What is its vision and mission? Go read it then ukuje with that arguement. How can you be a solutions enabler in matters property and you are fleecing the public?
Solutions enabler is not the same as affordable housing. You need to stop burying your head in the sand mate. Even a rolls royce provides a transportation solution, but it is not an affordable transport choice. You really need to learn how to read between the lines.
VISION
To be the leading provider of integrated solutions for the acquisition, development and improvement of property in Kenya.
MISSION
We will be the leading integrated solutions enabler for the property industry. We will offer innovative products and services, delivered under one roof by exceptionally committed people to enhance shareholder value. We will operate across the property value-chain as suppliers and financiers that offer unique solutions to all while being environmentally responsible.
I would personally NEVER buy an apartment and I have also never understood why anyone would buy a 10+ million apartment instead of building a 4 bedroom maisonette on a 100*100 plot within a 50 km radius from the CBD. As long as you have a car, you enjoy better living standards than the guy living in the 10th floor in some crowded “middle class” neighborhood. Not to mention you will raise kids better in the maisonette than in the apartment where the sun never shines.
Just read the history of the company. It built buru buru estate. Those were affordable houses. It built part of Komarock, those were affordable houses…what are the roots of the company?
The company was established in November 1965, to promote a savings culture and home ownership among the citizens of newly independent Kenya. Major investors in the company included the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC), whose shareholding at one time was as high as 60%, and the [SIZE=6]Government of Kenya, which at one time owned 50% of the company[/SIZE]. CDC has since divested from Housing Finance Limited and the Kenyan Government has substantially reduced its shareholding.
Hiyo ni mansion pale Membley or Kahawa Sukari on 1/4 acre. It seems like people enjoy living in kennels as long as the kennel is in Kileleshwa or Lavington etc
Location.Not type of housing is what matters
1.Most apartments in Westlands come with amenties you would struggle to have in a 100 by 100 plot.Plus ut depends on the aparment you choose.I can show you apartments which are quite airy and sunny in Kilimani and Westlands.
2.I can never live more than 7km from where I work.
Actually people like you are having the poorer quality of life, spending time in traffic and you have less time for your kids if you live beyond Kasarani because you arrive home late.
And your kids live very boring lives far from all the things Nairobi has to offer.
I live in a detatched house but in Westlands.
The most I and any other person in Westlands or Parklands or Riverside apartment or detatched house spend at most 30 minutes in traffic if going to town.
I actually watch the 7 o clock News at home.Most Nairobians do not.
If I want to enjoy myself, I can literally walk to some of the entertainment joints, no need to pay for parking.Shopping too.
If I want to go to Kilimani and Hurlingham it is a 15 minute drive on weekends!
If I ever have kids, I will be driving them to school in 5 minutes coz all the good schools are within a kilometer.Your child will wake up at 5:30 to go to school.Mine will wake up at 7.
So really me or even an apartment dweller in Westlands vs a person living in a Massionette in Thika.Who really has a better quality of life???
If I worked in Upper Hill, I would never live beyond Junction(And even that is far) leave alone people commuting from Ngong and Kiserian.
I live in Valley Arcade and I would not give it up for Kahawa Sukari or Membley .They quality of life here is incomparable .I’m literary 5 minutes away from the best hospitals in Kenya ,best schools in Kenya ,best shopping malls ,best hotels,best brothels and all other amenities that a guy in Ruiru can only dream of .
I see the folly in BUYING a kennel in that Valley Arcade area, not RENTING that kennel from the sucker who bought it at a very bad price. I am not against living in the leafy suburbs by the way. I am against the unrealistic property prices in those addresses. Renters in such areas benefit more than the owners who sink millions in overpriced properties. Living at Valley Arcade (as a renter) is smart. Buying an overpriced property in the area is dumb.
Let me ask you something, how different is your life (as an owner) different from a renter in the same building? The renter enjoys the same living standards as you, but doesn’t have dead capital locked up in a bad investment.
Hapo ndio apartment buyers hukamuliwa properly na developers. Unapata mtu amenunua kama hiyo 3 bedroom halafu anaitishwa 5k service charge. Townhouses hukuwa better juu most people huungana, kick the developer out and form their own management company but that is not the case with kennels (apartments). The reasons why I have never liked investing in an apartment are:
High service charges. Unapata ni kama unalipa rent tu kama tenant na uko “kwako”. It is much easier for 50 owners in a gated estate with townhouses to form a management company, than it is for 1000 apartment owners in one block. The property manager retains the right to manage your apartments (read kumkamua) unlike kwa gated estates with townhouses where they kick out the developer immediately all houses are sold out.
No title deed (don’t throw that sectional title BS in my face that can’t secure a bank loan). If I buy property, I better get documents that any bank can accept as collateral.
No compound. I can’t buy property yenye sitoki hapo nje na kinyasa kubrush meno nikichoma nyama enjoying my sweat.
You will still need a house to retire in, so investing in an apartment is just a temporary solution. Ukigonga 50+ years itabidi uanze square #1 tena juu you can’t retire in that property.
Raising kids in an apartment sucks. That is a fact. A townhouse in a gated estate would offer them a better life as they interact with other kids and ride bikes kwa cabro etc. Imagine having kids studying na your neighbor upstairs is having loud sex, throwing a party or just dragging furniture.
That is why I would choose a mansion in Kahawa Sukari on 1/4 an acre over an apartment in Westlands, any day. The only disadvantage that I would have is distance and with everyone owning a car this days and every school having a school van, that is a very small price to pay for peace of mind. If you are going to live in an apartment, be a tenant, not an owner - unless you own the entire block of course.