Chapter 1376 Playing Hard to Get

Lawrence saw Jackman's embarrassment and quickly spoke up to resolve the embarrassment.

"Mr. Shi probably misunderstood. Mr. Freese just wants to change his living environment. He is now retired and wants to move to the outskirts to live in a quieter environment."

Shi Lei shrugged and smiled, "Really? Since you are not short of money, it will be easy. To be honest, the price of this house is a bit high, and I really can't come up with enough cash. By the way, Tom, if you take out a mortgage in the United States, how much down payment do I need to pay to buy this house?"

Tom is very honest. After all, he is just an agent. For him, as long as the house is sold, he can get a commission, and the payment method of the customer is of no difference to him.

"If you follow Mr. Freese's current offer, Mr. Shi needs to take out at least 30 million US dollars to mortgage the property and then pay it in installments."

Tom made it clear that the selling price is different, so the down payment amount is also different, because no matter what price the seller quotes, the bank has its own valuation of this house. Before lending, banks must confirm that the property price exceeds the loan amount, so that when the homebuyer stops lending, they can auction the property to repay the bank's loan.

Generally speaking, the bank's appraisal price will be 10% lower than the market price. In the United States, if the homeowner's offer is completely consistent with the market price, the homebuyer often only needs to pay a 10% down payment to successfully obtain a loan.

Tom said that Shi Lei needed to pay 30 million for the down payment, which was actually a euphemism to tell Shi Lei that the offer for this house was too high, and it was at least 15% higher.

However, Jackman was a little restless when he heard this.

After all, he was short of money now, and what he lacked was nearly 100 million US dollars. If he could mortgage the house to the bank to get a loan, he would not have to sell the house at all.

The reason why he did not think of using the real estate under his name to get a mortgage loan from the bank was not because he was unwilling to bear the high loan interest, but because if he did a mortgage loan, the bank would release the loan at least one or two months later.

He couldn't wait that long. His creditors asked him to pay off all his debts within five days.

"Does Mr. Shi still need a loan?" Jackman couldn't hold back his temper and asked.

Shi Lei raised his head, glanced at him, and said in surprise: "Don't you Americans need loans to buy houses? I thought you Americans were the people who understood the leverage effect the most. Isn't it the best choice to buy a property worth more than 100 million yuan with the bank's money?"

Jackman was speechless. Indeed, no matter how much money there is, a loan is always the best choice. No one would empty his pocket to buy such a property.

Lawrence hurriedly said: "Mr. Shi, perhaps our previous communication did not explain this point. The biggest condition for Mr. Freese to sell this property is that it must be paid in full at one time."

After listening, Shi Lei nodded and took a sip of the wine glass in front of him.

"Thank you Mr. Freese for the good wine. It seems that we can't reach a consensus."

After that, he stood up and looked like he was going to leave.

Jackman was immediately anxious. He looked at Shi Lei and said, "One hundred million, full payment! We can close the deal now."

Shi Lei sighed and said, "According to what Tom said just now, the bank's appraisal price for your house is probably just over one hundred million. So, Mr. Freese, your offer cannot impress me, and I haven't talked to you about the selling price yet. The problem now is that you need to pay the full amount, and I can't pay the full amount. This is an unbridgeable gap. For the sake of both parties, let's not waste each other's time."

Tom was actually very surprised. Did Shi Lei guess right? Jackman really lacked money to this extent? And he was in a hurry. Otherwise, it would only take a month for the bank to release the loan, and he couldn't even wait for that time.

Under such circumstances, Tom also understood that it might be difficult to close the deal on this house, so he stood up, bowed deeply to Jackman and Lawrence, expressed his regret, and caught up with Shi Lei.

"Mr. Shi, how much down payment can you pay at most?" Jackman was really anxious. Although he had only a little more than a day to spread the news that he wanted to sell this house, Shi Lei was the only one who was interested.

And he knew that under normal circumstances, it would take at least half a year to sell such a luxury house. If Shi Lei really left, he would be at a loss.

It's not that he didn't try to negotiate with his creditors to use his house to pay off his debts.

However, his creditors only offered 50 million US dollars for this house, which was simply taking advantage of the situation. He couldn't give this house to others for 50 million.

Shi Lei turned around, smiled slightly, and said, "For me, of course, the less the better. There is really no need to spend more for something that can be done with 10 million."

Jackman stood up and caught up with Shi Lei. He seemed very hesitant and entangled, but finally said, "Mr. Shi, actually you have guessed it just now. I won't hide it from you. I am in urgent need of money now. I think Mr. Shi should be a person with sufficient strength. We can discuss the price, but please pay the full amount, Mr. Shi, how about it?"

Shi Lei seemed to think about it and said, "How about this, let's talk alone?"

Jackman was stunned. He didn't understand why Shi Lei wanted to talk alone. Isn't it just buying a house?

But in order to close the deal as soon as possible and to seize the only opportunity that Shi Lei could help him pay off his debts, he agreed.

"Let's go to the study?"

Shi Lei nodded and followed Jackman to the study. In the living room, Tom and Lawrence looked at each other and were also confused.

After entering the study, Jackman saw that Shi Lei wanted an environment where there was absolutely no third pair of ears, so he turned around and closed the door.

"This study is specially soundproofed, and no one will be able to hear our conversation."

Shi Lei nodded, sat down, and then looked around the study and said, "As far as I know, Mr. Freese is a core figure in a consortium. You won't be nervous even for $100 million, right? With your wealth and your status in the United States, how could Mr. Freese put himself in such a predicament for just $100 million?"

Jackman looked at Shi Lei and sighed deeply. He had absolutely no way to answer this question.

Shi Lei didn't expect his answer.

"You owe a debt and are given a deadline to repay it, and you can't wait for the bank to lend money?" Shi Lei asked again.

Jackman had nothing to hide on this point. He nodded and said with a wry smile: "Just as Mr. Shi guessed."

Shi Lei shrugged his shoulders and said: "In fact, I am not completely guessing, or rather, my guess is not on this point."

"Huh? Mr. Shi means...?" Jackman was puzzled.

"Before this, I had a guess that a series of things happened in Tayastan recently, and the biggest one involved was a European consortium. Coincidentally, I have a lot of grievances with this consortium, and I also learned that an American consortium is also deeply involved. Before I came, I heard that Mr. Freese was going to sell his house, so I guessed whether your consortium would be the one involved in the Tayastan incident. Now it seems that it should be right."

Jackman was shocked, his eyes widened, looking at Shi Lei, as if he had endless things to say, but he couldn't say a word.

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