The Executive Director of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA) Samuel Amegayibor, has advised prospective homeowners to opt for mortgages as opposed to piecemeal attempts to construct homes on their own.

According to him, owning a home through a mortgage is the better option of the two, as it affords the homeowner the benefit of immediately possessing and living in their home, unlike piecemeal attempts in constructing one’s home which often takes a very long time to complete.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, the Business Edition, Samuel Amegayibor said: “If you went for mortgage, it’s a better option than to try and do any piecemeal attempt on your own.

“The reason being that if you take the mortgage, you benefit from the property immediately after the processes have been done with the bank, and then you take possession of the property and then enjoy it over your life time.”

He stated that the mortgage facility is a much better option than an individual building in stages because the latter option is sporadic in nature and dependent on the availability of spare income. In addition to that, it takes a much longer time before one can enjoy the benefits of their labour.

“But if you attempt to do piecemeal development on your own, the reality is that you don’t have the funding and so you’re only building as and when you get the income and sometimes it might be difficult for you to even determine how long it’s going to take you and so you end up building for 20 years and 25 years and then before you say jack, either you are half done with the project and then you’re either heading for retirement or something. You may probably not have completed it,” he said.

Mortgages on the other hand offer immediate ownership of one's home, with nothing but a sustainable job and a steady income.

“So in actual fact, mortgage for me is the best option. It’s one of the best ways for everybody to own a property. Because you take possession immediately and all you have to do is to find yourself a sustainable job to be able to rake in something at the end of every month and then be the mortgage funder,” he said.