My shift from proletarian to property owner
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While the propertied guys brag about their vision, the proletarian side is probably saying to themselves: Aha? So you are the prophet of the real estate market? How do you know I'm going to end up in misery? You'll regret it when the price drops!
Such subtle confrontation does exist, and I know this because I only just left the proletarian camp. After buying a house, I received many congratulations. Most were alike: Look, you finally sealed a big part of your life!
However, a colleague's words really impressed me, "Now you'll have more and more confidence and poise at every get-together."
The day I signed the contract with the real estate developer, I returned home and turned on the TV.
The news routinely talked about people's expectations for a fall in house prices. For the first time, I felt a little bit uncomfortable. What? Price reduction? Logically I now think it is quite impossible, and emotionally I can't admit it, because even a slight reduction would mean I've wasted lots of money!
I remember the day I signed the property contract, there were two other houseowners at the next table. Both didn't live in Beijing. Due to the government control policy, they couldn't get house loans as I did. However, both paid in full. I looked at their documents, and found that both were buying a house for a kid in their early 20s, who was still in college.
Previously, I tended to say that "we folks" expected house prices to fall. But the "folks" are really not a monolithic group. It was in that moment that I realized how economically powerful some "folks" were.
Last week, I had dinner with two girls. One has got married and bought a house. The other hasn't bought one yet. The latter talked about her hesitation in deciding whether to buy a house in a suburban county. I and the other girl simultaneously started to convince her to make a quick decision.
The structure of our triangle imperceptibly changed, which made me remember my colleague's words about my predictable confidence on the dinner table. It was at that moment that I, the previous proletarian, officially sold myself to the propertied camp.
The author is a Beijing-based journalist. viewpoint@globaltimes.com.cn
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