Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

After surveying the building, Pei Qian instructed Little Sun to send Liang Qingfan back to the hotel for some rest while he returned to his office at Shenhua View.

Until now, Pei Qian had already taken a lot of precautions with Sloth Apartments.

The apartment looked too fancy for those who preferred practicality.

To prevent ballers from taking a liking to the condominium, the apartments would take on a minimalistic style, so that it would not look too much like 'garden villas'.

What's more, Pei Qian had purchased the building and was planning to rent the apartments out. That meant no matter whether he could rent them out or not, for the next few cycles—or even tens of cycles after this; he would not get to recover his capital.

The soft renovations for each apartment would cost about 3.5 million yuan. If he fixed rent at eight or nine thousand yuan per month, even if people consistently rented the apartments—after accounting for expenses like cleaning and maintenance; he still wouldn't be able to do so.

Based on what Pei Qian could remember, the price-to-rent ratio in the country had always been unimpressive. Many people liked buying houses because of the advantages like registered residence, schools in the vicinity, and the potential for property prices to rise.

Of course, houses could retain their value well and were even likely to increase in value. Still, as long as Pei Qian refused to sell the apartments, he would not be able to cash out.

To Pei Qian, the fact that the condominium could appreciate in value was not a good thing. Still, no matter how much its value appreciated, the System would only include ten percent of the total value of fixed assets into the System Funds. Pei Qian just had to prevent himself from being greedy and keep the total value of his fixed assets less than half of the starting sum in the System Funds. Then, he could limit the impact of the value of his fixed assets.

Thus, whether Sloth Apartments succeeded or not and whether it became popular or not, Pei Qian thought that the project was worth investing in. Obviously, it would be best if it did not become popular. That way, he would incur over a hundred thousand yuan less in rent each month.

To Pei Qian, all of those things combined were not enough. He still had to think of a way to dissuade the target audience—young people who liked to act like yuppies—from renting the apartments.

He had one simple method: increase the prices aggressively.

At the moment, an apartment like that would reasonably cost about six thousand yuan per month to rent based on market standards. If it was split among four to six people, each would only be paying about a thousand yuan.

That was slightly higher compared to the average rent in the market. However, considering the exquisite renovations and the fact that the apartment would be fully-furnished, that price was reasonable.

That meant that if Pei Qian priced the rent at six thousand yuan, many people from the huge city of Jingzhou would be attracted.

At the same time, the System restricted Pei Qian from setting a price outside of an acceptable range and too far from reasonable standards. If he insisted on raising the price, he would have to throw in goods and services of approximately the same value, whether the customers wanted it or not.

Thus, Pei Qian decided to provide additional services to tenants of these apartments!

Cleaning: cleaning services would be provided for all of the units in Sloth Apartments. Tenants could reject the cleaning services, but they would still have to pay.

Pei Qian would hire a fixed number of cleaners to conduct a minor cleaning every three days and a full cleaning every week. It would be just like hotel services.

A butler: every building would have a dedicated butler, who would be prepared to handle all problems. The butler would also hold all the information about various tenants and prevent all unauthorized personnel from entering. He would also work hard to protect the tenants' rights.

If something was wrong with the house, the manager could use Sloth Apartments' funds to conduct repair and maintenance. Boss Pei would be very happy.

Regular upgrading: every now and then, the smart facilities would be upgraded. For instance, the smart appliances would be upgraded; the newest gaming facilities would be installed; and tenants would get the newest games and accounts for the newest video websites.

Of course, all of those things would belong to Sloth Apartments. The tenants would have no right to take them away.

After adding all of those things, Pei Qian would try asking the System if the entire package—including rent—could be set at nine thousand yuan!

The apartments had five rooms. One of the rooms was slightly smaller and was not suitable for anyone to sleep in. Thus, Pei Qian intended to turn it into a study.

That way, the apartment would only have four bedrooms.

Assuming that there were thirty days in a month, the daily rent of every room would be about eighty yuan. Although that would be cheaper than most high-end hotels in Jingzhou, it would already be more expensive than 99% of the rooms available for rent in the city.

That meant that, if he rented the apartments out short-term, the price-quality ratio would still be pegged at a certain standard.

However, Pei Qian still had a final trick on top of that.

He would not allow co-renting or short-term tenancy! They would only accept entire tenancies. Every tenant and visitor's details would have to be registered with the butler.

They could pay rent monthly, and they would not have to pay a deposit. However, there would only be six-month and one-year contracts. They had to finish the entire term of the contract.

They could change their minds within a fixed period in the beginning without having to pay a penalty. The remainder of their rent would also be refunded back to them. However, the tenants would not be allowed to rent any other apartment in Sloth Apartments for a year after that.

That way, those who wanted to treat Sloth Apartments like a hotel would think twice before doing so.

According to the income levels in Jingzhou at the moment, those who would be able to afford to rent an apartment in Sloth Apartments had to be very rich. However, if rich people could afford to buy apartments, why would they have to rent them?

As for ordinary working adults, perhaps only Tengda's employees would be able to afford an apartment in the condominium.

Yet, would Tengda's employees be allowed to pay for an apartment in Sloth Apartments? Of course not!

Pei Qian considered prohibiting Tengda's employees from renting units in Sloth Apartments in the beginning. Once he was sure that Sloth Apartments could not generate profits, he would build more buildings and arrange for Tengda's employees to move in. Then, they would be allowed to use their employee benefits to pay for the rent.

That would allow Pei Qian to kill two birds with one stone!

Of course, the System limited Pei Qian to converting only a small portion of Sloth Apartments' units into employee accommodations. That was probably to ensure that the project's character remained roughly the same and that it had a chance of generating profits.

