Use the search facility and enter the word 'Mortgages'

Avoid a mortgage like the plague..they are just too expensive in Kenya... How do you pay 15-17% for 10 years!!! my advice is be a disciplined saver and start investing small with your savings...look around carefully how you can build build an income stream at minimal cost e.g.low cost houses for rent, without having to take a loan...I know places where guys are investing in plots worth 600k, they construct 22 single units without a slab on the plot at a cost of 1.8m. Each is rented for 2k. 44k per month is not bad for 2.4m investment. Key as I said is save save save.....so you can raise the initial capital.

As you save small small the value of the house increases big big....
Mortgages are necessary evils.
You get rich by using other peoples money!

where can i get those plots?[/quote]
If you do your mathematics right, you will realise there is more benefits in Morgage than saving. If you are to buy a house costing 10m, before you save this amount the house will be worth more than 20m. But if you include the value you will pay for the morgage and the interest, it wont surpass 15m. Ask yourself why the rich are going for morgages and not saving for purchases.

Learning a lot.
Glad I joined wazua, lets keep going with the opinions, experiences, etc etc

We have discussed this matter before, but it doesn't hurt to repeat a good discussion.

This is what I advise: If you think you can afford 50k pm, then take a mortgage which requires you to pay 40k pm, but continue paying 50k pm. the extra 10k will help reduce your principal balance by a big margin.

And if something happens along the way, say you loose your job, you will be so far ahead in your payments that you will be able to relax for several months without making any payments before the financier sends you a default letter.

I am not very much for building your own house. I know it is cheaper than buying, but I think it is difficult to get a plot in a location that has all infrastructural facilities in place. There might be water, but no power, or no tarmac access to the main road...

But that's a different discussion for a different thread....and we've had it before...

My personal experience: I took out a mortgage in 2002 which required about 31k pm, but I paid 40k for about a year then increased it to 50k for about six months. Then the worst happened - I was fired from my job!

I recalculated my minimum required payments and it came to 25k. So I struggled to pay 30k for several months. Then things started improving financially and I increased it to 35k.

A couple of years later, I checked the balance and the minimum payment required. the bal was about 1m needing about 17k pm for the remaining period.

I cashed out my pension (which was earning a paltry 8%) and cleared the mortgage.

In the meantime.....

what was the interest rate? by how much did you pay back?