Reuben Kimani, CEO, Username Investment Limited
An investment has been widely defined as an action or a process of putting money in a venture with an expectation to reap profit from it. There are very many investment opportunities available such as unit Trusts, Sacco’s, Stock market, real estate, treasury bills, treasury bonds, manufacturing, agriculture and food processing, Tourism and Hospitality. These are the most common types of investments available for potential investors. Many of the mentioned investment opportunities are coupled with overhead running costs, uncertainties and they strictly require you to conform all your energy towards developing the investment you have desired to venture into. However, there remains only one investment that provides immense cash flow that you need to consider in your next investment decision. Land is the single most investment that appreciates in value without incurring any costs.
- a) Vacant land needs no refurbishing and renovation
You most probably have an experience of being a tenant and you have to continually inform the landlord/ agent of the leaking roof, leaking sink, chipped floor and repainting of your wall. The expenses have to be catered for by the landlord reducing the income generated from the rental houses. A vacant land has no such expenses you sit back with your title with no extra expenses. Land is an investment that has no overheads cost yet the value appreciates on a daily basis.
- b) Vacant land has no predicaments and no repair costs
A piece of land has no cause of alarm of future uncertainties, there is no fear of your land relocation, reduction in size, collapse or physical theft. Lack of these uncertainties is guaranteed by possession of a title deed which give peace of mind.
- c) No need of mortgages
Vacant land has prices as low as 50,000. This is easily affordable on cash basis and you do not need a loan to buy a piece of vacant land. This also provides an opportunity to many investment opportunities. This provides young people with an opportunity to invest in a property considering they are in the earlier stages of their careers and their salaries range from 20,000-40,000. Vacant land provides the best opportunity for you to customize your property either by construction or agriculture.
- d) What to invest in your land is solely a decision on your shoulders.
Vacant land provides the owner with an opportunity to decide what to invest in the property. An individual can choose either to invest in construction or agriculture depending with the land. A free hold title deed is helpful in this scenarios at it enables you invest in a property without any restrictions.
- e) It’s a deal you can make virtually
Technology has brought convenience and with the reforms in the lands ministry it is very possible to search the details of the land you are interested in online, book a plot, make payments and submit your documents for land transfer facilitation. You always don’t need to be physically present during the transactions rather you can only attend site visits and open days to get a feel of what you have invested in and get to know the exact physical location and as well confirm whether the value adds are already in position.
- f) Fewer and cheap expenses
The only cost you incur is in the fencing of your individual property which in the near future might be provided by real estate companies as a value addition. The cost of grading the access roads, perimeter fence in the whole project, water and electricity is always provided for by an investment company. Once you purchase a piece of land you only sit back and wait for appreciation of the price. The beauty of investing is land is that land investment has no losses and no recurrent expenses. It is always a worthy cause to invest in land.
- g) Vacant land has the capacity to create income
Have you purchased a strategic property and its far from where you reside? The following are possible options for you; Depending on the location and type of your land, you may lease part of your property to telephone companies that can put up a cell phone tower, or to an energy company to put up wind-driven power generators. These are very strategic especially to areas that under and semi development. You might also be able to lease the land to farmers to graze their herd. Take caution and fence your land prior to lease for grazing.
- h) The cheapest long term investment
Land is an asset that appreciates in value on a daily basis. You can actually buy land to resell it at a higher price in future. In 2017 Nakuru recorded a 12% increase in the prices of land according to County Land Price 2018 report. This indicates that a person who purchased property a year ago in Nakuru can now resell it with a 12% increase which is set to increase even more with the ongoing infrastructural projects in Nakuru county.
- i) Buy land; they aren’t making any more
Kenya’s population is estimated to be over 50 Million in 2018 according to World Population review with an estimate of one million Kenyans being born every year. As this population grows, the size of the land remains. As many people look through to find the remaining properties to purchase the only remaining portions might not be strategic for settlement. All the other investments have a second option and diversify as time goes by but for land the demand increases and the supply is always constant. The best time to invest in land is now, tomorrow might be too late and the best investment to make on earth is invest on earth.
Land investments is a huge opportunity that reaps maximum benefits when treated like a business. The next time you think of Investments, think land.
