Today, the business of selling condominiums is at its booming stage, you will not run through your Facebook without stumbling into an advert announcing a sale of apartments near you.
When you take a drive in the city and the suburbs, billboards are in every corner, advertising condominiums in every nook and cranny of town and outskirts.
Gone are the days when everyone relied on National Housing for condominium needs, today, a salesperson is calling you from somewhere and another calling you minutes later, each looking for ways to ensure you start booking at a certain payment plan.
And you would imagine that people do not book, oh, you will be shocked to find most apartments booked out and you are left with one or two to choose from. Any delay and it is also taken.
It is therefore evident that Ugandans have jumped onto the wagon of buying condominiums, rather than take on the building by themselves.
Jacob Ssendegeya, a social worker always told colleagues he would want a house seated on about 10 acres in the countryside, with a huge farm, and a big bungalow stuck in the soil.
“I find the air in the city not so good, I want to have my own village of sorts, splash a good sum to build a nice bungalow and a farm, nothing will ever bring me to the city. I will even have solar power in the case,” he stressed.
As of today, Jacob is pushing through his mortgage to own one of the newly constructed apartments in Kira, his most immediate dream being a one-bedroom condominium and when money allows, he will shift to two bedrooms, hopefully, once he gets a family.
Jacob’s situation is not far different from many out there, who have found themselves compromising on a number of their dreams to settle for a high pay on condominium business.
Well, the reasons are understandable, like Jacob, people have found the amenities that come with buying a condominium in the city or the suburb too good to run away from.
Today, most condominiums come with access to clubs nearby, hospitals we trust, schools not far away, maybe a church we subscribe to and a view of the town to continue ringing the reminder of proximity to work.
It is very hard therefore to convince someone anymore that they can go and start building several miles outside Kampala with the hope that development will come.
Security also comes in handy, because most condominiums are being built with a security aspect; they are near roads and have full-time askaris to open gates and ensure all people and property are safe.
Many would not want to miss out on such things, hence their insistence on keeping around even if it means paying a bigger price for security.
Condominiums are lately developing amenities within; you find a swimming pool, a gym, and a library, which is enough to lure the working class that they can find everything they are looking for within.
Some also have resorted to constructing a pharmacy, and supermarket or mall within, to provide you with a one-stop center kind of treatment. Once you enter your house, you do not need to get out again.
These have brought the matter of self-containment to another level, hence hard to turn down.
To make it even juicer, you have an opportunity to pay the money in about two years, which gives you hope that you can actually collect your savings until you achieve the target to buy the condominium.
Other developers are taking it a notch higher; they give you the opportunity to desire your design and they will work within the means to give you the house of your dreams and the colors you yearn.
Now, given all these, it becomes harder to jump off the condominium wagon.
Given the available options, it would be easier to stick to buying a condominium than go into the hustle of building and struggling with engineers.
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