In this video, I review Boma yangu website managed by the ministry of lands in Kenya.
I walk you through the process of acquiring a unit under Affordable Housing Program and how much deposit to make before you are allocated a unit, how a 3 bedroom floor plan looks like e.t.c.
If you need help to produce professional video tutorials for your software on hardware project, you can reach out to me here.
Follow me on social media @cheptionymutai
At the end of April 2023, I started my hunt for a house to let within Kasarani, Roysambu, Claycity, Santon and Ruaraka area. It took me 2 Months to find a quality and fairly priced house that suites me.
I wanted a space where I can comfortably enjoy my stay when I am home without feeling uneasy or uncomfortable. That means it had to have some key features like good ventilation, continuous water supply, easy road access, internet e.t.c
On April 2023, my search for a house around Thika Road began. During my hunt, I spent more than 20 days combined walking around the estates to view all available houses to let.
At the end of my adventure, I had looked at over 100 houses in different regions of Thika road including Thome, Marurui, Roysambu, Kasarani, Santon, Clay city and TRM drive. Out of all these houses I viewed, I only picked one.
PS: More than 50% of the houses that we had viewed had been vacant for more that 2 months. This means, people go there, view the house and find out that there is something missing and then go away never to come back again.
So what made me choose the current house I am renting now over others?
In this article I will share with you six house features that I think many tenants look at when searching for a perfect ‘house to rent‘ in Nairobi.
This post will act as a guide to someone looking for a space to rent in Nairobi and any other place.
Also, it will be a source of inspiration to current and future real estate developers.
How easy is it to access the main road from the house? Do you have to take a boda-boda to connect to the main road? Even if the house has quality finish and you still spend money to connect to the main road, it is still not economical.
I know you are asking; but it depends with what you do? Well, sometimes the convenience to the road come in handy e.g emergencies, security e.t.c.
Having this in mind when searching for a house to rent in Nairobi will save one a lot of time. You will not waste time going deeper into the estates to look for a house. You will only focus on the ones that are closer to the road.
Is the house design appealing? How is the house ventilation from the inside? Some of the design features that was important to us was the positioning of the toilets, kitchen, bedrooms and balcony.
There is a huge problem with many house designs in most flats in Nairobi. In some, the first thing you will see when you enter the house is the toilets, then Kitchen, then bedrooms then living room then finally the balcony. All the rooms are connected by a tiny corridor. This isn’t in anyway appealing having in mind that you have to pass through the corridor to connect to all the rooms.
Another issue with many designs was ventilation. Many houses we viewed located at the Ground floor had very poor ventilation. There was no natural light coming into the house. This means that aside spending a lot of money on power, its not a conducive working environment if sometimes you work from home.
Finally still on the issue of design, the curtain holders in most houses were ‘box type.’ They have not embraced curtain rods yet. So if one had curtains designed for rods, they had to install the rods at their own cost.
One of the biggest problem in most Nairobi estates is water. Tenants are not told about the water rationing when they move in. I remember at one time, in my previous rental, we stayed a whole month without water. Thanks to my friend who lived in a house with no water rationing thus I did laundry and showered at his place until the water was back.
But imagine, what will happen if you don’t have a friend you can run to for help when having water crisis? You will buy 20 litres of water at up to 100 shillings. On average, one person needs at least 40 litres of water daily to use in bathing and flashing toilets.
The house design and beauty doesn’t matter if there is no water. It is better to pay for water in units than live in a house without water.
How spacious is the living room and bedrooms? In some houses, the bedroom space was very small that it only fits a 5×6 bed. Literally, the whole bedroom is occupied by only the bed which doesn’t make sense.
Spacious living room and balcony is also important. In the balcony, one can hang clothes, relax and bask in the sun e.t.c. This are things that matters to anyone.
In a spacious house, one feels free and flexible. There is a special feeling that one gets when he/she is living in a very spacious house.
Which floor is the house in? Is it in 1st floor or 6th floor? In my search, I found 3 good houses in 5th and 6th floor, but what turned me off was the poor ventilation on the stairs and absence of a lift.
Imagine you have gone to the shop and back to the house only to realize you forgot to buy something essential from the shop. You will have to walk down the stairs to the shop and back to the house. In this day and age, that’s a lot of work. That is why its important to have a lift in place if the house is tall.
Anything above 4th floor should have a lift for convenience.
This is the last thing that one looks at. How much is the rent? Some people rarely ask the renting cost if the house didn’t have the features they wanted. If they do, they will do it as a by the way. Some of the houses were overly priced despite having all the features we were looking for in a house.
In many cases, I realized that many landlords are nowadays focusing on the decorations other than the space size thus charging more. There should be a balance.
At the end, like business Tenders, one choses the lowest priced house with good space, water 24/7, security, easy access to the road and is properly ventilated.
