Hong Kong News: Police Talker

Chapter 11: Hong Kong Island real estate plunges

Watson didn't save much money in the past few years. He counted it and found it was a total of 263 million Hong Kong dollars. This was money earned with his life, so it was really not much.

At this time, it was just 1993. During this period, the British sold off their assets in Hong Kong Island, causing real estate prices to fall sharply.

Especially in Sham Shui Po where Watson is located, because it is not the center of Hong Kong Island, the housing prices were originally relatively low. Coupled with this situation, the property prices have shrunk significantly.

During this period, every landlord who speculates in real estate is thinking about three questions every day.

"Will house prices fall during breakfast?"

"Will house prices fall during lunch?"

"Will house prices fall during dinner time?"

So this period is the best time for Watson to buy a house.

Today, Watson came here to buy a house in Qiu Di's name, because compared to power and money, Watson prefers power.

If you have power, why worry about lack of money?

Watson's goal is to have his own place in the police force, and this means that Watson cannot have any stains.

Therefore, the house can only be under Qiu Di's name. The two have not yet married, so no matter how they investigate, it is impossible to implicate Watson.

Although they are in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, this building was bought by Qiu Di himself. What does it have to do with me, Watson!

Watson waited downstairs of Qiu Di's house for more than half an hour.

Finally, Qiu Di came down. When he saw Watson, he immediately lowered his head and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Watson, I kept you waiting for so long."

Watson sighed. He had expected this result, but he still said, "Be quicker next time. If you do this again, I won't wait for you next time."

"Okay, okay, I'll be faster next time." Qiu Di immediately apologized with a face full of apology. At this moment, Qiu Di suddenly exclaimed: "Watson, what's wrong with your face!"

At this time, Watson had a gauze on his face. Watson smiled and said, "It's okay, just a little scratch."

However, when he laughed, he suddenly pulled the wound on his face, making Watson grimace in pain.

A trace of heartache flashed across Qiu Di's eyes, but she didn't say anything. Qiu Di understood that in the underworld, this could only be considered a minor wound.

Watson smiled and didn't care, and took Qiu Di away.

"By the way, Qiu Di, do you know which floor in Sham Shui Po is better? I want one with better security."

Qiu Di said in surprise: "Why are you asking this? You don't want to rent a house!"

Watson shook his head and said, "Of course not, I want to buy a set!" As he said that, Watson picked up the bag in his hand.

Qiu Di was so shocked that he stopped walking.

"Watson, where did you get so much money? Did you rob a bank?" At the end, Qiu Di became a little anxious.

I was afraid that Watson was really going to rob a bank.

"Don't worry, although this money didn't come from a legitimate source, it's still clean money and you can spend it as you like. This money is all saved by me."

Qiu Di was stunned when he heard Watson's words.

A moment later, Qiu Di brought Watson to an upscale residential area close to the Sham Shui Po Police Station.

"Watson, this is the high-end residential area closest to the Sham Shui Po Divisional Police Station."

"I've only heard of this place and seen it from a distance outside, but I've never been in."

"And I heard that there are all kinds of public facilities inside, including a luxury club, a heated swimming pool, a gym, a yoga room, a multi-functional banquet hall, etc., providing owners with high-quality leisure, entertainment and social space."

Watson looked up and took a look around. The appearance was indeed good, with mainly glass curtain walls and high-grade stone.

The entrance to the community is designed to be both grand and safe, with exquisite porches or sculptures as signs and green trees on both sides.

The security guards standing at the door and the access control system look quite complete, especially the two security guards on duty, who look full of energy and vigor. It is worthy of being a high-end community, even the security guards are high-end.

"Well, this is indeed possible. Wait for me here."

As he spoke, Watson took out a cigarette, walked to the door of the security booth, and ignoring the guard standing outside, handed the cigarette to the security guard sitting inside.

"Come on, man, have a cigarette!"

The security guard inside was stunned when he saw Watson's action, but he immediately took the cigarette with a smile on his face and said, "Sir, I wonder what can I do for you?"

Watson pointed to the houses in the community and said, "I want to buy a house, but I don't have any connections, so I came here to ask."

"Of course, I won't let you work in vain. After the job is done, I'll give you a commission of 10,000 yuan. You just need to help me find a house that is both cheap and well decorated."

Hearing this, the security guard was stunned, and then immediately took a breath of cold air. Ten thousand yuan is not a lot for Watson, but for a community security guard, it is a lot.

However, the security guard began to hesitate, fearing that Watson was a liar.

Watson also noticed the security guard's hesitation, and said with a smile: "I bought a house, so I must live here. You are a security guard at the door, are you afraid that I will cheat you? If I can afford this kind of house, would I cheat you for 10,000 yuan?"

Hearing this, the security guard immediately said, "Of course I believe you. Let me go to the community and ask for you. Since you are not a resident of our community, you cannot enter."

"Of course, if the owner invites you, you can go in. I'll go in and ask around for you. If I find a cheap house, I'll contact you and the owner can then invite you in to take a look."

Watson nodded and said, "Okay, no problem."

Watson took out cigarettes and gave them to the security guards standing guard nearby. They didn't dare to smoke, so Watson asked them to take them and smoke them after they finished their duty.

"Hey, man, how much is the house in here per square foot now?"

Houses in Hong Kong Island are measured by square feet. A 92.90 square foot luxury house is square meters.

Through communication with the security guard, Watson also knew the recent housing prices in the community.

Then he did some conversion and finally came to the conclusion that it was about 20,000 Hong Kong dollars per square meter, which meant that Watson's more than 2 million Hong Kong dollars could buy a so-called 1,000-square-foot mansion in Hong Kong Island.

During this period, housing prices in Hong Kong Island were particularly cheap. There were still more than four years, almost five years, to the return. Although it seemed a long time, it was actually very short. Therefore, a large number of British people fled Hong Kong Island, and some banana people followed them.

This has led to turmoil in all aspects of Hong Kong’s economy, especially the real estate industry. All the people have fled, so what is the use of houses?

After Watson asked clearly, he walked to Qiu Di and said with a smile: "It's done. The security guard will introduce some owners to me later. If we buy directly from the owners, the price will be cheaper and we can save the commission of the agent."

Because he didn't know the house price in advance, in order to buy the house smoothly, Watson could only buy the house through the security guard.

Otherwise, it would definitely be more convenient to find an agent.

After a while, the security guard who had promised to help Watson find the owner of the house came back with a British man.

Watson raised his eyebrows. Isn't this the opportunity?

......