Transmigrated into a female county magistrate during a famine, leading her country to prosperity

Chapter 645: Housing Prices Soar in Tongan County

There are many empty houses in the villages of Tongan County, but calling them "houses" is actually a beautification.

Mud walls, thatched roof, and fenced yard make it difficult to even shelter from wind and rain.

The houses that are currently vacant in Tongan County all have some "flaws". They are either too expensive, too dilapidated, or too remote.

Expensive or dilapidated, it didn't matter to Mo Qingwan. She only looked at houses close to the county government office. The broker pondered for a long time before asking her with a strange look on his face, "There is a two-story house on the back street of the county government office. The asking price is not low, and it has been in disrepair for a long time. It is not suitable for living at the moment... Do you want to go and take a look?"

Mo Qingwan asked: "Is it close to the county government office?"

"It's close!" The broker patted his chest and assured, "You can get there in half an incense stick of time. This is the closest house to the county government office in our hands."

"That's it." Mo Qingwan asked the maid to get the silver note and asked the broker, "How much silver? Where do we sign the deed? Should we go to the county government to register it?"

The broker was a little confused by this series of questions, and asked directly: "Don't you want to see the house? Girl, you are brought by Constable Xiao Yuan, I have to tell you the truth, that house... it's just a nice word to say that it's been renovated. If you want to live in it, you have to tear it down and rebuild it. The original items are basically unusable!"

That's dirty!

People with teeth feel pain when they think about it.

Mo Qingwan still said: "That's it. Isn't there a foreman in the county, whose last name is... Wu?"

The broker nodded and said, "Yes, it's Wu Quanwu, the foreman. He has a lot of subordinates. Every household in the county asks him to repair their houses. But right now... those good hands are all building cloth workshops and printing workshops. If you want to rebuild your house, you have to wait."

"I have to wait, so I'll just stay at the inn." Mo Qingwan took the banknotes from the maid and began to count them: "How much silver?"

Without waiting for Mo Qingwan to bargain, the broker gave a base price, "Eighty-three taels of silver, which is almost the price of the land. You are a person brought by Constable Xiao Yuan, and the brokerage firm will make a profit of one tael of silver from you."

Afraid that Mo Qingwan would find it expensive, he quickly added: "You know the current situation in our county. In just one year, the price of this house has increased several times. If it were a year ago, this house could be bought for ten or two taels of silver. But I guess... you won't come to our place to buy a house in a year."

Mo Qingwan nodded, and took out a piece of silver from his purse: "Thank you for your hard work, brother. I'll treat you to some tea."

What the pawnbroker earns belongs to the pawnbroker. What he gets in his hands might not be as much as this piece of change!

The broker weighed the silver coins and smiled happily: "Come here, girl. Let's sign the contract and I'll take you to the official inn in the county. The inn is newly built, the house is clean, and the boss is also a girl. You can stay here without any worries!"

......

When the broker and Mo Qingwan took the deed to the government for filing, Shen Zheng happened to be waiting for the village head in the front hall.

Xu Zhubu was not there, so she asked Mo Qingwan and the other two to wait in front, and she went to the book office to find the house registration book.

When she reached the front hall, she casually asked, "How big is the house? How much silver?"

The broker's scalp suddenly tightened, and Mo Qingwan said, "Eighty-three taels of silver, and a second house, but it needs to be rebuilt, so my daughter and mother will stay at the inn for the time being."

"How much?!" It's not Shen Zheng's fault that she has no idea about "housing prices", but her understanding of housing prices is still stuck at the time when she first came to Tongan County.

At that time, all the people in Tongan County who had some status wanted to flee Tongan County, so many houses were sold at low prices. Shen Zheng remembered that a few taels of silver could buy a small house, which was like a place to live.

But in the blink of an eye, the second house is selling for hundreds of taels of silver? !

Shen Zheng choked at the price, and the broker beside her trembled in fear. He quickly explained, "Sir, this price is really the lowest. If it were an outsider, the shopkeeper would have asked for more than a hundred taels. I really didn't rip this girl off!"

"Over a hundred taels?!" Shen Zheng asked him, "Does your shopkeeper know how much a two-story house with fish-scale tiles and blue bricks in the suburbs of Shangjing City costs? It's the kind that was newly built in recent years."

The dentist kept shaking his head.

Shen Zheng said: "It's only two or three hundred taels. The housing prices in Tongan County are almost as high as those in the capital!"

Shen Zheng was thinking about the housing price, and Mo Qingwan interrupted her: "Many wealthy businessmen around here want to come to Tongan County to buy houses. I think this price is reasonable."

The dentist nodded his head.

"It's reasonable for wealthy businessmen," Shen Zheng said, "but it's not reasonable for the people of Tongan County."

She remembered that she had heard Zhao Xiu say before that some parents felt that it was too far for their children to walk for an hour every day to go to school in town, and wanted to save money to buy a house closer.

The second floor costs hundreds of taels of silver...an ordinary house would cost dozens of taels.

Not to mention that they cannot save it now, even if they really save a hundred taels of silver in the future, wouldn't the value of the house not increase accordingly?

In the end, there were few local people left in Tongan County Town. All of them were wealthy businessmen who had come to the county.

"This won't do. We can't let housing prices continue to rise like this." Shen Zheng said, touching his chin.

The broker knew that he was in trouble today, and trembled, "How about... I call the shopkeeper to you?"

He knew that houses in the county were expensive.

But buying a house is not a big deal. He is just a realtor who takes people to see and discuss houses. He may never buy a house in his life, so he has always had a sense of "detachment".

——I’m not buying it, so why is it expensive? Why should it be expensive? Who knows, the value of my shabby house may increase a little bit.

Shen Zheng asked the broker to leave first, saying that she would call the shopkeeper over later and asked them not to sell the house to outsiders in the near future.

If this had happened in other counties, the pawnbrokers would have had a hard time deciding whether to comply or not. However, in Tongan County, as soon as Shen Zheng said something, everyone would be willing to wait for further notice.

After the broker left, Mo Qingwan didn't know what to say for a moment.

Shen Zheng raised her head and said, "It's none of your business. It's just that the house is the home of the people, and I don't want the house to become a power in the hands of some people to control the people."

If the house price increases a little, it is in line with the environment, but if it increases too much, the house will no longer be a house but a "long-term bond".

The wealthy businessman who wants to speculate on the housing prices in Tongan County has so many houses. Could it be that he bought them for his own use?

Mo Qingwan was silent for a moment, and understood Shen Zheng's meaning: "I think... when selling houses in our county, we should set a threshold."

This idea coincides with Shen Zheng's.

"People who come here need to be approved by the county government before they can purchase." Shen Zheng said: "In the future, the town will definitely expand, and each village will also develop accordingly, so there will be more houses for sale. In addition to controlling housing prices, the most important thing is... the introduction of talents."

"Talent introduction?" Mo Qingwan was a little confused.

"Why did you come to Tongan County to buy a house?" Shen Zheng asked.

"Working under you." Mo Qingwan answered without thinking.