Reborn in 1977

Chapter 579 Real Estate Investment

The next day, morning.

The plane landed at Hongqiao Airport. Walking down the ramp, Zhou Yali smiled at Chen Fan and said, "You've come to Shanghai, surely you don't have a house here, do you?"

Chen Fan turned to look at her, smiled slightly, "Yes, I do. But if you don't feel comfortable living there, you can continue to stay in a hotel. Jinjiang Hotel is not bad, I've stayed there before, and the food in the restaurant downstairs is also delicious."

"You do?"

Zhou Yali widened her eyes, looking at him in surprise, "You have a house in Shanghai too?"

She opened her arms wide, making a big circle, "As big as the one in Beijing?"

She didn't even mention staying in a hotel. Staying in a hotel isn't as close as staying at her younger brother's house, especially since hotels in China aren't as comfortable as hotels in America.

As for the delicious food in the hotel, could it be better than what her younger brother makes?

Chen Fan shook his head and smiled, "No, it's just a small western-style building, not big, just enough to live in."

Zhou Zhengdong walked down the ramp, made way, turned around, and looked at him in confusion, "Your work and studies are in Jiangnan Province, but you bought houses in Beijing and Shanghai. Why didn't you buy one in the provincial capital?"

Chen Fan gestured, walking forward while saying, "Buying houses in Beijing and Shanghai was a matter of chance. There happened to be houses for sale that I liked, so I bought them. As for the house in the provincial capital, it's still in the planning and design stage. It's a unit dormitory area. If all goes well, we should be able to move in by the end of this year."

He smiled and shrugged, "I'm currently staying in the unit's guest house, which is quite convenient, so I haven't thought about buying another one."

He had already returned his dormitory room at the school. There were too many people looking for him, and it was impossible to have any peace and quiet.

Zhao Wanru couldn't help but laugh when she heard this, "You are really suitable for going to America. It may seem to you that buying so many houses is for convenience or because you like them, but this behavior is described by a term in America, which is 'real estate investment'."

Zhou Zhengdong also chuckled softly, "Real estate investment is very popular in America and is one of the core businesses of our Zhou family. When we first arrived in America, we took advantage of the cheap land prices to hoard a lot of land. Later, we gradually developed a portion of the land near the city into residential or commercial buildings, some for rent and some for sale. Over the years, it has surpassed our original trading business, and the profits are very considerable."

Now the Zhou family's business scope is very wide, but the core assets are three categories: one is the farmland and urban land acquired during the early economic crisis when land prices were cheap, and the other is the original trading business.

The farms are still in continuous operation. Thanks to the convenience of being close to big cities, there is no worry about selling agricultural products. They are considered top-quality assets in bank risk assessments.

As for the other land, with the expansion of the urban circle, and the Zhou family not lacking money, they naturally entered the real estate industry. Their real estate development extends to wherever the edge of the city expands, and they are living very comfortably.

The earliest trading business has been surpassed and relegated to the third sequence in the family assets.

It's just that as the Zhou family integrates into American society, the simple shop-keeping model in China in the early days has also transformed into a modern trading company, divided into international and domestic sectors. Although it cannot be compared with multinational giants, it is still quite strong.

Don't look at the fact that the Zhou family only has about 100 million US dollars in assets now, but as long as they don't mess around, even if they just maintain the status quo, these assets can be worth tens or even hundreds of billions of US dollars in a few decades.

Before the rise of the Internet, the gold content of a billionaire was still very high.

Zhou Zhengdong was naturally interested in talking about content related to his family's core business.

After speaking, he shook his head again, "Unfortunately, China has a housing allocation system, and real estate cannot be developed at all. Otherwise, when the window period you mentioned arrives, I would like to come in and give it a try."

Chen Fan nodded lightly aside. In fact, China's commercial real estate started very early, from the first commercial land auctioned in Shenzhen to the government's encouragement of the construction and sale of commercial housing in the second half of the 1980s.

Especially the first round of speculation in houses and land on Hainan Island made many people across the country realize the investment value of real estate.

However, the real rise of real estate came after the announcement of the end of the welfare housing allocation policy.

The real estate industry cannot be developed without ending the welfare housing allocation.

