I am a local in North America

Chapter 54 $350

Undeveloped beaver ranches also possess a primitive, natural beauty.

The winter sun shines on the snowfield, and the birch forest in the distance, stripped of its leaves, is like a sketch of the earth. Several small dikes made of dead wood by beavers are clearly visible in the river.

Even though Su Jerry hasn't actually bought it yet, he can already imagine how free and comfortable it will be to live here in the future.

His 100-day stay on the shores of Great Slave Lake eventually had some impact on him. He felt an immediate sense of familiarity when he looked at the vast pasture covered in ice and snow.

Just as her younger sister Arou said, developing this military castle and ranch would require a large sum of money, and developing a gold mine would require even more.

However, Su Jierui was full of motivation and confident that he could use his advantages to earn enough money.

So, standing at this very moment on the weathered lookout tower of the ancient castle, where withered grass grew from the cracks in the stones, Su Jerry earnestly asked his agent:

"I prefer this place. Do you think... there's a chance of a deal at $350 million?"

Arou felt that her brother was acting impulsively and was a bit carried away. She poked his waist with her finger, but Su Jierui ignored her with a knowing look.

Agent Ariel Connor's eyes practically lit up, as if she were seeing not a client, but an angel who had saved her!
Su Jierui was the first potential client she encountered who actually made an offer for the beaver ranch. Other interested buyers didn't even get to this point, giving up the purchase for strange reasons such as "his wife didn't like it" or simply "dreaming of being chased by beavers."

The wealthy have many concerns, while ordinary people can't afford it, making the beaver ranch's situation somewhat awkward.

Ariel Connor raised her voice slightly as she pressed on, asking:

"Mr. Su, are you serious? Not just a polite 'I'll think about it'?"

"I mean, if I reached an agreement with the current owner and they agreed to sell for $350 million, are you sure you would buy this place?"

"Please don't mind, I just need to clarify things beforehand. Similar things have happened frequently before. I finally manage to reach an agreement with the homeowner, but the buyer suddenly changes their mind, causing the seller to lose trust in me and ultimately losing the agency rights for several high-quality properties..."

In Su Jierui's view, there was nothing to hesitate about.

If the loan term is extended to 30 or 40 years, the ranch's own revenue may be able to cover the loan repayment amount.

With the increase in YouTube revenue, he had even less to worry about, and most importantly, the underground gold mine was also extremely valuable!

Although the application process for mining is a bit complicated and requires paying a large "environmental reclamation" deposit to the authorities, this large deposit can be refunded afterward. The actual mining budget may only require one or two million US dollars, and it would be even cheaper to rent machinery from outside.

After visiting the ranch for nearly an hour, Su Jerry became increasingly satisfied with it. Looking at the hillside that could be transformed into an off-road track and the forest that could be used as a future campsite, his desire to buy the place was almost overflowing.

He understood Ariel Connor's concerns and replied earnestly:
"Yes, I'll buy this place if you can get the seller to agree to the deal for $350 million."

"But I need a loan, and the down payment should ideally be around 20%. I'm currently pursuing my master's degree at the University of British Columbia, so I can use the future income from this ranch as collateral, or have my family help me guarantee part of the loan. I think I should be able to get the loan approved?"

"This time it's a ranch purchase. The land itself isn't going anywhere. The worst-case scenario is that I can't pay off the loan, the bank takes the land and auctions it off, and I lose most of my down payment. It doesn't have much to do with my parents. Asking them to act as guarantors was just to make it easier for me to get the loan..."

There are older and younger sisters at home. Su Jierui's last sentence was specifically explained to Arou so that she wouldn't overthink it.

In fact, Arou doesn't care about those things at all; she has very low expectations for money and material life.

Otherwise, she would have chosen to study medicine, law, or psychology, which could accurately analyze why Su Jierui was so obsessed at the moment, instead of following her heart and choosing "architectural design," a major with relatively poor job prospects that her mother considered to be equivalent to unemployment upon graduation.

