Chapter 44: Buying A House (2)

Chapter 44 – Buying A House (2)

Shu Yan had heard of Jiashi Grade School. Its reputation rivaled that of City Xi Grade School and the two had, in fact, been rivals. Jiashi’s overall grade might be higher than City Xi, but in the end, the ratio of students being accepted into a prominent college was 3:7. Meaning 3 from Jiashi versus 7 from City Xi. The discrepancy rooted in the fact that Jiashi’s grades relied heavily on strict management – self-study in the morning, self-study at night, and a lot of homework.

Shu Yan had tutored students from Jiahshi Grade School previously and was shocked by the amount of homework assignments. Three worksheets a day – Chinese, mathematics, and English – a 300 words essay, write all the vocabularies they have learned that day 20 times, idioms 20 times, English vocabularies 20 times, all that on top of all the exercise books that was mandated by the school…

While it was important for the school and their teachers to be strict to the children, it couldn’t be overboard. Shu Yan felt that it might not necessarily be a good thing to be too overly strict with children. As evidenced by the proportion getting into a good college, once the children started junior and senior high schools and that the schools were not as strict, the children would rebound more, causing their grades to dip further. 

“City Xi Grade School isn’t that far either, can they attend there instead?” Shu Yan herself had been in school for many years and understood the pain. o(╯□╰)o She wouldn’t wish that on her children.

The sales girl looked at Shu Yan, surprised. Jiashi Grade School was much harder to get into than City Xi Grade School. Many of the parents looked at their houses here specifically for the new government policy of attending a school nearby. Being able to get into Jiashi Grade School meant the children were set for a prominent high school, then all the way to City Nan senior high school.

“City Xi Grade School is fine too. We have their quotas as well.” Naturally, any developers that was able to develop this location must have pretty sizeable background and resources. It couldn’t be difficult for them to obtain the quotas for both schools. 

Shu Yan was quite happy when she heard that. “My daughter is 7 years old and just the age for first grade. Due to some reasons, she hasn’t been to school yet. Is it too late to register for her now?”

Things were more lax back in the 90s, after all, the crackdown wasn’t as strict.

The sales girl was a little troubled. “I am not sure about that. You will have to check with the school directly on that.”

Shu Yan nodded, “Alright, show me the model homes first and we can discuss the rest. Else all the discussions are moot.”

“Sure, may I please ask which model are you interested in?” The sales girl smiled and Shu Yan could see her neat and pretty teeth. Having been in sales for a long time, the sales girl could tell the ones who were just asking from the ones who were seriously about buying. This not-so-pretty woman dressed completely out of style who was standing in front of her right now was one that was serious about buying. But, she put Shu Yan at the 60 m2 range. Even the smallest floor plan cost over $100,000, that’s still a pretty sizable commission for her.

“Show me all of them.” They have model homes of all the floorplans that she could look at directly.

As they walked past a tall building, Shu Yan asked, “Are these offices?”

“Yes, they are currently looking for tenants. If you are going to run your own business, this is a good location. There are a few colleges around and it’s easy to hire college grads.” The sales girl stopped on her way to explain to Shu Yan.

Naturally, Shu Yan would not take that seriously. Back in these days, college students were still assigned to work units by the government. Who’d want to go work for private companies?

“I suppose it wasn’t easy to find tenants?” smiled Shu Yan nonchalantly.

In fact, ’92 wasn’t the best year to invest in real estate. The house prices would remain stagnant for the next few years. Money right now was better spent running businesses. When it got to ’97 – ’99, when the house prices dipped drastically, then you swooped in and bought some 10 – 20 houses and you would be set for life.

“That’s not true. They have leased out almost all the units. Are you interested in taking a look?”

Shu Yan shook her head. She didn’t need an office. She wasn’t planning on starting a company of her own. She should focus on a house first. 

The sales girl didn’t say much. She’d be more surprised had Shu Yan wanted to go lease an unit.