Zhao Wanru had a different opinion, "As the saying goes, 'It is not easy to live in Chang'an,' even if it is housing allocation, economic changes will inevitably occur when the supply-demand relationship is tight."

She turned to look at Chen Fan and smiled, "The houses you have in Lujiazui and Yunhu are fine, but the houses in Beijing and Shanghai should be valuable. And there is still a lot of room for appreciation."

Zhou Zhengdong nodded slowly, "That makes sense."

At the same time, he was also thinking, should he come in and try a few small projects? If the scale is not large, he should not lose money.

Now the assistant is still collecting information at the US Liaison Office in Beijing. Coincidentally, the plane to Japan departs from Beijing and has a stopover in Shanghai. After he takes the plane tomorrow and meets with me, I will add this task to him.

Chen Fan looked at the two and shook his head with a smile, "It's just for self-occupation. It doesn't matter whether house prices rise or fall."

Zhou Zhengdong smiled wryly, "That's right."

He was thinking about the problem from the perspective of a businessman. If his nephew doesn't want to do real estate business, it's fine to just live in the house. What does it matter whether house prices rise or fall? It's fine as long as he feels comfortable.

The few people talked and laughed, and soon arrived at the exit. Following the crowd out, Chen Fan glanced around and saw a young clerk holding a sign with "Mr. Zhou Zhengdong" written on it, his eyes constantly scanning the faces of the people leaving the station.

Behind him, there were also two cadre-like people.

After asking, it turned out that they were the accompanying staff arranged by Shanghai.

After exchanging greetings, Zhou Zhengdong said that he wanted to stay at his nephew's house. The accompanying cadres in charge of the connection did not say much and agreed directly.

It wasn't the first time this happened, and there was no need to report to superiors for approval. It was just a pity for a sum of foreign exchange room fees.

They got into the car and went straight to Panyu Road. After dropping them off, the accompanying cadres routinely stated the travel discipline, that is, they were not allowed to run around without permission, and they must be accompanied by their people if they wanted to go out.

Then they left their contact information and agreed to pick them up at two o'clock in the afternoon to visit the only remaining old friend of the Zhou family, and then bid farewell and left.

Chen Fan had called the Shanghai Writers Association yesterday and asked them to tell Jiang Lili that he would be back today, so there should be someone at home at this time, otherwise he would not have the key and would have to climb over the wall to get in.

Why not call Fangyuan directly?

Because yesterday was Sunday, the school was closed and there were no classes. Jiang Lili usually stayed at home on weekends, not at school, so she naturally couldn't answer the phone.

Thinking of this, Chen Fan began to mutter in his heart, wondering if he could find someone to install a telephone at home?

The first private telephone in Shanghai after the reform and opening up was applied for installation by a former employee of the JA District Housing Company. After he resigned, he became a self-employed businessman with a store in Luodian Town, Baoshan District, mainly undertaking maintenance, installation assistance, and other work for house decoration companies and construction companies.

In order to expand his business, in May 1983, he applied to the Luodian Telephone Bureau to install a telephone, with an installation fee of 300 yuan, plus a monthly rent of 20 yuan, and a self-selected extension number of 388, which was very auspicious.

After installing the telephone, the volume of business increased rapidly. Everyone loved to cooperate with him because he had a telephone at home.

In those years, his tax payment alone accounted for one-third of all individual businesses in the entire Luodian Town, which kicked off the upsurge of individual businesses in Shanghai vying to install telephones, and the telephone bureau actively cooperated.

The private telephone in Beijing was a little earlier. In the second half of 1982, a small exchange was opened and used in the Nongfengli community, and more than 100 residents successively used home telephones.

(April 20, 1984, Beijing Daily, 1st edition)

However, this still had a unit effect. The first private telephone in the city truly installed by an individual is no longer verifiable, but shortly after this report was published, on the afternoon of May 23, 1984, a farmer came to the business hall of the Municipal Telephone Bureau, took out a 2,000 yuan check, and applied to install a telephone at home.

The clerk wrote the phone number of the first farmer in Beijing to install a telephone at his own expense on the receipt he issued: 815059.

This was the first private telephone for farmers in Beijing, with an installation fee of 2,000 yuan.

Much more expensive than Shanghai.

