Reaching the age of thirty, my income randomly doubled-Chapter 836 - 638 Major Situation_2

All real estate companies stockpile some land in advance every year; this is considered standard practice.

But Mrs. Tang underestimated Chen Pingsheng. Although he wouldn’t kick someone when they’re down,

he certainly wouldn’t act as a scapegoat either, taking over land bought at the end of 2019.

To be honest, land at that time was priced at its peak.

Housing prices in the future will see severe polarization.

Properties in central locations might stabilize slightly, but those in less desirable, distant areas will be simply unbearable to look at.

Under such circumstances, he would be foolish to buy the land at its original price.

"Frankly speaking, last year I had Shuiqing repeatedly remind your Tang Family to sell off everything that needed selling. I truly didn’t expect that, under such conditions, you’d have the nerve to spend hundreds of billions stockpiling land."

Chen Pingsheng shook his head and said, "Our group, including myself, evaluated this long ago. Within three years, housing prices might very well return to the levels of 2015. And now you want to sell me land at 2019 prices? Tell me, who is going to cover the price gap of these four years for me?"

The business world is brutally pragmatic, and Chen Pingsheng would never unnecessarily spend dozens of billions simply because of his connection with Song Shuiqing.

That would be nothing short of foolish.

Besides, even if the Tang Family sold these two parcels of land at their original price, they’d still lose a significant amount.

And the main reason for this? Bank interest.

Most of a real estate company’s funds come from bank loans and pre-sale capital from homebuyers.

Normally, after buying land, they immediately use it to secure bank loans.

Then, they use the loan to develop the property—it’s flattened, a sales office gets built, and then homes go on sale.

If everything goes smoothly, developers can earn between 10% to 15% in net profit.

That’s under very ideal conditions. Right now, however, home sales have come to a halt.

Bank interest still needs to be paid, and if the land sits idle or developed homes don’t sell, it’s even worse. freёnovelkiss.com

No matter what, if the Tang Family holds onto these two parcels of land—whether they do nothing or sell them at the original price—they’d lose at least seventeen or eighteen billion.

If Chen Pingsheng were to buy now at a high price, even avoiding loans and paying no interest,

he’d still face losses from the price discrepancy over four years.

Housing prices from 2015 can only correspond to land prices from 2015.

Mrs. Tang gasped audibly; she wanted to ask if he was serious.

If prices really reverted to 2015 levels, not just the Tang Family would be finished.

Out of the top ten real estate developers in the Magic City, maybe two would survive.

The Su Family, with even higher debt, would certainly fail faster than the Tang Family.

The feud between the Tang and Su Families mainly stems from the absurdly low price Chen Pingsheng proposed.

Selling at 2015 land prices would bleed them dry.

Don’t be fooled by the glamorous image of real estate developers—it’s all fine until trouble arises. Once it does, nothing can remain stable.

After they left, Tang Jing couldn’t help but ask him, "Boss, why would you consider acquiring so much land?"

"Of course to build homes."

Chen Pingsheng replied, "We have so many employees. If we could eliminate bank interest and land premiums, most of our ordinary workers might actually be able to settle down in the Magic City. Without cutting these costs, Golden Mountain homes would still cost thirty to forty thousand per square meter—and don’t forget shared spaces. People would spend their entire lives paying off a single house."

The savings small salaries bring simply can’t offset the excessive costs of real estate.

But he could do it, and many of the employees hoped he’d acquire more land to build homes.

The homes Tengying had already built were far from enough.

Recently, additional villa zones were developed.

As the boss, he couldn’t always think only of himself.

...

Mrs. Tang left fuming, convinced that Chen Pingsheng was utterly insincere.

To scare her with 2015 land prices—she refused to believe such a scenario could happen.

Even if selling homes became increasingly difficult, the authorities wouldn’t allow prices to drop to that extent.

Homeowners wouldn’t accept it either.

If housing prices ever truly fell back to 2015 levels, she couldn’t even imagine the consequences.

The Su Family felt similarly.

Even if it killed them, they wouldn’t sell off their prime land assets so cheaply.

Selling would mean truly losing everything.

In their minds, they banked on hopes that the authorities would intervene to rescue the market—they wouldn’t stand idly by and watch housing prices depreciate endlessly.

