PROFILE STORY – THIKA CHANIA GROOVE
Where serenity meets luxury…
The excitement of finding a forgotten 1000-shilling note in your back-pocket is what strikes you when you see this place. Prompting you to ponder where you have been and what much have you not seen.
You are better placed to answer the first question but I sure can help with the latter.
Travel is the cure for tired eyes. Lying beside the bed of River Chania is a spacious body of land. As the river flows so does the smoothly tarmacked road snake its way from Kenya’s heartbeat, Nairobi. Winding its way from the city center through Thika Superhighway into Thika. Cruise to within 5 minutes off Bluepost hotel then consider yourself there, at Chania Groove.
What is also a 50km road trip from Nairobi’s nerve center is also a 50km journey of healing. It is an emancipation of eyesight from an overcrowded city. One teeming with tall buildings and ill-feelings to a town welcoming with leafy scenery. The grass is certainly greener on this side.
Show me your friends and I’ll show you who you are? Well, Chania groove boasts the renowned Maki Estate, the Ndakaini dam and Thika coffee mills. And as the presence of the coffee mills suggests the area is a cash crop. One to be plucked, tucked and held in the bank for cash. Neither does the rich land thirst. Would you if your friend was a dam?
Show me your friends and I’ll show you where you are. Maki Estate, Ndakaini dam and the coffee mills are the landmarks leading us to Thika groove. A raised expanse of land prostrated at 300-acres large. It’s so big it can drive you crazy. Jokes aside, it’s actually full of nuts. Macadamia nut trees evenly pepper the entire settlement. The trees atop the ground, stand side by side like warriors holding spears devotedly protecting the soil.
It’s likely the first thing you’ll notice when you get here, the trees. How they shoot up only to meet mid-air. Trading kisses and birthing canopies. Forming shades under which one may find rest. Ushering you in with branches stretched out like open arms. Many arms like an octopus reaching out for a hug. These trees plead peace akin to one extending an olive branch.
Only allies enjoy peace among themselves. Given the skyrocketing scarcity for the commodity that is land, the asking prices for the lush land in this area might not accommodate a shoestring budget. There is a palpable hostility to frugality.
Yet the package Finsco Africa is offering halves the amount usually attracted for various demarcations of land for sale in Thika. Here goes our rate card;
Eighth an acre retails at 2.8 million.
Quarter an acre for 5.5 million
AND
Half an acre is retailing at 9.5 million shillings.
To workout how much similar packages cost from other realtors, double those figures to arrive at corresponding land prices and sizes.
If you are a casting a shadow of doubt, which is normal because the real estate industry in Kenya has for eons scored lowly on fidelity. If you are shuddering with reservations and are probably thinking, “When the deal is too good think twice.” Then you perhaps you are right to do so. You are right because investment and finance is anchored on trust. And as you hold on to that doubt, we are equally inviting you to understand how and why those prices make perfect economic sense for both of us.
First order of business, cut the middle-man out. He does not exist. The cost of land has always been inflated by middle-men. We can refer to them by their aliases ‘brokers’, ‘agents’ most of us even have names for them in our vernacular dialects. Whereas the stark contrast is Finsco Africa is a one-stop shop. With us, there is not a single arrangement where you enter a polygamous relationship to acquire property. This sheds off the numerous overhead costs involved in greasing multiple palms when buying land.
The guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy is one person. Call him Finsco Africa.
We then move on to the matter of the small-holder retailer. The common ‘mwananchi’ who owns an eighth of an acre or one full one for that matter. The heir of generationally fragmented land who is doing everything in his power to maximize value from it. The owner of one unit here and two there. The individual who tightly tucks his title deed under his armpit. The droves of Kenyans who acquired the bulk of the land and wealth they have by the brow of their sweat and sheer hard work. These are the people we dearly admire, seek to serve and whom we strive to empower. They are the reason we put our foot down on offering customer-friendly packages.
But in the same breath, in an alternate twist of this tale of Kenyan excellence is a harsh reality. If you were to buy land from a sole-proprietor anywhere, it is highly likely they will charge you an arm and a leg. How much worth would a man peg to the only cow he has?
It explains why our model works. It echoes our competitive advantage against single-unit holders. Moreover, resonating with the opportunity cost they forego.
Thika Chania Groove is a consolidated 300-acre hideout. Selling it en-masse affords us flexibility to come up with innovative products that makes land acquisition accessible to buyers across the pyramid. Including our half-price packages. Yet still being able to meet our mark-up margins.
