Having a big beautiful home is every person's dream. There are some who have managed to achieve this and millions more are working hard to get to a place where they can be called the proud owners of big, beautiful and expensive villas.

This kind of trend has been manifesting itself in Nyarutarama area in the city of Kigali, Rwanda. Residents here have beautiful villas set in mature beautiful gardens on several acres of land. These homes cost between Frw50 million and Frw100 million or more according to Mr. Karangwa a local housing broker operating in the area.

The homes are furnished with expensive and durable furniture most of which is imported and millions of francs are spent on interior design at the hand of professional interior designers. The owners drive powerful sleek wheels to complete the picture of wealth and power.

However, of late some of these proud owners have had to look for new ways of maintaining their plush homes other than their normal income channels. These homes demand a lot of care and maintenance in form of manpower to maintain the beautiful grounds, a fleet of house helps, security personnel and high electricity and water bills on top of property and land taxes. These homes also require a lot in constant renovation and repair work. The owners have to also put in more to manage all the workers on the property. The high expenses in terms of time and money have forced the owners to devise new ways of bringing in money by hiring part of the house out to short-term visitors. Some of these homes offer bed and breakfast (B&B) services while others allow visitors access to the kitchen to prepare their own meals.

This new form of bed and breakfast is never advertised as one of the owners who didn't want his name mentioned told me. He said: "Advertising would require one to register as an accommodation service provider attracting numerous legalities and more taxes on top of a list of rules and standards to follow." Most of their clients come recommended by friends or former visitors/clients and a select few housing brokers in the area such as Mr. Karangwa.

The visitors have to part with about $200 per night to take advantage of these facilities which usually include Dstv, a fully furnished suite, kitchen and other home facilities. In most cases the visitors are given a whole floor to themselves with a private entrance where possible, although all arrangements depend on how much money one is willing to part with. The visitors feel more at home than in the hotels around the city and get to be treated as kings and queens .They also get first-hand experience of the life of Rwandans and lots of help in choosing wonderful places to visit during their stay.

The only disadvantage of this arrangement is the effect it has on homes with young children who have to put up with various strangers walking in and out of their homes. Some of the people in this business say this is not a problem as most of the children are away in boarding schools and never get to meet these strangers since most don't rent out their homes during holiday season when the children are around.

This trend is not only in the Nyarutarama area but also in other upward and coming residential neighbourhoods in Kigali like Kicukiro, Kimironko, Masaka.

Brokers in these areas usually know which homes are open to these arrangements and which are not so possible clients don't have to go knocking on people's gates asking.

Sinayobye, a broker says: "Most of these arrangements are usually private and are based on trust between the owner and the client upon recommendation by a reliable person, so brokers don't usually take advantage of these cases although we know some cases exist."

One has to think twice about building a huge house as this comes with numerous challenges given the high time, management and money expenses associated with huge houses. The temptation, however, will always be there for many; so home owners have to balance personal gratification, comfort and common sense to avoid unnecessary trouble in the future.