A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

Chapter 97 Real Estate Tycoon
It’s the monthly dividend distribution period again. Chen Guangliang can get a total of 4 yuan in dividends in April (including retail sales), which makes him very rich!
This is the batch of cars acquired from Fugui Car Dealership, which has only been in operation for a little over 5 days. Next month (May), we expect to distribute a dividend of 4500 yuan. In the second half of the year, Project F will officially begin distributing dividends to shareholders (we are currently paying off the car).

Theoretically, starting from April, this year's dividends can reach over 4 yuan.

According to this dividend scale, this year not only can the loan and interest of more than 3 oceans be repaid, but also the 1 oceans "borrowed" from Changjiang Real Estate can be repaid.

Of course, when doing business, there is no such thing as no debt!

So now we can borrow new debt and then consider the old debt. It is more reasonable to maintain a debt of 3 yuan in the car dealership business.

After all, loan interest rates are falling now, mainly because banks have more deposit funds.

Before distributing dividends, Chen Guangliang convened a meeting of the management of Changjiang Motors.

Including Li Chao, He Xiangdong, Pan Cheng, Zhou Xinggao and Lin Feng were all present.

"Dividends are coming soon. As the old saying goes, every dividend must be handed over to the shareholders and must be fingerprinted or signed." Before the meeting, Chen Guangliang repeatedly reminded them.

Although there are already more than 700 shareholders, distributing dividends is not difficult. The dividend period is four days, and several projects are stipulated on a single day, and then shareholders of each project come together to collect the dividends.

Chen Guangliang even invented a 'handwritten version' of Excel spreadsheets, where drivers only need to put their fingerprints on a monthly basis.

At this time, He Xiangdong suddenly suggested: "Boss, the driver's dividend can be paid every three months. This will save some time and increase your cash flow control."

Chen Guangliang immediately rejected it, saying, "No, monthly dividends are a promise, and it's also a sign of loyalty. How can we change it?"

From He Xiangdong's perspective, his suggestion was naturally for the sake of his boss, knowing that his boss always "did not have enough money"; and three-month dividends were actually a very normal situation, after all, there were now more than 700 shareholders.

But from Chen Guangliang's perspective, winning over the hearts of the people is naturally more important.

Li Chao smiled and said, "Monthly dividends can make everyone happy for a whole month; three-month dividends may only make everyone happy for a month. However, I'm afraid Xiangdong is thinking about the taxi business, right?"

Although his boss rejected his suggestion, He Xiangdong didn't mind at all. After all, he was just discussing the matter at hand. After hearing Li Chao's words, he nodded and said, "Yes. We have a certain understanding of the taxi industry now. We can buy two used cars and try to do a 'dumping business' around Zhabei Railway Station, Hongkou, and Jiangwan."

Chen Guangliang said: "We will find another way to fund taxis. If there is an opportunity, our first choice is still to expand the rickshaw business."

He has three considerations:
First, Gu Zhuxuan was currently locked in a fierce dispute with several major car dealerships, leaving him no time to worry about the expansion of Changjiang Car Dealership.
Second, with the price of a license plate now at 400 yuan, there are more small car dealerships and individuals willing to sell license plates, which is a good opportunity to get a license plate;

Third, rickshaws are their main business and they are more proficient in all aspects of management.

As for taxis, if they only do the business of "paogang (wild taxis)", it doesn't cost too much.

"it is good"

No one objected, since the boss had the final say on the general direction.

Chen Guangliang nodded, then said: "See if there are any licenses for sale in the market. We will prepare a new project!"

He Xiangdong immediately said, "Yes, but they are mostly scattered now. You can consider buying them in batches."

"Okay, that's a deal. We'll try to expand to 50 more large notes in the first half of the year."

"Yes"

Today, Changjiang Rickshaw Company has a total of 355 rickshaws, including 57 illegal rickshaws (with fake license plates or no license plates), 40 small Zhaohui rickshaws, 5 with Zhabei license plates, and the remaining 253 with large Zhaohui license plates.

