Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Looking at the expectant faces of the little ones, Sophie said angrily, “They are looking for you, why did you push them to me?”
Li Du said, “Aren’t you going to film them as web celebrities? I am creating opportunities for you, and besides, I have other things to do, and I am extremely busy!”
This was not an exaggeration. After reviewing the properties, Lu Guan compiled a summary of them and said, “Boss, these two houses are the most suitable, and one of them may be sold by bidding for it, so it may have a low price.”
Li Du looked at the files and saw that both estates were in satellite towns rather than downtown Los Angeles.
In addition to being California’s largest city, Los Angeles also had a wider meaning. It was a large district, referring to a large combined area across five counties in southern California, which covered several satellite cities.
One of the estates was in Santa Monica, a small city just west of Los Angeles. It was a short distance, only 30 kilometers, or 20 minutes by car.
Also, Beverly Hills, where Li Du and Sophie went yesterday, was located just outside the city, between Santa Monica and downtown Los Angeles.
Li Du looked at the manor’s information. The house was built eighty years ago, had nearly a century of history, and the grounds covered an area of twenty thousand square meters, which was equivalent to thirty acres!
On the plot, there were two villas, a small vineyard, a little botanical garden, a small church, and several trees and meadows.
It could be seen from the photos that the manor was well protected. The house was decorated in an old-fashioned way but was in relatively good condition. In other words, no one has lived there for a long time. The courtyard was messy and wild grass was growing in it. There could be many little animals in the bushes.
There was no specific offer in the information, only one notice: the estate will be auctioned on July 20 this year. If you are interested, please go to the Santa Monica housing and urban development bureau to sign up for the auction.
Li Du looked at the auction message and asked, “Is this estate up for sale? It’s like a warehouse auction, right?”
Lu Guan nodded. “Yes, this is similar to the warehouse auction industry. It’s called real estate bid. Every now and then, the government and the banks will put up a house up for auction, and real estate dealers will often seize the opportunity to buy the house, then refurbish it and sell it for a higher price.”
Li Du knew this industry, which was closely related to warehouse auction. Second-hand furniture and appliances often appeared in warehouse auctions, and many of their potential buyers were the people who bid for real estate.
The people of warehouse auctions were called treasure hunters, while those who bid for houses were called tenants. As the name implied, they would make a living by buying and selling houses.
Compared with treasure hunters, tenants were generally wealthier. After all, a house always had considerable value. While a warehouse may only be worth a few hundred dollars, a house was no less than tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Therefore, tenants had enough capital. Buying and selling houses was not the work of a moment, so if their flow of money was not sufficient, it would mean taking a big risk in this industry.
Because they had more money, although they were also doing second-hand sales work, tenants were often full of themselves and did not take treasure hunters seriously, making fun of them as ‘garbage collectors’.
Li Du recalled the information about the tenant selection, and then looked at another estate, also in Santa Monica, which he liked. Lu Guan liked this place too.
Lu Guan was good at selecting locations. Santa Monica was a good choice for them. The city was close to Los Angeles International Airport. Li Du had many overseas businesses and his main friends were in other cities. Therefore, he would have to head to the airport very frequently.
Besides, compared with Los Angeles, Santa Monica was also quite prosperous, but not as noisy as the main city. The local beach was one of the most beautiful in California. There was a dock on the sand, and it was warm during winter and breezy during summer, with convenient transportation. It was heaven on earth.
The estate spanned about 15,000 square meters, complete with a small farm. It was a century-old and needed some repair, but the lawns and trees were well cut, and it’s been lived in.
In terms of location, the second estate was slightly worse off than the first, which faced the sea and was backed by the interstate highway. Both the scenery and the traffic were excellent.
However, the price of the first manor was unclear as yet, while the second manor was up for sale at 8.9 million dollars, which came down to less than 600 dollars per square meter, a reasonable price.
This was already very expensive because the real value of the manor was in the housing, location, and environment. The manor house was no more than 500 square meters and was in need of repair. They would need to spend millions of dollars renovating it and there was no knowing when it might be done.
In the United States, such a price was worthy of luxury homes. Even buying a villa in Los Angeles would not cost so much. Li Du went to Beverly Hills the day before to take a look and found out about a lot of houses for sale for only a few million dollars.
Of course, these houses or villas were still different from living in a manor. The budget of ten million dollars was high, but it was not unacceptable to Li Du.
He thought about it and asked Sophie, “Which one do you think is better?”
Lu Guan thought Li Du was asking him, and said energetically, “Boss, I suggest we attend the real estate auction. The first house is obviously better; its main body protection is very good, much better than the second house. It only looks messy because of its meadow and woods, which have been unkempt for a long while.”
“Furthermore, I checked the starting price for the house at the auction. It was only two million dollars. I studied the results of the Santa Monica auction, and four times the price is the limit, which means we have a good chance of winning at less than eight million!”
Li Du nodded and said, “What you say is reasonable, Lu Guan. You did a good job this time.”
Lu Guan smiled. “Then I’ll go and sign up to participate in the real estate auction?”
“Wait a minute,” said Li Du again, looking at Sophie. “Which one do you think is better?”
Sophie looked at the information on the two estates and asked, “Are you sure you want a big house like this?”
Li Du shrugged his shoulders and said, “I can’t help it. We have a big family.”
Sophie said, “It’s better to have a beach house. Lu Guan has listed all the reasons.”
Li Du said, “Okay, Lu Guan, go and sign up. We are returning to our old job, let’s go and take a look at the auction.”
With more than ten days until the auction, Li Du had time to deal with other things, such as the gold he brought back.
Handling the native gold was no easy task. He had to prove the gold’s provenance, sell it at a high price and find the right customer.
