Important Steps To Take When Purchasing Land

I love land and have invested in it to a small degree, but I hesitate to write about it as an investment option, because my love for it is  based more on emotion than fundamentals, but in subsequent posts, I’ll be enumerating rational reasons why I think it’s wise to invest to include small real estate in your investment plan, and how to pick real estate investments.

Today’s post outlines the basic steps you should follow, should you decide to invest in real estate. When we think of real estate transactions, most of us think that approaching a lawyer for conveyancing is the first step. Hiring a lawyer is important, but there are things you can do and need to do by yourself first. This will reduce your legal fees greatly, and make your transaction time less.

Global trends shouldn’t scare an investor off real estate, real estate opportunities are always there, spotting them is the key thing.

The procedure of buying and transfering land is as follows:

1. Identification: There are various ways to identify land for purchase, ranging from the most primitive (“For Sale” signs) to engaging a real estate agent to carry out the land search for you.  The most important thing here is to be clear on what you want, before starting the search. There are different kinds of properties; residential, controlled development, commercial etc. The land you buy should be aligned to your other investment objectives. At this point, it’s important to do some basic due diligence about the property, especially by consulting the neighbours e.g to find out if the area floods during the rainy season. In fact, experts advise that the rainy season is the best time to identify land.

2. Conducting a search: Once you have identified your target property, ask the seller for a copy of the title deed, which will help you conduct a search on the property. To carry out a search, you will be required to file a search application form, attached to a copy of the title deed, and pay a fee at the Land Registry (Ardhi House). This process takes 2-3 days, after which you should be able to get the following information about the land:

• the registered owner of the property
• it’s size
• any encumbrances against the land such as court orders, loans taken against it etc.