Short end of the stick: Deals that have dashed buyers’ hopes

Residential houses in Nairobi

In the last two years, the real estate industry has witnessed several deals gone bad.

Simple Homes: This was the housing scam of the decade. The company marketed itself as a Special Purpose Vehicle to help Kenyans purchase homes through a “pay rent, own home” model. Prospective buyers were supposed to register with Sh2,500 and place a 25 per cent deposit of the value of the property they wanted to buy upfront. They would then book a unit, which they would occupy once a project was complete. Early last year, it suddenly “closed shop”.