After quickly researching the nearby communities, Pei Qian immediately went out and took a taxi.
Since he had decided to buy, he might as well do it as soon as possible.
It wasn’t that he was worried about price fluctuations—a difference of a hundred thousand or so wasn’t enough to concern him.
The main reason was that Pei Qian considered himself a typical single-threaded animal. He could focus well on one thing at a time and usually come up with good solutions, but when many things piled up together, it became difficult to manage.
This might also be a key reason why losing money was so challenging for him.
Back then, when Pei Qian saw one project becoming successful, he thought about starting another one to increase the chances of failure. But he never expected that as more and more projects were launched, he could barely manage them individually—he could hardly even remember them all.
The result was robbing Peter to pay Paul, with all these departments making more and more money.
It was truly a sad story.
Therefore, for matters like this that required constant attention and considerable mental effort, Pei Qian tended to resolve them quickly, freeing up memory in his brain once they were resolved.
This time, Pei Qian changed out of his suit and wore very ordinary casual clothes, then put on a mask to ensure no one would recognize him.
If people saw Mr. Pei buying property in this area, what would happen?
It’s worth noting that Pei Qian had no expectation that the property he bought would appreciate in value.
The price increase might seem significant to others, but to him, it wasn’t particularly high.
For a 120-square-meter apartment, even if the average price rose from 8,000 to 10,000 yuan per square meter within a year—which would be quite high—the total increase would only be 240,000 yuan.
Even when taking advantage of the system, Pei Qian could easily earn several hundred thousand per cycle, with each cycle calculated as half a year. Didn’t he earn over 800,000 in the last cycle?
Compared to this income, an apartment that appreciated by 240,000 yuan in a year wasn’t particularly tempting to him.
Moreover, Pei Qian was buying this apartment to live in. Even if it appreciated in value, he probably wouldn’t sell it for cash, so whether it appreciated or not wasn’t of much significance.
Most crucially, this news would cause an overall price increase in the surrounding properties.
If that happened, the commercial properties that Tenda had just purchased…
Wouldn’t they skyrocket in value?
Pei Qian would only buy one apartment, costing just over a million yuan. Even with a 25% increase, it would only appreciate by 200,000-300,000 yuan at most.
But Tenda Group had bought nearly half a street of commercial properties in the food street area, with a total value of over 60 million yuan.
If those appreciated by 25%, that would be 15 million yuan!
During settlement, the system’s default funds would inexplicably increase by 1.5 million yuan, meaning Pei Qian’s maximum income from losing money would automatically be reduced by 1.5 million.
If the appreciation was even greater, it would be even less worthwhile.
If it rose by 50%, although the apartment would show a paper profit of over 500,000 yuan, the food street area would reduce his loss quota by 3 million yuan.
Comparing these, it was clear he wouldn’t profit at all!
Therefore, Pei Qian had to find ways to prevent others from knowing he had bought property here and definitely didn’t want property prices in the area to soar.
Half an hour later, the taxi stopped.
Pei Qian didn’t go to the food market area but went one street further north where there was a relatively new residential community.
Land planning in the old industrial area was quite tight, with no new communities opening this year, only second-hand homes. But among these second-hand homes, there were both older buildings 30-40 years old and relatively newer ones built 3-5 years ago.
The community Pei Qian was looking at was among the newest developments in this area, built just last year. The overall environment was quite good, and while it was some distance from the food market, it wasn’t too far—still within an acceptable range.
From this distance, walking to the food market for a meal was feasible, but it was difficult to benefit from any appreciation.
There was a real estate agency store nearby, and Pei Qian walked straight in.
Although he didn’t have much fondness for these agency companies, given his busy schedule and many commitments, and since he couldn’t trouble his employees for help, he had no choice but to use these agencies he didn’t particularly like.
Besides, it was mainly the leadership of these companies that was problematic. As for the agents themselves, although there were indeed some who would say anything for a commission and weren’t very reliable, most were just working to make a living, so there was no need to be too hostile.
“Hello sir, are you looking to rent?”
An agent in the store immediately approached when he saw Pei Qian enter.
Recently, with the increasing popularity of the food market, these real estate agents had also benefited significantly.
Lately, many people had come from all over Jingzhou—some to look at properties, wanting to buy second-hand homes or commercial spaces, others working nearby and looking to rent.
He looked at Pei Qian’s age—quite young, like a college student—and assumed he was probably there to rent.
Pei Qian said, “I’m buying. Do you have any apartments in the Jixiang Garden complex next door? Around 150 square meters.”
Hearing he was there to buy, the agent immediately perked up.
“Buying? Please have a seat! Let me get you some water.”
Soon, the young agent began his performance.
“I’m guessing you’ve also heard that property prices in the area are about to rise, so you’ve come to invest in a property? Well, I must tell you, apartments in Jixiang Garden aren’t a good deal!”
