"Hi, Miss, are you interested in looking at some of the houses?" The girl at the sale office was very courteous and did not judge Shu Yan by her look.
As the economy was just starting to take off in the country, many people had become wealthy overnight. There were plenty of people out there who'd dressed poorly but were very wealthy.
"Yes, I would like to look at some of the houses." Shu Yan smiled at the salesgirl and said, "Would you mind giving me an introduction of the different kinds of apartments that you have?"
"Of course," said the salesgirl as she pulled out the floor plans and walked through each of them in detail with her.
The developer was a native of City Nan, but they have hired a designer firm from City Gang to be in charge of the design of the apartments. From the salesgirl's introduction, the designer even has a few international awards under his belt so their apartments were up to international standards and were very stylish and classy.
Judging from the appearance and overall layout, they were very nice. Nice enough that they'd still look very appealing even 20 years from now. All Shu Yan needed to find out now was what the floorplans actually looked like.
There were a total of four different floor plans, they were 60 m2, 80 m2, 90 m2, and 120 m2. And, there were only ten or so of the 120 m2 ones.
Houses in City Nan had always been tight. Most locals live in a 20 m2 unit, or a 30-40 m2 house. 120 m2 was like a mansion. Looking at the cost, 120 m2 at $1,500 per square meter, came out to be $150,000. For residents of City Nan whose monthly income was $400 or so, this was no doubt an astronomical price.
The architect from City G had used every bit of the area to their max. The 60 m2 ones have 3 bedrooms and 1 living room, plus a patio; 80 m2 ones have 4 bedrooms, 1 living room, plus a patio; 90 m2 ones have 4 bedrooms, living and dining rooms, and 2 patios. The communal areas took up approximately 10% of the area, so a 90 m2 unit really only has 81 m2. Squeezing 4 bedrooms, living and dining rooms, plus a bathroom, one could imagine just how small the bedrooms were.
The largest 120 m2 units actually have 3 bedrooms, living and dining rooms, and 2 bathrooms. Shu Yan understood the architect's purpose. Anyone who could afford the 120 m2 unit were naturally the wealth ones. They cared about comfort and wouldn't be happy if the rooms were too small.
As for its geographical location, City Nan University was one of the best in the country and all the periphery areas would be well developed in the future. Houses in this area would inflate madly. Even if Shu Yan decided to buy another house in the future, she wouldn't have to worry about the one that she had vacated; she would always be able to rent it out.
"I would like to find out about other public amenities nearby, such as schools or hospitals, etc." If it was just her by herself, Shu Yan would have purchased this in a heartbeat. But she had two children, schools and hospitals would have to be factored into her consideration. Schools were, naturally, very important to Chinese. Also, the kids were still young and low in immunity. They would get sick from time to time. If anything happened, the distance of the hospital could play a very vital role.
"Oh yes, there's a kindergarten right here in our district, and it's a dual language one as well. They have quite a few teachers from overseas. I am sure you are aware that the best time to learn a second language is when the children are young. If you head South 300 meters, there's Jiashi Grade School and City Nan No.2 Hospital is 4 km from here. In addition, there's a market not too far away behind the district so getting groceries is quite convenient too. All in all, our facilities are very comprehensive. I would say this with confidence. This is one of the best districts in City Nan."
Shu Yan had heard of Jiashi Grade School. Its reputation rivaled that of City Xi Grade School and the two had, in fact, been rivals. Jiashi's overall grade might be higher than City Xi, but in the end, the ratio of students being accepted into a prominent college was 3:7. Meaning 3 from Jiashi versus 7 from City Xi. The discrepancy rooted in the fact that Jiashi's grades relied heavily on strict management – self-study in the morning, self-study at night, and a lot of homework.
Shu Yan had tutored students from Jiahshi Grade School previously and was shocked by the amount of homework assignments. Three worksheets a day – Chinese, mathematics, and English – a 300 words essay, write all the vocabularies they have learned that day 20 times, idioms 20 times, English vocabularies 20 times, all that on top of all the exercise books that was mandated by the school...
While it was important for the school and their teachers to be strict to the children, it couldn't be overboard. Shu Yan felt that it might not necessarily be a good thing to be too overly strict with children. As evidenced by the proportion getting into a good college, once the children started junior and senior high schools and that the schools were not as strict, the children would rebound more, causing their grades to dip further.
"City Xi Grade School isn't that far either, can they attend there instead?" Shu Yan herself had been in school for many years and understood the pain. o(╯□╰)o She wouldn't wish that on her children.
The sales girl looked at Shu Yan, surprised. Jiashi Grade School was much harder to get into than City Xi Grade School. Many of the parents looked at their houses here specifically for the new government policy of attending a school nearby. Being able to get into Jiashi Grade School meant the children were set for a prominent high school, then all the way to City Nan senior high school.
"City Xi Grade School is fine too. We have their quotas as well." Naturally, any developers that was able to develop this location must have pretty sizeable background and resources. It couldn't be difficult for them to obtain the quotas for both schools.
