Land

When deciding on the location of our house, I considered several factors. I was going to obtain the land for next to nothing so that was a major factor in my decision making process. However, I spent several months wondering and praying to know if the location was ideal for my purposes. It was out of town, it would not be close to the amenities I was used to and I may not like my neighbours. I consoled myself by reasoning that if what I wanted was to be near or in Nairobi, I had better reconcile myself to being a long  term tenant. I also reasoned that if I ended up not liking the neighbours, all I needed to do was move out and hopefully I would get a tenant to live there. Another thought was that  if I paid shs 30,000 rent for 5 years, that was equal to 1.8million shillings which was what I needed to have a livable space that would begin to appreciate in value immediately and probably be worth 5 million in those five years. In retrospect, I believe location of land is a major factor in deciding where to build. It should be in such a place that if you need to unlock the value in the investment, it will be relatively easy to sell. Also, if it is located in an area that is developing or has promise, that is even better.

When doing the layout of the house, it is important to keep the layout of the land in mind to avoid wastage. Position the house in such a way as to make maximum use of the land and if possible leave some usable space for future development.