Reuben Kimani: meet a successful real estate entrepreneur, left his formal job to launch a property investment business focused on affordability and service quality.
Username investments CEO Reuben Kimani (Courtesy)
The best degree you will ever acquire in Kenya is to convene a conference with yourself and come up with solutions for improving yourself and others as needed.
There has been a paradigm shift. Nowadays, having a university degree does not guarantee success in life.
Youths Troop to the UK
Kenya’s wealthy youth have flocked to the United Kingdom to acquire rental properties to diversify their income.
An example of a successful real estate enthusiast is Reuben Kimani, who left the formal job for a property investment enterprise based on affordability and service quality.
Kimiti Wanjaria, 28, and Ian Kahara, 30, the co-founders of Serene Valley Properties, represent another pair of successful property investors.
According to Mark Pearson, a real estate investment broker located in the United Kingdom, Kenyan investors pay an estimated KES 30.7 million on a property in Birmingham, Manchester, London, Liverpool, and Leeds.
“We’re getting a great deal of interest from Africa, particularly Kenya.” “Our average sale from a Kenyan client is KES 30.7 million,” Mr Pearson said, noting that the proportion of Kenyans asking about the residences has increased.
“The majority are company owners and middle-class Kenyans, which is great.” We are seeing an increase in a lot of younger middle-class or upper-middle-class people, not only the ultra-elite since they are conscious that the globe has shrunken a little bit.”
He specializes in bedroom apartments priced between KES 14.6 million to KES 292.3 million.
Recruitment Drive
With the population of rich Kenyans growing each year and many looking for investment properties outside the nation, developers from Dubai and the United Kingdom have launched a recruitment drive to attract purchasers.
Investors are also looking abroad due to low profits on housing investments in Kenya.
“We concentrate where we can make a lot of money, which is why we’re here.” Kenya has been performing well, and that is our emphasis since generating money from real estate is a well-understood idea,” Mr Pearson added.
How much money do I need to invest in real estate?
Investment properties often demand a bigger down payment than owner-occupied properties.
Your standard 3% down payment for a property will not enough. Most Kenyan banks will ask for a down payment of 20 per cent – 30 per cent of the property’s worth for an investment mortgage.
