Reborn in America, I'm serious about making money.

"Boss, this is the latest information. Should we proceed in the same way?"

During a TEAMS video conference, an employee sent over some documents concerning loan matters between banks and real estate companies.

TEAMS software is the most popular video conferencing software in the past two years. It can hold online meetings with hundreds of people at the same time and has been favored by large companies. It went public last year, and Zhang San indirectly owns 32.7% of the shares.

"Okay, I'll take a look and give you an answer later. That concludes today's meeting."

After closing the video conference, Zhang San opened the document, a recent survey document, which mainly contained sales data from other real estate companies.

Last quarter, sales at Stephen Realty were terrible, plummeting. As a result, the staff were very anxious. They had cleared out all the luxury home projects and were left with some newly developed apartment projects, most of which were located in the suburbs.

After reviewing the information, Zhang San fell into deep thought. These people are truly amazing. Indeed, capitalist society is full of clever minds; they are already at the forefront of the world.

The information in this document is quite simple: some real estate companies with good recent data are selling houses without down payments, without considering whether the buyers can afford the mortgage payments.

"These people are really something else. Isn't this exactly the same as the practice in mainland China of driving up housing prices and then selling houses without down payments?"

This is the real reason for the subprime crisis. Since this has already happened, let's do the same thing, drive up housing prices, and operate in this way.

He immediately sent the information to the sales department for their reference; he couldn't very well tell them he wanted them to do it, as that would be against the rules.

When the sales staff received the email, they immediately understood the message and simply followed the instructions given to others.

The business manager immediately called everyone together for a meeting; these kinds of things are best resolved in a meeting.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our performance last quarter was extremely poor. Basically, we had no sales. We have three apartment buildings, and we didn't sell a single unit. There's a reason for this, so please take a look at this."

He gestured to his secretary to distribute the document. That was how their competitors operated.

"They're very quick-witted, and we need to keep up, otherwise what will happen to our performance? What will happen to our income? Think about your loans, guys, we need to get moving."

In fact, the people below had wanted to do this for a long time, but company regulations prevented them from crossing the line.

Now that the restrictions have been lifted, they are naturally very happy and have decided to take advantage of the situation. The people at the bank had already contacted them and instructed them to do so.

Perfect timing! They've already built up a client base, but they don't have the down payment money. They should be able to afford it, right? They can't worry about that now. If they can't sell the house, they'll starve.

Stephen Realty's people started contacting clients, mainly real estate agents, who then spread the word to potential customers.

that's it……

"...We can handle what you mentioned last time. See you at the bank tomorrow morning..."

"Sir... today is truly your lucky day, your dream of owning a home can come true... yes, see you at the bank..."

"Hey buddy, your wish must have been heard by God... yeah, yeah... OK, see you at the bank..."

……

"For bank loans that require a down payment, we increase the appraised value by 45%, which is more than enough to cover any loan."

……

North Americans are used to spending money in advance and they have a great time here. In fact, there have been many debt crises in North America for a long time, but they have not been triggered until now.

Zhang San felt that the debt crisis wasn't big enough, unlike the mortgage crisis. Mortgages, such as apartment loans of $200,000 to $300,000, were issued in one go, covering more than 200 apartments, amounting to $40 million to $60 million. Issuing such loans at once was a huge expense.

The three apartment buildings alone cost between $1.2 million and $1.8 million.

In the last quarter of this year, Stephen Realty's sales suddenly exploded, selling over $100 million, which is very encouraging.

But this is tough on the finance staff, as they have to do the accounting.

The contract certainly won't raise the house price, so what do we do? It's simple: raise the appraised value.

After all the homebuyers signed the contract, they immediately raised the sales price by 45%, and then had the appraisal company conduct an appraisal based on this price.

Once the bank receives the appraised value, it will proceed with the process and then disburse the loan. The process is very fast and seamless.

This was clearly not the first time they had done something like this; it was very quick and efficient, perfectly in line with the principles of their capitalist society.

This is a win-win-win situation: homebuyers have new homes to live in, sellers have sold their properties, and banks have disbursed their loans. What else could it be but a win-win-win? That's how confident we are.

Arthur, a recent UC graduate, rented an apartment that was quite expensive. He discovered that the monthly mortgage payments were about the same as his rent, but he didn't have a down payment. Now, he has finally bought the apartment he loves.

The apartment was fully furnished; he had finally bought his dream apartment. His face beamed with happiness and pride; this was a significant milestone in his life.

After completing the formalities, Arthur and his girlfriend moved into the apartment building in high spirits. They moved in with just their bags, and upon entering the apartment, they embraced. Young and energetic, their hormones were raging, and they happily celebrated together in the living room.

Arthur was unaware that two years later, he would find himself facing increasing repayment pressure, with interest rates rising month by month, far exceeding his expectations.

He became anxious and kept looking for extra job opportunities, but the economic situation was not optimistic. Left with no other option, he applied to the bank for a loan repayment extension, but was refused.

Meanwhile, many other homebuyers faced the same predicament, with banks' non-performing loan ratios gradually rising. A potential financial crisis was quietly brewing, while Zhang San and his Stephen Real Estate Company had already sold off all their properties.

However, Arthur, immersed in his happiness, is unaware of what will happen in the future. This is a common practice among Westerners—consuming in advance.