Guide to Buying an Apartment in Kenya

Apartment blocks are rising in the Kenyan Market Every day. With land space reducing every day and the prices of the available prime lands being exaggerated many young Kenyans are opting to buy apartments for their young families.  This is a great investment as you can always rent the apartment once you get a much bigger and better house for your family.

Every booming industry has a bad side, with many people turning to apartment buying conmen have found their ways of tricking buyers to buy apartments that even don’t exist or are not in the same condition portrayed in adverts. Here is a checklist to ensure that you are not robbed of your money in broad day light.

• The first thing to do when you want to buy an apartment is decide on the location or area where you want to live, there many factors to put into consideration: proximity to your workplace, security and availability of social amenities such as schools, hospitals and entertainment spots, accessibility and infrastructure.
• Do research on the pricing of different apartments; this is the best way to get value for your money. Compare and contrast different apartments, their location, prices, finishing and payments terms. Always go quality way, quality will last you forever, and cheap things will become expensive eventually. Here you should never trust agents and brokers they will never be genuine because they want to make quick money. Make sure to visit the various apartment blocks on sale and see for you what they really look like and also how the construction has been done.
• Make sure to choose an apartment in places with less noise, less traffics, and availability of public transport, hospitals and schools. You can also check out for gyms and clubs for entertainment purposes.
• when you finally settle on  particular apartments , you are supposed to know some crucial information about the building, the age of the building, is the apartment well-constructed in cases of new apartments and are there repairs to be done in case of an old apartment. This information can easily be got by requesting for an engineer’s or architects report on the building which I believe are to be availed for all interested parties. Ask about security. Maintenance fees, this fee is mostly for security, general cleanness of the apartments, repairs, water charges, elevator charges. Ask if they are paid by the management or by the individual apartment owners or dwellers. Ask about parking, is every apartment allocated a parking slot or one can park anywhere, in most cases most apartments have a parking slot allocated to each house.
• One of the most important things to do is have the structure of the house inspected before committing your finances into buying the apartment. You can hire an independent inspector just as a way to caution yourself against buying a substandard apartment. Check on such things as ventilation, balcony, noise insulation, security features, power points and television points, such things may seem less important but trust you me they are very important. The general building workmanship should also be a thing to consider.
• Payment Plans- how do you want to buy your apartment, are you getting a mortgage or paying cash. Inquire with the Apartment’s Management on how to go about either method. They will guide you on how to go about it. Avoid brokers and Agents you can lose money in the process.