“The properties in this area actually don’t have particularly good appreciation potential. It’s only recently, after Tenda Group opened the food market, improving the living conditions nearby, that they’ve shown an upward trend.”
“But the fastest appreciating properties are all in the better communities near the food market—either those with school districts or those very close to, right next to the food market.”
“Let me recommend a few communities with faster appreciation? To be honest, the housing supply in these communities is very tight. Not many owners are willing to sell, and any properties listed, as long as the price is reasonable, are basically bought up quickly.”
“Buying in these communities would give your investment better returns.”
“Or if you don’t mind, let me introduce you to some commercial properties nearby? Although the best located shops have already been bought up, with some effort, we can still secure properties a bit closer.”
“Of course, I must be honest—the places I’m recommending are all quite expensive. But with high prices comes fast appreciation. Please consider it carefully.”
The young agent’s message was clear: although Jixiang Garden looked decent environmentally, it actually had little room for appreciation.
Instead, communities that had been hyped up to 8,000-9,000 or even 10,000 yuan per square meter, or nearby commercial properties, had more potential for appreciation.
Pei Qian inwardly scoffed.
He understood the commercial property situation all too well.
The first batch of shops near the food street had already been acquired by Tenda—either bought outright or signed long-term leases. The second batch had been bought by Mr. Li and his investors.
Even if there was a third batch of shops, they might have been bought by others who had caught wind of the opportunity.
Now, even if Pei Qian spent money to buy, he would likely only get the fourth or even fifth batch of shops, which were practically miles away from the food street. What appreciation potential would those have?
Moreover, the places the agent was recommending were all quite popular, with prices already hyped to exorbitant levels. In Pei Qian’s view, these were all bubbles. He was buying for living purposes, not for investment or speculation, so there was even less reason to touch them.
Seeing how young the agent was, he probably didn’t understand these things and was just recommending based on current market conditions, so Pei Qian wasn’t too angry. He just didn’t want to waste time discussing it.
“I’ve already made up my mind. I want an apartment in Jixiang Garden.”
The young agent sensed Pei Qian’s impatience and quickly nodded: “Yes, yes, I was just giving you a heads-up.”
“How about this apartment? I think it’s one of the more suitable ones in Jixiang Garden.”
“It’s unfurnished. According to the owner, he hasn’t lived in it since it was delivered last year. The price is reasonable, but the owner has one condition—it must be a full cash payment as he urgently needs funds.”
Pei Qian was surprised: “Oh? It was delivered last year and hasn’t been decorated or lived in since?”
That seemed strange. Normally, people would be preparing for decoration as soon as a property was delivered. How had it been vacant for nearly a year?
The young agent smiled: “Isn’t this quite normal? It’s not like he only bought this one apartment.”
“This owner seems to have bought three units in the same community at once, and he also has properties in other communities. I’m not sure exactly how many.”
At this point, he lowered his voice slightly: “When Jixiang Garden was being sold, the developer kept promoting that the community had planned school districts, and a nearby key primary and middle school would definitely include this area in their zoning.”
“Explicitly and implicitly, they kept hyping it as a school district property. With good nearby transportation and being new construction, it was quite attractive in many aspects, so many people came to buy, including some house flippers… ahem, investors looking for appreciation.”
“But as you know, these are all developer tactics.”
“Before selling, they claimed there was a school district, but they couldn’t put it in the contract—they just implied it. By the time the owners discovered there actually wasn’t a school district, they had already bought the properties and had no recourse for complaints.”
“If you want to say the developer falsely advertised, they were just playing it safe—having their sales staff hint at it without directly writing it into the contract. What can you do about that?”
“When the owners finally discovered these weren’t school district properties, the prices naturally fell.”
“This seller is in that situation. All three of his apartments are now stuck, and he’s eager to offload them.”
“Now that Jixiang Garden’s prices have finally started to warm up a bit, he wants to sell quickly. The reason he’s requiring full cash payment is mainly because loan procedures take too long, and he’s worried the situation might change before he gets the money.”
“Of course, if you’re definitely planning to live there yourself and aren’t particularly concerned about the property’s appreciation potential, then I think you can consider this apartment.”
Pei Qian fell silent.
Well, it was all a scheme.
False advertising by the developer had trapped a house flipper.
At this time, Jingzhou didn’t have purchase restrictions yet, so while there weren’t as many house flippers as in other cities, there were still some.
For Pei Qian, buying an unfurnished apartment was quite suitable. It would save him from having to deal with the original owner’s decoration if it didn’t meet his taste or was poor quality, avoiding the need to tear it all out and redecorate.
Moreover, paying in full would allow for better price negotiation, which also suited Pei Qian’s needs.
“Alright, take me to see it. If I’m satisfied, let’s arrange a meeting with the seller.”