After Zhu Guangsheng obtained the "deed of lease" for Yuyuan Road (Lane 1136), he signed a lease agreement with Changjiang Real Estate as soon as possible. The two parties signed the contract in Changjiang Real Estate's office building.

"Brother Chen, to be honest, if you hadn't leased this land, I wouldn't have wanted to invest in it. After all, I wasn't sure. Now that you've leased it for twenty years, I can earn back my investment in ten, haha!"

Zhu Guangsheng signed his name and stamped his fingerprints with great satisfaction.

For Zhu Guangsheng, buying this piece of land was not a small sum of money. He had to scrape together the money. After all, he had already invested in a piece of land in southern Shanghai and purchased an apartment at No. 608 Yuyuan Road (with a -year lease).

Now that he had the two plots of land in his hands, his idea was simple. After the land in southern Shanghai had appreciated in value for two years, he would sell it and just keep the 12 acres of land on Yuyuan Road. Twenty years later, he could take it back along with the buildings on the land.

Chen Guangliang also signed his name and left his fingerprints, and responded, "Cooperation is a win-win situation. Landowners usually lease land to factories. Once the factories move out, the owners lose their maximum profit. Now that we've changed the nature of the cooperative to residential, the owners will benefit the most."

Zhu Guangsheng nodded. Why did he invest in land?
It is nothing more than a 'family heirloom'. Now someone adds another heirloom to this heirloom, which is naturally very tempting.

"Well, this real estate model you invented will definitely be popular in Shanghai."

In fact, there are also land owners who rent them to companies for "commercial purposes". For example, the land owner of Nanjing East Road rented it to "Xinxin Department Store" and built a building. The cooperation method is to return the land to the owner after renting it for a certain number of years.

Of course, the rent for renting a factory must be high, and it is impossible to make a profit in ten years. After all, what matters in this era is "high returns".

The rent for commercial and residential properties can be appropriately reduced because the owners are interested in taking back the buildings after the lease expires.

“Thank you for the compliment.”

Indeed, Chen Guangliang has now become a "little celebrity" in Shanghai, and many real estate developers have flocked to No. 608, Yuyuan Road to inquire about the news.

Once this model is fully understood by everyone, the Shanghai Stock Exchange will set off a "real estate boom".

Because the current situation is: owners of high-quality land are reluctant to sell, but they do not have the experience and courage to develop real estate; real estate developers cannot buy high-quality land or they are short of funds.

The solution to this problem is undoubtedly to rent land to build a house, sell it in sections, repay the principal when due, and then return the house to the landlord.

"This is a note from the Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank. Take it!"

Chen Guangliang handed Zhu Guangsheng a note for 5000 ocean dollars. This was the deposit for one year and the rent for one year. This money was temporarily withdrawn. Once this project recovered its funds, it would naturally be repaid to other projects.

Zhu Guangsheng took it happily. He had just spent less than 28000 yuan and now he got back 5000 yuan, which made him feel even better.

"By the way, the contract says I can oversee the construction to ensure the building lasts at least thirty years. Right?"

"Of course, that's my right. I can open both construction sites to you. As a comparison, don't worry. We're building it according to a 30-year standard, so it can actually be used for a hundred years."

"Haha, then I feel relieved!"

A hundred years, I am afraid that in twenty years it will not belong to you, and certainly not to myself, but to the "people".

However, this is not Chen Guangliang's fault for cheating others. After all, who knows whether Zhu Guangsheng will leave in twenty years?

Even if Zhu Guangsheng wants to leave, this project has at least earned him twenty years of rent!
Of course, putting everything aside, the Nationalist government would also devalue everyone's currency, so there would be no such thing.

Although we are all friends, Chen Guangliang has a clear conscience in doing things.

After securing the lease, Chen Guangliang convened a meeting with Changjiang Real Estate staff. "We need to come up with a budget as quickly as possible. This is crucial to Changjiang Real Estate's actual profits this year."

