I am an ardent radio listener; my daily work as a boda boda rider, allows me to switch stations as I wait for my clients at Westlands Stage. One morning, back in 2017, I heard of a land Company advertising land for sale in Ngong. I never gave a keen ear to that, reason being, my incomes are inconsistent. But I was still glad that I was able to save Ksh 200 consistently per week in our bodaboda Chama.
I went on with my errands of the day and later in the evening, I saw an advert of plots for sale in Ngong, this time round, I decided to take a keen look as the details were similar to what I heard on radio. Surprisingly, the plots were selling for Ksh 349,000, to me this was a too good to be true deal in Nairobi. I mean, who sells land in Ngong for Ksh 300,000? If the advert had mentioned over 1 Million that would be okay because that’s how prices of property around Nairobi sells anyway.
The adverts continued and I decided to test my curiosity, having learnt that the Company had an office in Westlands, I decided to give them an impromptu visit in between my schedules. When I got to the office maybe the Front Office Executive thought I was there to do a delivery because indeed I was on my full protective gear. Little did she know I had come to verify about Ngong plots selling at an affordable price to me. To my surprise they had a number of completed projects in Ngong and the plots were selling with as low as Ksh 249,000, the current project selling at Ksh 349,000 was the highest price they had offered.
I booked a site visit with them on Wednesday and informed my fellow boda boda Chama members about this deal, a number of them were hesitant but few agreed and we went for a site visit as we had been advised to view the plots first. True to the word the plots were in a great location, gated and in a place one would want to settle. We then selected our preferred individual plots. When we went back to work later in the day, we had to consolidate our savings and book the plots. We selected a 3 months’ repayment period because we knew this would favour our incomes which are unpredictable. Unfortunately, we were unable to, therefore, we requested for an extension to 6 months. To our surprise, they agreed and I was able to clear. I also received my title deed at no extra cost. Username Investments has come to the level of a low income earner and made land ownership possible. This is a dream come true for a boda boda operator. Having invested as Chama in real estate, below are few things that I learnt;
- Make use of your Chama
If I decided to invest alone without the help of the Chama, it would not have been achievable. Saving in a Chama has enabled me own property with the savings.
- Focus on one achievable goal and do not be over ambitious
As an individual, do not combine so many activities that will take your resources and make you unable to achieve at least one. I decided to focus on purchasing land.
- Do not be distracted by few Chama’s members who won’t cooperate
It will not be possible to have all Chama members agree to an idea, however good the idea might be. What you can do it implement an idea that you have tested and majority of the members agree with.
- Contact a genuine Company, you have worked so hard for your money just to lose it anyhow
Real estate investment requires you to invest with a legit Company so that your investment is secure. You can visit their physical offices and go for site visits so that you view the property you would to invest in.
To many Ksh 200 cannot make a home ownership dream a reality but to Jared Obara and his group this amount has made him own a property in Ngong, one of the most potential areas in Nairobi due to proximity to CBD and new infrastructure being built (Dualing of Ngong road, SGR, and the new Tarmac from Ngong – Kimuka to Maimahiu).