If you are looking for a house to let in Nairobi, don’t rush; take you time. It will take time to find a good house that is habitable. A house that you can live in until you are able to have your own home designed to your own taste. You do not want to move into a house and little after moving in, you find a problem and you are forced to move out again.
I hope you found this article helpful.
What are those things you look at when looking for a house to let in Nairobi that fits your taste? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
And if you are looking for help to create and produce high quality videos for your business, I will be glad to help you. Reach out to me via my business website here.
Until next time, bye bye and take care.
Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.
As one grows as a freelancer, there is a need to own a website where you can share your skills and ideas. WordPress is one of the best and most popular platform to host your website.
It’s easy to use. Moreover you can start publishing on the platform for free. All you need to do is sign up. This means that you can build your online business from scratch on WordPress.
While anyone is capable of building their website on WordPress, along the way as workload increases, they will need a helping hand. By hiring a freelance WordPress website designer, you will save time and money.
In this blogpost, I will be sharing my process of hiring a WordPress website designer as well as some of the things I look at when hiring one.
Hiring a freelancer through the freelance marketplaces is what I will focus on in this blogpost. It’s the safest and most reliable way to hire a freelancer. This is owing to it’s Escrow payment protection, ability to get a variety of freelancers, affordability e.t.c.
Of-course there are other alternative ways of hiring a freelancer.
One of them is through referrals. If you know individuals who offers web design services, I urge you to contact them directly on their websites and discuss with them your project. If their quote is within your budget, go ahead and give them a contract. It’s a good deed.
With this said, lets now dive into what I look at when hiring a freelance WordPress Website designer.
If you are a freelancer, you know that cover letter is everything a client needs to make that decision of hiring you. CV’s here don’t work. Your profile and past client reviews is what someone will look at if they need further clarification on your portfolio before they hire.
That’s what I also do. I base their experience with the number of happy clients they have served.
So in this case, what do I look at when reviewing a cover letter?
How do they address me? This is very important. Some addresses me personally by my name and others prefer to use ‘sir/madam.’ This tells me that the freelancer is kind and respectful.
On the other hand, someone who just writes ‘Hi or Hello‘ to me sounds a bit mean and unprofessional.
Reading further the cover letters of most of second type of freelancers confirms that truly they are unprofessional because they don’t know what they are talking about.
Most of them send generic cover letters. That is why I think every detail in the cover letter matters.
When you Post A Job, you as the client is supposed to describe in detail what you are looking for in a WordPress web designer. Also, you need to describe the tasks you want accomplished on your WordPress website.
I expect a freelancer applying to my job post to mention something about my needs in the first paragraph.
In many occasions, I decline 40 to 60% of the applications. This is because their cover letters are generic. In this I mean they have one copy of cover letter which they reuse on all their applications.
This is another most important aspect. Have they designed a WordPress website before? How do their past designs look like? Does any of them impress me? If I like some of their past designs in their portfolio, I proceed and shortlist the candidate right away.
Depending on my urgency, I can proceed and send them a message informing them that I have seen their application and I like specific website designs they have in their design portfolio.
I then remove or decline all applications without links to any past project.
This is unless I have few freelancers applying to the job post.
By the time I am looking at the applicants quoted price, I would have filtered about 80% of the applications. For the ones remaining, I will look at their costs and compare it with the value they intend to offer.
While cost does not come first, its an important aspect that I look at when evaluating a freelance WordPress designer.
How much time do I have with me to focus on this?
While this is communicated upfront while posting the job-depending on how experienced and committed the freelancer is- I expect them to propose their own timelines for completion of the project during the interview.
If my preferred freelancer does not propose a different timeline, it means they are fine with the timeline I proposed to them. This for me is a perfect candidate for the job.
At my early stages of hiring a freelance WordPress designer, there was a lot of bug fixes and revisions that I requested fixed each time. I suspected the errors was created by the designer so that I could give him more work and hence more money.
Today, if you are hiring a designer, you will find out that some guarantee you 30 days FREE maintenance on your site. Someone who can make such an offer knows what they are doing.
They mean business and you rarely request revisions from them.
This for people who foresee building and making changes on their websites over time. Once you find a suitable freelancer, tell them about your plans to continue improving on your website. Having a consistent designer to your site is good. They get familiar with your website the more they work on it.
Communication still stands out when hiring a freelancer online. Someone who is able to communicate well via e-mail is a suitable candidate so long as they are honest. I rarely interview freelancers via video call unless its absolutely necessary.
Escrow protection on payments is a security assurance for both parties in the freelance marketplaces. You only release payment when you are satisfied with the work delivered.
So, don’t tolerate poor communication on e-mail exchanges during the interview process. It’s that important.
And that is it.
What is it that you look at when hiring a freelance WordPress website designer? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
And if you need professional screencast video production services or production of GIF’s for your website, you can request a free quote on www.techtubestudio.com.
Until next time, bye bye and take care.
Follow me on twitter @cheptiony.