However, the monthly rent was cheaper, only 4 yuan.

Chen Fan pondered, thinking about who to ask later to see if he could apply in a private name. If not, he would discuss it with Old Ba and pull a line over in the name of the unit, and then transfer the account later.

There was no other way. He was still not used to writing letters. It would be much better to make a phone call if there was something to do. Writing letters was too slow.

But to make a phone call, he could only go to a small store near him that cooperated with the telephone bureau. The telephone here also served as a place to receive calls. If someone called, the person in charge had to record the information and pass it on to the corresponding residents.

This model had already started in the 1950s, originating in Beijing, and then quickly spreading to several large cities.

Regardless of how well it was implemented, at least in the case of encountering a good person, it still provided a lot of convenience to nearby residents.

Of course, no matter how convenient it was, it was not as good as a home telephone.

Chen Fan's abacus was ringing in his head, but it didn't delay him from raising his hand and pressing the doorbell.

After a while, the sound of brisk footsteps came from the yard. With a creak, the small door was opened, and a pretty face appeared in front of him. It was Jiang Lili with a smiling face and light in her eyes.

She grabbed Chen Fan's hand, not blinking her eyes, but already smiling into two crescent moons, "You're back."

Before she could pull Chen Fan into the door, a girl wearing a strange hat (a fisherman's hat) and very beautiful suddenly appeared next to Chen Fan, her head almost resting on his shoulder, staring at her intently with wide eyes, "Wow, so beautiful, younger brother, is this your girlfriend?"

Chen Fan held Jiang Lili's hand, walked into the yard first, waved to Jiang Tiantian who had just walked out of the gate, waited for his uncle's family to come in one after another, and then coughed, "Let me introduce you."

Then he solemnly pointed to Zhou Zhengdong and the others, "This is my uncle, who came back from the United States a few days ago to see me. This is my aunt, this is my cousin."

Jiang Lili blushed and quickly bowed to greet them, "Hello, Uncle, hello, Aunt, hello, Cousin."

As soon as she finished speaking, her mind went blank. Did I call them too early? Should I be calling them uncle and aunt now?

Instantly, her face flushed red, and she unconsciously turned her body, burying her head and silently hiding beside Chen Fan.

Chen Fan held her hand and introduced with a smile, "This is my girlfriend, Jiang Lili, Jiang as in ginger, Lili as in beautiful."

Then he pointed to Jiang Tiantian, who was standing somewhat helplessly in front of the doorway, "This is Lili's older sister, Jiang Tiantian, Tiantian as in sweet."

Jiang Tiantian took a deep breath, quickly adjusted her mindset, nodded gently, and after thinking for a moment, decided to follow her younger sister's lead in addressing them.

So she bowed slightly and called out, "Hello, Uncle, Aunt, and Cousin."

There was no other way; since her younger sister was calling them that, it would seem too distant if she still called them Uncle and Aunt.

Chen Fan coughed lightly upon hearing this, "Well, you can just call her younger sister; she's younger than you."

Jiang Tiantian's face turned slightly red, and she immediately changed her address, "Hello, younger sister."

The Zhou Zhengdong family was scrutinizing the two sisters with curious eyes. One was delicate and charming, the other poised and graceful, and their appearances were almost identical; both were rare beauties.

The younger sister, of course, was all over Chen Fan from the moment they met, holding his hand and practically clinging to him.

As for the older sister, she maintained a clear distance on the surface, but with Zhou Zhengdong's experienced eyes, how could he not notice that something was amiss?

However, he didn't mind it; anyway, it wasn't his nephew who would suffer a loss, so what was there to fear?

After Chen Fan finished introducing them, he nodded slightly and smiled at the two of them, "Hello, Lili, hello, Tiantian."

Zhao Wanru and Zhou Yali also greeted them in turn.

Zhou Yali even glared at Chen Fan, but her face was full of smiles, "Little brother, why didn't you tell me in advance? I would have prepared a gift."

Then she took off her backpack and rummaged through it, looking for something suitable as a gift.

Jiang Lili also gently pinched Chen Fan's hand, annoyed that he hadn't told her in advance that his uncle's family was coming, making her look foolish and embarrassed.

