In a recent interview with Mr Kwesi Anderson, Marketing Manager of Ghanaian real estate developer, Whitewall Properties, we received great insight into the real estate world and as always brought back some tips and advice for our readers.

Could you give us a brief background on Whitewall Properties?

Whitewall Properties was established in 2012. Largely, our concept is to develop modern and sophisticated Townhouses and Apartments with lush of greenery in prime locations which are the preserve for the upscale market segment. Our clients usually buy and move in or buy to add up to their investment portfolio and rent it out and this requires careful selection of key prime locations.

Some of our prime locations are Cantonments, East Legon, Ridge, Tesano and Dzorwulu. Whitewall prides itself on the provision of spacious developments in prime locations, great and quality finishing imported from Spain and Italy, and on-time delivery schedules. It usually takes us a minimum of a year to two years to finish most of our developments thereby enabling our clients to get access to favourable terms of payment for their preferred developments off-plan.

Why Ghana?

We see an opportunity in the Ghanaian market. There are also a lot of Ghanaians in diaspora looking to come back home and instead of going through the orthodox process of buying and securing lands and subsequently taking a long time to put up their dream homes, we realized this gap and offered them an opportunity to give us their money to build those dream homes.

Whitewall has its own strategies in place for sourcing funds for their developments but seeks some commitment from clients by requiring a percentage deposit during the construction period.

Is Whitewall looking to expand beyond the Accra area?

Not currently, maybe in the long-term but we do have some developments coming up in the community 25 of the Tema district.  Here we are targeting the middle-class market.  If we do realize a market in other areas we will consider going in there.

What makes Whitewall different?

We thrive to be very unique as there are many competitors in this industry.  Our unique offerings are hinged on developing in key locations and offering very spacious units coupled with competitive lower pricing.  Hence within the upscale market, we are very affordable.  For clients who come on board during the construction stage, we allow for customized adjustments at a small or no additional fee.  We also offer additional personalized services to our clients by helping them with their mortgage applications and going the extra mile to even recommend a competitor to them whenever we are sold out, l we have good relationships with our competitors. For Whitewall the client always comes first. The amazing thing is that about 50% of the clients who have bought Apartment units at Maple Court have already made reservations to buy Apartment units at Pine Court to be developed at Cantonments.

This is a true testament to how our clients are delighted with the products and services that we are already offering them. Our delighted clients take it upon themselves to refer and recommend their family and friends to us as well.

What is Whitewall’s approach to social/affordable housing?  Are there any projects currently in place or in the future?

As a business unit, we are always looking to fill up gaps for various markets hence we do not intend to target only a particular market.  We have noticed some gaps in social/affordable housing to explore, as Ghanaians in this market range seem to be very price-sensitive. For now, however, we don’t do mass developments, most of our developments only hold a few tenants.

How does Whitewall determine its pricing?

We price looking at three criterions.  Location of our developments, the total floor area and the finishing used.

Do you think technology has affected the real estate market? If so, how?

Yes, there has been a very positive impact. Especially in terms of marketing and research, technology now offers various platforms such as listing property and developments on the web and here, Jumia House has played quite a key role.  Technology has also played an important role in putting up developments.

How will prospective clients get a feel of technology in Whitewall’s developments?

Whitewall is using standardized building materials.  Pine court, another of our developments for instance as part of fire laws requires two staircases, a normal one and a fireproof one.  In addition, however, Whitewall Properties offers a fireproof staircase and this is all due to technological advances.

What projects does Whitewall Properties currently have in place?

We currently have Maple Court in East Legon, which will be ready for occupation in October 2014. There are 2 Townhouse Units and one 2-Bedroom Regular Apartment available for sale.  Pine Court, which will be developed in Cantonments (3 minutes drive from the American Embassy) will break grounds in December 2014 and completed in December 2016. It comprises of 1-Bedroom (64 Sqm), 2-Bedroom Regular (81 Sqm), 2-Bedroom Deluxe (132 Sqm), 3-Bedroom (180 Sqm) Apartment Units and a Penthouse (487 Sqm). Chestnut Court is also an upcoming development, which will be developed at East Legon near the Galaxy International School. It will comprise of 10 well-designed 4-Bedroom Townhouses. There are future developments coming up in Tema, New-Achimota and East Legon Hills.

What are your views on Jumia House Ghana and suggestions if any.

Whitewall has advertised on Jumia House for about four months and we have had very good feedback from this platform. I would recommend Jumia House any day because unlike other online marketing platforms, Jumia House has been exclusive for real estate only and that’s very functional.  The Jumia House staff is also very pleasant and maintains excellent relationships with its clients and that has been very encouraging.

Any advice to prospective homeowners?

I do have some key concerns I am very passionate about and would love to address. Most Ghanaians are very price sensitive when it comes to investing in real estate but I implore them to consider other key criteria in addition to price. Some of these include location, this is a key determinant of pricing in addition to the total floor area also plays a key role in pricing. From personal research, nine out of every 10 Ghanaians always enquire how much a house or development is selling for as a key factor in deciding which property to buy instead of considering other related factors such as the total floor area and the type of finish.

A great way to calculate the value you get for a piece of land is to divide the selling price of the property by the total floor area and that gives you its value per square meter.  Also, I implore prospective homeowners to try to make enquires directly from the developers or do their due diligence and do extensive research on the kind of agents used in finding property.

Browse through Whitewall Properties portfolio on meqasa.com.

See below for photos of some of Whitewall Properties’ developments.