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New thinking in real estate, China market(s) of the day
Who needs Match.com?
Jin Tai Cheng, a Beijing company, is offering a creative solution for prospective buyers at its "Ecological Bay" Villa project. The company encourages future homeowners to date its sales girls and promises a wedding present of RMB 60,000 to any couple that ends up getting married. The official story is that the company lured the sales ladies with a commitment to pay 8% in sales commissions as well as the opportunity to strike gold by securing a wealthy husband.
Here is the story. Yet rarely is a market as simple as it sounds at first. It seems they are trying to pair up "lesser" prospects without portraying them as such:
...a local Real Estate executive I spoke to pointed out that the girls on offer are not that attractive. His theory is that the developer is not making money on selling apartments and so it signed a deal with a matchmaking agency to marry these "unwanted" girls to rich husbands. In return, the developer will receive much more than RMB 60,000 for every girl they manage to "give away". This way, the girls don't lose face by putting themselves on sale, the husbands don't lose face by going directly to an agency to look for a bride, and the developer makes a nice profit. In a country with too many apartments and not enough girls, this doesn't sound like a bad idea.
I thank The Browser for the pointer.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on April 26, 2009 at 07:28 AM in Current Affairs | Permalink
Comments
This set of arrangements is rather confusing. Who is paying the matchmaking company?
Posted by: Jacob Wintersmith at Apr 26, 2009 8:19:51 PM
If You Want to Be Happy (YouTube) for the rest of your life...
also Roaring Lion (YouTube)
Posted by: anonymous at Apr 27, 2009 12:08:55 AM
Jacob says: This set of arrangements is rather confusing. Who is paying the matchmaking company?
The girl (or her family) pay to a be employed, and the houses sell for a premium.
Posted by: Zamfir at Apr 27, 2009 3:06:56 AM
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Posted by: Nordaune at Real Estate in Rochester MN at Apr 29, 2009 1:43:16 PM
Die US-Notenbank weckt Hoffnung auf ein Ende der schwersten Rezession seit Jahrzehnten. Den Leitzins aber lässt sie unverändert.
Die US-Notenbank weckt Hoffnungen auf Licht am Ende des düsteren Konjunkturtunnels. Zwar sei die größte Volkswirtschaft der Welt in den vergangenen Wochen weiter geschrumpft, doch habe sich das Tempo scheinbar verlangsamt, teilte die Federal Reserve (Fed) am Mittwoch mit.
Ein Hoffnungsschimmer auch an der amerikanischen Verbraucherfront: Zwar drückten Arbeitslosigkeit, gesunkener Wohlstand und schwierige Kreditbedingungen weiterhin auf die Kauflaune. Doch gebe es bei den Verbraucherausgaben "Zeichen der Stabilisierung", hieß es von der Fed nach der turnusgemäßen Sitzung ihres Offenmarktausschusses.
Die Fed sei zuversichtlich, dass die Maßnahmen zur Stützung des Finanzsektors Wirkung zeigten und dazu beitragen, dass sich "schrittweise" wieder Wachstum einstelle. Inflationsrisiken sieht die US-Notenbank zunächst nicht am Horizont - im Gegenteil. Der Preisauftrieb könne sogar "für einige Zeit" unterhalb der Rate bleiben, die gut für das Wirtschaftswachstum seien.
Posted by: raivo pommer-www.google.fi at Apr 30, 2009 4:48:01 AM
This set of arrangements is rather confusing. Who is paying the matchmaking company
Posted by: COMPAQ Laptop Battery at May 18, 2009 9:11:14 AM
