Chapter 5.31

May 31st.

Pei Qian, who was eating lunch at the Handong University branch of Moyu Internet Cafe, received a call from Xiao Sun.

"President Pei, I've found the buildings you asked me to look for. When are you planning to come and see them?"

Pei Qian thought for a moment, "How about 2 PM? Pick up Mr. Liang from the hotel beforehand, then come to the internet cafe to pick me up, and we'll go together."

"Also, send me the information on both buildings. I'll take a look first."

A month had passed since Pei Qian moved into his new home.

Living there for this past month, Pei Qian was very satisfied with the Sloth Apartments model, having managed to discourage other tenants as much as possible while also ensuring his own living experience.

So far, Pei Qian was the only resident in the first Sloth Apartments building, with absolutely no other tenants.

This was partly because Sloth Apartments didn't do much advertising, and partly because the high prices and numerous rules directly deterred the few customers who happened to discover it.

In short, so far, so good!

So Pei Qian was thinking that he was ready to continue.

He hadn't spent all the money from the movie's box office yet, and buying buildings could quickly deplete that money. Considering that fixed assets depreciate at 10%, Pei Qian decided that controlling the amount spent on buying buildings within six or seven million this cycle would be more appropriate. He had already spent 30 million, so he could spend another 40 million.

This time, Pei Qian planned to buy two more buildings, spending about 35 million, and then use the remaining money for renovations, adding more if necessary.

Some successful experiences had to be carried on, such as ensuring that the property had some major flaws.

For example, properties with bizarre floor plans could be given priority.

Square, well-ventilated floor plans that were slightly renovated would be easy to rent out, while bizarre floor plans often meant a poor living experience, wasted space, and poor value for money.

If the price of such properties was slightly raised, no one would want to rent them.

At the same time, successful practices such as not allowing tenants to add their own furniture, arranging for housekeepers and cleaners to increase the premium, and implementing a minimalist decoration style would definitely be carried on.

In addition to this, Pei Qian also considered supplementing some of the shortcomings of the existing model.

He had previously bought a fully furnished apartment, mainly because Pei Qian was eager to move in himself and wanted to quickly see whether the Sloth Apartments model could really lose money.

So, the previous renovation had focused on spending a lot of money on soft furnishings, equipping the apartments with large TVs, high-end furniture, various smart home devices, smart dimming glass, and so on.

But this time, Pei Qian decided to buy a slightly dilapidated building and do the entire renovation, including the hard furnishings. Wouldn't that allow him to spend even more money?

Anyway, he wasn't going to live there himself, and he didn't intend to rent it out at all. It didn't matter if the construction period was longer or the living experience was worse.

Spending the same amount of money, one option was to buy expensive, fully furnished buildings, and the other option was to buy cheap, unwanted dilapidated buildings and then pour all the money saved into renovations.

Obviously, the second option would actually result in fewer fixed assets and have less impact on the settlement.

This time, Pei Qian was going to buy two more buildings, and considering that he shouldn't put all his eggs in one basket, he specifically chose two different styles from the City Dawn building, asking Xiao Sun to find buildings in those two specific styles.

One was a commercial and residential building with fewer units.

The other was an old building in a remote urban area that had been vacant for many years.

In short, the aim was to pick up trash in different ways.

Nowadays, most properties can be found online, not to mention the various brokers who want to take your money. Finding similar places wasn't difficult. After Pei Qian gave this task to Xiao Sun, Xiao Sun ran around Jingzhou for two days and quickly found suitable options.

Xiao Sun was originally supposed to be responsible for receiving Liang Qingfan at the beginning of the month, but after a few days, Liang Qingfan felt that it would be better for him to wander around Jingzhou freely, so Xiao Sun stopped following him. Pei Qian then arranged for Xiao Sun to look at the properties.

By today, Liang Qingfan had been officially left to his own devices in Jingzhou for nearly a month, and Pei Qian felt that it was about time to arrange for him to start a new job.

After finishing lunch, the waiter cleared away the dishes and brought over a cup of coffee.

While drinking his coffee, Pei Qian called Liang Qingfan.

It rang a few times before Liang Qingfan answered, "Hello? President Pei?"

His voice was a little nasal, as if he had just woken up.

Pei Qian couldn't help but feel happy.

