Chapter 810: Chapter 338: Luxury Mansion (Part 2)

The top-tier villas of such scale within the Central Ring used to be non-existent in the Magic Capital, and there won’t be any in the future. They are truly rare gems..."

Luo Zhen skillfully disparaged the competitors while leading Han Lie and Pan Ge on a full tour around the outside of the villa.

Indeed, the villas at Hua Zhou Juntin are exceptionally impressive in terms of their vast expanse.

The dense isolation greenery, spacious lawns, and beautiful outdoor pools... They are truly worthy of being called luxury homes.

Luo Zhen continued to introduce, "The East Suburb section hosts the East Suburb State Guesthouse, which adds significant cultural depth and infrastructure to our project.

Further west, it’s 800 meters from the Thomson Golf Course, allowing for leisurely walks for daily relaxation.

To the east lies the Magic Capital’s urban wedge-shaped green space, covering about 10 square kilometers, with the upscale residential area Biyun 1 kilometer north and to the south, 400 meters away, lies the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, research and development industry area, and art park.

Overall, while our surrounding living facilities are not as convenient as those in the city center, the advantage lies in the high quality of the people living here and the considerable investment convenience.

In the future, high-tech industries will concentrate on developing in the Zhangjiang Park, so you wouldn’t even need to leave home to meet project teams, and you could visit and provide guidance at any time..."

Luo Zhen indeed has a clever mind, and this angle is truly novel and enticing.

After finishing the external introductions, he started talking about the product itself.

"Our project consists of 21 detached villas, available in seven styles: Classical Revival, British Adam, British Georgian, Mediterranean, French Chateau, Parisian Academic, and English Tudor styles.

Each villa has its own design patent, with all offering spacious gardens, swimming pools, and jacuzzi tubs. Each villa comes with an indoor elevator and ground source heat pump system. Every building is a collectible piece of art!

In terms of size, the smallest is 1,289.01 square meters, while the largest is 2,040.34 square meters, all featuring two floors above ground and one underground.

There are three indoor parking spaces and two outdoor parking spaces, with each home’s access road uniquely designed for them..."

Han Lie looked at the so-called English Tudor-style villa next door and could only feel... disgusted.

How to describe it?

Five to ten years ago, the wealthy in Huaxia were most enamored with European and Neo-European architectural styles.

Hua Zhou Juntin was planned and designed around that time.

But looking forward to the next ten years, with Huaxia’s cultural confidence awakening, Neo-Chinese, modern minimalist, modern avant-garde, and elegant styles will be the way to go.

Han Lie was fortunate enough to visit a newly renovated home belonging to a big shot. The modern innovation on traditional Chinese classical style almost blinded him.

With soft lighting and elegant traditional furniture modernized from redwood, a marble backdrop with an ink painting theme, complemented by a Suzhou embroidery screen and calligraphy by famous artists, the subtle extravagance was beyond words.

So, even though Han Lie lived in a rather humble place himself, his standards were high.

Therefore, after Luo Zhen painstakingly showed him four villas, Han Lie simply circled around the exterior and quickly lost interest, not even bothering to enter.

Luo Zhen was anxious yet unsure where the problem lay.

Until Pan Ge spoke up, asking, "You don’t like their architectural style?"

"Yes, neither this nor that."

Han Lie nodded, not even acknowledging the people around him, and mocked openly.

Luo Zhen immediately had a wry smile on his face, shaking his head without being able to retort.

This is the difference between needing a favor and not.

As a financial mogul with core skills, Han Lie doesn’t need to hide his true preferences from leaders of other industries—unless he’s facing regulatory authorities—even including the likes of Ma and Wang.

Especially since he’s here today with real money to buy a house. If he wants to criticize, he will, regardless of anyone’s pride.

"President Luo, don’t blame me for being straightforward."

Han Lie simply turned to Luo Zhen, pointing at the so-called French chateau across the way, and bluntly criticized it. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Your company’s villas are unchallenged in terms of location, area, privacy, and environment, but the appearance severely lacks the grandeur expected of a top-tier mansion. In our hometown, this is how homes are typically built in the suburbs.

