A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

Chapter 138 The layout begins

After returning, Wang Juncheng asked Wang Xiancheng: "Brother, do you want to sell it?"

The two brothers purchased a total of 40 acres of land on Yuyuan Road, 32 acres of which were in the west section and 8 acres in the middle section.

If Chen Guangliang's proposal is followed, the total amount will be 19.8 yuan.

Eight months ago, they spent a total of just over 8 yuan, so it has increased by 13%.

Wang Xiancheng said, "Sell it! I'm just testing Chen Guangliang to see if he can raise the price. After all, we stumbled upon this and made a fortune speculating in land. On the other hand, Chen Guangliang is now at the peak of his career, with both real estate and newspapers. There's no need for us to compete with him on Yuyuan Road."

At the beginning, he was a little "regretful" about using the funds on Yuyuan Road, but fortunately the land price rose well later, so he kept it.

Now that someone has taken it over at a high price, he naturally won't keep it.

Wang Juncheng said with lingering interest, "Who cares if he's at the peak of his career? If he wants the land we have, can we raise the price a little?"

Wang Xiancheng shook his head and said, "If Chen Guangliang was so determined to win, he wouldn't have given up halfway. He even rejected my initiative to cooperate. Besides, from today's conversation, I can see that he won't raise the price any further, so we should just quit while we're ahead!"

He could see through Chen Guangliang's expression and thought that although this man was young, he was very experienced in business.

Wang Juncheng thought about today's situation and said in agreement, "Okay, let's sell it to him at this price. It's useless to us anyway."

When doing business, it is enough to make a profit. Being too greedy is not necessarily a good thing.

One day in late February, Changjiang Real Estate and brothers Wang Xiancheng and Wang Juncheng signed a land purchase and sale contract.

Changjiang Real Estate acquired their 19.8 mu (approximately 40.1 acres) of land on Yuyuan Road for 103.5 yuan. With this transaction, Chen Guangliang's land holdings on Yuyuan Road reached mu (approximately acres), along with partial rental rights for three real estate projects, making him the veritable "Yuyuan Road landlord."

In fact, all the land owned by Chen Guangliang is not as valuable as the land owned by Sir Victor Sassoon on Nanjing Road. The main reason is that his land is all located on the edge of the concession.

The western and middle sections of Yuyuan Road are undoubtedly the most marginal areas of the concession, and even the rights were obtained in recent years through "cross-border road construction"; his 20 acres of land on Xiafei Road are also in the western and middle sections, on the edge of the French Concession.

As for the 10.2 acres of land on Weihai Road, it is actually on the western section of Nanjing West Road. Even so, its current value is 1.5 yuan per acre.

"Thank you both for your help," Chen Guangliang said after signing the contract, extending his hand.

Wang Xiancheng also stretched out his right hand and said, "No, if we hadn't intervened, these lands might have belonged to Boss Chen."

The implication is that I made more than 60,000 yuan from you.

Chen Guangliang did not comment or deny it, because the appreciation of his land on Xiafei Road is no worse than your land on Yuyuan Road, so how could he suffer a loss?
"Haha, anyone can do business. There's plenty of land on Yuyuan Road, and I might not even be the largest owner."

Wang Xiancheng didn't dwell on this question, but tentatively asked, "Boss Chen, do you plan to develop this land and turn it all into new-style lanes?"

It seems unlikely that he is speculating in land. After all, Chen Guangliang is very good at "making money out of nothing", which has become a familiar routine in the real estate industry.

Chen Guangliang smiled and said, "Now that I have money, I will naturally build step by step. I usually don't speculate on land."

In his heart, Wang Xiancheng gave Chen Guangliang an evaluation of "adventurous".

As far as he knew, Chen Guangliang owned a lot of land on Yuyuan Road. If he were to build a new lane, the investment would be enormous. Using a "construction agent" approach would alleviate the financial pressure, but it wouldn't require so much land.

Of course, this is no longer his business.

After both parties have delivered the funds, the deed will belong to Chen Guangliang.

After returning to Changjiang Real Estate, Chen Guangliang immediately convened a company-wide meeting, which included two managers and six employees.

Among these eight employees, Guo Deming and Lu Yuantai are management members. One is responsible for finance and the other is responsible for construction. They are Chen Guangliang's right-hand men.

At the same time, among the earliest batch of employees, Wu Xinhe, the financial officer, and Yan Kuan, the architect, have been trained and can already be qualified "reserve cadres". After all, Changjiang Real Estate has four projects (including consulting projects) to provide everyone with practical learning opportunities.

"The company needs to continue to expand. I will recruit more people. We have a big battle to fight next!"

Everyone suddenly became excited. After all, continuous projects meant bonuses and prospects for everyone.

Guo Deming then asked, "Boss, are you planning to continue developing the land you own?"

Chen Guangliang said: "That's right, but the development model will no longer be the 'construction agent model'. After all, the land is mine now. The new model can be summed up in eight words: 'selling pre-sale properties and selling them in layers'. It will be a brand new model."

Everyone was a little confused. What new ideas did the boss have?
Guo Deming asked again, "Selling pre-sale properties or selling them in layers seems unlikely to be feasible, right?"

It was quite shocking! Chen Guangliang explained, "From our previous three projects, we've fully understood one thing: many people are willing to pay for a house, even if the transaction is a year away. So, 'selling pre-sale properties' means that once the land has been acquired and the blueprints have been drawn up, the property can be advertised for sale. And when a homeowner buys our property, they can pay for it in 24 installments over two years. For example, if a building costs 1.5 yuan, they only need to pay 24% upfront, and the rest can be repaid in installments, meaning one monthly payment. This greatly increases market purchasing power. At the same time, the homeowner only pays a little over half the price and gets the property. What a great thing."

