App that puts houses for rent or sale just a mobile click away

Alex Kamande was tasked by his parents to find a new house to shift to. His mission was to look for a new home with reliable supply of water.

The then Kibabii University student who was at home for the December holidays, moved from building to building, but did not find exactly what he wanted.

He realised some properties had perimeter walls and high gates making it hard to access although they had empty units.

“Without putting out accurate information about your property, you are keeping out potential customers who end occupying poor houses that lack essential amenities like roads and street lighting,” he says.

Mr Kamande’s family finally moved house after a weeklong search. However the hassle they had gone through led to an idea germinating in the mind of the 24-year-old Computer Science student. The idea was setting up a mobile platform to assist Nairobians identify vacant rental properties with ease.

After graduating in 2017, he applied the knowledge he had gained to set up M-Keja, a website as well as a mobile-based platform where realtors, property developers and owners can upload information, pictures and videos for their properties.

“Busy people now utilise our platform at a mall fee to access the products available while property dealers source feedback via the platform helping them improve their property for higher occupancy,” he adds.

But Mr Kamande faced a problem where fraudsters uploaded non-existent properties. This drove him to physically visit properties before listing them on his site to affirm their existence and the condition of the property.

Sh10 commitment

Developers interested in using the platform sign a commitment note to have their property uploaded at no cost for the first property and a Sh10 for every extra upload.

“Videos on demand is the next frontier as it gives people a true picture of what to expect on properties. We charge Sh100 per video upload but customers searching for products enjoy free access,” he says.

To turn customer traffic into a source of income, Mr Kamande says data generated is analysed and provided developers at a fee.

Mr Kamande spent Sh2,500 to register his platform with Google Playstore but saved big on software development, thanks to his training. Development of the software costs between Sh100,000 and Sh500,000.

His site, now a year old has since expanded to offer properties for sale including house, and vacant parcels of land across Kenya.

In Nanyuki he has partnered with realtor D-Square Ventures.

Currently, the site hosts 418 vetted properties in Nairobi with plans afoot to include site visit offering where property dealers would pay a commission once a sale is made.

“This is the best way to make money since it affirms credibility of the site,” he says.

To supplement his income, Mr Kamande also develops websites for small and medium enterprises as well as manages social accounts for various clients who need to schedule product uploads.