Stuck with billions, office workers are terrified of real estate

Many office workers are stuck with billions of dong because of the rush to invest in real estate. Therefore, when prices and interest rates decrease, most of them are still terrified and do not dare to invest again.

Find every way to get rid of the goods

Mr. Tien, an employee of a media company in My Dinh, was in a panic and had to borrow money to pay off his debt. In 2010, during the land fever in the West, he and a few colleagues pooled money to buy land in a project. Just a few months later, after quickly looking at that piece of land, he had in his hands more than a hundred million VND from spending 80 million VND in capital.

After a fairly successful business, he continued to borrow more to have nearly 500 million VND, together with the group bought a piece of land worth more than 2 billion VND with the hope of having some capital to do business and get married. The land fever quickly cooled down, his group bought the land at the time when the price was at its highest and still got stuck.



The real estate market is almost frozen, more than 2 billion VND to buy that project land is still only on paper with a capital contribution contract, the red book will only be handed over when the project is completed.

Mr. Tien's group has four people, all working at the same agency, only the group leader has connections with real estate people so he has information. The remaining three people just contribute capital to do business with the crowd and share profits proportionally.

"It's not going smoothly", the members of his group have conflicts, one person blames the other for not knowing how to invest. Mr. Tien also hopes to sell the goods soon to collect capital to pay off the debt, even if he has to suffer a loss.

Mr. Tien said that, based on the price of gold and inflation, burying capital in real estate is considered a loss. When it comes time to pay off debt, Mr. Tien doesn't know who to sell to, and no one will buy if he transfers it within the group, and he can't sell his capital contribution outside. Mr. Tien's group is waiting for interest rates to decrease and real estate to warm up, hoping to sell that piece of land and recover capital.

Ms. Mai Huong, an employee of a bank, is in a similar situation. With a little capital, and advice from friends, she also pooled money to buy a piece of land in Nam An Khanh. The price of that land has evaporated by almost half, roughly calculating that her group lost billions, not to mention having to buy at a higher price and rely on connections. Currently, her group is advertising that land everywhere but still cannot sell it. Many times the project has had unfavorable information such as stopping implementation or changing investors, making this group of investors always worried.

Ms. Huong said that this is a great lesson for real estate investment. "It's true that each person has their own profession. Other people invest and it's fine, but I just started and got stuck. Luckily, my family's money doesn't have to pay interest, otherwise if I borrowed from the bank, I would have lost face," Ms. Huong consoled herself.

In the same situation, Ms. Trang, the head of An Viet Consulting Company, is also running around to find money to pay for the progress of an apartment project in Ha Dong. In 2010, she had a chance to buy an apartment, and if she sold it right away, she would have 100 million VND in hand. She risked paying the investment to make a profit, but the price kept decreasing. Her apartment has paid 60% of the progress, and since February she has been selling it but has not received any buyers.

She was impatient: "The investor is urging me to pay, I have an acquaintance so I can temporarily delay. At this time, pushing the goods is very difficult, I don't know where to borrow money to pay the next amount."

Don't dare risk it again.

When the real estate market was hot, the profit margin was very high, just buying was enough, causing many people to rush into land trading. But in difficult times, many of them encountered risks due to lack of information as well as limited financial resources.

Ms. Trang admitted that investing in real estate based on the crowd mentality and taking risks is very dangerous. She herself is not an experienced real estate investor, but seeing her friends at work doing well, she was also interested. If she had not invested in that apartment, she would now be assured of having abundant capital. Recently, some friends heard the news that interest rates had decreased and real estate prices had also decreased and invited each other to invest, Ms. Trang shook her head and refused to be foolish a second time.

Luckier than Ms. Trang, Ms. Linh, one of the office workers who also invested in real estate, has just withdrawn 70 million VND from a capital contribution contract to buy land for a project. Her group of 5 people bought a piece of land for the project from the company at a preferential price. According to the schedule, the investor had to offer it for sale in early 2011, but until now the project is still only on paper. Impatient, she repeatedly filed a petition with the company, after many delays, the company finally resolved to let her withdraw her capital and add some interest. Many people in the group criticized her for not knowing how to invest, but she felt secure because she had withdrawn the money.

"For me, tens of millions is a large sum of money. Even if there is no profit, being able to withdraw it at this time is also a blessing. That piece of land has not been sold yet, and I don't know when I will be able to sell it. This is the first and last time I invest in land," Ms. Linh lamented. Ms. Linh added that many of her colleagues are also stuck in projects, everyone is stuck with a few hundred thousand, some with billions.

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Quynh, director of a real estate floor, shared that his floor is currently offering many real estate products, many of which are owned by office workers. According to Mr. Quynh, office workers investing in real estate was once a trend. When everyone rushes into land because of its profits, there will come a time when there will be only sellers and no buyers.

Investing in the crowd mentality is risky. Not all office workers are knowledgeable about the real estate market. Those with good vision are quick to surf when the opportunity arises, but if due to greed or lack of knowledge, "running aground" is inevitable.

According to Mr. Quynh, office workers who invest in land often pool their capital together because no one is financially strong. There are cases that Mr. Quynh has encountered, where the land has a good price but the group cannot make a final decision, one person says to sell, another says to keep. In just a short time, the opportunity will be lost and they will be the ones to suffer.

For office workers who trade land, it is not easy to get rid of their goods when they are stuck. For projects with good progress, they have to sell at a loss, and for projects with slow progress, buyers have to share the same fate as the investor. In some capital-contributing projects, buyers can negotiate to withdraw their capital.

Mr. Quynh advised that not only office workers but anyone who decides to invest in real estate should be alert and do thorough research. If not, they can consult real estate brokers and experts. Otherwise, depositing money in the bank is the safest solution to avoid spending billions of dong on debt.

According to VEF - NT