In other words, shopping at Finsco is more like buying at a go-down and less a supermarket. As I said, only allies enjoy peace among themselves. Together we can make this work but first you must ask yourself. Who’s your guy?
Birds of a feather………We are having this conversation because we have more than one thing in common. Land; buying, selling and building it. The works. Ours is a quid pro quo relationship but we can put that aside for a moment, can’t we? For a jiffy we can forget about acreage and price ranges. Perhaps we can explore something else we might have in common?
How about nature? Birds? What do you make of them? They appear to me to be God’s CCTV camera’s providing an aerial view of the world. They are the eyes through which the heavens see the earth. So maybe if you lock eyes with them, you peek into paradise, no?
This is the gist of the Thika groove experience. While historically birds have been known to chirp, here you get the sense they amp things up a bit. As you walk and drive through this 300-acre maze, birds accompany you. Escorting you like flying chariots and instead of chirping they sing. Belting out acoustics from the bottom of their bellies. Making your presence known because what is an African welcome without ululation and celebration? They look down to you and you look up to them and instantly feel a connection, a warmth and a belonging.
You may deem this love or spirituality or vitality but I have a scientific word for it.
Biodiversity. When human beings, animals and the environment collude to live harmoniously as one there are fewer better things to be desired.
Finsco grasps this concept completely. This dire importance to be at unison with our surroundings. In the form of plants and other living creatures. If you are going to walk the boulevard of Chania groove then you might as well have a halo of birds a protecting you from bad omens. Allow your kids to live and play on grass. Let the breeze wafting into your house be filtered by Macadamia leaves. And if the wind dares to blow too strongly then let the trees be your shield.
In addition to the sale of land, we are selling a virtue which is conservation. Kenya is replete with concrete jungles. There is no dispute the place of cement is cemented in history. It’s high time Kenya waved a green flag to a green future. At the bottom of the national flag, our national colors have already done so.
More importantly we are selling sustainability. By doing so contributing to salvaging what’s left our planet and promoting prudent use of natural resources. At the core of the chest of our business is a conscience. It throbs harder than our pulse for profit.
Thika Chania groove is nothing more and nothing less than a green development.
Housekeeping
In Finsco Africa’s living room we do not really reserve special utensils for guests. We’ll offer you tea with the next available china in case you visit. Neither do we demand of you to rid remove your shoes before entering the house. We also don’t ask you to inform us beforehand if you feel the need to call on us. Our are open and revolving doors always welcoming and bidding visitor’s goodbye. We are walk-in policy personified.
However, our many liberties do not mean we function in anarchy. Despite our openness we are also governed by rules and laws. From the constitution of the republic to our company’s code of conduct to the particular regulations concerning our products and developments.
Thika Chania Groove is no exception and there are certain caveats you will need to acquaint yourself with on the on chance we transact business;
- The plots on sale are strictly to be used for residential purposes
- Our endgame is to establish a sizeable gated community where the prevailing ambience is conducive for living. We are gaga about accessible homeownership. We are determined to equip each and one of our customers in Chania with good neighbors. Where people from the scattered walks of life can coexist and subsist together.
- High rise properties will be limited to two-stories
- Two floors maximum. Again, reiterating our commitment to ensuring properties are primarily utilized for residential purposes.
Different strokes for different folks
Part of walking the talk when we say we are a one-stop shop is journeying with you through the construction process. When you are ready to go, we will be on hand to offer a helping hand.
From our in-house venerated architect, to the sourcing of building materials to finally getting the house on its feet. Save yourself the ‘fundi’ drama and save our numbers on speed dial. The circuitous value chain of real estate is our forte. We are au fait at it.
We will particularly be narrowing our scope in building the listed types of houses for our clients. Predominantly in the street scape format;
- Eighth acre plots; –
i) Four-bedroom house furnished with a domestic servant’s quarter, a family room and rooftop terrace.
ii) Four-bedroom house furnished with a domestic servant’s quarter and a rooftop terrace.
- Quarter acre plots; –
i) Five-bedroom house furnished with a domestic servant’s quarter, a family room and rooftop terrace.
ii) Five-bedroom house furnished with a domestic servant’s quarter, a gym and a family room
iii) Four-bedroom house furnished with a domestic servant’s quarter, an office and family room
