Buying a $500k House in Ghana? Contact Ghana Institute of Architects and GREDA First

Often when you look at the house buying checklist in Ghana, the Ghana Institute of Architects is missing.

Thankfully, Twitter user Jude Nyoagbe (@kwahmi) shared some golden nuggets on his timeline that should come in handy for anyone about to buy a house in Ghana; especially at such a premium price.

Jude makes a solid point for contacting the Ghana Institute of Architects (GIA) to audit the building you’re about to buy.

The meat of his tweets regarding GIA and GREDA (Ghana Real Estate Developers Association) are as follows:

On spending 500k USD for a house, contact the GIA and GREDA first. Ignore all the things you see online. Talk to these orgs about how to audit what you are buying before you pay a single dollar!

So the GIA has a list of architects in good standing and is trying to push for better service delivery for anyone who wishes to engage architects. They’ll be willing to take you through what to look out (from an architect’s point of view) for when buying a home.

Also since what you are buying should have been designed and supervised by an architect (if it is already built), you’ll be able to tell if you who designed and supervised the building to know if you are indeed making a good decision.

GREDA has a list of all registered real estate companies in Ghana. If you are looking to spend that much on a property they’ll be willing to let you know if that company is indeed a credible company, if they go by the book in terms of all practices (from design to construction).

They’ll also be able to help you better understand what goes into the cost of building+why the decision you are taking makes sense for you based on the features of the hse (sic) you are trying to buy. It is in their interest to serve the populace well and inspire confidence in the org.

See the full thread below.

Interestingly, this tweet came in response to a video posted on Twitter by user Gyamfuahhh advertising a ridiculously priced $500,000 house. The video has since been deleted (but an archived version of the tweet is available here).

The video got on the bad side of social media users and rightly so, with people comparing the value for money here with other houses outside Ghana that cost way less and seem better. Read some of their reactions here.

Admittedly, real estate in Ghana, in Accra especially is expensive. Why? This post by Denya Developers offers some clues. Hopefully, real estate companies in Ghana will take a hint from this and cater to an upcoming demographic that will soon be in the market for property.