Guo Deming quickly said, "No problem. We will be able to come up with a specific budget by the end of the month."

This budget includes all aspects, not just the construction cost, but also the selling price of each apartment floor, how Changjiang Real Estate should withdraw "construction funds and other payments" from the bank, and finally, Changjiang Real Estate's annual profit must be included in the withdrawn expenses.

This is exactly the money Chen Guangliang wants - the profit from construction costs. For example, the first-year profit of "Happy Home" is expected to be 5 yuan; as for the annual rental income thereafter, it can only be a supplement.

"This project covers a total of 12.12 mu (approximately 39 acres) of land, and we plan to build houses. The design will continue to adopt a fishbone pattern."

This kind of old alley is not suitable for parking cars.

This is also why rickshaws can now go through alleys, but taxis cannot pick up passengers in alleys.

This time, Changjiang Real Estate has maximized the use of the land. Xingfu Home consists of 15 houses on 45 acres of land, while this project consists of 12 houses on 39 acres of land. Moreover, one of the houses in this project was reserved for Chen Guangliang's own use, and the area required is probably half an acre of land, which makes the other houses even more crowded.

In fact, the villas were originally connected.

Of course, the building Chen Guangliang built wouldn’t cost a lot. It was just an ordinary brick and wood structure, and it wouldn’t cost even five thousand dollars.

The super-rich of this era would spend 10 to 30 yuan to build their own villas, which is almost as much as the cost of an office building on Nanjing East Road.

The cost is so high mainly because many building materials are imported, and the building is huge, so the cost has increased dozens of times.

During this time, Guo Deming suggested: "Boss, Shanghai's real estate prices are rising, and rents are also increasing. So, even though this project is some distance from Jing'an Temple (about 1.5 kilometers), I suggest that the selling price does not need to be reduced!"

Assuming that the sale starts in May, it will be three months since the launch of Xingfu Home. During these three months, not only has the entire Shanghai real estate market been rising, but even Yuyuan Road has become hot.

Guo Deming's suggestions are based on these grounds, and of course there are other reasons as well - for example, the current large housing shortage and strong demand from the middle class.

“That’s fine, the price is the same!”

In a short period of time, the supply and demand relationship made Chen Guangliang very confident to sell it!
Of course, it is estimated that in three years, the supply and demand relationship of villas in Shanghai will be broken. It does not mean that everyone has a house, but that the demand of the middle class has been saturated; if we encounter the "First Battle of Shanghai" again, I am afraid there will be a big crash.

To give an example from a past life: After 1930, in order to find a way to fund Continental Bank's capital, Tan Lisun contracted with the Hartung & Co. for a plot of land and built a building (the Continental Department Store). He expected to reap a fortune, but a year later, the Battle of Shanghai and the global economic crisis caused the department store to suffer severe losses. Several years later, Continental Bank was forced to sell the property to the Hartung & Co. at a low price, forcing it to pay a cash compensation of 30 yuan. (In this Continental Bank real estate investment, Tan Lisun not only lost the building but also incurred a 30 yuan loss, resulting in a total loss of one million yuan.)

This fully illustrates two things: first, the world economic crisis did not affect China until after 1931; second, the First Battle of Shanghai had a huge impact, not only destroying Zhabei, but also casting a shadow over Shanghai's real estate.

In just over two months, the "Happy Home" project brought great honor to Chen Guangliang. Newspapers also reported on the model of this project from time to time. Although it was not detailed enough, the eight words "sale of separate rooms and repayment of principal upon maturity" still made many real estate developers start to learn from it.

Some newspapers even reported that the land was actually leased, and the so-called Changjiang Real Estate was nothing more than a young man who hired an accountant and an architect, and the three of them only put out 1000 yuan to complete the project.

For a time, not only did "Happy Home" become a model for Shanghai real estate developers to learn from, but Chen Guangliang himself also became well-known to many people.

This is not.

