America's Road to Fame

Chapter 233 London Mansion
The next day, Chen William found a local real estate agency in London and took him to see the house. Just like what he told Abu before, he really had the idea of ​​buying a house in London, so that he didn’t have to pay for it every time he came over. I'm staying in a hotel.

When William Chen contacted the sales consultant introduced by Abu who specializes in the most high-end real estate in London, he knew that he was contacted by William Chen, the newly promoted fourth richest man in the world, and the other party's excitement was beyond words.

Chen William only made one request to him, that is, the best house currently for sale in London, and the best location.

So today, the sales consultant named Tim Toledo, after doing his homework, first brought Chen William and Yang Mi to a mansion on Cowley Street.

Entering the three-story red brick building, Tim Toledo said to the two:

"Dear Mr. William, and this beautiful lady, this house is located on Cowley Street, just one block away from London's most famous Downing Street."

"The location of this house is very good, as you can see, to the east is the Thames River with great scenery, to the north is Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, all within a 10-minute walk Inside."

"The surrounding educational resources are also very rich. The famous Westminster Public School in London is located in the northwest, and it can be reached in about 5 minutes on foot. In the future, children will go to school, saving the trouble of picking up and dropping off, and the safety is also worthy of guarantee."

"The most important thing is that on the south side of the same block as this house, there are London city government offices and Smith Square, and MI[-] is across the street. It can be said that the security here is tight. Even if the house is not closed at night, the house is not afraid of being burglarized at all."

Chen William is indeed quite satisfied with the location here, it can be said that it is located in the most central location in London.

Through Tim Toledo's introduction, William Chen knew that so far, this has always been the headquarters of the Liberal Democratic Party of England.

The FDP was formed in 1988 from the merger of the Liberal Party and the short-lived Social Democratic Party.

It used to be the third largest party in the British Parliament, after the Conservative Party and the Labor Party, and once held 57 seats in Parliament, the largest third party since the 1930s.

This mansion has always been lived by the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, working downstairs and living upstairs.The party leader receives members of the party and other guests here.

But now that there is an economic crisis, the Liberal Democratic Party moved out of this mansion at No. 4 Cowley Street in order to shrink funds. It will become a private residence, and thus it will become the largest private residence in Westminster.

This mansion was built in 1904 and has become a national second-class listed building in the UK. Therefore, after buying this mansion, the owner can only do basic interior decoration. If you want to change the exterior appearance of the building, and carry out interior Structural changes require the approval of the City of London.

Tim Toledo took two people to visit from downstairs:
"There are 5 living rooms and 7 bedrooms in the whole building. As you can see, each living room is built in a different style to receive guests of different identities."

Along with the visit, Tim Toledo introduced Chen William and Yang Mi, and paid attention to their expressions.

"These living rooms are allowed to be redecorated." William Chen asked.

"Yes, Mr. William, because this was the residence of the Liberal Democrats, so many living rooms are needed. As long as the internal structure of the house is not changed, you can decorate them at will without notifying the government. "

Tim Toledo heard William Chen's inquiry and quickly said to him:

"You can completely change these reception rooms into bedrooms, study rooms, entertainment rooms and other functions according to your own needs."

This mansion also has an Italian-style staircase and an elevator that can accommodate 8 people.

There are two floors of underground space, including wine cellars, storage rooms, safes, servants' rooms and a 13-meter indoor swimming pool.

Continue to visit upwards, and you can see that the entire mansion has 7 bedrooms, all of which are luxury suites, with bathrooms, kitchens, and cloakrooms.

The master bedroom has a total area larger than an ordinary two-bedroom apartment, and is extremely luxuriously decorated in a strong Victorian style.

On the top of the building, there is also a leisure viewing terrace with sofas and deck chairs. This viewing terrace has an excellent view, and you can see many nearby historical buildings and the park scenery in the distance. You can have a barbecue here with friends. Party, couldn't be more suitable.

"What do you think of this house?" William Chen said to Yang Mi in Chinese.

"Very good, but it's too big. How many women can fill such a big house."

Yo, this girl is very eccentric, I think she needs to clean it up.

"I think it's good. What's the price of this house?"

Hearing William Chen asked about the price, Tim Toledo was overjoyed and said quickly:

"Mr. William, the other party intends to sell this mansion at a price of 3500 million pounds. You must know that although the current economic situation is not good, there is no tendency to reduce the price of real estate in this location in London. Many rich people are still asking about the price here Real estate information, so there should not be much concession in terms of price.”

Chen William understands that what he said is indeed very reasonable. 40% of the world's super rich have purchased real estate in London. The main reason is that the real estate market here has been rising steadily, and the UK is backed by Europe. In addition to China's financial center, another main reason is to avoid taxes.

Countless luxury houses are sold in London every year, but there are few real-name registered owners. Most of them are purchased in the name of companies, and most of them are registered in familiar tax-free areas.Back then, Hong Kong tycoon Liu Luanxiong spent 3300 million pounds to buy a 6-storey mansion in Eaton Square through an offshore company, becoming the No. 1 Chinese country in the London luxury housing market.

Many people may not know that the biggest "player" in the global duty-free zone offshore system is not Switzerland or the Cayman Islands, but the United Kingdom.

With the UK as the center, there is a "tax-free network" covering the world: the core area includes the British Crown Dependencies, such as Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man; the periphery is the 14 overseas territories of the UK, such as the Cayman Islands , the Virgin Islands and Bermuda, etc.; extending outward, are the countries of the Commonwealth of Nations and former colonies, such as Huaguo HK.

They are inextricably linked with the United Kingdom, and large amounts of money continue to flow into London.

According to British law, holding real estate, especially when generating capital gains due to the transfer of ownership, is subject to various taxes, but real estate held by offshore companies is often tax-free.Some buyers even use it to avoid estate taxes.In addition to not having to pay British taxes, foreign investors also have the opportunity to evade the investigation from the taxation department or judicial department of their country.

It is an open secret in the luxury real estate market in London to secretly store in the name of an offshore company.

Due to the lack of tax worries, housing prices have been repeatedly driven up.Therefore, under the background of the subprime mortgage crisis, when most real estate markets are still sluggish, the real estate market in London has not fallen at all, precisely because there is demand in it.

Therefore, after thinking about it for a while, William Chen told Tim Toledo that he was going to inform the other party that he wanted to buy the house.

What he values ​​is that the location of this house is excellent, and it is big enough, just like what Yang Mi said just now, so that his women can all have their own rooms when they come to London.

Of course, William Chen does as the Romans do, and he will not really purchase in his own name. He will also conduct this transaction through the offshore company of the Meta Group overseas. He does not need to ask about those procedures, and his subordinates will can do well.

"Oh, so soon, dear, don't you think about it?"

Seeing that Chen William decided to buy this house casually, although Yang Mi was not the first to see his shopping style, she was surprised enough. You know, this house is worth 3500 million pounds, which is equivalent to Chinese currency , That's more than 3 million, just spent it so simply?
Thinking that I can only take out 300 million savings now, and William Chen spends 3 million to buy a luxury house without blinking, this gap, hey, I don’t want to, the more I think about it, the more depressed I become.

At this time, William Chen asked Tim Toledo to contact his subordinates, and then handed over the subsequent transaction to his subordinates to complete. He only needs to hand over the house after the original owner of the entire house vacates his belongings tomorrow. up.

After saying goodbye to Tim Toledo and returning to the car with Yang Mi, William Chen casually called Abu:
"Mr. Roman? I just bought a house. I don't know when I can meet the housekeeper you mentioned?"

(End of this chapter)