DAY ONE
I started walking around Meeting Point, going plot to plot, asking the same question:
“Any vacancies here?”
Finding a house that matched my needs and budget quickly turned into a nightmare.
Everywhere I went, I saw the famous Kenyan sign:
HOUSE TO LET
But when you called the number…
Stories.
“Already taken.”
“Call tomorrow.”
“Caretaker is not around.”
“Owner is in Nairobi.”
From 9 AM to 4 PM, I found nothing.
And you all know January sun in Nyeri.
By 4 pm, I was dehydrated, tired and confused. A little irritable.
So I told myself:
“Tomorrow I'll try Classic Estate, Beavers Estate, and Green Hedges Estate.”
While walking back to my old apartment to nurse tired feet, sun-scorched skin and dehydration, I saw a poster on an electric pole.
It read:
BEDSITTER, 1 & 2 BEDROOMS
And a number starting with 0738
I called.
The man told me the 1-bedroom I wanted was going for Ksh 6,000 around St. Jude.
Perfect.
But there was a problem.
He wasn't around to show me the house.
However, if moving was really important to me, he could send me the landlord’s M-PESA number so I could pay a refundable deposit.
Two other ladies had seen it earlier and had promised to come tomorrow.
I almost sent the money.
But my ancestors shook their heads and said:
“If you send money to a stranger for a house you have never seen, we disown you.”
So I relaxed.
DAY TWO
The next morning I woke up earlier.
Had tea and mandazi for energy.
Then I started walking again.
I began at Classic Estate.
Three hours.
Nothing.
I almost reached Mt Kenya hospital.
Still nothing.
I took a boda boda to Beavers Area...
Still nothing.
By this point I was exhausted and frustrated.
One Last Attempt
I decided to try Green Hedges before giving up.
It was almost 4 PM.
Then I saw an A4 paper on a black gate.
HOUSE TO LET
Call 0722…
The poster didn’t even say what type of house.
But I was desperate.
So I called.
Mrs Mwai picked up.
She was the owner.
She opened the gate and asked:
“What kind of house are you looking for?”
I said:
“A 1-bedroom for Ksh 7,500.”
She looked disappointed.
Her 2-bedroom house for Ksh 12,000 had been vacant for four months.
And the man standing in front of her was not looking for it.
Then Something Unexpected Happened
She lived in the compound with two other tenants.
After listening to my struggle, she asked:
“Can you compromise a little?”
She paused and said something I will never forget.
> “Pay Ksh 8,000 for the 2-bedroom.
You are just like my son.
You will get a family soon.”
She was almost pleading.
I accepted.
Two days later, I moved in.
But The Experience Stayed With Me
That experience kept disturbing my mind.
I started asking myself serious questions.
How many Kenyans are walking for hours looking for houses that match their needs and budgets?
How many landlords are bleeding money because their houses stay vacant for months?
How many people are scammed by fraudsters taking advantage of this chaos?
The Deeper Problem
I realized something.
Kenya had no national rental system.
No central place where tenants and landlords could find each other easily.
Yes, people tried using social media.
But social media is chaos.
A landlord must post the same house every day, because the post is buried by:
Politicians.
Comedians.
Scammers.
Content creators.
Gym instructors.
And everything else.
That Is When The Idea Was Born
I thought:
Kenya needs a National Rentals Platform.
A platform connecting landlords, caretakers, property agents and tenants across Kenyan neighborhoods.
I searched for such a platform.
What I found were websites where rentals looked like an afterthought.
Some were even full of scammers.
So I decided to build it.
I assembled people with different skills.
Among others, Mary Johnson, Brendah Nkash, George Ndung'u, Peterson Murage, Polly Kinya, Caroline Njiru.
And we started building Kenya’s National Rentals Platform.
Today That Platform Exists
It is called Renters Hub.
Today you can:
• Find vacant houses in minutes
• Compare many houses in one place
• Deal with verified landlords and property agents
• Avoid rental scams
Landlords can also:
• Fill vacant houses faster
• Reach Thousands of serious tenants
• Run their rental business more efficiently
Building Systems Takes Time
Systems that solve national problems are not built overnight.
They take years of thinking, building, testing and improving.
But the mission is simple:
No Kenyan should have to walk the streets for hours looking for a house again.