After being stunned for a moment, Arou finally understood what Su Jierui meant, and chuckled, saying:
“It’s okay, but I’m a little doubtful whether Mom and Dad will support you. Mom’s not very good at handling pressure; if she knew you were taking out a loan of two or three million dollars, her blood pressure would probably spike, and she’d definitely nag you nonstop.” Su Jierui thought this made sense and promptly changed his tune:
"Then let my grandparents be my guarantors. With all the king crab quota rent they've collected over the years, plus their fishing savings and the property in the northwest corner of Bellevue, their total assets are at least $200 million. If my grandparents can vouch for me, the bank should feel more comfortable..."

Agent Ariel Connor, listening nearby, sensed that this statement contained a lot of information and blinked, saying:

"The northwest corner of Bellevue? Is it an old house with a lakeside dock?"

"The homeowners are indeed an elderly Chinese couple. I think I visited their home a couple of years ago. At that time, a customer wanted to buy their land and offered a very good price, but unfortunately they did not choose to sell. I could only choose another piece of land with similar conditions, and eventually the deal was made."

"So Mr. Su, you're still in school, right? Business has been tough for banks lately, but I have some connections. As long as someone is willing to act as your guarantor and your credit score is relatively high, getting a loan shouldn't be a big problem."

"Just like you said, this land isn't going to run away. The bank will calculate the value at 75% or 70% when it's mortgaged, so they won't lose anything. Paying only 20% as a down payment is a bit troublesome, but I should be able to help you with that, so the down payment is no longer a problem, right..."

Su Jierui nodded decisively and said:

"Yes, that should be our grandparents' house."

“I won $100 million in prize money from a competition. The organizers will deduct a portion for federal taxes, and the rest should be deposited into my account next week or the week after.”

"However, the timing is not entirely certain. It would be best to extend the payment period to one or one and a half months later."

"Besides, I can only pay a $5 deposit for now. Beaver Ranch has been listed for so long, as long as I can pay the full amount as agreed, I don't think the seller will refuse..."

After a brief conversation, the agent basically determined that Su Jierui was a high-quality buyer and hurriedly ran to the side to call the seller in France.

As for whether Ariel Connor has the resources to develop the land properly in the future, given that he only has a few hundred thousand dollars and yet forcibly purchased such a large ranch, that's none of her business.

After all, according to Jerry Su, his grandparents had a total asset of at least $200 million. If they had just thought a little more about their descendants, they wouldn't have to worry about that.

Based on Ariel Connor's work experience, when it comes to worrying about their children, people of all races, whether white, black, Latino, or other minorities, are far less concerned than Asians.

Occasionally, Ariel Connor would meet with high-net-worth Asian clients who were buying properties in Seattle for their children. These clients would scrimp and save, drive cheap and fuel-efficient old cars, but spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on a single property purchase. This always made Ariel Connor, who had been self-reliant since adulthood, incredibly envious.

“This is probably just a cultural difference,” Ariel Connor thought.

Arou was a little worried, but not too worried.

The root of the problem lies with Su Jierui, the older brother, who has always been reliable and dependable since childhood and would never easily do anything out of line.

In addition, their family is well-off, owning three fishing boats and crab fishing boats, plus real estate, IFQ quotas, etc. If they were to sell everything they own and pool their resources over several generations, they could actually buy the beaver ranch outright.

Compared to ordinary Seattle properties, Arou did feel that such a large piece of land, priced at only three million dollars, seemed quite a bargain.

Among the Asian community in North America, his family's circumstances were already at the upper end of the pyramid.

This is mainly due to the fact that we arrived relatively early and benefited from several waves of rising housing prices, increased king crab quotas, and other era dividends.

If you rely solely on fishing at sea to make a living, it might only be enough to maintain a relatively decent standard of living; it would be extremely difficult to climb the social ladder...

(End of this chapter)