Housing Finance Bank is the leading mortgage lender in Uganda, providing housing and housing finance solutions to Ugandans for the last 50 years.
The Bank has for the last 50 years worked to fulfill its mission of providing efficient, innovative and market-led housing and financial services to all, Ugandans within and in the diaspora.
Like the famous English adage goes, “East, West, Home Is Always Best,” many of our fellow Ugandans living and working in the diaspora still remain a huge part of us. To many, the festive season presents the right opportunity to come back home in Uganda and start investment projects like land purchase, construction and other business ventures. In the quest to achieve all the above, a good number of them either hustle out completely to get a good service or meet poor quality work done because they are not on ground to do the supervision themselves while away.
Therefore, as we pride in being the only indigenous bank, we believe every Ugandan regardless of where they are is entitled to a service and we shall continue to be the bank that links you to that service back home.
The good news from Housing Finance Bank to all Ugandans living and working in the diaspora is that it is possible to invest in real estate back home with no hustle. At Housing Finance Bank, we have continuously played a catalytic role where efforts have been made to bring together all major stakeholders in the housing value-chain, from developers, financers, property managers, hardware gurus and building material experts, to the customers/end-users. Housing Finance Bank is deliberate on how to improve the housing finance sector in Uganda.
Therefore, one can be able to invest in real estate, in Uganda even while living in the diaspora through the following ways:
- Utilizing the available wide range of mortgage products and solutions to meet one’s needs: Housing Finance Bank has a bouquet of mortgage products and solutions to meet a range of needs. Whether it is to purchase, construct, complete, renovate or use one’s property to unlock equity to invest elsewhere, the financing solutions are available at flexible repayment terms, attractive interest rates and maximum loan tenure of up to 20 years. Housing Finance Bank finances both residential and commercial properties like rental apartments, hostels, schools, hotels among others. This therefore can make it easy for one living in the diaspora to invest and manage their investments easily.
- Access to mortgage financing that makes it possible to purchase or construct your property in record time: Housing Finance Bank is currently the leading Bank that offers up to 100% financing on mortgages. The Bank has made extra effort to provide value proposition to both the middle and low income earners thus, open avenues to affordable housing for all. One can access any of our mortgage solutions without necessarily traveling to Ugandan as long as they hold an account with Housing Finance Bank.
- Access to a rich market place featuring our key partnerships with developers: Housing Finance Bank is working with different players in the market to increase the supply of affordable houses in Uganda. Once a partner is accredited by Housing Finance Bank, all that one has to do as a diaspora customer is to choose the property they are interested in, negotiate with the developer to agree on the purchase price and the Bank will pay the developer directly for one to own that property.
Furthermore, to deal with all the questions on where to find property if one is interested in buying it; one can locate the property on their own or use property agents. In addition, Housing Finance bank has a working relationship with some real estate developers and land sellers like National Housing and Construction Company, Pearl Estates, Royal Palm, Canaansites, Universal Multipurpose Construction Company, Mirembe Villas, Greentop Villas and many more who have units / land available for sale from time to time. Please visit our website at www.housingfinance.co.ug for all the above contacts.
One key question often asked is “how does one begin the application process in case they have identified a house they need to purchase?”
In response to the question above, one is required to negotiate a price with the seller, get a copy of title, photos of the property and have the initial discussion with a Housing Finance Bank official for the initial screening, to ascertain that they qualify before one commits any funds to the vendor. Once this is done, one will then be required to submit the detailed requirements to the Bank for the whole process to be concluded.
So while away in the diaspora, how does one process and submit the mortgage application, loan documents and sign the mortgage deeds?
To achieve this, one can utilize Housing Finance Bank’s available options for customers who already hold accounts with the Bank, depending on the customer’s convenience:
- The customer can visit the Bank physically and fill in mortgage application forms and submit supporting documentation. After submitting the supporting documentation, they can then appoint an attorney for purposes of signing the loan/mortgage documentation on their behalf. The authority of the attorney will normally include, transacting on the account for purposes of paying vendors (in purchase cases), purchase of materials and managing constructions (in construction) cases. The power of attorney executed would determine the extent of authority depending on the circumstances of each case. Where such instructions are given, the customer does not need to visit the Bank and funds will be disbursed upon execution of documents by the attorney and completion of other related processes.
- Customers who have accounts with the Bank can also fill loan/mortgage application forms from abroad and then courier the documents to the Bank along with supporting documents. In this case, the application forms would have to be witnessed by a Notary Public. At this point, customers may again appoint attorneys and the instrument of appointment would still have to be witnessed by a Notary Public. If no attorney was appointed, the customer will need to come physically to the Bank to sign the loan /mortgage documents upon approval of the facility. Note that where an attorney for this purpose was appointed, the customer may not need to visit the Bank in person. The funds will be drawn down upon execution of loan/mortgage documents by the customer or their attorney and completion of other related processes.
Finally, “What happens to one’s title once they have paid off the loan but are still out of the country?”
Once one has fully paid off their loan, the Bank will release to them a copy of their title which was submitted to the Bank, together with a release of mortgage document. The Bank may not release the above documents to third parties except where the individual owner’s authorization was given physically at any of our offices at an earlier date.
To all our Diaspora customers please come and engage with us at the 8th Uk- Ugandan Investment Convention which will take place on September 15 2018 at the London Troxy, where we shall be holding a business forum and investment expo, to ensure that we guide you through to the journey of acquiring your dream home!
