by Robert Manyara
NAKURU (Xinhua) -- A Kenyan software
developer is giving prospective home owners an ingenious option
of designing interior finishings of their homes amidst fast
rising of property prices in the urban centers.With
the virtual interior design application developed by Busalire
Emeka, buyers eyeing a particular house under construction can
select and define decorations of the interior sections.
In this way, Emeka says, buyers can reduce the total cost of
the house by reviewing the rates of the whole interior design.
"Should the prospective buyer feel like the interior design
finishing is too expensive, then they can have a discussion with
the real estate developer and cut it by up to 25 percent," Emeka,
the founder of custom software developer firm, Egalaxykenya,
said on Tuesday.
He said the application gives the homeowners the power to
determine the final look of the house unlike when one buys a
finished one and is too constrained financially to make
adjustments.
"This (house) is a lifetime investment and therefore it is
important to have control over how it looks," he said.
"Many of the current homeowners are buying houses through
mortgages and when you start paying, it really hits you so hard
(that you have no money to consider changes to the house)," he
noted.
The application available on his online system solutions
platform allows one to have a 3-D view of the interior
finishing. These include the floors, walls, kitchen and
washrooms.
Further, one can have a view of the physical shell of the
house such that the intended buyer can have a clear perspective
of the finished product.
"By looking at all the features, the buyer can then come up
with his or her own finishing and present the requirements to
the property developer to customize it to his or her liking,"
said Emeka, who has assisted various Kenyan developers and
prospective homeowners design their interiors with the
application since the beginning of the year.
The software developer is one of those who represented young
innovators at the Nairobi Innovation Week in August, 2016.
However, he says capital is a major challenge to developing a
product that meets the needs of the consumers within a shortest
period.
His plan is to synchronize it with low cost housing units to
capture a market in need of affordable houses but that requires
huge capital currently out of his reach.
"To come up with a complete product and market it widely to
reach local and international customers, I would need 10,000
U.S. dollars.
"It projects as a major challenge to me," stated Emeka, who
hopes to engage an equity investor in his undertakings.
