Dreaming back to 1949, the great powers were there to deceive us

At this time, the Shilipu Wharf was extremely busy, with countless goods arriving and waiting to be unloaded.

Most of the materials loaded on the ship were purchased at TA company's order meeting.

After taking a look around, Lin An selected a batch of pig iron.

He found the person in charge, James, and said,

"Sir, I would like to buy some pig iron. Is that possible?"

James refused outright.

"No, this batch of goods was ordered by TA company."

Of course Lin An knew that this was ordered by TA company, otherwise, he would not have come there!

"I can increase TA's price by 3%. I know your contract only stipulates the approximate quantity of delivery. It's a few hundred tons short, and it's completely invisible!"

James thought for a moment and asked,

"What do you want to buy pig iron for?"

"I have a friend who develops real estate and is in urgent need of a large amount of construction steel!"

James smiled and explained,

"Sir, the iron on our ship is pig iron, which is too brittle and not suitable for construction!"

"I know, so I'll ask the ironworks to help me smelt it. Sir, you may not know that the demand for steel in the Magic City is huge right now. If you are willing to sell me more, the price is negotiable!"

James immediately became interested and asked,

"What are your needs? Tell me quickly."

Lin An rolled his eyes and said with a smile,

"I need 500 tons of pig iron, do you think?"

"How about a 5% increase?"

After James finished speaking, he stared at Lin An closely, trying to observe his reaction. The latter just frowned slightly and immediately agreed.

"No problem, let's sign the contract right away. I'll pay a deposit of 1000 yuan first!"

As he spoke, Lin An took out a 1000 yuan banknote and handed it over.

James was obviously a little resistant and said,

"No banknotes!"

"Then let's go to Huifeng to handle the transfer of funds. Actually, there's nothing wrong with banknotes. They can be exchanged for US dollars, British pounds, or other foreign currencies at any time!"

James insisted on his own ideas.

"I still feel more secure holding British pounds!"

Lin An did not force it and said with a smile,

"I understand your concerns. Let's go to the foreign bank and take my car!"

James got in the car as he was told and headed towards Huifeng.

When the car was halfway there, Lin An looked at the Sanjiang Real Estate Agency and immediately told the driver to stop.

"Mr. James, could you please wait for a moment? I'll go see if there's any good housing available!"

"As you please!"

James originally wanted to sit in the car and wait, but after thinking about it, he decided to go down and take a look.

There are a lot of homebuyers, but most of them are waiting and watching.

Because housing prices rose sharply in the afternoon, everyone is waiting for a correction.

Lin An only took ten minutes to finalize the sale of the two houses!

Sitting back in the car, James couldn't wait to ask,

"Lin, don't you even need to go to the site to check out the property?"

"No, I'm just speculating on properties and won't hold onto them for long. If these agents dare to exaggerate, they won't be able to keep their shops open."

"House prices in the Magic City must have increased dramatically, right?"

"It's not so bad. It's mainly because the price dropped so much recently. According to experts' estimates, Shanghai's housing prices will still increase fivefold!"

James widened his eyes and shouted,

"How is this possible? We are at war now!"

"It's precisely because of the war that all the wealthy people in Jiangnan are flocking to the Magic City. James, every country has its own national conditions. In the East, the Magic City is the final destination for all the wealthy!"

After Lin An finished speaking, he pointed to the agreement in his hand and said,

"Believe it or not, by the time we get the payment back, the house I just bought will have increased in value by at least 1%."

James looked like he had never seen the world before.

"How can this be?"

Lin An looked at the tenant in the passenger seat, laughed, and said,

"Mr. Wen, he said it's impossible?"

James was ridiculed and got angry. He shouted,

"Since the value of real estate in Shanghai has increased so significantly, Mr. Wen, why are you selling?"

"I've set my eyes on a house in a better location, so I naturally need to free up some funds!"

Lin An immediately became interested and asked,

"Mr. Wen, where can I find a good house?"

Seeing that Mr. Wen was unwilling to disclose, he immediately said,

"Mr. Wen, if the house is really good, I'm willing to pay you a 2% information fee!"

