Chapter 183 Home Buying Goal

The gap between the rich and the poor in the Duchy of Huntington was enormous. For the nobles, fifty gold coins were just a drop in the bucket, and for the common people, they might not be able to save up this amount even if they worked hard all their lives... But compared to the magic refrigerator that could be bid for twenty gold coins in one breath, the permanent ownership of an old building with its own courtyard for only fifty gold coins... It seemed very familiar.

Of course, freehold ownership automatically terminates upon the death of the owner without any heirs, and the unowned land will be reclaimed by the local lord. However, if the purchaser is a near-immortal lich, then it can only be considered a huge profit.

In fact, according to the original rules, the nobles received fiefs from His Majesty the King, and the fiefs were theoretically still the king's land, and further buying and selling was not allowed.

However, the Duchy of Huntington is currently experiencing a period of historical evolution, with the feudal system gradually fading and evolving into a more advanced new social system. Due to the continuous rise of towns and the growing power of lords, the king's central authority has weakened, resulting in His Majesty losing the power to dictate the fate of the lords' fiefs. Since the end of the German Kingdom's reign, His Majesty has been forced to acknowledge that local lords can further divide their fiefs or sell them.

With the development of commercialization, various prosperous commercial towns appeared on the lords' lands in addition to the manors owned by the lords themselves, and the free people who came to the towns were eager to obtain their own land and assets; the lords were also eager to divide and cash in these lands, either because they needed to cash in money or simply did not want to manage a large piece of land overgrown with weeds and producing no benefits.

There are tens of thousands of residents in a city. Each of them buys a small piece of land from the lord to build a house, and has to pay a portion of the money to the lord. This is a very coveted amount of money in itself. What's more, those who can afford to buy land and real estate are "free people" who can move freely between various cities and territories.

Unlike the tenants and serfs who guarded their lords' estates, these individuals possessed a knack for craftsmanship, magical prowess, a brilliant mind, or a combination of these, allowing them to easily acquire assets with their vast reserves of gold. Their arrival boosted the local economy, bringing increased commercial activity, tax revenue, and prosperity. They were the goose that laid the golden eggs, eagerly sought after by all lords.

If the conditions offered by the lord of one place are worse than those offered by the lords of other places, for example, land and property can only be rented but not sold, then these free people will vote with their feet and move to a territory with better conditions.

It is true that transportation is inconvenient in this era, but people’s unwillingness to travel frequently does not mean that they are oppressed and stupid enough not to move.

It can be said that there is a delicate relationship of mutual selection, mutual achievement, and mutual game between the lords and the free people, and the lords are also competing with each other - the conditions they offer do not have to be better than others, but they must not be worse than others.

In this way, even the most incompetent lords would follow the crowd and adhere to universal rules. There were also clever "traitors" among the nobles, such as Earl Saka in the past and Winston today. They implemented sound policies in their own territories, appropriately improving the treatment of their subjects. They didn't go too far ahead of the times and become targets of public criticism, but they also didn't allow the incompetent nobles to form a group and gain absolute power.

The buds of commercialization thrived under the nobles' clever acquiescence, mutual bargaining, and foolish following.

Nowadays, people settle down in one place for a long time without any change, which is the result of the nobles' adherence to the principle that "all crows are black".

For example, the empty house next to the workshop, which had been repossessed by the local lord, Baron Neumann, because no one inherited it, was owned by Baron Neumann, but he himself would not intervene in such trivial matters. All land and properties for sale would be handed over to the municipal government by Baron Neumann for unified management.

The Municipal Office is the official secretary and think tank of the lord. The staff here handles everything from trivial matters to major events for the local lord. Taxation, real estate, and land transactions are all managed by them. Unsold assets will also be managed and maintained by them... Of course, some of these functions may overlap with the documents of the Kingdom's Knights.

If Jiangyou planned to purchase Baron Neumann's publicly listed assets, her counterparty would be the municipal office, which held the property on behalf of the local lord. Purchasing a lord's unused property was a way to revitalize his assets, exchanging a ramshackle, empty house in need of repair for real gold.

Therefore, all the lords in the Duchy of Huntington are happy to see such transactions, and even provide a lot of policy benefits. For example, real estate purchased from the municipality that has been vacant for more than five years is exempt from all taxes. If the purchased assets are used for commercial activities, the taxes required to be paid in daily business activities can be reduced by another 10%.

This was absolutely fantastic news for Jiangyou. It not only increased their assets, but also allowed them to further optimize their store layout, expand production, and reduce taxes! Isn't this better than simply storing their earnings in their skull? Money stored in their skull wouldn't appreciate in value, and they wouldn't even earn interest!

With the goal of purchasing new assets, the already money-loving Skull became even more motivated.

However, Winston also reminded Jiang You that the current land and housing prices here are so cheap because the southern area of ​​Easton West City has poor security and a poor environment. After the death of the regional star potion master Mi Funa, the business here has plummeted and is in a precarious state of depression.

If Jiangyou's brewing workshop becomes bigger and stronger in the future, bringing prosperity to this area, and Andre stabilizes public security... then perhaps housing prices will gradually become similar to those of high-end plots in the northern district.

The North District is a residential area favored by nobles and wealthy businessmen. A piece of land of this size would cost at least four to five times as much in the North District, and the closer it is to special places and special buildings, the more expensive it is - for example, real estate prices around the city lord's mansion, churches, theaters, and schools are all more expensive than properties in remote areas.

It is conceivable that if the brewery goes from being a rising star in the southeast area to becoming the No. 1 in people's minds, the price of the land next door will soar to an awful level.

"I've looked through the records of previous years. When Mi Funa's brewery was at its peak of fame, the price of nearby real estate once soared to 150 gold coins... If you have some spare money, I suggest you complete this transaction as soon as possible." Having been a spy for many years, Winston's investigations were very thorough and comprehensive, and he was not shy about his advice to Jiangyou.

Jiang You: “…” This is very subtle.

The more famous the workshop is, the more money it makes; but the more famous the workshop is, the higher the house prices next door will go... Wait a minute, isn't this just making things difficult for yourself?