He must have been playing too hard for a month, otherwise, why would he still be sleeping at 12 PM?

A nap? There was no reason to take a nap at 11 AM.

Great, he appreciated talents who went sightseeing and slept in when they didn't have work and never thought about working!

Pei Qian didn't ask too much, for fear that Liang Qingfan would misunderstand and think that he was urging him.

"I've been thinking about it, and Sloth Apartments is about ready to enter its second phase. How about it, are you ready to start work?"

Liang Qingfan: "Of course!"

Pei Qian was very satisfied, "Good, then hurry up and get up, have a meal at the hotel, Xiao Sun will pick you up, and we'll go see the properties together then."

After hanging up the phone, Pei Qian began to review the detailed information on the two locations that Xiao Sun had sent him, and then searched for general information online.

One was the Shun Dong Garden commercial and residential building, which was conveniently located in the city center and had just been completed recently, but because it was a newly developed commercial and residential building, not many units had been sold yet.

The other was Building 9 of Binhu Community, built in 2001, located in the suburbs of Jingzhou City. The only thing worth mentioning was that it was near a park and a small artificial lake, offering a lake view. However, in terms of floor plan, its bizarreness was comparable to the City Dawn's "never-setting sun" layout.

The rental prices in both of these locations were significantly lower than those of other residential buildings in the same area, making them clearly unpopular.

As for why they were unpopular, they obviously had their own disadvantages.

Pei Qian was very happy. Xiao Sun was quite reliable after all!

...

At 2:30 PM, Pei Qian and Liang Qingfan first arrived at the Shun Dong Garden commercial and residential building.

The sales consultant was very enthusiastic, but Pei Qian politely left him at the entrance.

With a professional architect here, why would he need to listen to his sales pitch?

The entire commercial and residential building had 11 floors, excluding the shops on the ground floor. Each floor had two elevators and seven units, with a floor height of 5.5 meters. The apartments were 38.5 square meters, priced at 7,000 yuan per square meter, making each unit nearly 270,000 yuan. This meant that the entire commercial and residential building cost a little over 20 million yuan.

As soon as Liang Qingfan saw the floor plan, he immediately understood, "President Pei, you're going to buy a commercial and residential building?"

Pei Qian nodded, "That's right."

Liang Qingfan didn't say much. Since President Pei had decided to buy a commercial and residential building, he must have already understood the disadvantages of commercial and residential buildings.

Pei Qian did understand, but these disadvantages were precisely why he had decided to buy a commercial and residential building.

Compared to ordinary residential buildings, commercial and residential buildings had a shorter property rights period; water, electricity, property management, heating, and other fees were all calculated according to commercial standards, making the cost of living relatively high; the overall residential density was relatively high; the units were small and not well-ventilated, so the comfort of living was often relatively poor.

Pei Qian figured that although the selling price of commercial and residential buildings was generally 30% to 40% lower than that of residential buildings, their appreciation potential was poor, their daily expenses were high, and their property rights period was short. If he spent a lot of money on renovations, wouldn't it be easier to lose money?

As for why he wanted to buy a new building...

There were some older commercial and residential buildings as well, but since Sloth Apartments was going to arrange for building managers and cleaners, it would be convenient to buy the entire building. However, with older buildings, unless they were unwanted and the residents were eager to sell, it would be troublesome if he encountered one or two holdouts who were unwilling to move.

Therefore, it was more worry-free to buy a new building. Even if a few units had already been sold, he could consider buying them back with a slight premium.

Pei Qian walked around. The floor plan was square, with basically no difference from a typical loft. The lower floor had a living room, dining room, and kitchen, but there was no natural gas, so only ovens, microwave ovens, induction cookers, and so on could be used.

Pei Qian nodded silently. Yes, this was also a relatively satisfactory point.

The layout of the second floor was relatively simple, simply used as a bedroom.

Pei Qian walked around and found that the overall living environment here was not bad, but the entire area was very small. This meant that if he continued to decorate in the same minimalist style as before, the entire house would basically not be able to hold too many things, and the actual living experience would definitely not be good.

Coupled with the building management, cleaning, and daily water and electricity bills, Pei Qian was confident that he could raise the rental price to a level that even most artistic youths would be reluctant to rent.

