Kindly help,
am torn between taking a mortgage for a house in a gated community, or building a house in my ka-plot. My worry is, by buying that house in the gated community which looks elegant now, will the same elegance still exist when i retire? should I just build the house in my ka-plot pole pole and make it my retirement home? or should I again save and get somewhere I can live when I retire? Kindly help.

Ditto!

The advantage gated community would have is order and uniformity. If your plot is in an area where you are sure your next door neigbour will not do mabati rentals or flats, then you can build your dream home at your own pace.

Build your own home, the annoying thing about gated community is service charge, a friend bought a house (with really small rooms) for 18m the place is elegant, service charge stands at 15k a month, security, garbage, water, generator, lawn, pool maintenance, for your house unless it's a mansion building cost wont go beyond 10m since you own the plot, you won't have to pay astronomical service charges for the rest of your life,

Thank God you have a plot. Develop the plot Pole pole and Forget the Mortgage. Those two are not Comparable. I still cant believe that there are pple who still take Mortgages today. Its ridiculous. Many talk of repayment in a long time and that you mortgage gets you a house in a "nicer" area. That does not make sense. The thing is, If one can afford to pay monthly mortgage repayments of 30,40K or 50K a month then as well they can buy a plot in a nice area and build.