Lu Yuantai asked, "What if the customer doesn't keep his word?"

Not only are customers worried that real estate companies are not trustworthy; real estate companies are also worried that owners are not trustworthy.

Chen Guangliang said confidently: "We can just confiscate his house. After all, we have already received a large sum of money, so we won't lose anything!"

Everyone thought so too, why are the real estate companies taking the initiative?

Then, Yan Kuan asked again: "How is this 'tiered sales' possible?"

Currently, real estate in Shanghai is sold by building, which means that a house in a new lane can be sold individually.

The property rights follow the house, not the land. Some foreign developers will develop some "Shimenku buildings" and then sell them to Chinese people one by one.

However, in most cases, real estate developers are considering "long-term rental collection", especially Chinese real estate developers, which is why the real estate in Shanghai is basically concentrated in the hands of a few people.

In short, a three-story or two-story Shimenku building or a new-style lane house can be sold individually, and the title deed will read "No. XX, Lane XX, Road".
[Reference: In 1930, Mao Wenzhi, a twenty-something partner at the former Greater China Rubber Factory, made a decisive decision. He used the wealth he had accumulated over a decade—ten large yellow croakers (each weighing approximately 10 grams of gold bars)—to purchase a property on Shaanxi South Road and move his family in. The two-story building, located in Bugaoli, was invested by the French-based International Savings Association and designed and constructed by Shanghai Central Real Estate. "Bugaoli" is both a phonetic translation of the French "Cité Bourgogne" and carries the auspicious meaning of rising step by step. Literally, it means "City of Burgundy." Burgundy, France's most famous wine-producing region, is permeated year-round with the intoxicating aroma of its wines, a source of immense pride for the French. Even across the world, in Shanghai, a completely different neighborhood, a lane in that name has been built. Bugaoli is home to 312 two-story brick-and-wood Shikumen buildings, reminiscent of Western townhouses. The overall design adheres to the traditional Chinese central axis. The archway at the entrance to the alleyway exudes a strong Chinese flavor, with neat red bricks and scale-like red tiles. The words Bugaoli, 78, and the French name Cité Bourgogne are elegant and imposing.

Chen Guangliang explained, "Stratified sales are possible. The title deed for a three-story building can be converted into the title deed for one-third of the building. Theoretically, it's not difficult to do. Of course, you'll need to consult a lawyer and then go to the Public Works Department and the Finance and Taxation Department. I believe this is a simple thing that will benefit social development and will definitely be successful. It all depends on human effort!"

Guo Deming's eyes lit up at this moment, and he said, "One house has one deed, but if it has three floors, we can get three deeds. Mark each deed with 'one-third' and the number of floors. This way, there won't be any confusion!"

Although everyone was skeptical, they also understood that if it succeeded, there would be huge business opportunities.

"Let's leave it at this for now. Everyone just needs to know it in their hearts. This may not necessarily succeed!" Chen Guangliang said finally.

Although 'tiered sales' are not necessarily possible, 'installment sales' are definitely possible.

In this way, a lot of purchasing power will be released.

After the meeting, Chen Guangliang left Guo Deming and Lu Yuantai alone and said, "For the upcoming real estate projects, your 2% dividend will no longer count. However, I will set aside 3% of the profits each year as a bonus for the entire company. Do you have any objections to this?"

It's not about burning bridges after crossing them, but the "model" has changed. Changjiang Real Estate is no longer "making money out of nothing". At least the land has become Chen Guangliang's personal property.

"no problem"

“We have no objection”

The two of them expressed their opinions immediately!
The profits they have already made are already very substantial. The three projects can bring them each nearly 10,000 yuan in income in the long term (20 years).

What's more, now the boss is developing his own land instead of renting land to build buildings.

Chen Guangliang nodded and said, "Changjiang Real Estate is now aiming to establish itself as a formal real estate company, a modern, Western-style one. Therefore, all departments need to be fully staffed. For example, the Sales, Marketing, Finance, and Public Relations departments must all be established in the near future, and new employees will be recruited. You two will both serve as Deputy General Managers and department heads. Your salaries will remain unchanged for now, and you'll share in the year-end dividends. In short, we won't let anyone down."

Dividends are still the biggest part.

In this wave of real estate boom, Chen Guangliang may develop three to five hundred Western-style buildings and several apartments, and the total profit generated may be millions of oceans.

Therefore, these brothers who follow him will not suffer any loss!
Guo Deming nodded and said, "We will quickly organize the personnel for each department and follow your instructions, boss."

According to Chen Guangliang's idea, preparations for real estate development should be made in March. Mainly because he thought of some problems and his own conditions were more favorable, so he decided to plan ahead of time.

The so-called 'favorable conditions' meant that he now owned his own newspaper and his social prestige had increased considerably.

As for the so-called "some problems", Chen Guangliang owns 130 acres of land, which takes time to develop, so it will be officially launched in the first half of this year and can be completed in two years to avoid missing out on "earning the last penny".

Another problem is that Chen Guangliang hoped to have a certain amount of funds before the "Great Depression of the United States" started in October 1929, and he wanted to get involved in "financial" investment.

Only by diversifying your investments can you resist more risks.

One of the important reasons for the appreciation of real estate from 1930 to 1931 was the sharp depreciation of silver and the substantial appreciation of gold.

It's a very simple truth. Since the Great Depression began in the United States in October 1929, it swept the world in 10 (China was gradually swept by it after the Battle of Shanghai in 1930). European and American countries bought gold to preserve their value, and gold appreciated. China is a country with a silver standard, and silver depreciated sharply in 1930.

以金银兑换为例，1929年的平均汇率是38，到了1930年升到62，1931年更是高达71。

As one of the few countries in the world that uses the silver standard, China's currency has depreciated significantly this time.

(End of this chapter)