Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 1437 - 696: The Unvisited Place

Chapter 1437: Chapter 696: The Unvisited Place

In an era when the American president embroiled in a zipper scandal was commanding bombers to strike a small place called the South Alliance, the real estate industry in Provincial City was still in its infancy.

In reality, those who had a stable job or had once held such positions knew that in those days, as long as you were employed, housing was generally taken care of by the workplace. Although the apartments of that time were nicknamed "pigeon buildings," at least you had a place to live, right?

Even enterprises that were no longer performing well could manage to find a plot of land to settle their workers into some sort of dwelling without too much trouble.

Thirty years later, when people hear about land, the words that immediately come to mind are "expensive," "sky-high prices," "land kings"...

But back then, those who had stable jobs would pick and choose even after being allocated an apartment; some were unsatisfied with the housing they received. Now, the apartments were considered joint-funded housing, meaning you had to make a nominal payment for them, which displeased many. A small, three-room apartment required a payment of three to four thousand yuan—had the leaders gone mad for money?

There were those who had no need for an extra apartment and simply sold off their housing quota for a few hundred yuan, or even gifted it to friends and acquaintances without charging anything at all.

And the price of commercial housing was about one thousand yuan per square meter; the best didn’t exceed two thousand. If you had some connections, you could easily find someone to knock the price down to eight hundred for what normally sold for one thousand, or one thousand five hundred for what was priced at two thousand. It wasn’t a big deal.

Selling houses wasn’t as simple as Chen He made it sound, though. Most people had places to live and either didn’t want to buy or couldn’t afford to buy; as for taking out loans to buy houses, the majority dismissed the idea as soon as they heard it—was it a joke? To owe a debt for ten or even thirty years for a house, and to the bank at that, would life still be livable?

Only the more forward-thinking or those especially wealthy considered buying commercial housing.

For most, why buy a commercial house? You wouldn’t know anyone in the neighborhood, and you’d have to pay for utilities and maintenance fees—though pigeon buildings weren’t great, what in the world was a maintenance fee? And utilities?

Business people from outside the province hardly considered purchasing property in Provincial City either. People valued the idea of returning to one’s roots; making money and returning to your hometown in prosperity was considered sensible. Why buy a house here? If you don’t even have a local household registration, would buying a house here secure your children’s education? If you had issues regarding household registration, you’d still have to run back to your hometown to resolve them, wouldn’t you?

It was for this reason that Chen He could casually claim that the plot of land behind Yan Fei’s house was worth at least three million yuan—after all, it was a substantial piece, and to him, that seemed plenty.

Then, after Yan Fei was intrigued, he called up a friend and immediately became excited, "What did you say? That plot of land covers three to four hundred acres? Isn’t it just a small piece?"

Yan Fei stared in disbelief. You’ve boldly appraised the value of that land, yet you don’t even know its actual size?

After Chen He hung up the phone and faced Yan Fei again, he couldn’t help but feel his face heating up and sheepishly said, "Uh, Yan Fei, that three million I just mentioned to you might be a bit low. I thought the land was only around a hundred acres or so, but there are actually four hundred..."

Xu Xiaoyan and Jiang Xueling came out with the meals just in time to see Yan Fei grinning like nobody’s business, visibly thrilled.

Those who had never farmed had little idea about the extent of an acre. Plus, the plot behind the house was empty; standing at one end, you could see the other, and it would only take a few minutes to walk across.

The roads in the city aren’t ridges in rice fields; they’re quick to traverse.

Thus, Chen He had always assumed the plot wasn’t very large.

As for his estimated price, it was purely based on his gut feeling. Because if the land was indeed around a hundred acres as he had thought, and considering the current low-rise apartments, which could at most be built up to seven stories—with floors above the fifth being difficult to sell, even though it was within the North Ring Road, its present barrenness differed little from suburban rural areas. Suburban land had virtually no value, and local farmers could build a house by simply paying a small fee.

Another point was that Provincial City was also known as Lv City. At one point, green areas accounted for over a third of the city, and even those who didn’t prioritize greenery, having grown accustomed to their surroundings, wouldn’t be pleased if a residential complex had overly dense housing and scant green spaces.

When everyone sat back down for the meal, Yan Fei started discussing with Xu Xiaoyan, "What do you think about buying the land behind our house to secure the space? Chen He just said that it won’t be as quiet here if they build houses behind us later."

Xu Xiaoyan didn’t have much of a clue and after a long pause, replied, "You decide. I don’t understand these things! Wouldn’t buying such a large plot of land cost a lot?"

Jiang Xueling, smiling amiably, chimed in, "Xiao Xing, you’re just fretting over nothing. Look at Yan Fei here, just asking whether to sell the land or not, how to sell it. He’s not even considering the cost... Surely he won’t miss the money for buying it, right, Boss Yan?"

Yan Fei was modest in his response: "I don’t have that much money. I’m just trying to secure our future living comfort, tightening my belt and pretending to be rich while going hungry!"

"Your belt actually looks pretty wide!" Chen He inspected Yan Fei, almost rolling his eyes. "Your humility doesn’t seem genuine. There are so many people who could tighten their belts to the breaking point, and still not be able to afford such a large plot of land!"