However, Pei Qian would only have to build enough Sloth Apartments to accommodate all of his employees.

Then, a small portion of the apartments would be used for employee accommodations while the remaining would be left unrented. Wouldn't Pei Qian surely incur losses, then?

Lastly, Pei Qian had to select someone to head the Sloth Apartments project.

Before this, he had selected employees from the other departments to head the new projects. This time, Pei Qian decided to go down a different path.

It did not seem like a bad idea to make Liang Qingfan, the architect, in charge of Sloth Apartments.

Of course, he was still an employee of Gaoling Construction and Design at the moment. However, Pei Qian firmly believed that—as long as he wielded his hammer correctly—he would be able to crack the wall.

It seemed unfitting to make a young architect in charge of managing a condominium, right?

Still, Pei Qian had to consider carefully whether he would ultimately poach him or not.

If Sloth Apartments developed exactly as Pei Qian imagined and Liang Qingfan obeyed Pei Qian throughout the process without showing any talent in management or sales, then Pei Qian could think about poaching him.

…

…

April 14th, Thursday…

At Deposit Fitness…

The trainers were either sitting or standing in the resting area. Obviously, they were at a loss as to what to do.

There were a total of twenty trainers—fourteen males and six females. All of them had passed Guo Licheng's analysis and tests and were ultimately hired.

Jingzhou's fitness industry was not big, and Guo Licheng had a couple of friends. After introductions, Guo Licheng had briefly explained Deposit Fitness's payment structure. At once, he had gathered this group of employees.

Guo Licheng had followed Boss Pei's instructions carefully as he selected those employees. He had chosen trainers who seemed excessively professional. All of them were honest people who did not like making sales, just like Guo Licheng.

"Boss Ye, shouldn't we be distributing flyers or something?" A well-shaped and sweet-looking female trainer asked.

The female trainer's name was Li Yaling. For now, one could only see part of her appearance. Once she took off her jacket, one would be able to see her bulging biceps and four distinct pecs at her abdominal area. They seemed to be saying 'you could die with just one punch from me'.

Other trainers turned to face Guo Licheng, waiting for him to make the call.

Guo Licheng nodded. "The boss says we don't have to do anything. We just have to wait for customers to visit our gym."

Li Yaling sighed softly. "Can we trust the boss? Which gym in the country doesn't distribute flyers, sell memberships, or sell training sessions?

"Everyone's doing the same thing. We might be reluctant, but we still have to suck it up and work. I think that, no matter what the boss says, we should take the initiative to do some work."

Guo Licheng hesitated for a moment but quickly made up his mind. "No, Boss Pei seems different from other bosses."

Li Yaling was frustrated. "The bosses only look different on the surface. Some are strict, some are easy-going, and some look approachable. However, they're all the same inside. They all want their employees to take the initiative and work.

"We don't have to sell memberships here, and we're being treated much better than in other gyms. We can't just sit around and wait. That'll be inappropriate."

Guo Licheng shook his head, insistent. "So what if we distribute flyers and rope customers in? Just think about our gym's membership system.

"They have to come for a certain number of times each week. What's more, the package comes with fitness meals.

"Even if we distribute flyers, how many people would sign up for such a strict plan?"

Li Yaling was stumped. "Well… what should we do, then?"

Guo Licheng scanned the group of trainers and said, "If we can't tell what the boss is trying to do, we should just follow his instructions closely. Boss Pei must have his own reasons for giving these instructions. We aren't good at sales to begin with, and so we shouldn't blindly interfere.

"At the end of the day, we shouldn't overthink. If Boss Pei finds fault with us, I will bear all the consequences.

"We don't have any customers now. Everyone, go and warm up. This gym is filled with good equipment. Let's not waste them.

"Remember to try out the fitness meals as well."

Since there were no customers in the gym, the trainers had nothing to do. Thus, they split up and warmed up.

All the fitness equipment had just been purchased. They were not the most expensive, but they were from world-standard, top-grade, commercial fitness equipment brands. They were long-lasting, modern, and ergonomically updated.

At the moment, such equipment could only be found in very few gyms in high-end hotels. Ordinarily, people would not get to try them out.

Guo Licheng had also ordered uniforms for all of the trainers. They were bright yellow and very eye-catching.

At the same time, someone from a Fish-Catching Take-Out branch nearby had been put in charge of delivering fitness meals to the gym regularly. However, since there were no customers in the gym yet, fitness meals were only being delivered to the trainers.

For now, the Gourmet Laboratory was still not complete. The chefs at Fish-Catching Take-Out were coming up with a trial for the fitness meals by using less oil and less salt. Still, there was a lot of room for improvement.

Guo Licheng planned to get his trainers to try the meals out first. They could raise any suggestions or feedback, and the chefs at Fish-Catching Take-Out could continue to work on them.

At noon, the delivery man from Fish-Catching Take-Out arrived.

Guo Licheng and a few other trainers laid the fitness meals out in the resting area and then waited for everyone to gather and have lunch together.

The gym's resting area had not been big at first. It had only been meant for selling membership and lessons before.

However, to accommodate customers' mealtime needs, Guo Licheng had re-designed the resting area and expanded it. He had also purchased a couple of high-end tables and chairs, so that customers could take turns to eat.

Guo Licheng was just about to gather the trainers for lunch when he saw a familiar figure entering the gym.

Boss Pei was here!

Guo Licheng immediately went up to welcome him.

Upon entering, Pei Qian looked around the gym. Some trainers were preparing to eat lunch, and others were working out with the equipment. There was not a single customer in the gym, and none of the trainers had gone out to distribute flyers.

Hmm…

It was a very satisfying sight!