Real Estate Junk Stock
The aftermath of the broadcast.
.
.
.
It was bound to be immediate.
Until just recently, the market had been in a clear freefall.
What the hell?
The market was starting to bounce back, little by little.
And the words had come from the mouth of the man who had predicted it.
A victory declaration.
The weight of those words was nothing like the ones spoken during the free-fall.
Not just Dr. Doom, but every analyst, every news outlet, every institution out there was screaming that the real estate invincibility myth was over
And this guy alone is out here speaking the truth—absolute fire
For real, even if you paid someone they couldn't pull this off
Real estate.
Not stocks.
Not many people had trusted him on this front.
The rebound changed everything.
Countless eyes turned toward Sonik-jwa.
[Baekma Apartment Street Photo.jpg]
An aging complex completed in 1979.
Reconstruction efforts began in the early 2000s.
Just as those efforts were about to bear fruit……
The current Mayor of Seoul got elected.
Not just re-elected—he won a third term.
For a full forty years now, reconstruction has been blocked. The unluckiest apartment complex alive.
Every single word he uttered drew attention.
And the hottest topic of all?
The apartment Sonik-jwa had bought.
People couldn't help wondering why he had purchased it.
The current Mayor of Seoul.
His name was infamous among real estate investors for a reason.
He refused to issue reconstruction permits.
No one expected him to reverse course on policy.
Under Article 87, Paragraph 1 of the Local Autonomy Act
Local government heads are barred from a fourth consecutive term
Meaning the current Seoul mayor is serving his final term right now
That very restriction became the blind spot.
The communities burned with the topic day after day.
Sonik-jwa's remarks.
The apartment Sonik-jwa had bought.
No real estate investor could look away.
.
.
.
Even on DentureAng, where they hated him with murderous intensity, the talk continued.
Mentioning rising real estate prices had once been taboo.
I sold the apartment I'd lived in happily for five years just so I could join the Don't Buy Real Estate movement
I thought government policy would let me buy cheaper later
But that Sonik-jwa bastard started a speculation frenzy and prices are climbing again
The conversation kept slipping out, bit by bit.
Criticism was still permitted, after all.
The truth was, they were dying to know.
The situation had grown far too large to keep playing blind man's bluff.
Hoo…….
Forty-nine-year-old family man Bong Gyeong-gu let out a long, heavy sigh.
He was in the exact same boat as the original poster.
He had sold the apartment he owned.
He had been thrilled at the thought of realizing justice and making money at the same time.
『Cheonryong Apartment Price Trend』
850 million won ▲120 million won (+16.43%)
[Rough graph looking like it bottomed out and is rebounding.jpg]
He had essentially sold at the absolute bottom.
In his rush to dump it, he had even sold below market price.
I can't even go home, honestly.
His wife was furious, demanding to know why he had sold.
The kids were irritated, asking why they had to move.
When real estate was falling he at least had something to say for himself.
Now he couldn't make a peep—he just watched everyone's faces carefully.
The government's will to crack down on speculation and stabilize prices is rock solid
And if they decide the current measures have run their course, they promised to keep rolling out even stronger ones without end!
Browsing DentureAng was his only comfort.
Even that had started burning a hole in his gut lately.
Yeah, go catch that Sonik-jwa bastard!
They rolled out some policy or other.
They claimed housing prices were under control.
The reality that none of it was true?
He felt it with his entire body.
Every time he posted a defensive comment, self-loathing swallowed him whole.
He was using the fact that the Seoul mayor can't serve a fourth term
To speculate on reconstruction complexes
My hands and feet are shaking with rage right now
The very person who had put him in this position.
Sonik-jwa was supposedly making a killing.
Word was he had raked in a fortune through real estate speculation.
Because of bastards like him, decent citizens like me just get poorer.
Rage boiled over.
He cursed the man every single day.
And then, inevitably, the opposite thought crept in.
What if he did the same thing?
If he bought the exact same apartment, he would pocket the exact same gains.
[Baekma Apartment Price Trend.jpg]
He spread the rumor that our mayor can't serve a fourth term
And Baekma Apartment prices shot straight up
If this isn't speculation, what is it?
Well I do need it?
Opposition ran strong in the community.
He knew full well it was morally wrong.
But he was in no position to be picky about cold water or hot water.
He had to recover his principal somehow.
Gulp.
No—maybe he could even make more.
Even if the guy was a vicious speculator, everyone said he was damn good at making money.
Hearing it laid out like that, it actually sounds pretty plausible.
The next mayor might be more generous with reconstruction.
It didn't even have to be a conservative figure.
Hell, even if a conservative won, as long as he made money it was fine.
He was that desperate, that cornered.
"I'm here to look at a place!"
Gyeong-gu burst into the real estate office.
Real estate.
You could call it stocks that actually exist in physical form.
And Korean stocks at that.
The factors that moved prices weren't only the ones you could see.
You had to pay attention to the invisible ones too.
"That thing about the Seoul mayor not getting a fourth term?"
"That, and more."
Policy.
Psychology.
Multiple factors getting pre-reflected—just like stocks.
Including the dirty parts.
There were forces at work.
Operators who had decided, flat-out, to drive prices up.
"Can we skip the politics a bit."
"No, not that……."
A call from Suhyun.
A report on the latest situation.
Real estate prices were climbing higher by the day.
Of course they are.
Baekma Apartment stood out the most.
Its rebound speed was noticeably faster than the surrounding complexes.
"The construction companies are shitting themselves trying to push prices up."
"The construction companies?"
The reason.
It wasn't just because I had run my mouth on the broadcast.
There were secondary factors at play.
They need home prices to rise so they can actually sell the apartments.
Construction companies manipulated market prices.
They signed contracts at inflated figures to jack up the actual transaction prices.
Then canceled them later.
Signs of that exact operation were starting to show.
"Baekma's become a hot issue and there's material to work with, so they figured it was a good place to run the play."
"Sounds like some junk stock."
"Exactly."
The newspapers were already giving it full-page coverage.
It was only a matter of time before it hit the nine o'clock news.
Once it gets that much attention.
Real estate psychology would revive.
From the construction companies' perspective, selling units would get a whole lot easier.
An open secret in the industry.
Because I knew it, I would take my profits at a reasonable point and get out.
"So that's why you told me not to put Baekma on jeonse?"
"If a sucker shows up, sell even a little under the peak."
"Leave fleecing the suckers to me ♡"
No reason to let myself get used.
If short-term gains were available, of course you took them.
Though long-term I'll still be accumulating, of course.
Portfolio management mattered.
At minimum, tens of billions in capital gains were on the table.
"Then can I go ahead and book that suite?"
"A workplace that hands out bonuses like that, yeah."
"Yay!"
Considering the time frame, it was solid profit.
Factor in staff training and the meaning grew even larger.
Suhyun too.
I had made her mine.
Sincere yass always tasted better than reluctant sex.
"Ahem! Then Oppa will make some time too……."
"Ah, no can do."
"Wait, why?"
"Got plans with Heon-u."
"……."
Or maybe not.
A lot had happened, but she seemed to be getting along fine with Heon-u too.
They probably want time alone together sometimes.
As the other man, I magnanimously forgave her.