Being a realist, assuming that some muggers decide to send a bullet through your head for no apparent reason, or by bad chance, you get an accident or get sick and die? your wife and kids will be dispossessed of the house and they will suffer! Mortgage insurance isn't worth the risk by most insurance companies in Kenya, i tend to think. It would not be prudent to tie yourself for the next 15 years paying a loan, 60k isnt little money by the way!! Assuming your name gets dragged into a scandal or anything happens and you are fired from being a civil servant and you lose your job? Automatically your interest rates rises to 22% kama ya mafans!! Its so bad knowing that you owe someone 60k every month from Jan 2017 to Dec 2032, for instance!!

My advise with your current savings, take a smaller loan, maybe 2m and top up and slowly build your dream house without pressure or speed. the advantage of building your own house is that you get to customize it the way you want it, design, color, size and everything. For instance, almost all the house i see in Nairobi, all the bedrooms are clustered together on the upper floor with doors facing each other.......I would not locate my bedroom next to my childrens bedroom at any cost. Never ever.

Going though this route will help you a great deal. You will build a house of your design over a period that you are comfortable with, depending on your cash flows. You will not be under any pressures even in case of acute disability or disease, you will not be scared!

Dont buy these Nairobi houses, very poorly designed......very small windows like you are in prison........

#my2cents#

I thought the property will be charged to the bank during the mortgage period, and therefore only the bank can sell it, not him.

The first part of your statement is correct, but the second one can vary depending on the relationship with the banker. You can negotiate with a bank to get a buyer who buys at a higher rate. The Bank offsets the loan and give you the rest of the money. Actually, if you can get that buyer and the Bank refuses to sell to him/her and it proceeds to dispose off your property at a lower price, you can sue the bank for the difference of the money that you would have gotten from the market. Of course you have to prove the buyer was willing and able to buy at you claimed price.

@Obi, i have never looked at it this way. I always check if the rent income will cover both the loan interest and the principal repayment.

I would take the mortgage but know that its a buyers market currently depending on the area.