During the course of my life, I have watched my parents both build and buy a number of houses – in  and out of East Africa. In hindsight, I’ve much preferred the homes that they bought to those they built (sorry Mom and Dad!). There’s one home, though, which they built – the one we lived in during my teenage years – that felt more like home than any other that they ever lived in. Maybe it’s because I saw it built from the ground up, meaning that I knew things about the house such as why the tiles in the kitchen were different from all the other ones in the house, or maybe why the area containing the children’s rooms was separated from the rest of the house by a solid wood door (because of security), or that I had a hand to play in the creation of the raised graveled platform area in our backyard (an in-built dance floor for all the great parties my family threw ).

Despite the wonderful memories that I have of that particular house, I also remember the tedious, endless Saturday site visits that were a regular part of our lives while the house was under construction – visits during which my parents, the contractor, and the architect seemed to have endless discussions about the smallest details of the upcoming structure. I also remember moving into the house when it was pretty much done  though not 100% complete because the contractor hadn’t finished the house on time and yet was pussyfooting about forking out the penalty charge for this delay, which was to pay the rent on the house that we were living in until our new house was completely done. I also remember that the house never felt entirely complete for most of the first year that we lived in it as all the small issues that are normal for a never-before-lived-in home kept cropping up and had to be dealt with one after the other.

In sharp contrast is the experience I’ve seen when my parents have bought homes. In the two experiences that stick out most in my mind (in case you are wondering, my parents purchased/built homes often because we lived in many different countries not to mention that we are a tri-national family), when it came to buying houses, although my parents had to look at many different houses each time before deciding on which one to buy, eventually they settled on houses with wonderful features (many of which they would not have thought of themselves), and once bought, the houses were immediately, perfectly habitable.

Needless to say, if ever I own a home of my own one day, then my hope is that I will be able to buy a house not build one (though right now, I am so feeling the advice given in this article). Finances allowing, I plan to let someone else go through the hassle of putting together my dream home, which I will buy only after it’s been completed and I’ve fallen thoroughly in love with it.

But, I wonder, is my plan heavily influenced by the realities of life outside of East Africa? Is this plan a good one in our region? Are affordable, beautiful homes readily available in your country? How about financing tools useful when buying a home? If buying a home is such a viable option in East Africa, then why are so many of us going through the trouble of acquiring land, getting plans drawn up, and building our own homes from scratch?

I don’t have the answers, but maybe you do. I’d like to hear from you, my readers living in East Africa, some of whom probably own real estate of your own within the region. What do you think about building a home vs. buying a home in our countries? If you’ve ever had to make a choice, which choice did you make? Why? Is this a choice you’d recommend to others? Again, why? Please feel free to expound on any of the reasons that you recommend choosing one option over the other – I am keen to hear what you have to say.

That said, that’s it from me today. If you have not yet subscribed to ChickAboutTown, maybe you’d  like to do so in a reader or sign up to receive posts directly in your inbox.

For now, I wish you a fantastic weekend!

Ciao,
Biche

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