Even if your designer incorporated many detailed and unique touches, if we take a stroll in the suburbs of Paris, similar buildings are everywhere, so what’s rare about it?

Spending 220,000 per square meter on a villa with an outdated and almost perfunctory facade...

President Luo, have you considered that the main reason Hua Zhou Juntin hasn’t sold well despite its significant location and area advantages is largely due to your company’s aesthetics?"

Damn! Hitting someone where it hurts...

Luo Zhen was so embarrassed that his ears turned red, and his eyes twitched.

The actual property manager and the regional manager of Taiping House were all looking down, not daring to breathe loudly.

"Heh heh..."

Luo Zhen forced a laugh for a while before finally responding, "President Han is straightforward and his points are sharp and accurate. We indeed need to reflect..."

He had no choice but to concede.

Not mentioning Han Lie’s status as a financial heavyweight and potential homebuyer, his criticism itself was irrefutable.

Old Luo’s success came from a mix of his native status, official backing, strategic timing with Pudong development, family unity, and personal vision and courage, among other factors.

He acquired this extremely scarce plot and ambitiously positioned it as a top-tier luxury home, benchmarking against Tan Palace, building only 21 homes.

All the strategies hit the zeitgeist but indeed stumbled on the word "aesthetics."

Everything about Hua Zhou Juntin was excellent, so why was it hard to sell?

Just look at the design of Jiu Jian Tang, and then compare it to the hideously ugly British Georgian-style villa across, and the answer is obvious.

In fact, until 2025 in a previous life, Hua Zhou Juntin still had five unsold villas, including the 2,000 square meter English Tudor-style king of villas.

The highest listing price was 700 million, but the actual selling price was 550 million, and yet, no one was interested.

Of the remaining four villas, three were British Georgian style, and one was a French chateau.

Yes, all ugly mainstays...

Then, with the spread of the financial crisis, the Magic Capital’s top-tier luxury housing market nearly collapsed. These few things probably will never clear out...

Selling at the original price is nonsense.

Selling at a discount would not be agreed upon by other owners.

All they can do is hold on tight, waiting for a so-called miracle, and then find out that the land tenure has barely half left...

"Forget it, I won’t look anymore."

Han Lie waved his hand and started walking back.

As he passed by Luo Zhen, he stopped and extended his hand proactively.

"The house itself doesn’t appeal to me, but I still want to thank President Luo for his enthusiasm and thoroughness. I’ll treat you to a meal later, and hope you’ll grace me with your presence."

Luo Zhen shook hands with Han Lie, anxious and unwilling to give up.

Hua Zhou Realty’s situation wasn’t as dire as Gu Yong’s, but the days were not exactly easy either.

Fifteen unsold villas weigh heavily, a pressure hard for outsiders to understand.

He urgently said, "President Han, take another look! Our Mediterranean and Classical Revival styles have certain merits! Even if you don’t like them, take a seat inside and give me some feedback. We deeply need genuine feedback from young and avant-garde practitioners like you..."

Hey, he sure knows how to talk!

After pondering for a moment, Han Lie slowly nodded.

"Alright, I’ll give President Luo face... Let’s have another look, please."

Luo Zhen was overjoyed, although he no longer harbored great expectations, he felt at least his dignity was somewhat intact.

And Pan Ge, trailing behind, suddenly smiled and quickly bowed her head.

She was overly familiar with Han Lie in this state.

When coaxing her into doing embarrassing things, the dog always had a series of tactics.

As for why...

Isn’t it obvious?

The English-style villas were hideously ugly, but the Mediterranean style with white marble walls was at least bearable!

It just wasn’t worth such a high price.

If the price could be pushed to a reasonable range, buying Juntin would actually be a pretty good outcome.

After all, considering both location and area, Han Lie doesn’t have many options, except for the East Suburb No. 1 across the way.

If it’s a house worth two to three billion, cutting 50 million off...

Most of the decoration money would be covered, right?

Even the landowner can’t remain indifferent to such a level of cost-saving. It’s so hard to make money these days...

Pan Ge quietly followed behind Dog Lie, smiling as she watched him launch into a new performance.