Chen Fan grinned and chuckled, "Well, I forgot."

What do you mean, forgot? He was just embarrassed to say it.

Say what?

Say that he was keeping a mistress, and that there was another girlfriend living in his Shanghai house?

That would be too awkward!

Zhou Yali rummaged for a long time, and finally found two small boxes. Without opening them, she walked over and handed one to Jiang Lili, smiling, "I didn't prepare anything, so this is something I've used myself. Don't mind it."

Jiang Lili wanted to decline, but Chen Fan took it and placed it in her hand, "We're all family, so just take it."

Forcibly given the box, Jiang Lili could only say with a red face, "Thank you, Cousin."

Zhou Yali then walked over to Jiang Tiantian and handed her the other box, "Just a small token, don't mind it."

Jiang Tiantian was even more at a loss than before, and instinctively looked at Chen Fan.

Chen Fan looked up and smiled, "Just accept it."

Jiang Tiantian hesitated for a few seconds before reluctantly taking it, "Thank you."

Then, she came back to her senses and quickly ushered them into the house, "Please come in."

The group entered the house one after another, and Chen Fan assigned them rooms, "Uncle and Aunt will stay on the first floor, so you don't have to climb the stairs."

Then he looked at Zhou Yali, "You'll stay on the third floor; it's spacious and has a large terrace, enough for you to mess around in."

Zhou Yali naturally didn't care, "Okay."

However, the next second, she turned her gaze to her parents, and the three of them exchanged a look, their eyes filled with smiles.

The second floor? Of course, it was occupied by the three of them.

Zhou Yali glanced at her younger cousin again. Hey, who knew that this seemingly upright guy was actually quite the player?!

Chen Fan guessed what they were thinking from their eye contact, but there was no way to explain it.

People in China generally wouldn't think crookedly, but things were different in the United States. If it were a girl from a traditional Puritan family, she would be as conservative as a proper lady from the feudal era, but other than that, it was a place of unrestrainedness.

Moreover, the United States at that time was experiencing the rampant growth of open cultures such as hippies, hip-hop, rock and roll, and punk. Playing it well was culture, playing it poorly was indulgence.

But how many cultured people were there?

In the end, it was an era of indulgence. Even if they didn't participate themselves while in the United States, what hadn't they seen or heard?

So it wasn't strange that they would think that way.

It would be fine if it were true, but unfortunately, it wasn't.

Chen Fan felt very wronged, but there was nothing he could do. He could only silently carry their luggage into the rooms and then take them on a tour.

"This is the living room, this is the tea cabinet, and that's the chaise lounge where you can lie down and look at the small garden outside. Behind it is the kitchen and the bathroom; there's nothing much to see.

Ah? Help?

No, no, Lili is a good cook, and it's enough to have Tiantian helping here. Let's go upstairs and take a look.

Dog, dog, dog, come with me. Well, this is the second floor, three bedrooms, um, one for each person. Come in and take a look. Right, three beds, all different."

Here, he obliquely explained it a bit, and regardless of whether they believed it or not, he continued to tour the third floor.

"The third floor is a study and a music room, which can also be guest rooms. There's also an attic above, all filled with books."

Zhou Yali climbed up the stairs and looked at the triangular attic filled with bookshelves, and couldn't help but be a little tongue-tied, "There are even more books here than you have in your place in Beijing."

Chen Fan watched her come down the stairs and smiled, "The books here are ones I bought myself. The books in Beijing, except for a small portion of old books, were all bought from bookstores by Master Zhang. He doesn't understand them, so he didn't dare to buy too many. When I go there next time, I'll add to them if I have time."

The group walked around the rooms for a while, and Zhou Zhengdong walked to the piano, opened the lid, and played a few notes, curiously asking, "Can you even buy a Steinway grand piano in the mainland? How much did you buy it for?"

Chen Fan gestured, "Not expensive, two hundred and twenty yuan."

Zhou Zhengdong's eyes widened when he heard this, "How much? That cheap?"

Chen Fan laughed, "This was bought at a secondhand store. The pricing rules at secondhand stores are based on the type and condition, regardless of whether it's a big brand or a small brand, which allowed me to get a good deal."

