Chapter 14: Finding Business Opportunities

From Tampines Plaza to the Tampines community businesses outside, Li Xiaofan discovered that two clothing brands, Giordano and Baleno from Hong Kong, were vigorously expanding their business locally, and the business looked pretty good.

Li Xiaofan remembers that around 1995, these two brands were still considered high-end brands among young people in China. However, Giordano and Baleno are currently considered low-end brands in Singapore.

At present, the jeans and fashion brands that young people in Singapore prefer are "LEE", "Levi's", and "GUESS". The most high-end ones are "Giorgio Armani", which can be included in the so-called famous brand sequence.

Li Xiaofan didn't dare to touch the fashionable clothing industry. He remembered that in his previous life, Commander Wu collaborated with local Singaporean workers on a whim to import clothing from China and sell it. They suffered a huge loss. Later, no one wanted the clothes in stock when they were given away for free. This industry is very deep.

Li Xiaofan investigated the catering industry again and remembered that the richest man in Singapore before his rebirth was Zhang Yong, the owner of Haidilao Hot Pot, a new immigrant from the mainland.

But for hot pot, Li Xiaofan feels that the market is not big in hot Singapore. There is a newly opened Korean barbecue restaurant on the third floor of Tampines Plaza that is doing good business.

Li Xiaofan is in awe of the catering industry. He once opened a restaurant in China in partnership with a friend, but it closed down within half a year. This industry is not fun, and it is not his strong point.

Walking out of Tampines Plaza, Li Xiaofan was stopped by two young men with yellow hair.

"Hello, do you want CDs and VCDs? They are very cheap and come from mainland China!"

The two young men looked like they were only fifteen or sixteen years old, but their accents sounded like those of a veteran.

Seeing that Li Xiaofan was a little interested, one of them opened the suitcase in his hand, which was full of things, including the latest movie VCDs such as "Basic Instinct 1", "Forrest Gump" and "Speed", as well as the latest album CDs of Andy Lau and Jacky Cheung.

"How to sell?" Li Xiaofan asked.

"VCD is fifteen yuan a piece and CD is ten yuan a piece. Is it cheap enough?"

"Oh, it's okay, I have something else to do, let's talk about it next time."

After leaving the two young men, Li Xiaofan felt that pirated CDs were indeed a hugely profitable business. Singapore has relatively strict copyright protection. Original CDs and VCDs sold in regular audio and video stores range from 30 to 100 Singapore dollars. As for domestic pirated CDs, you can probably buy them for 5 to 10 yuan, which is only 1-2 yuan in Singapore dollars.

However, Singapore is a legal society and the cost of breaking the law is quite high. Li Xiaofan felt that he could not touch the pirated CD business.

After walking around, he had already drank two bottles of mineral water, but no business opportunities were found. Li Xiaofan felt a little discouraged.

After coming out of the 7-11 convenience store, Li Xiaofan found that a small store opposite had a good business and a lot of people coming in and out.

I walked over and saw that it was a real estate agency. A group of people inside spoke Cantonese and didn't know what they were talking about.

"Hello, sir, are you buying or selling a HDB flat or renting a house?" Li Xiaofan was still pausing at the window display outside. An Di, wearing stockings and a narrow skirt and wearing a formal dress, came out to welcome him, speaking in Singaporean English.

In Singapore, the uncle is called An Ge and the aunt is called An Di.

"Let me just take a look first! By the way, Andy, why is the business in your store so good today!"

Seeing that Li Xiaofan answered in fluent English, but the pronunciation of the English was different from the local English in Singapore, An Di estimated that this handsome guy might be a new immigrant or overseas student from mainland China, so she replied enthusiastically:

"These are all new immigrants from Hong Kong! Brother, if you want to buy a house, I advise you to start early. According to my intuition, Singapore's HDB housing prices will definitely increase!"

"New immigrants to Hong Kong?"

"Oh, little brother, you don't know that in 1997, Hong Kong will return to the mainland in two years! So recently, a lot of Hong Kong people have immigrated to Singapore. The HDB flats near us have been sold like crazy these days!"

It turns out that 1997 is almost here, and now Li Xiaofan finally understands why this real estate agency's business is so good.

He somewhat recalled the years when Singapore's real estate was crazy in the 1990s in his previous life, which happened to be the years when he was working in Singapore.

The best time for Singapore real estate occurred in the 1990s, before the Southeast Asian financial crisis broke out. Li Xiaofan probably remembers that in 1996, housing prices in Singapore reached their peak, with the selling price per square foot soaring to nearly SGD 2,000, equivalent to 55,000 yuan per square meter. You must remember that this was still 1996. The annual income of ordinary workers in mainland China was just over 10,000 yuan, and housing prices in Shanghai were only about 2,000 yuan.

Li Xiaofan still remembers the "craziness" of Singapore's property market back then. Around 1996, a large number of new immigrants from Hong Kong poured into Singapore, reaching a peak. At that time, almost everyone in Singapore was "speculating in real estate." The Singaporean locals and Malaysian PRs in the workshop discuss housing prices every day. The team leader Ade sold a three-bedroom (equivalent to 2 bedrooms and 1 living room in China) second-hand government HDB house in early 1995 for 30,000. At the beginning of 1996, Multi-Diversity New Coin was sold to more than 200,000 New Dollars, a six-fold increase, which made the Ade and his wife regret it! In 1996, an ordinary four-room HDB flat cost more than 40 Singapore dollars. At the beginning of 1995, it only cost 50,000 Singapore dollars. It had increased eight times. It was really staggering!

Li Xiaofan had read the memoirs of Singapore's former Prime Minister and Cabinet Minister Lee. When recalling the situation before the economic crisis, Minister Lee said: "At that time, a large amount of funds were invested in the stock and real estate markets, and these stocks and real estate were used as collateral to obtain loans, which further expanded the asset bubble. In the long run, real estate speculation is very dangerous. Therefore, the Singapore government decided to squeeze the real estate bubble. In the summer of 1996, the Singapore government decisively launched a series of cooling measures, and they were all strong medicine..."

Li Xiaofan still remembers that these measures include: any real estate sold within one year of purchase, all sellers' gains must be taxed, with the highest tax rate reaching 28%; stamp duty is levied on all real estate transactions, with a tax rate between 1% and 3%; if it is sold within 3 years after purchase, stamp duty will be levied again; the upper limit of housing loans is 80% of the house price; only Singapore dollar loans are provided for foreigners who have obtained permanent resident status, and the purchased houses must be occupied by themselves.

In addition, Li Xiaofan remembers that the housing policy consistently implemented by the Singapore government has also greatly constrained the hands and feet of speculators. The largest developer of Singapore's real estate market is the HDB built by the Singapore government's Housing and Development Board. Only Singapore citizens can buy new HDB flats, while permanent residents can only buy second-hand HDB flats.

Before the outbreak of the 1997 financial crisis, Singapore's decision-makers promptly curbed the non-healthy growth of the real estate market and prevented more local speculative funds from entering the market. After the policy was implemented, housing prices fell.

But despite this, Li Xiaofan remembered that the 1997 financial crisis still hit Singapore's economy hard. House prices have continued to fall since then, especially during the financial crisis, when house prices plummeted. Those speculators who did not exit in time to cash out were stuck at high prices and were in mourning.

Li Xiaofan suddenly felt that there was a great business opportunity here!