Pei Qian walked around, feeling relatively satisfied, and turned to ask, "Mr. Liang, do you think this price is still reasonable?"

Liang Qingfan thought for a moment, "It's a little high, but within an acceptable range. However, the biggest problem is..."

Before Liang Qingfan could finish, Pei Qian had already turned to Xiao Sun and said, "Okay, bought. Notify Assistant Xin, and then we'll continue to look at the next building."

Liang Qingfan: "..."

The broker had been waiting at the door, not following them in. Seeing Pei Qian turning around to leave after walking around, he quickly greeted them, "Sir, if you're not satisfied with this unit, there are others you can consider..."

Pei Qian walked directly out, "I want this building. Someone will come to sign the contract with you in the afternoon."

Liang Qingfan followed behind Pei Qian, silently swallowing the flaws of this unit that he wanted to remind President Pei about.

The broker watched the backs of the three people leaving, blinking his eyes, and didn't react for a moment.

Bought? An entire building?

Was he making fun of me?

...

After leaving Shun Dong Garden, Pei Qian and Liang Qingfan came to the second location, Building 9 of Binhu Community.

Because it was in the suburbs, it took a full 40 minutes to drive there.

There was a park near Binhu Community, with an artificial lake in the park. The scenery in the park could be seen from the building, and the higher the floor, the better the view.

Building 9 had a total of eight floors, with two units per floor. Both it and the adjacent Building 8 had semi-cylindrical protruding sections facing the park and the artificial lake.

Each unit was more than 60 square meters, with two bedrooms and one living room, averaging 8,000 yuan per square meter, with a total price of 500,000 yuan, making the total price of the building more than 8 million yuan.

This price was also significantly lower than the average housing price in Jingzhou City, partly because it was in the suburbs and partly because no one had lived there for several years, or even rented, so the price had naturally been falling all the way.

The broker led Pei Qian and the others to the top floor of Building 9, directly opposite which was a 180-degree arc-shaped floor-to-ceiling window, with an unobstructed view of the beautiful scenery.

Pei Qian couldn't help but frown, wanting to retreat on the spot.

However, he caught a glimpse of Liang Qingfan also frowning, and instantly changed his mind.

"Is there a problem with this property?" Pei Qian asked.

Liang Qingfan had a "painful to look at" expression, "Of course there's a problem, otherwise, why would this entire building still be unoccupied?"

"The entrance door and the hallway are only 70 centimeters wide, so narrow that it's difficult to move furniture in. Moreover, it's an old building from ten years ago, and the waterproof layer seems to be damaged. There are mildew stains on the ceiling, and you can see traces of water damage in the corners. If you want to live here, you'll definitely have to redo it all."

"The kitchen is in a small corner of the living room, and the bathroom is also very small, so the user experience will be very poor."

"And this arc-shaped floor-to-ceiling window is the same principle as the City Dawn property. Because the shape is irregular, the utilization rate is very low."

"But the City Dawn property is large, so you can't feel it. This property has a limited area, so if you can't fully utilize these spaces, the living experience will definitely be several levels worse than City Dawn."

"Moreover, the structure of this property seems to have some problems. The fact that it's selling so cheaply must be for a reason. If a general designer and decoration company were willing to take it on, someone would have bought it and renovated it, but the fact that no one has lived here or renovated it until now shows that this property is difficult to renovate and most decoration companies don't dare to take on this job!"

"In short, the structure of this property is probably not suitable for large-scale renovations, or the renovation will be very difficult."

"Rare scenery only has value in the luxury housing market. In the ordinary housing market, it's a typical white elephant, not only does it not have a premium, it may even be a negative."

Pei Qian nodded, "I understand. Xiao Sun, I'll buy this building, and the adjacent Building 8 as well."

Liang Qingfan: "?"

Did President Pei not listen to anything I just said?

Buying one unit was one thing, but buying two buildings at once? Directly dumping 16 million yuan into it?

If Liang Qingfan thought that the previous commercial and residential building was barely acceptable, then this building was completely unacceptable. He had to say something!

"President Pei, I just said that the renovation of this building will be particularly difficult, and it's not even known if it can be renovated well..."

Pei Qian smiled and patted his arm, "That's why it'll better show the level of the designer, isn't it?"