So the decision is made, a home is what you want and borrowing is the way to go about it. Do you have any idea where you can go to get a loan? Do you know what it takes for someone or an institution to open its doors to you and write you a cheque? Your chances of getting a loan are directly proportional to the how well you prepare yourself. Knowing what the potential lender is looking for is the best way to prepare. All lenders use what is commonly knows as the 5 P’s of credit to analyze their clients.

Your ability to qualify for a loan is all dependent on, first and foremost you as a person. This is one instance where to qualify you need to put your best foot forward and assure the lender that you can be trusted with their money. The lender will depend a lot on their first impression of you to decide if they like you or not. They will then dig into your past and present, trying to figure out if you are clean. All your dealings must be above board. Here is where your reputation will precede you.

Showing clearly that you are more than capable to handle the loan will work to your advantage. If you are at a place where your needs are more than the money you have, that loan will remain a distant dream. This is what makes taking multiple loans very hard. This also ensures that if you do qualify to get a loan, you are only given what you can handle.

In business, capital is simply indicated your personal stake in that business. The higher your stakes in a business the more committed you are and the more likely you are to succeed. Lenders tend to favor people who have invested heavily in their business. If you are not in business, the lender will consider what you are worth to determine your potential. You have to show that what you owe is lower that what you own. This is further assurance that you can easily pay for the loan without defaulting.

Collateral is the fall back position for any lender. A lender needs to know that if for any reason you are unable to service your loan then they can easily recover their money. You can used your assets as security and in case of default, the lender will sell the asset and recover their money. Some lenders may require a third party guarantor in addition to collateral for added security.

You may have all your ducks in a row, with everything checking out about you but there are some external forces that can knock you out of consideration by a lender. The business environment in your sector as well as other sectors can give any lender doubts about lending to you. This is simply because if your sector is affected negatively directly or indirectly it will affect you.

And there you have it. These are the key factors that are analyzed and checked before money can be released by a lender. They are commonly known as the 5 C’s of credit. Keep them in mind and ensure that you are doing well in each one of them before you approach a lender. There are simple things you can do with this knowledge to increase your chances of getting a loan for your home ownership in Kenya.

It may look easy to figure out exactly how you want your house to look like but if you are not careful, you can easily miss some key elements that you need to put into consideration. This is where you need an expert to help you make your dream come true. A good architect will help you layout your dream home on paper. As you go about scouting the internet and talking to a professional on your house plan, take these points into consideration.

Each country has its own set of rules and regulations that determine how building are built, both commercial and residential. The rules differ greatly thanks to devolution. So before selecting any house plan, a visit to your county council offices is necessary. A good architect should also have the relevant information and offer you guidance during the process of designing your house plan. You will be required to give some specified amount of space between your house and the boundary wall. You might also be required to give up some amount of land for future roads that are planned in that area. The regulations will also stipulate house big your house will be. All the different requirements must be met for the county council to approve your drawings and allow you to start building. The part of getting your drawings approved can be very hectic and time consuming especially if you don’t have the right information.

So how much money are you planning to spend on your new house? Never lose site of your overall budget. The budget determines the kind of house you can afford. Remember to include professional fees as well as fees required by your county council for approval in your budget. Without a budget, it is easy to get grand ideas of a palatial home that you sadly cannot finance. The pressure to keep up with society may have you biting off way more that you can be able to chew. A budget helps you keep your perspective. Many get carried away, adding unnecessary rooms to their house plans only to build a house with dead, unused or under utilized rooms. You are better of building a smaller house that is better in quality that a big house that is low quality. Of course the last thing you want is to find yourself in a home debt that you did not plan for.

Consider your current and future lifestyle when picking building plans. Families with small babies may favor open floor plans while families with teenagers may prefer plans that offer more privacy. If you work from home then you want a plan that gives you enough space to work comfortably. Are you big on entertaining? Do you enjoy outdoor living? Do you often host guest in your home? Answer these questions and you will be well on your way to selecting the perfect house design.