Chen Guangliang originally planned to cooperate with the Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank on the new real estate project on Yuyuan Road, so he contacted his old friend Li Shoumin; however, Li Shoumin was unable to make the decision, so he reported directly to Chen Guangfu, the general manager of the Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank.

The result was that Chen Guangfu had to meet with Chen Guangliang in person.

You know, Chen Guangfu was known as "China's best banker" and "China's Morgan". He was also the chairman of the National Government's Finance Committee and was responsible for raising military funds for the Bald Man.

The two sides met in the general manager's office of the Shanghai Commercial Savings Bank.

As soon as they met, Chen Guangfu joked, "I go by my courtesy name (Guangfu, given name Chen Huide, nickname Adege), but the first two characters of our characters are the same. But I'm probably more than twenty years older than you, right?"

Chen Guangliang immediately replied: "I was born in February 1910"

Chen Guangfu was stunned, then said, "Only eighteen years old?"

Since Chen Guangliang usually dresses more maturely and gives the impression of being in his early twenties, Chen Guangfu was surprised now.

"Well, I was born early in society and came to Shanghai to make a living at the age of 14!"

Chen Guangfu immediately asked with concern: "How many years of education have you received?"

Chen Guangliang replied: "I went to a private school for three years, but later I continued to study on my own and can now communicate in English."

This kind of thing is good to show off so that people won't look down on you.

Chen Guangfu immediately felt a sense of sympathy and said, "I actually only attended a private school for a few years at first, then became an apprentice at a customs brokerage (foreign company), studied English diligently, and was admitted to the Hankou Post Office. After the meeting, I went to study in the United States and entered the University of Pennsylvania Business School. I returned to China after graduating in 1909. This fully demonstrates one thing: as long as you are determined to make progress, there will always be opportunities to learn."

Chen Guangliang nodded. He was actually a serious college student, just a college student in his previous life. Moreover, he had many more years of knowledge and experience, and was no less than the successful businessmen of this era.

Although we should not underestimate the "ancients", we should not underestimate a "modern person" even more.

After chatting about personal matters, Chen Guangpu asked, "I have done some research on the 'Happy Home' real estate project, but it's definitely not comprehensive. Why don't you tell me in detail about this cooperation model?"

"certainly"

Then, Chen Guangliang explained in detail the sixteen-character mantra: "Rent land to build a house, sell the rooms separately, repay the principal when due, and the house will return to the landlord."

"Pah, pah. Absolutely amazing! You've really revitalized the real estate business."

Originally, the owners of the land were just "pure investment land" and would consider "selling the land at a high price" or "renting it to factories or enterprises", but in reality most of the land was vacant for a long time.

Real estate developers, on the one hand, need to find promising land and spend money to buy it, and on the other hand, they have to raise huge construction funds.

It is worth mentioning that the "house purchase deed tax" in this era is around 5~9%, which is quite high; but renters do not need to pay taxes, but landlords have to pay taxes.

Therefore, the projects developed by real estate developers are all for rent and rarely for sale.

'Happy Home' is also 'rental nature' and does not involve the transfer of property rights, so there is no need to pay 'deed tax'.

Chen Guangliang took the opportunity to say, "So I found another 12-mu piece of land on Yuyuan Road and plan to build a new lane with 39 houses. I want the Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank to be our 'guarantor'."

This guarantee does not pose any risk to the bank. Although the real estate developer will withdraw part of the owner's "principal" at the beginning, the withdrawn funds are actually used for the construction part; once an accident occurs, the bank can take back the building and use it for the guarantee part.

What's more, in essence, the owner's funds are deposited in the real estate developer's account and are the real estate developer's money.

Chen Guangfu finally agreed readily, saying, "Alright, this project is feasible. We, the Shanghai Savings and Commercial Bank, will guarantee it for you. Just as you said, not only will we have an additional deposit, but we will also gain the favor of some middle-class people. It's a win-win situation!"

When hundreds of owners deposit money into the account of Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank, they will get to know the bank later, which will naturally lay the foundation for continued cooperation.

(End of this chapter)