them in your planning. If you have a decent enough product, you can shield your investment from market forces for a long time. The secret is to put up something that will distinguish itself in the market by being keen on customer needs and future-proofing your investment. I once lived close to two flats of each 4 houses which were pretty old but were built so well they never went vacant for the 13 years I lay in wait.
The same caution applies for Kitengela. You should not assume that its all smooth sailing just because it is an urban area. You choose the wrong spot or fail to get something right and things will become tough. It is not unusual to find two flats separated by just a few streets but with totally different outcomes in terms of income.
Bro, you know I’m not going to contact that guy, right? You don’t contact people when you’re trying to build because they’ll try to sell you something. My post is just part of market research to supplement the other avenues that I’m using to collect information.
One I am not a bro, two I referred you to get information only. Three, not everyone is desperate to sell something, you may have lost all faith in humanity but there are good people out there. Unafanya market research but you’d rather not get info from someone who’s actively in the ground?
Ingekuwa no kujaribu kukuzia kitu, ningejaribu kukuuzia kwanza. Ama nijaribu tu. Leta pesa nikupatie 1/4 hapo Othaya:D
Hapo karibu na St. Thomas…
You make a lot of sense mkubwa. If building in Othaya, outdo everyone (or almost everyone) in terms of quality. Got it. This is actually easier to do rather than fighting with bigwigs in Kitengela.
Can you do both places?
If you can go for it.
Buy a quarter of an acre in Othaya for speculative ppurposes. Do NOT build flats there coz majority of the people you are targeting are mostly civil servants posted there. These are people whose families reside elsewhere, most likely in Nairobi or in their respective rural homes, so most likely they will look for very cheap houses.
Buy an 8th along Juja -Juja farm road off Thika Road going at around 2-5m depending on location. That area is the fastest growing suburb in Nairobi because it has a very good new road and transport is reliable (Super metro ply that route and charge only 80-100 bob to CBD).
Tourism targeted housing mkubwa hiyo siwezi because I’m not in Kenya physically. In fact, if I were in Kenya I’d get into manufacturing all day all day. When you’re 10000 miles away, you can’t trust anyone to run any business properly. At least with real estate, it’s easier to monitor by flying in every two months or so.
Shida ya Nyeri town ni ati land there is too expensive such that the cost of construction plus land doesn’t make sense with the kind of expected ROI. An apartment in Othaya and Nyeri will fetch the same price so it’s better to build where the land is cheaper. Ama naona zangu? That’s what I thought.
Izi flats ndio will buy a ranch pale Nanyuki with some zebra and antelopes .
Mkubwa lakini land in Nyeri is too expensive and I imagine the apartment will fetch the same price in both locations so I might as well build where the land is cheaper…? What do you think? With 4M, Othaya napata land i can build 4 apartment blocks Lakini Nyeri that’s like 50 by 100 ama 1/8th for those prime locations.
Hii Juja Farm road nimeiskia sana. I should check out that place. I can do multiple but I want to start with a project at a place that’s ripe enough ndio nipate motivation.