In the United States As a Local Tyrant

Chapter 7: Benefits of Moeny



If he intends to develop in the United States, there are many topics to talk to Anthony. He is well-informed and familiar with the investment environment in various parts of the United States. He speaks clearly and logically, and James Feng has obtained a lot of information from him. After talking with his somewhat broken English – he understood some English given his dad was America but not completely- he started to like west more and more rather than east.

About an hour later, a guy who looked somewhat like Anthony, but much younger, came. He was wearing a well-fitting suit and looked confident.

He went up to shake hands with James first, and then said, "Roger Blueline, nice to meet you, James from China."

James exchanged some polite words with him and then got to the point.

During the conversation, he learned that Roger is Anthony's younger brother, who works at American Express and is only one year older than James.

Looking at the business card he handed over, he seemed to be just an ordinary employee. However, when he took James out to do business, he drove a white Maserati GT sports car.

James sat in the co-pilot and looked around curiously and doubtfully.

Roger saw the doubt in his eyes and said with a smile, "I know you are curious about how an ordinary employee would drive this kind of car. Let me tell you the truth—I'm not working for the bank; I'm working for my family."

"I understand," James thought to himself. "It's like second generation rich kids or relation."

Sitting in Roger's sporty sports car, he came to the bank area to open a checking account and a credit card for him and deposited all the money in it. Roger introduced: "In the United States and even in the world, American Express has its own offices, and we can provide the most unique services, such as private safes, personal assistants, financial advisors, and membership in certain high-end clubs. These only require a phone call."

James felt that he was bragging, so he asked, "hmm... then Is there any immigration business for me which would you know?"

Roger then smiled. "I am starting to like you more."

"I don't like men," James said solemnly.

"Hahaha! You are so funny!" Roger laughed, and James followed suit. Forget it, he still didn't fully understand American humor.

"Of course, the bank does not have these businesses for the time being, but my family is involved in brokerage business in various industries, and quickly handling immigration for you is also among them."

The service industry in the United States is extremely developed, especially in the field of serving the rich.

It's no wonder that the United States, as the only superpower, has a lot of rich people, and if there is demand, there will be supply.

What's more, James has stored all the valuable diamonds in the bank safe, which is really a potential cash cow.

The intermediary who applied for his green card took him to fill out the form, went to the immigration office, got back the materials, and waited for his real investment certificate to be issued.

After that, Roger took him to his family owned, real estate office.

If you have money, the speed of the Americans functions is indeed impressive. Immigrants were running errands, and James followed real estate agents around different locations.

At first, he wanted to be a farmer, owning a large piece of land and riding a steed in the sunset.

However, after exploring Ohio, Kansas, and Texas, he found that there is a lot of land but very few people—one family per kilometre.

It felt too lonely, so he ruled out that idea and chose places with a reasonable population.

In this way, pastures, forest farms, and similar properties were excluded. They could be used for vacation, but staying for a long time would drive him crazy. After running around for a few days, he decided to invest in a vineyard in California.

Vineyards in California account for 90% of the U.S. grape industry, and the land price is also rising year by year, making it a valuable investment.

Then there was the issue of site selection. Napa Valley, Sonoma, and other places are the most famous, but the land there is also the most expensive.

Most of it already has owners, and the rest are leftovers. James vetoed it. He turned to San Luis Obispo County in central California, where there were two properties available.

One of them had an asking price of three million dollars, covering more than 60 acres, with a house of 1,000 square meters. The environment was not too impressive, so James went to see the second place. This land was much larger, over 360 acres of flat land, with a house located on top of a hill, more than 30 meters above the flat ground, offering a vast view.

On the top of the hill stood a mansion of more than 2,000 square meters, equipped with a 5,000-square-meter garden front yard and a nearly 200-square-meter borderless luxury swimming pool in the backyard. One side of the pool was designed as a straight cliff with a 15-meter drop. When bored, one could lie on the edge of the cliff and gaze at the mountains and vineyards.

James fell in love with this place at first sight. Although it cost 11 million dollars, he proudly paid it in one lump sum and took it along with the original team working on the vineyard.

After drafting the agreement, James made a phone call, and the rest was handed over to the senior lawyer provided by American Express. The lawyer required an advance payment of 3,000 dollars and an hourly rate of 800 dollars.

What a blood-sucking price—no wonder so many people in the United States are lawyers.

He made an appointment to meet in Paso Robles, a 20-minute drive from the vineyard. The lawyers from both sides read the clauses in the contract very carefully and made several phone calls during the process, which took more than two hours. After the lawyers were satisfied, James signed the contract.

After filling out a check, the land covering 7200 million square meters officially belonged to him. However, his schedule was too tight, and he didn't have time to inspect his territory, so he followed the agency to the immigration office non-stop.

The proof materials were complete, and after the review was finished, his green card was set to be issued to him. It's a card like a domestic ID card, with his profile picture, name, and other information on it.

He also listened to some precautions from the intermediary, especially about the SSN, which is equivalent to a domestic ID number but more important.

 It is used for credit records, bank accounts, buying houses, cars, insurance, and even firearms.

He also found an important point: until he walked out of the immigration office, he was still holding a Chinese passport.

The agent patiently explained his doubts: "Mr. Feng, the green card is actually just a permanent residence in the United States, and you are still a Chinese citizen. If you want to become a U.S. citizen, you can apply for naturalization after holding the green card for five years or after three years of marriage to a U.S. citizen."

"Oh, I understand," James said, slightly embarrassed. Up until now, he had thought that investment immigration directly equated to becoming an American citizen.

After saying goodbye to his agent, he found himself located in San Luis Obispo, thankfully abbreviated as SLO. Seeing that it was getting late, James stayed in a local hotel for one night. Early the next morning, he used the business card given by his agent to call a local car dealer.

After 2 days in America he found a disadvantage in the United States: it is difficult to go anywhere without a car. He had to buy one.

However, there weren't many local dealers in SLO, and his dream of owning a sports car had to be temporarily postponed. After making an appointment, roger left him at the dealer store with a quick goodbye, the local dealership was specializing in pickups and SUVs.

At first glance, all he saw were pickup trucks—Ford's F series, Chevrolet's Silverado, and others. He looked at them one by one.

After learning that he would be managing a vineyard, the salesperson recommended, "Sir, most of the work on a vineyard is done using pickup trucks. You might want to look at these models: the F-150, F-250, and we have popular colours in stock."

Influenced by his time in China, James chose a black, imposing F-150 and requested a test drive.

 Accompanied by the salesman, he drove around and even tested it on rough roads. It felt great. With a displacement of 6.2 litres and more than 400 horsepower, it was more than capable of handling dirt roads.

The final surprise was the price. This top-of-the-line F-150 sold for more than 50,000 dollars. After adding taxes, insurance, and other expenses, the total came to just over 60,000 dollars—equivalent to less than 400,000 RMB.

In China, such a model would cost at least a million yuan. Driving it, James couldn't help but feel excited about the deal he had just made.


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