•Before acquiring a house, it is good to understand the disadvantages against the advantages of buying a complete house.
•Buying from a project which is ongoing, typically in phase two of a housing development could be a nice idea.
Everyone has a dream home, a specific image of a classic private residence in mind.
However, when it comes to acquiring the dream home in question, most people find themselves making mistakes, either out of naivety, or some unnecessary hurry in pursuit for a dream home.
Before acquiring a house, it is good to understand the disadvantages against the advantages of buying a complete house.
While buying a complete house has some advantages like immediate transfer, reduced risks of completion delays and visualisation of the complete house, there are several disadvantages that one should consider in order to make a balanced decision.
The first disadvantage of buying a complete house is that you miss an opportunity to put your signature on your dream home, in that you have to live the rest of your life with the choice that the property developer made for you in advance.
These choices are made by aggregating individual customer responses in market research into what an average home buyer desires.
The average home buyer is unlikely to suit any individual home buyer a hundred percent.
Buying from a project which is ongoing, typically in phase two of a housing development could be a nice idea in that it reduces the risk of buying into a project that eventually doesn't take off, while on the other hand presenting an opportunity to customise your house into your own needs.
Typical customisations as include size of windows and ventilation, whether to have a flat functional rooftop or a sloping one, among others.
The second disadvantage of buying a complete house, you miss an opportunity to pay at a pace that suits your unique financial circumstances.
By buying into ongoing development, the customer is able to have progressive payments almost halfway by the time the house is ready for occupation.
This reduces financial stress and uncertainty.
The third disadvantage over the same is you miss an opportunity to witness the house construction process, and that this compromises the confidence in the hidden quality inside the structure.
When talking about green and sustainable real estate development which is already in place, retrofitting a house to make it green is expensive, and messy and also leaves cables running along wall surfaces.
By buying into an ongoing project, you are able to specify the levels of renewable energy you can afford.
Some customers are operating at almost 90% solar panels and using KPLC as a back-up.
During power shortages, their house stays as a beacon of light in the neighborhood.
Another disadvantage of buying a complete home is a missed opportunity to create a smart home as developers are hesitant to build in key elements of a smart home.
These include remotely opened gate, remotely controlled security home cameras, and pre-wired houses allowing future electronic integration, among others.
By having a customer on board during the construction process, it can be custom-made to suit their technology needs.
Bottom-line by buying into ongoing development, the customer is able to customise their villa to exactly their own taste, given that this is a life-time decision, leading to lifestyle self-actualisation.
James Munyori is the senior construction manager at Heritage Properties Ltd.
He holds masters in degree construction management from the University of Leeds,UK and is also a qualified Project Management Professional (PMP) with the USA Project management Institute. Currently, he is spearheading two projects, Heritage Villasin Ngong and Windsor Villas located in Kiambu County.