24 Jul Ask hard questions early to detect fraud in real estate

Casualness is the enemy of pretense. This is one rule phony real estate ‘investment’ companies have mastered in their journey of conning unsuspecting Kenyans. They deliberately invest in many public relations stunts that legitimise their operations in the public eye.

Most have hoodwinked Kenyans through choreographed property talk shows, prime news time television advertisement and appealing billboards across the city. Employees are then drilled to always be formally dressed or in branded company wares that without doubt portray a professional company image. It is nearly impossible to resist them having your money. And yet many of these companies have camouflaged histories if any.

Many Kenyans have been conned in the recent past by dubious real estate investment companies into pouring their hard earned money and life savings into ghost investments. It is not about to end any time soon since I have painfully accepted that we just don’t learn from the past. Our gullibility and appetite for quick wealth overrides commonsense that we shelve when making decisions. I concede that these unscrupulous companies have accelerated their wit of deceit but still simple commonsense would get anyone out of their snare. It is easy to tell – not rocket science.

The over lucrative promised return on investment should always be the first red flag. One day, I returned home to exciting news from my wife of a real estate investment opportunity that was shared in a WhatsApp group by her colleagues. In it, a real estate investment company was seeking those who can invest Sh1 million and expect nearly 30 per cent annual return. Isn’t that a Guinness book joke? What real estate investment could the company be purportedly undertaking that allows them to make their own profit and still pay investors 30 per cent annualised return? Since 2015, the growth of the construction industry has been plummeting. The economic survey report in 2016 showed a growth drop from 13.9 per cent in 2015 to 9.2 per cent in 2016.