Seeing that Jacob had been silent after entering the house, Mrs. Maisie took the initiative to speak.
“780,000, full payment.”
Jacob quoted directly. The listed price for the house was 830,000, and he felt that cutting it by 50,000 wasn’t unreasonable, especially since it was a buyer’s market now. Old houses like this were indeed hard to sell.
Although the average price of houses in Coastville was around 15,000 per square meter, these old houses were mostly priced without a market, with actual transaction prices around 12,000 to 13,000, or even just over 10,000.
Mrs. Maisie’s expression changed slightly upon hearing the offer. She frowned and said, “Jacob, you can’t negotiate like this. It’s just over 800,000 for the house, and you cut it by 50,000. That’s outrageous!”
“Mrs. Maisie, I’m sincerely buying, and I can pay immediately.”
“You know what the market is like better than I do. The price is as it is; think it over.”
Although Jacob was the one in a hurry, it was naturally better to spend less money.
Hearing this, Mrs. Maisie showed a conflicted expression. Her house had been on the market for over two months. Initially, it was listed at 880,000, but no one showed interest. It gradually dropped to 830,000, yet even so, there had only been two interested buyers before Jacob, one offering 750,000 and the other not making an offer at all.
“Mrs. Maisie, I’m not trying to speak for the buyer, but there are three other houses for sale in this community, all listed around 800,000. Your house’s advantage is that it’s a bit newer in decoration, but some buyers want to renovate it themselves. So, to really close the deal, the price needs to be competitive.”
Juliet interjected to mediate.
“Jacob, let’s step out to the balcony and talk privately for a moment.”
Mrs. Maisie gave Jacob a knowing look.
“Uh?”
“That’s fine, right?”
Jacob was momentarily taken aback, unsure why Mrs. Maisie wanted to talk without Juliet present, but he agreed nonetheless.
Juliet, on the other hand, was bewildered. Was the buyer and seller going to bypass her as the agent??
She wanted to intervene but felt embarrassed to speak up, so she just watched as the two went out to the balcony, with Mrs. Maisie deliberately closing the sliding door.
“Jacob, I can sell at the price you mentioned, but can you do me a favor?” Mrs. Maisie spoke first.
“What’s that?”
Jacob was unsure what this woman was up to, keeping a certain distance from her.
“Can you pretend to be my boyfriend for a few days?”
“I want to make my ex-husband, who just divorced, jealous.”
As she spoke, Mrs. Maisie pushed her chest out, seemingly trying to prove her worth, but despite her efforts, her chest still didn’t rise above her protruding belly. This was likely one of the reasons her husband divorced her.
“Mrs. Maisie, I can’t help you with that. I’m afraid my wife will divorce me.”
Jacob flatly refused, his face dark with dismay. He was known for being a serious person in the area and would never engage in such matters, so he made up an excuse.
After saying that, Jacob pushed open the sliding door and returned to the living room, feeling speechless that buying a house could lead to such a situation.
“Juliet, let’s move on to the next one.”
Jacob deliberately said this loudly to Juliet and then stepped toward the door.
“Okay, Jacob.”
Juliet quickly responded and then said to Mrs. Maisie, who had just come out from the balcony, “Mrs. Maisie, I’m leaving. If there are any buyers, I’ll contact you again.”
“Wait a moment.”
Seeing that the two were about to leave, Mrs. Maisie became anxious. She looked at Jacob with a hint of grievance: “780,000, I’ll sell it to you, just consider it a favor to a friend.”
“Can we complete the transfer today?” Jacob asked.
“As long as you have enough money, we can.” Mrs. Maisie replied.
“Then there’s no problem!”
Jacob shrugged and then looked at Juliet: “Let’s go through the process.”
“Alright!”
“Let’s head back to the store to sign the contract!”
Juliet was beaming, not expecting the negotiation to go so smoothly.
The three of them went downstairs, and Mrs. Maisie went home to get the property certificate and ID.
Juliet then took Jacob back to the store.
At this time, the store door that Juliet had locked when she left was now open, and two men in work uniforms were chatting.
The older man, seeing Juliet enter the store, immediately put on a stern face: “Juliet, do you know you’re on duty today?”
“Why are you so late?!”
This man was the store manager of the agency. When he arrived at the store and found that Juliet, who was supposed to be there, hadn’t arrived, he felt a bit displeased. Of course, this wasn’t the main reason; the main reason was that Juliet had refused to go to the hotel to play cards with him.