Mr. Wen finally gave in, and the two of them ignored James and started chatting as if no one was around.

When he arrived at Huifeng Foreign Company, James was a little absent-minded, his mind full of real estate.

He looked at the long queue of people in the hall and believed Lin An's words a little more.

It's night time, and there are so many people coming to transfer property.

People excitedly chatted about their house-hunting experiences, asked each other where there were houses for sale, and some even boasted about how much money they had made.

James' mind became active. He pulled Lin An, who was chatting with others, and asked,

"Mr. Lin, are there going to be a lot of buildings starting construction in the Demon City soon?"

Lin An turned around and answered,

"Of course, otherwise why would I buy pig iron!"

Suddenly, Lin An remembered something and said,

"Mr. James, if you're willing to sell me more pig iron, I can raise the price a bit. 2000 tons, 6% increase. How about that?"

James was in a dilemma.

"If I sell it to you, I won't be able to fulfill his order!"

"What's the big deal? Your contract period is a full two weeks, and Australia is only a short distance from Shanghai. Even with the loading time, a week is more than enough. Just ship a large quantity here. As an aside, if you buy the property with cash, you might be able to double your money in a week. Even if you have to pay liquidated damages, you'll still make a killing!"

James was obviously persuaded. After a moment of silence, he shouted,

"This ship of pig iron has 7000 tons in total. If you can float 10% higher, I can give you all of it!"

"8%!"

After a brief thought, James said,

"I'll take a step back, 9%!"

Lin An lowered his head and thought for a while, then gritted his teeth and said,

"Okay, but you have to give me 24 hours to raise the money! I can pay you the deposit first!"

"no problem!"

After Lin An got the promise, he immediately said,

"Mr. James, please wait a moment. I'll go get a mortgage. If I'm quick, I might be able to pay you within an hour!"

James suddenly thought of something and said,

"Mr. Lin, perhaps you can use your house to pay for the goods. I can accept a 30% ratio!"

Lin An refused outright.

"Sorry, what I have are all high-quality assets with great potential for appreciation!"

Although James was somewhat disappointed by the rejection, it also reflected a problem from the side: people have very high expectations for house appreciation!

It doesn’t matter whether an asset has value or not. If everyone expects it to rise in value, then even if it is a piece of stone, it has value and can be invested in.

In the small reception room, credit manager Feng Tang fell into deep thought after hearing Lin An's loan application.

Today, many people come to Huifeng to apply for loans, most of which are used to purchase real estate. Huifeng is very cautious when reviewing applications and will only accept applications that provide a large proportion of down payment.

But Lin An's situation is different. He bought the house in full and now has a mortgage loan, so the risk is still relatively low.

"Mr. Lin, how about a 5% discount based on the value of the house you provided?"

This discount is too high.

The property owned by Lin An has a market value of 310 million yuan, which is 5 million yuan after a 155% discount.

The 7000 tons of pig iron were worth about 50 Mi Yuan, or 100 million oceans.

It was enough to pay, but Lin An still had to buy other things. He thought about it and said,

"There's really no risk in real estate these days, so why is the value of the collateral so low?"

"House prices are unstable, please understand!"

"House prices are rising, what's the risk?"

Feng Tang immediately retorted,

"If it goes up quickly, it will also go down quickly. Banks must be cautious."

Lin An pondered for a moment and said,

"Twenty percent off, I can accept half the banknote!"

"Is that so?"

Feng Tang immediately ran upstairs to ask Charlie for instructions. Soon, he returned and said with a smile,

"Mr. Lin, we have agreed to your request. We hope you will continue to support our bank!"

"Thank you, Manager Feng. Huifeng has always been my first choice."

Feng Tang watched Lin An leave, his inner joy unconcealed, because the commission for lending banknotes was higher!

James opened his mouth wide after receiving the payment.

"Lin, what's the discount on your collateral?"

"Twenty percent off!"

Countless thoughts suddenly popped up in James' mind.

Judging from the attitude of foreign companies towards mortgaged properties, there is great potential for real estate in Shanghai!

After saying goodbye to Lin An, James returned to Sanjiang Real Estate Agency. He observed for a long time and remained silent for a long time.

