I'm back in 1990

Chapter 116: The Western-Style House

However, as Huang Xiaochuan accumulated more and more savings, he realized that he still needed a house of his own. In the hearts of Chinese people, owning a house is a lifelong dream, and the sense of security is incomparable to anything else. Huang Xiaochuan was no exception.

I want a house that can shelter me from the wind and rain, regardless of whether it faces the sea or has spring flowers blooming. This is the true thought of the vast majority of Chinese people twenty years from now.

However, the house Huang Xiaochuan wanted wasn't an ordinary house, because at that time most houses were public housing that couldn't be traded or sold; at most, they could only be rented, like the apartment Huang Xiaochuan was renting in Wenyuan. There were also some commercial apartments for sale, but those apartments were small and had unreasonable layouts, so none of these were within Huang Xiaochuan's consideration.

However, some houses can be bought and sold, namely the unique villas in Shanghai. But villas are also divided into different grades.

There are old-style houses in alleyways, as well as old-fashioned apartments, and the best of all are garden villas of various sizes with independent courtyards.

Huang Xiaochuan once boasted to his grandmother that he would buy her an old villa in Shanghai to live with her in her old age. Now that Huang Xiaochuan can do it, let's do it!

However, the practical problem facing Huang Xiaochuan was that he didn't know the value of old villas at that time, or roughly how much it would cost to acquire one.

In his previous life, as a migrant worker in Shanghai, he had seen many old villas and heard about the transaction prices that made him gasp. But he had no idea what the price was now.

You have to do your homework before doing anything, so Huang Xiaochuan had another task: to find information on old houses for sale whenever he had free time.

However, this is indeed not an easy task. Due to historical reasons, most of the old villas are under the name of the government, and only a small number of them have been returned to private individuals through policy implementation.

However, some old houses are inhabited by the entire family, with complicated property rights and different needs for each person, making such houses a real headache.

Another issue is that some houses have fallen into disrepair and, after being returned to their original owners, they lack the money and energy to repair them, leaving them exposed to the elements. Almost no one wants to buy such houses; it's not worth buying a bunch of junk and then having to spend a lot of money to restore them to their original condition.

On the contrary, lane houses and old apartments are favored by some people. Lane houses are somewhat similar to the terraced houses of later generations. They are generally three stories high, and the more refined ones have front and back yards. The detached houses are very much in line with the living habits of later Chinese people.

Most of the old apartments were built before 1949, similar to modern single-level apartments or unit houses. They also have elevators. The total number of floors in the old apartments is between five and eleven. These houses are generally three-bedroom and two-living room or two-bedroom and two-living room structures, and they also have bathrooms with flush toilets and bathtubs. They are considered relatively high-end houses.

In this era, urban residents had little concept of real estate. City dwellers were used to the lifestyle of having housing allocated by the state. Even speculators who made a fortune in treasury bonds, stocks, or stamps never considered buying a dilapidated old house.

How comfortable it is to live in the new public housing! There are lights and telephones upstairs and downstairs. This is what a modern house should be like. Some old houses are not popular. You still have to empty the chamber pot every day.

However, Huang Xiaochuan knew what constituted a high-quality property in the city's core area, because scarcity is the key to high prices, and this economic principle applies to everything.

However, buying a house is like getting married; it all depends on fate. After looking around for more than a week, Huang Xiaochuan still hadn't found a house that satisfied him.

The sales listings registered at the information registry are mostly for houses with unclear property rights. It's fine to live in such a house yourself, but it will be troublesome when you need to confirm the property rights in the future.

Huang Xiaochuan would definitely not touch such a house.

So Huang Xiaochuan resorted to a simple method: street sweeping. He rode his bicycle to areas with a high concentration of old houses, and when he met elderly people, he would chat with them and ask if anyone in the neighborhood wanted to sell their house.

And it turns out this trick worked quite well; he quickly gathered some useful information.

The first family he contacted was surnamed Li. The house was returned to his family after the policy was implemented. However, before the return, nearly twenty families lived in the house. Years of living there had made the house look terrible, and the garden was filled with all kinds of small sheds and chicken coops.

Even the original artificial hill has become a clothes-drying area, and the water in the pond has long since dried up. It has been filled with soil and turned into small vegetable gardens for residents to grow garlic and scallions in front of their doors.

Moreover, the Li family is quite large. There are three brothers in the Li family, and the three brothers have children, and the children have grandchildren. There are more than 20 people living here, including adults and children, making it very lively.

With a large family living under the same roof, conflicts arose among the sisters-in-law. Over time, the three families became estranged, living in the same house but acting like strangers, even worse than their former neighborly relationship.

What's worse is that after the house became privately owned, the maintenance costs had to be borne by these three families. However, these three families are all ordinary wage earners, and repairs to this kind of house can easily cost several thousand dollars. Where would they get the money? Moreover, there are many conflicts among the families, and they are afraid that they will suffer losses while the others will benefit from paying for the house repairs.

So whenever it comes to repairing the house, the families will argue fiercely. The neighborhood committee gets a headache from this big family and tries to avoid them whenever possible.

Later, the eldest son of the second son of the three families suggested that since that was the case, they should sell the house, split it equally among the three families, and move out so that everyone could have some peace and quiet.

Surprisingly, all three families agreed to the proposal, but they hadn't reached a consensus on the selling price. The neighbors living nearby soon found out about this, and Huang Xiaochuan found out as well.

Huang Xiaochuan made a special effort to change his clothes and dress himself up, looking like an overseas Chinese. He arrived at the house in Shanghai's best Crown taxi.

When Huang Xiaochuan knocked on the door and explained his purpose, he was immediately surrounded by onlookers, because all the able-bodied men in the family had gone to work, leaving only elderly men and women at home.

They heard that someone wanted to buy their house, so they all came out.

However, upon seeing Huang Xiaochuan's appearance, they all became apprehensive, mainly because he was too young. But the middle-aged women seemed more interested in the handsome Huang Xiaochuan himself, staring intently at him from head to toe.

However, all three brothers are still here. They are the owners of the house, and whether or not the house is sold depends on whether they are willing to sell it.

However, Huang Xiaochuan definitely needs to check out the house first; he can't just come up with a price right away, he's not rich and stupid.

After looking around, Huang Xiaochuan was generally satisfied with the house. It was a detached house with its own 600-square-meter yard and a house area of ​​530 square meters. It was three stories high, and the ceiling height of the rooms was about four meters, which made it very grand. The key thing was that Huang Xiaochuan also found that many of the original stained glass windows were still there. Although some were damaged, it was already very good that they could be preserved to this extent after so many years of damage.

Although the house looks dilapidated, its original exquisiteness and luxury are still visible. With a little money and time, it can be restored to its original state.

Since you've taken a liking to it, let's ask about the price. It'll be a good reference point to get an idea of ​​what the current price of this type of old-style house is like.

These three families were asking for a lot. It seems the three brothers had already discussed it beforehand, asking Huang Xiaochuan for 720,000 yuan, intending to give each family 240,000 yuan.

Huang Xiaochuan didn't rush to leave after hearing this; instead, he had a proper lesson with the three old men.