Preamble

So, you have decided that you are tired of paying rent and would prefer your own abode. That is a wonderful decision, fraught with a roller coaster full of emotions. By its very nature, the idea of a home evokes certain feelings in us that make us detach from reality if only for a few moments. When the reality of the process involved hits home, we tend to shy away from it and shelve the plans for a later date when we become more "stable". In reality, building your home need not be a roller coaster ride or a banjee jump. With good preparation, things should go smoothly. I remember that before we did our house, I visited a friend in Athi River who was my age, recently married and had a job with a local bank. He had built a very nice 3 bedroom house in an area that was hardly inhabited though it was clear that there was alot of construction going on. God had blessed them with a first born son and twin boys as second born so suddenly, the 3 bed room house became too small and he needed a 4 bedroom one. In addition, the place where he had built was beginning to deteriorate in quality as his neighbours were putting up one roomers to cater for people working in EPZ. He talked of building a four bed room house up nearer the main road where the development was controlled. I thought that he was talking of plans 5 years down the line. Within 1 year, he told us that the house he had built for Kshs.2 Million had been sold for Kshs 4million after less that 3 years of living in it. With the money, he offset his loan to the bank and took another loan to build his other house while paying rent to the person who had bought his first house. Within a year, he moved into his new house.

I believe that if one builds a house in the early stages of life, it need not be the dream house. Dreams change and houses can be changed. I have learnt that the hard way. What one needs is a roof over ones head that will give decent quality of life. This guy really encouraged us and we felt that we could also do it.

A popular debate has always been should one build or mortgage. I think mortgage in Kenya is way too expensive. I also believe that if one builds the old fashioned way of doing it slowly over 5 - 10 years, you may as well take a mortgage because the costs and stress involved is not worth it. The half way point would probably be a building mortgage or just to finance the project from a mix of personal savings and bank loan.

This preamble can probably be summarised as, building your home need not be "The home", plans change and the younger you are the higher the chances that they will change and building your home is not as impossible or difficult as some make it out to be. In fact, it is addictive and no sooner will you be finished with your first home, than you will be thinking about your next improved version. Therefore, in my opinion, your first house need not be perfect, just usable.

I will try to talk about my experiences and after thoughts now that I have gone through the process and I hope it will be informative and usefull.