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Chapter 632: Chapter 622 Preparing Real Estate (Additional update four for Haidilao fans)
After driving around the area, the car turned back. Shen Yunfang checked the time and asked the driver to stop at the military district’s gate. It was getting late today, and by the time they reached the municipal government, it would have been off-work hours. She couldn’t let her personal matters interfere with other people’s time to go home.
When Shen Yunfang got out of the car, she made arrangements with Secretary Wang to go back and inform Director Bai. She would visit Director Bai next Tuesday afternoon to continue discussing the contract.
After getting home, she reported her site visit to Li Hongjun. With the leadership’s support, she started working on the contract matter during her days off.
Of course, she had taken a liking to that plot of land after seeing it. After understanding from Director Bai that the entire area covered eight hundred and forty acres, she contemplated briefly and then expressed her desire to take on the whole plot.
Director Bai was shocked but his shock quickly turned to joy. He fully supported Shen Yunfang, a military spouse with the courage to think and act boldly, and was very proactive regarding her contracting the land. When Shen Yunfang asked him for policy support, he pondered for a long time before finally deciding to help her to the end and began to lobby for her cause.
Shen Yunfang didn’t have many requests. First, she wanted to get a loan.
Initially, she thought that Sister Liu, whom she had met on the train, could help. However, after inquiring about the details, she found out that it was quite difficult to obtain a loan of one or two million yuan all at once, given her situation.
The bank policies now favored supporting individual entrepreneurship, and there were upper limits to the loan amounts that did not meet Shen Yunfang’s needs. Besides, Sister Liu was with the Bank of China, but loans for land contracting and farming like Shen Yunfang’s were available only through rural credit cooperatives or the Agricultural Bank. Faced with these circumstances, Shen Yunfang felt quite powerless, so she requested the city officials to help her out.
Of course, if she really couldn’t secure the loan, she wasn’t planning to give up. She would just pay the contract fee herself. But as an entrepreneur from the future, who could bear to take money out of their own pocket for a startup? They all wanted to operate by borrowing from a bank.
Regarding the loan issue, Director Bai discussed it with city leaders. Based on what was known about Shen Yunfang’s personal assets, the issue was resolved in less than a week. However, the city could not give her a loan unconditionally. She still needed to mortgage some real estate or other valuable assets to get the money from the bank, and the loan would not be interest-free.
Shen Yunfang could accept this. For the time being, she didn’t have real estate prospects, but after learning about this, she immediately called the Capital. She asked Ma Liguo to arrange a suitable house for her as soon as possible. Price was no object; as long as it met her approval, she would buy it straight away.
Her second request was for Director Bai to help her connect with a major machinery factory in the province. She needed to purchase some agricultural implements and large machinery.
This was easy to manage: as long as you had the money, you could buy whatever you wanted.
Shen Yunfang also went to see them herself and picked out the Dongfanghong tractors. She didn’t know much about the models, only asking the staff to recommend the most durable and powerful ones. After seeing the price, twelve hundred and sixty yuan each, she immediately ordered three.
Of course, the loan from the bank had not come through, and she was only placing orders for now, waiting for the money to be received before picking up her purchases.
There were also some domestic threshing machines and other machines that would be useful when it came to farming.
Her third request was for the Z Province government to import several combine harvesters and rice transplanters from abroad in its name. Director Bai couldn’t decide on this by himself, so he consulted with the leadership who, after some consideration, agreed to Shen Yunfang’s request.
Beyond that, once the contract was signed, she needed the government to facilitate the process and expedite the paperwork.
After finalizing these matters with the minister, Shen Yunfang wasted no time heading to the Capital.
"Yunfang, over here." Ma Liguo stretched his neck to look toward the exit, finally spotting Shen Yunfang.
Shen Yunfang also saw Ma Liguo and, avoiding the crowd, she hurried over, "Brother Ma, I’ve troubled you again."
"What do you mean trouble? If you keep acting so formal, I’m gonna be upset," Ma Liguo said, feigning irritation.
"Hehe, then I won’t say it anymore," Shen Yunfang chuckled.
"That’s more like it. Let’s go home, and on the way, I’ll fill you in on the housing situation."
Yes, Shen Yunfang had returned to the Capital this time just to buy a house.
Not long after she phoned Ma Liguo, he sent her a message saying that he indeed found houses that met her requirements. However, due to the high property prices, he couldn’t make the decision himself and suggested that Shen Yunfang should come and see them in person.
So Shen Yunfang came back.
"There are three properties in total, all old four-bedroom courtyards like you wanted. Two are near Houhai and one is near the Glass Factory. They all face the street. These three courtyards are quite spacious—the two next to each other in Houhai, one with two entries and the other with three, and the Glass Factory one also has three entries, much larger than the courtyard you live in now," Ma Liguo gave a brief introduction.
"Go through them one by one and tell me, what are their prices?" Shen Yunfang was not satisfied with his cursory introduction.
"Let’s start with the three-entry courtyard in Houhai which I like the best. It has three entries and a back garden. The owner says the courtyard covers a total of 1,500 square meters. I went to see it, and the house is well-maintained, very charming at first sight, plus it’s filled with old furniture. The owner is including a full set of furniture with the sale," Ma Liguo explained, unable to hide his fondness for that property. Honestly, he liked that house too, but the price was way beyond what an average Joe like him could afford.
Shen Yunfang’s eyes lit up just hearing his description, "How much?"
"The asking price is 820,000. I reckon those 20,000 are just a trick, left for negotiation—around 800,000 should clinch it. But, I’ve heard this house has been on the market for almost half a year without a buyer," Ma Liguo considered. He thought the more than 100,000 he made flipping his house last year was a lot, but it now seemed like nothing, barely enough to buy a decent house. He realized there was still a long way to go.
Shen Yunfang nodded, making a note of this house, "What about the other two?"
"Another one is nearby, less than a five-minute walk. It’s quite smaller than the one I just mentioned, and a lot more run-down too. That owner knows the state of his house, so he’s asking 400,000. I tried haggling, but the stubborn guy wouldn’t budge a cent," Ma Liguo was annoyed recalling the negotiation. The obstinacy of some people in business surprised him, no wonder that house had been on the market for a year without selling.
"It’s okay if the house is a little run-down, once we buy it we can have professionals restore it," Yunfang said. Despite her words, she knew that renovating these old houses could cost as much as, if not more than, the purchase price. But even with an additional expense of 400,000, the house would still be a steal. n𝚘𝚟𝚙𝚞𝚋.𝚌o𝚖