In reality, property values hadn’t truly dropped; they were simply stagnant—priced high but couldn’t sell, which was essentially like being cut with a dull knife.

While waiting, all the news online revolved around Mr. Pidai.

In recent years, Mr. Pidai had done two major things: venturing into car manufacturing and football.

The football business appeared glamorous in recent years.

Players casually earned tens of millions in annual salaries.

Some even made hundreds of millions, or billions.

The concept of "money football" was something Mr. Pidai clearly mastered.

If not for the World Cup, ordinary people might actually believe Chinese football had reached world-class status.

The minute the World Cup was underway, reality hit hard.

After all, you couldn’t bribe opponents’ players with money at that level of competition.

Even war-torn nations could crush China’s football teams easily when money wasn’t involved.

Once revered with statues everywhere, Mr. Pidai now shivered in fear, at the brink of collapse.

As for Chen Pingsheng, he had already set the rules: anyone looking to borrow money from him

would first need to sell off their core assets.

The prices he set for those core assets were ridiculously low.

In late October, Wang Yanfeng’s father quietly visited the Magic City.

After speaking to Chen Pingsheng for nearly an hour, no one quite knew what terms had been finalized.

The Wang family’s commercial assets were still remarkably stable, but unfortunately, even this seasoned businessman couldn’t hold steady any longer.

When he returned home, Song Yanxi asked him what happened.

Chen Pingsheng said, "Old Wang plans to sell some Wanda Business Management shares to me."

Wanda Business Management, one of the nation’s most famous commercial assets, was represented by countless Wanda Plazas developed across China.

"How much is he asking?"

"1.8 trillion, planning to sell 20%."

"Its valuation was still around two trillion a few years ago, right?"

"More or less!"

Chen Pingsheng explained, "He wants to complete domestic A-share listing through a bet-on agreement. It’s a risky move; if it works, great, but if it fails, all those years of effort may be wasted."

Song Yanxi remarked, "From this, it’s clear—enterprises lacking cash reserves are truly in peril during critical moments. These companies were all madly expanding loans before; now the situation has changed, and every single one seems shackled by an iron-clad curse. Luckily, our family never relied on loans over the years."

"Exactly. Without loans, you can sleep soundly."

Chen Pingsheng continued, "Our reserve funds aren’t that much either; it’s just that with those NVIDIA shares on hand, we can easily pull out one or two hundred billion US dollars when necessary."

It was precisely because they had no bank loans that they didn’t require vast cash reserves.

No one was pressuring them to repay debt, so they didn’t need excessive liquidity.

"Are you considering buying his Wanda shares?"

"I’ve somewhat entertained the idea."

Chen Pingsheng added, "Regardless, Wanda Business Management’s rental income is still incredibly stable. After years of operation, acquiring it would greatly benefit Tengying Group’s commercial layout. The key point is that rental income like this remains highly reliable. The only downside is that he’s only willing to sell 20%—I’ve never been interested in non-controlling stakes."

"You think acquiring controlling stakes from him is possible?"

"I doubt it’s possible now; who can predict what might happen in the future."

Chen Pingsheng wasn’t inclined to dwell on it. If he couldn’t buy controlling stakes, he simply wouldn’t bother.

Back in the day, making money required painstakingly growing small businesses step by step into something significant.

But now, things were different. With patience, there was a plethora of quality enterprises waiting for him to choose from.

All he needed was the ability to discern treasures amidst them.

Both the Tang and Su Families, and even Old Wang’s Wanda Business assets, were still in positions where they hadn’t fully reached despair.

Once desperation hit, they’d realize they had no choice but to sell.

For Chen Pingsheng during these years, the most important thing had been safeguarding his family’s foundation.

Losing tens or even twenty billion annually in traditional sectors was hardly an issue.

Everyone was losing money; it was almost impossible for him to entirely avoid losses.

What mattered most was ensuring Tengfei New Energy succeeded—truly establishing it as a world-class enterprise.

Along with his significant investment in AI technology.

As for everything else, the priority was major investments.

Another piece of good news: NVIDIA’s market capitalization had surpassed $600 billion USD.

When it hits $700 billion USD, he’d likely cash out his principal.

Initially, he’d probably withdraw 1.5% to fund the group’s investment needs for 2021.

The truth was, he really didn’t lack money.