He also introduced the instrument rack next to him, "Violin, 80, Italian-made; accordion, 60, Soviet-made; guitar, 30. These are all imported goods. Over here are domestic instruments. Erhu is only 10 yuan, guqin is 50, guzheng is 55, and there's also a pipa..."

After introducing them, he turned around and smiled, "Cheap, right? They were all bought at the secondhand market. If you buy new ones, the prices will be several times higher."

He pointed to the piano as he spoke, "I don't even know how many times more expensive this would be, dozens, maybe even a hundred times more. When I heard the salesperson say there was a Steinway piano and it was only selling for 220 yuan, I wanted it without even thinking.

To get this big guy up to the third floor, I even asked people to help find professional tools, and it took a lot of effort to hoist it up."

Zhou Yali looked at the instruments on the rack, turned to him, and asked, "Little brother, can you play all these instruments?"

Chen Fan smiled, "Why would I buy them if I couldn't?"

Zhou Zhengdong pursed his lips and nodded slightly, "Your talent in music is even stronger than your mother's. She only knows the piano, but you know so many."

After a pause, he added, "It might also be because of your father. I heard that he plays the violin and the melodica. He's also a talented man. You must have inherited their musical cells."

Chen Fan smiled and didn't say anything.

I didn't inherit anything from anyone. I learned it all myself through hard work, starting from scratch.

The group walked around for a while, and finally went to the terrace.

Standing on the terrace and looking into the distance, there weren't too many tall buildings. There were only some ten-story buildings in the distance, which were mostly built during the Republic of China period.

Looking out, the dense or sparse, tall or short buildings stretched out into the distance in patches, accompanied by the summer breeze and the sounds of people in the distance, making the place even more quiet and secluded.

After a moment, Zhou Zhengdong suddenly smiled, "I feel like living in a place like this is not bad. It's quiet in the midst of the hustle and bustle, and it has a lot of life."

Zhou Yali turned to look at him, "Then you should move over here. Buy a house here and be neighbors with your little brother."

She turned her face to look at Chen Fan again, "Little brother, are there still houses for sale here?"

Chen Fan, "Yes, there are."

He looked at Zhou Yali and said, "But I don't know if foreigners can buy ordinary residential houses. I have to ask about that."

Many people in later generations said that the first commercial building was born in Beijing in November 1980. According to the "Beijing Real Estate Chronicle": In that year, "the Beijing Municipal Government allocated two residential buildings in the Tongzilou residential buildings to be sold to individuals, with an average selling price of 180 yuan per square meter of construction area."

However, strictly speaking, it wasn't.

China's first commercial building was built in 1956 and completed in 1958, located at 189 Yuqing Road, Shanghai, called "Overseas Chinese Apartment."

This "New China's First Apartment" has 8 floors, a construction area of 4,284 square meters, and a total of 35 apartments.

The total investment in the project was 700,000 yuan, and Shanghai China Enterprise Company was responsible for the construction. It created many firsts at that time.

The apartment was paved with imported wooden floors, and radiators were installed. The building also had 2 elevators inside.

These configurations were unattainable for ordinary Shanghai residential buildings at that time. After the completion of the apartment, Shuangqing Louzhu specially inscribed the four characters "Overseas Chinese Apartment" for the building.

This apartment was also not sold domestically, but was exclusively for overseas Chinese.

In fact, it was to sell the building at a high price and raise foreign exchange.

However, overseas Chinese generously donated money. Even if they didn't live there themselves, if they knew the news and had the ability, they would buy an apartment. Some overseas Chinese bought houses and returned to China directly. Even today, many descendants of overseas Chinese still live in this apartment.

A few years later, in 1962, Beijing lacked foreign exchange, so it followed suit and built the "Huayuan Village Overseas Chinese Apartment" for sale. In 1966, Guangzhou also built China's first overseas Chinese residential area, "Overseas Chinese New Village."

It is not known whether it was adhering to conventions or someone speaking out, but in any case, it almost became a convention that overseas Chinese could only buy Overseas Chinese Apartments or Overseas Chinese New Villages. On the contrary, very few people dared to sell ordinary residential houses to overseas Chinese and foreigners.

Now, whether it's true or a joke, it's not easy for Zhou Zhengdong and the others to buy a house here.