Chapter 712: Special Auction
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
China’s economy had become a real estate economy. With real estate being the benchmark for one’s capability and prestige, China’s society revolved around the real estate market as well.
Although Mr. and Mrs. Li were already old, they had not yet reached the stage of having no desire.
Take, for example, the way Mr. Li gazed at the newly-built neighborhoods when they had been worshipping their ancestors the afternoon of Chinese New Year’s Eve. Li Du could feel his parents’ desire to stay in those types of residential areas.
Since this was the case, Li Du decided to get them a villa. The housing prices in the county town were not high and a villa was just a small stand-alone apartment that was slightly better. Compared to apartments that had a sea or hill view, the difference in prices was like the difference between Heaven and Earth.
Before the new year, Li Du had contacted Du Hang and asked him about the prices of some of the better villas in the county town. Du Hang told him that it would only cost 1,500,000 if he was just buying an unfurnished apartment while furnished apartments were more expensive, with ordinary ones costing 2,000,000 and better ones costing upwards of 3,000,000.
Li Du spent a short while converting the prices. After converting the prices of the villas into USD, they actually cost only a couple hundred thousand dollars, which was a snap for Li Du.
The reason for Du Hang’s visit was to send Li Du information regarding villas. Li Du had discussed with him before that there was no need to discount the middleman fee just because they were old classmates and that he would earn what he deserved so long as he picked out a good apartment.
Du Hang gave Li Du his word while patting himself on his chest. This was a great opportunity for him to make money. If he had not taken into account that going to another’s house for business was not allowed on the night of Chinese New Year’s Eve, he would not have waited until the morning of the first day of Chinese New Year.
The number of villa districts in the county town of Li Du’s hometown was not a lot. Although they were called villa districts, in truth, they were just districts with small Western-style apartments: golf course, outdoor swimming pool, gym, and a lot of basic complementary facilities.
Ultimately, these so-called villas were just slightly more beautiful stand-alone Western-style apartments.
In the eyes of the people in his hometown, they were already good enough. After all, his hometown was only an ordinary county town and not a holiday resort, while the wealthy people in the county town were few and not very fussy in regards to accommodation.
After knowing that he was going to buy a villa, Mr. and Mrs. Li shook their heads one after another and said, “We still have to work on our family’s cropland, why are you buying a villa? Living in a villa and doing farm work? Won’t we become laughing stocks?”
Li Du put out his left hand and began counting with his fingers. “First of all, aren’t the housing prices continuously rising? If we still don’t buy, we will have to spend more money when we want to. Secondly, just let those who like to laugh, laugh. Anyways, it’s fine so long as we are comfortable living in the villa.
“Thirdly, all the villas picked out by Du Hang have extensive green land. If you guys are not willing to grow a garden, then just cultivate the land and plant vegetables. Fourthly, in the future when your daughter-in-law comes to visit, you guys ought to have a good apartment, right?”
With him counting off in such a manner, Mr. and Mrs. Li became convinced and both of them pondered for a while. “That’s reasonable. Buy one then.”
There were mainly four kinds of villas in the county’s villa districts, which were all priced differently. These included single villas, duplex villas, stacked villas, and two single villas joined together. The kind of villa Li Du wanted was the single villa.
On the first day of Chinese New Year, Du Hang brought over the information of more than ten villas for Li Du to select. As real estate agencies were opened for business on the second day of Chinese New Year, Du Hang called Li Du to inform him that they could go and view the apartments.
On the second day of Chinese New Year, they met up with Du Hang after having lunch at noon in a relative’s house and began making preparations to view the apartments.
Li Du viewed the neighborhoods first instead of specific apartments. He compared a few neighborhoods based on factors such as environment, culture, traffic, and lifestyle before picking the best.
For two consecutive afternoons, they went to view the villa districts in a detailed manner. After a round of comparison, Mr. and Mrs. Li chose Bo Li Rose Garden.