Shu Yan was quite happy when she heard that. "My daughter is 7 years old and just the age for first grade. Due to some reasons, she hasn't been to school yet. Is it too late to register for her now?"
Things were more lax back in the 90s, after all, the crackdown wasn't as strict.
The sales girl was a little troubled. "I am not sure about that. You will have to check with the school directly on that."
Shu Yan nodded, "Alright, show me the model homes first and we can discuss the rest. Else all the discussions are moot."
"Sure, may I please ask which model are you interested in?" The sales girl smiled and Shu Yan could see her neat and pretty teeth. Having been in sales for a long time, the sales girl could tell the ones who were just asking from the ones who were seriously about buying. This not-so-pretty woman dressed completely out of style who was standing in front of her right now was one that was serious about buying. But, she put Shu Yan at the 60 m2 range. Even the smallest floor plan cost over $100,000, that's still a pretty sizable commission for her.
"Show me all of them." They have model homes of all the floorplans that she could look at directly.
As they walked past a tall building, Shu Yan asked, "Are these offices?"
"Yes, they are currently looking for tenants. If you are going to run your own business, this is a good location. There are a few colleges around and it's easy to hire college grads." The sales girl stopped on her way to explain to Shu Yan.
Naturally, Shu Yan would not take that seriously. Back in these days, college students were still assigned to work units by the government. Who'd want to go work for private companies?
"I suppose it wasn't easy to find tenants?" smiled Shu Yan nonchalantly.
In fact, '92 wasn't the best year to invest in real estate. The house prices would remain stagnant for the next few years. Money right now was better spent running businesses. When it got to '97 – '99, when the house prices dipped drastically, then you swooped in and bought some 10 – 20 houses and you would be set for life.
"That's not true. They have leased out almost all the units. Are you interested in taking a look?"
Shu Yan shook her head. She didn't need an office. She wasn't planning on starting a company of her own. She should focus on a house first.
The sales girl didn't say much. She'd be more surprised had Shu Yan wanted to go lease an unit.
As Shu Yan followed the sales girl toward the inner part of the district, the sales girl continued to point out to her all the amenities available in the district, "This is the security office. There is 24 hours surveillance, ensuring the safety of our residents. This is our district's very own dual-language kindergarten. There aren't a lot of kids just yet, but once our residents start to move in, it will be very lively."
As they walked into the second building, the sales girl said proudly, "Ours is the only apartment building in City Nan that has elevators. And all of them were purchased from overseas so you wouldn't need to worry about your safety."
The district has a total of 12 floors and they headed first to the 60 m2 unit.
The 60 m2 unit was as small as Shu Yan had expected. The rooms were small, as was the bathroom and the kitchen. At most, 2 people could pass by each other at one time, with 3 you would be stuck. The 80 m2 one looked to be the same as the 60 m2 one, except for the additional room. The 90 m2 one was much bigger. The patio also allowed a better view of the area. There were a total of 4 bedrooms, she and each of the children could have their own room and still one left for a study. This could work, but Shu Yan still wanted to check out the 120 m2 one.
The 120 m2 unit was impeccable. The room was reasonably sized, the living and dining rooms were spacious. It further has 3 large patios and 2 bathrooms. Very pleasing overall.
"How much is this?" The starting price was the price of the one with the worst location. It was dark and humid. Anyone not of perfect health would probably get sick living in it. The one they were looking at definitely cost higher than the starting price.
"Is this the one that you like?" The sales girl wasn't ecstatic. Most everyone liked the 120 m2 floorplan after they have toured it, but they were all scared away by the cost of it. The sales girl was deadly afraid that Shu Yan, too, would turn and leave after she heard the price, but she maintained her professional smile and said, "We have hired the best architect, the best construction company, and used the best materials..."
"Just tell me the price." The only reason she was rambling on was to support why it was so expensive.
"$4,200 per square meter."
Shu Yan almost wanted to laugh out loud. Whatever happened to the $1,500 per square meter? $4,200 was quite a bit higher than that.
$4,200 might not seem like a lot, but this was $4,200 back in '92. The official salary of City Nan was $300 per month. That meant one wouldn't even be able to buy 1 square meter even if he didn't eat or drink for a whole year.
Shu Yan hesitated about a house this size. It would cost close to $500,000. She'd earn more in interest if she put the same amount into a savings account.
The sales girl looked at Shu Yan nervously.
"What's the lowest amount? And, what about the parking spot?" Shu Yan walked around the condo one more time. It was impeccable and she liked it a lot. Within City Nan right now, this was probably the best with the exception of the ones that were only permissible to be purchased by foreign corporations or individuals.
"If you can pay it off right away, we can give you a 2% discount. The 120 m2 unit comes with its own parking spot. It's a freebie so it's a very good deal." The sales girl could see the hesitation on Shu Yan's face and added immediately.
Shu Yan nodded. A free parking spot was nice. "Why don't we round down to $4,000 per square meter. I also want help with the process of enrolling my kids into school."
"I don't have the authority to make that decision. I will need to consult my manager."
"That's fine. Let's go!"