New Gods of North America

Wayne originally wanted to "buy" a house, but his idea was actually this:

For East Coast cities like Georgetown that have a long history, housing prices should have basically stabilized, and unless there are major events, it is unlikely to rise or fall sharply.

Wayne is only here to get a diploma and does not plan to stay in Virginia forever, so instead of wasting money on renting a house, it is better to buy it first and then sell it. Not only will he have the opportunity to save on rent for the next few years, he might even make a small profit.

So he wanted to get a spacious and cheap house to be the base of the detective agency.

Food, accommodation and work are combined into one, which is convenient and cost-effective.

But Wayne soon discovered that

The houses that are sold to the public are all painted in this style——

For example, a high-quality apartment less than 2 kilometers from the city hall, with an area of ​​1,600 square feet, or about 150 square meters, comes with furniture and decoration, and costs nearly $6,000;

For example, a single-family house located in a middle-class neighborhood, a three-story villa with more than a dozen rooms, a garden, a stable, a servant's room, etc., costs about $15,000;

For example, there is a small estate in the suburbs of the city, adjacent to the York River, with a spacious brick and stone house, vineyards and grain production, and its own winery, which costs US$50,000.

These prices,

Even considering that Wayne will be studying in a college that the locals are proud of, and is not simply a "rich stranger from outside the area", the preferential price can be obtained...

Wayne was very frank. "Among the houses for sale, are there any cheaper ones? For example, two or three thousand dollars?"

The staff seemed a bit embarrassed:

"In Georgeburg, usually only houses that are relatively valuable will be listed for sale by real estate agents. As for those 'economic' houses, they are usually only rented in Georgeburg and rarely sold."

Careless!

Georgeburg was the capital of Virginia in the early days and was once a political, social and cultural center of the Old World Windsor forces in the New World.

——To put it bluntly, it is a place where colonial masters get together to meet and socialize.

Today, in addition to its continued development through its planting and cultural industries, Georgeburg is also a popular destination for many wealthy people in Windsor or the South to relax, stay healthy or take vacations.

So the mainstream population in this city can be roughly divided into three categories: students or scholars who are not productive, rich people or big families who come here to relax or settle down, and the largest number of people who mainly provide them with living conveniences and various services.

People who would buy a house in this hellhole nowadays,

They either decided to settle down permanently or were not short of money.

The former basically only buys and does not sell, while the latter looks down on cheap houses and finds it inconvenient to resell them.

The working class who rely on weekly wages to live,

They either live in their employer's home or rent a house. Most people don't even consider buying a house in the city. These days, the proportion of people who choose to rent a house in the city is not low. Some of those with relatively high incomes will move every few years and finally find a small place to settle down.

So the words "cheap", "spacious" and "for sale" don't really fit together when applied to homes in downtown Georgeburg.

On weekdays, the market for "buying and selling second-hand affordable housing in the city" is basically non-existent.

So Wayne took a step back and gave up the idea of ​​buying a house. "How much would a cheap and spacious house cost per month?"

The staff thought about it:

“If you need a place that is affordable and can accommodate more than ten people, I would recommend that you rent a separate townhouse. If you squeeze in a little, it should be enough to live in. I heard that some tenants in Richmond who are in housing difficulties now need to squeeze four to six or even nearly ten workers and their children into one room. Compared with them, this is actually quite comfortable.

"For a townhouse like that, the weekly rent is about $2, or more or less, depending on the specific conditions. There will be about four to six rooms, with a shared dining room, kitchen and bathroom. But the location may not be very good."

An average of 52 weeks a year.

The annual cost of renting a relatively cheap house is about $100, and there have to be at least two people per room...

The rent here is not cheap.

If we only discuss cheap housing, it seems that the rent is almost catching up with New York City mentioned in the newspaper.

But think about it,

Georgeburg is not an industrial city and has no incentive to attract outsiders by lowering housing prices.

As a "countryman" who grew up in a small western town, Wayne didn't care much about the decoration of the house.

But I really can’t get used to living in such a crowded place.

So when he was considering whether to rent two townhouses at once, or rent a better house as an office and another one as a dormitory,

Wayne thought about it a little more:

"What if I don't require it to be 'housing'? How much would it cost to rent or buy a warehouse?"

…

Georgeburg is located southeast of Richmond.

Located in a peninsula area extending from the New World into the ocean.

This area has a relatively famous name in American history, called the "Virginia Peninsula". The final battle of the American War of Independence took place on this land.

If you look down from the sky, this piece of land actually looks a bit like the front half of a human hand.

Three large rivers connected to the ocean divide the land into several "long and thin strips", like human fingers extending into the sea.

George Berg is located in the middle of the longest and most famous "finger".

This "finger" is about 80 kilometers long, nearly 20 kilometers at its widest point, narrowing in the middle, and about 10 kilometers wide at its narrowest point.

This "finger" is separated by two large rivers with a main stream length of 50 to 100 kilometers and an average river width of more than 3 kilometers.

The reason why the colonists of the Kingdom of Windsor initially chose to conquer the New World from here was

This is because for the exploration fleets that travel across the oceans, this kind of terrain is simply a natural giant shelter and development base.

The rivers on both sides are long, wide and deep enough to not only accommodate the fleet's ships, but also make rational use of water transportation to transport people and goods conveniently and in large quantities within the area.

Moreover, the narrow terrain with large rivers on both sides can greatly exert the power of ships and artillery. The colonists only need to defend one end of the land to ensure the safety of the entire area. At that time, they were mainly on guard against the indigenous people who had backward technology and could only attack by land.

Therefore, the shipping industry for transiting materials here was once very developed.

Then Wayne took advantage of the opportunity.