Another factor that needs special consideration in the needs of your family members. If you have any member who is physically challenged then their needs must be top of the list as you make your choices. Their comfort must come first. Also ask yourself, “Will I enjoy taking stairs to my bedroom when I am older or should I have my bedroom at the lower level?” The choice to build a bungalow or a multiple story building is very key here.

At the end of the day, you want to be extremely happy and comfortable with the home that you build. Remember, what makes you happy is not what makes another person happy. Build a house that you will love and enjoy living in. Of course one that you can afford and one that meets your present and future needs. Take your time and look around, visit different estates and browse the internet for ideas. Home ownership is one of the biggest decision you will ever make and so you want to get the right house plans in Kenya.

Being clear with what kind of real estate that you intend to develop on your property

Your building type is a major determinant on the cost of your  construction. Whatever activities that you are going to carry out in your building will define the type of fittings and fixtures that you will have within your building.  A good example of how function influences a building’s construction can be seen in the way office design incorporates elements such as quality wall coating, aluminium composite panel claddings and curtain walling on facades.  Definitely, such the use of such elements on building projects are priced more highly than what you would ordinarily do on ordinary residential projects.

In today’s contemporary architecture, you may witness builders incorporating elements that were traditionally part of commercial buildings are now part of residential buildings.  For example you may find that more residential buildings are being constructed with large windows previously recommended for storefronts, or open planning of residential functions in a manner akin to an office environment. Depending on how these building elements have been executed, they do shape your cost per square footage of area on your construction, making it pricier.

Such contemporary finishes and fittings installed on your building will increase your unit area costs by as much as twenty five to forty percent additionally, though they have a beautiful effect that ordinary construction does not have.

The type of structural system for your building is a major key to determine your real estate building costs

It is true that the kind of building you are intent on constructing will influence the type of construction system you are likely to use on your building.  Buildings that contain modular spaces defined by particular repetitive structures are better constructed using post and beam or framed structures, as opposed to using ordinary structures.  Homes on the other hand may be easier constructed using load bearing walls, and only braced with post and beam structures where spans do not allow ordinary walls to be utilized.

As the structure of a building bears as much as 60 to 70% of a building’s cost, the type of structural system that one chooses to build with greatly influences the cost of your building. Reinforced concrete plays a major role in the type of building structure that we have, and the cost of your building varies much based on its usage. By doing an efficient building structure, you can reduce your overall costs.

Thus, wisdom dictates that it is a good idea to enhance your building structure and its efficiency through the use of materials and techniques that will reduce on materials used on site, as well as enhance the time it would take to build a project with requisite strength and solidness  during the building process. It calls for willingness though on the part of the developer to embrace these new technologies as they build.

The kind of spaces and their provisions of buildings in your real estate project

In the construction of real estate projects the size of rooms be constructed in each unit tend to be subject to lots of discussion. Buyers may not get value for money when each unit has rooms that are too small. Spaces provided in each room must be adequately sized to cater for their functions. Should you desire larger spaces it is imperative that they cost more. larger spaces as well as rooms with greater finishes will call for higher letting or selling rates.

Finishes and fittings are big players in determining the costs of real estate

Choosing finishes and fittings for your building do have a major impact on the costs of building your structure, and your preferences play a major role in defining these costs. In addition green fittings which are adopted for a sustainable lifestyle and offer better value for money over the course of the building

Of particular interest are elements such as sanitary fittings and building electronics. Their use depends on your approach when building your structure. For example you may opt for the highest quality fittings which have higher price ranges, as would be the case in many European brands. They are considered to be higher quality due to their rigorous testing and manufacturing process. A good buyer however plays their part looking at products coming from even the Middle and Far East which offer competitive pricing. You benchmark is to gauge your trade-off between price and matters of durability.

Your services and level of their sophistication

You may pose a question regarding how complex your building systems are. Are your building services too elaborate for your building functions or are they inadequate for the needs of the building to meet its functions? You may have an example of a security system within a home or office which may require simple access key controls for its operation as opposed to having a biometric reader controlling automated access doors. Too much automation and sophisticated controls will inflate your budget considerably. Make enough provisions for enough building services that would ensure your building can operate normally.