It was just as Lin An said: within the short hour when they processed the payment, the listing price of Sanjiang Real Estate rose by 1.5% overall.

James hesitated for a moment, then strode in and shouted,

"Manager, do you have any better rooms available?"

……

Lin An returned to the dock again, and this time, he set his sights on rubber and sugar!

After some bargaining, Lin An obtained 400 tons of rubber and 800 tons of sugar. So, he and his men "happened" to pass by Sanjiang Real Estate, and then went to Huifeng to collect the money!

TA's company has arranged hundreds of people like Lin An.

Overnight, not only housing prices were skyrocketing, but everything was rising in price.

In economic activities, people always buy when prices rise and not when prices fall.

After James tasted the sweetness, he immediately began to transfer large quantities of goods to Shanghai.

The invisible hand of the market began to show its power.

Originally, James planned to remit the payment back, but in just a few hours, the value of the property he purchased increased by 3%. Such a good opportunity must be seized, so James invested all his funds to buy the property.

Money earned in Shanghai should be spent in Shanghai, there is no need to bring it home!

……

At Huifeng Foreign Company, everyone was guarding the telegraph machine, bursting into cheers from time to time.

Everyone kept an eye on the stock prices of listed companies such as Fog City Real Estate and Newtown Real Estate through telegrams.

So far, the stock price has basically doubled.

Fish only have a memory of eight seconds. Sometimes, human memory is even worse than that of fish.

The tulip bubble happened hundreds of years ago.

Forty years have passed since the rubber bubble, the first stock market crash in Chinese history, broke out in 1910.

If these seem too far away, the last real estate crash happened just two days ago.

Many people, whose tears had not yet dried, plunged into bottom-fishing in real estate.

Charlie looked at the stock price chart on the blackboard and laughed excitedly.

At this point, Huifeng's hole can finally be filled, but this is far from enough. Huifeng still wants to eat meat, big fat meat, the kind that makes your mouth full of oil when you bite it.

Charlie blew out another puff of smoke and stood up.

Seeing this, everyone quieted down.

"Gentlemen, I have another plan. I wonder if you are interested!"

Upon hearing this, the assistant immediately distributed the documents prepared in advance.

This is a planning scheme for a residential area.

It was very common in later generations, but at this time, it made everyone feel amazing.

The community is planned to have a sports field, a shopping center, a garden, a lotus pond, a fitness center, a kindergarten, a cinema, a theater, a restaurant, etc.

This is not a residential area, it is clearly a small city.

A city where only nobles live.

A huge rendering was spread out on the central table.

"It's so beautiful. If there is such a community, I will definitely buy it!"

“This is the Garden of Eden!”

Morris stroked the paper, his heart deeply shocked.

"Mr. Charlie, may I ask who designed this community?"

Charlie, of course, refused to reveal it and said with a smile,

"Gentlemen, we are planning a new community in the Magic City. What do you think?"

Jonard looked at the scale on the drawing and asked doubtfully,

"This community covers at least 4000 acres. Where else can you find such a large piece of land in Shanghai?"

Charlie laughed and said,

"Gentlemen, look here!"

The place where he pointed his finger was the suburbs.

Kenny shook his head.

"Mr. Charlie, who would buy that place? Also, how much would it cost to develop such a community?"

Charlie spoke eloquently, looking very wise.

"Gentlemen, when Shanghai was first established, who could have imagined it would develop into the largest metropolis in the Far East? We took advantage of the low land prices in the suburbs and acquired a large amount of land. After that, we launched this community plan as a gimmick, and we're afraid it won't attract attention. We can slowly develop the land we've accumulated, or we can drive up the price and sell it off piecemeal!"

Morris already understood what Charlie meant and slammed the table excitedly.

Others also reacted one after another.

The sound of banging on the table came one after another.

This is a setup!

If it goes well, the major foreign companies can build this community without spending a penny.

Charlie held his hands together, and when everyone was quiet, he said,

"Everyone, if you're willing to participate, please raise your hands. We'll first raise 1000 million RMB for land acquisition. I've made it clear that Huifeng won't contribute a penny this time, but I want a 15% stake!"

……