This villa district, which had a total area of 180,000 square feet and a 0.2 plot ratio, was made up of 79 villas and 2 commercial villas. Meanwhile, the 81 villas had different sceneries and appearances based on the location they were in.
The design and construction of the villa district’s green landscape had been done very well. Inside the garden was a broad scenic road that was 20 feet wide and ran from the north to the south. The entire area of the garden was divided into east and west areas and had a circular road, which was similar to the scenic broad road, in the middle of the two areas.
The greenery on both sides of the road was divided into top, middle, and bottom layers that grew evergreen plants, deciduous plants, and low shrubs respectively. In addition, there were two gardens: a Camphor garden and a sweet osmanthus garden.
Li Du was mainly fond of the design of the villa district’s environment. Even though its location, which was in the outskirts of the county town, was also good, it had a scenic broad road, which directly connected to the main road in the county, and a lot of public transport services outside as well.
Having selected the neighborhood, the selection of the apartment was next.
Du Hang also agreed with the choice of neighborhood and recommended, “Old Li, this villa district is definitely profitable. It’s famous in the city, let alone in our county town.”
Li Du gave a faint smile and said, “Don’t tell me nice things, I want your honest opinions. As you have seen, my parents are especially fond of this neighborhood. I don’t want anything that will annoy them to happen after buying it.”
“What I said was the truth,” Du Hang responded in an aggrieved manner. “Look, this neighborhood is surrounded by water on both sides and has natural river scenery inside. Living here is like living in a scenic spot.
“Not only is the scenery good, the apartments in Rose Garden are also good. The apartments are modern and striking, and each one has front and backyard that are separate from the others, a personal elevator, as well as rooms for the elderly on the first level. As the living room is on the second level, its lighting and view are better. Isn’t the design very hospitable?
“Also, every apartment here contains a naturally-lit basement and a large terrace at the front and back of their top floor, which can be used to cool off during summer and to bask in the sun during winter. Isn’t this great?”
The good points of this neighborhood that Du Hang described were also the factors that Li Du had regarded as important. After selecting a villa district, the selection of an apartment was simpler as the villas in the neighborhood, other than the commercial villas, were similar in terms of the type and area.
After all, since the villa district was in a county town, it was very normal for the developer to be opportunistic in its design. Otherwise, the design cost would have to be counted into the prices of the apartments, hence, increasing their price.
As Li Du did not stay in the country and his parents were completely lost in regards to refurbishing, he chose a second-hand apartment that was on sale. The owner of the apartment that had already been refurbished was intending to go overseas and had decided to sell the apartment.
Although the villa district had a modern style, the apartment was refurbished in a traditional Chinese style. As the apartment had complete sets of natural wood furniture and household appliances, they could just move in straight away.
Du Hang acted as the middleman and helped Li Du lower the price. As the owner of the apartment was in a hurry to go overseas and needed cash, Li Du had an advantage in this regard since he was able to pay in full and did not need to wait for the bank’s approval to get a loan, which saved a lot of time.
After two days of bargaining, the owner decided to give in and sold the apartment at a price of 2,400,000.
When Li Du happily handed over the money, the owner also happily accompanied them to do up a property ownership certificate. However, as property transactions were not a simple matter and the housing authority started work on the seventh day of the Chinese New Year, the last day of Chinese New Year was already approaching after they had settled the transaction.
Li Du and his parents spent the next few days tidying up the apartment. When he was just about to move into the new apartment and enjoy himself for a period of time, Lu Guan, who was in Flagstaff, called and informed him that an important auction had appeared.
The auction this time around was a dumpster diving master’s special auction.
This was the first time Li Du had heard of such an auction. He asked, “What’s that? How much is the profit?”
Hans said, “Have to specifically see which dumpster diving master. However, regardless of which dumpster diving master it is, storage unit auctions of this kind are all worth taking part in. We must go back.”
