Chapter 43 - Buying A House (1)
“Hi, Miss, are you interested in looking at some of the houses?” The girl at the sale office was very courteous and did not judge Shu Yan by her look.
As the economy was just starting to take off in the country, many people had become wealthy overnight. There were plenty of people out there who’d dressed poorly but were very wealthy.
“Yes, I would like to look at some of the houses.” Shu Yan smiled at the salesgirl and said, “Would you mind giving me an introduction of the different kinds of apartments that you have?”
“Of course,” said the salesgirl as she pulled out the floor plans and walked through each of them in detail with her.
The developer was a native of City Nan, but they have hired a designer firm from City Gang to be in charge of the design of the apartments. From the salesgirl’s introduction, the designer even has a few international awards under his belt so their apartments were up to international standards and were very stylish and classy.
Judging from the appearance and overall layout, they were very nice. Nice enough that they’d still look very appealing even 20 years from now. All Shu Yan needed to find out now was what the floorplans actually looked like.
There were a total of four different floor plans, they were 60 m2, 80 m2, 90 m2, and 120 m2. And, there were only ten or so of the 120 m2 ones.
Houses in City Nan had always been tight. Most locals live in a 20 m2 unit, or a 30-40 m2 house. 120 m2 was like a mansion. Looking at the cost, 120 m2 at $1,500 per square meter, came out to be $150,000. For residents of City Nan whose monthly income was $400 or so, this was no doubt an astronomical price.
The architect from City G had used every bit of the area to their max. The 60 m2 ones have 3 bedrooms and 1 living room, plus a patio; 80 m2 ones have 4 bedrooms, 1 living room, plus a patio; 90 m2 ones have 4 bedrooms, living and dining rooms, and 2 patios. The communal areas took up approximately 10% of the area, so a 90 m2 unit really only has 81 m2. Squeezing 4 bedrooms, living and dining rooms, plus a bathroom, one could imagine just how small the bedrooms were.
The largest 120 m2 units actually have 3 bedrooms, living and dining rooms, and 2 bathrooms. Shu Yan understood the architect’s purpose. Anyone who could afford the 120 m2 unit were naturally the wealth ones. They cared about comfort and wouldn’t be happy if the rooms were too small.
As for its geographical location, City Nan University was one of the best in the country and all the periphery areas would be well developed in the future. Houses in this area would inflate madly. Even if Shu Yan decided to buy another house in the future, she wouldn’t have to worry about the one that she had vacated; she would always be able to rent it out.
“I would like to find out about other public amenities nearby, such as schools or hospitals, etc.” If it was just her by herself, Shu Yan would have purchased this in a heartbeat. But she had two children, schools and hospitals would have to be factored into her consideration. Schools were, naturally, very important to Chinese. Also, the kids were still young and low in immunity. They would get sick from time to time. If anything happened, the distance of the hospital could play a very vital role.
“Oh yes, there’s a kindergarten right here in our district, and it’s a dual language one as well. They have quite a few teachers from overseas. I am sure you are aware that the best time to learn a second language is when the children are young. If you head South 300 meters, there’s Jiashi Grade School and City Nan No.2 Hospital is 4 km from here. In addition, there’s a market not too far away behind the district so getting groceries is quite convenient too. All in all, our facilities are very comprehensive. I would say this with confidence. This is one of the best districts in City Nan.”