External works determine a big proportion of cost in architecture

Perhaps one of the most overlooked items when considering prices of homes is the effect of external works costs on the bottom line. Builders sometime overlook this cost when considering what they have spent on their projects, yet the cost of this element is quite substantial. Not considering this would bring a major discrepancy in your pricing.

External works are a major price contributor as they are responsible for the works shaping exterior spaces to a construction project. They typically include bulk items such as guard houses, landscaping, driveways, sewer and storm drainage, and a big one…. the boundary wall. Should you do a boundary wall around a half acre property, expect to spend close to a million shillings. Items such as connection of power and water utilities, treatment of parking and driveway facilities and those above must be valued and their cost apportioned to each development

Taking each one of these items into account it is a necessary factor to achieve success in your building project. Have you done your building yet? Get in touch with us using our contact form and we shall guide you on the way forward. If you already have constructed your building, did you get your cost factors right?

Developing sustainable neighborhoods

Aquiring a good clean and tidy environment to reside is definitely an aspiration that numerous people have. Having this sort of environment makes sure that individuals view a development as being of top quality and healthy. Such residences are able to commandeer superior real estate market prices, and also a strong pull to superior quality investors bringing good business. Greater satisfaction and healthy living can certainly be enjoyed by folks who inhabit these kinds of sustainable neighborhoods. Many such developments have had to prioritize this particular area of environmental quality even before taking on other individual concerns socially or in financial terms.

Salient Issues To Deal With When Developing Sustainable Neighborhoods

It is essential that urban designers consider several vital considerations in the process of building or creating sustainable neighborhoods.

Construction Issues – It is necessary for people to gauge how the maintenance of the environment within the construction process is going to be undertaken. This includes allowing for elements like planning of how the location should be accessed, how construction materials will be stored, exactly where the equipment shall be located, as well as where materials to be dumped shall be put away. All of these affect maintenance of the environment.

a sustainable neighborhood

The Project Owners who shall enforce the cleanliness of the entire development must be ascertained early. The question of who will the design and development team partner with in the neighborhood who will maintain the entire place clean and tidy ought to be taken into consideration. Taking care of the development’s environmental quality ought to be maintained by other people who shall occupy the finished development, which means the quality standards that should be maintained by the stewardship team should be identified and kept through the entire project lifecycle.
The home owners of the area should take personal satisfaction in their environment where they live. A mindset of deep respect towards their environment will assist them keep each other well answerable in upkeep of the environmental quality of the development.

Individuals need to pay attention to the necessity to maintain good care of their environment. While doing so, they should be made cognizant of any incentives that may be provided to encourage their participation in environmental preservation .

Sustaining a lasting attitude to the project is important, and residents need to target the goal of achieving a neighborhood of high quality as much as possible. During the earlier parts of the development of a sustainable development, the building may make the region feel rather unkempt. With proper planning however, it is possible that the entire site may be kept clean and tidy during the entire construction phase right to the end of the project.

Developing Sustainable neighborhoods should be emphasized for better livelihoods of people.

When a new local community has been developed and residents have moved in the quality of public spaces will affect how satisfied local people are in relation to their local community. Many neighborhood management initiatives in existing neighborhoods have often found that residents’ priority is for a more secure, cleaner and eco-friendly neighborhood. Numerous reports have determined that there exists indeed a connection between poor environmental grade and other problems within communities.There exists a clear relationship of a degenerative process from petty societal evils for instance littering the environment so much that individuals participate in more serious social evils. Left unrestrained, dirty streets and neighborhoods affect the view of your neighborhood community negatively, which can cause anti-social behavior and consequently serious crime.

An all inclusive approach towards creating a sustainable development ought to be encouraged when people come together to come up with such an estate development. Through all relevant stakeholderse working together and answering all these questions, terrific things may be accomplished. The ultimate goal is a sustainable neighborhoods is to attain the best living standards.