Chapter 865 Contras (1/2)
Once Steve saw Li Du, he waved enthusiastically like he had seen an old friend. Li Du hugged him as he laughed and said, ”You look good. Your health seems good, too. So, can we continue mining together again in the future?”
Steve laughed loudly. ”Of course I would love to team up with you. Come on, I have some information. You can take a look at what I've found out. I have also contacted two experts in real estate sales.”
Wide networking, great powers... it was really convenient working with these in hand. Steve was a passionate man, and maybe it was because Li Du had saved him twice in the past, in addition to the fact that they had a lot in common, but he treated Li Du really well.
Knowing the reason that Ivana had come to Sydney this time was to get ready for skin grafts and cosmetic surgery, Steve immediately called Elson over and had him contact the top specialists for her consultation. Li Du said that they had already consulted specialists on this matter, but Steve simply said, ”Then just consult a few more specialists, just to get a few more opinions.”
The two real estate sales experts Steve had found were named Stuart Burr and Tony Theodore. Stuart was an experienced real estate agent for the Auswell Group, the biggest real estate company in Australia, and Tony was a supervisor in Australia's National Land Assets Strategy Center. Li Du discussed the matter with both of them and had gained more details about purchasing Seagull Island.
In Australia, the process of purchasing an island was very lengthy. Sometimes it would take up to a year because just as Li Du had found out earlier, it involved the country's land use regulations, environmental protection, national security, and other policies.
The Australian government had many restrictions on the usage of islands. For example, some islands only granted usage rights for 50 years. Also, some islands would draw their borders based on the highest point during high tide, and the huge piece of beach underneath the water could only belong to the government.
Tony had told Li Du from the beginning that if he just wanted to buy an island because of its view and for vacation, then he suggested that he should go to Canada. Canada was currently the largest supplier of private islands in the world. It had over 100 inland lakes and a never-ending coastline, hence there were many islands available on the market.
It was impossible for Li Du to buy an island in Canada, but he could not explain that clearly. He just told them that he was aiming for the black gold abalone resources around Seagull Island, and that he wanted to buy it to slowly harvest its black gold abalones. Knowing this, Tony and Stuart did not say another word and stayed focused on helping him research Seagull Island.
They studied the island from a satellite map, and they thought that it would not involve the protection of any endangered wildlife species or national security, so the government would most likely be willing to sell it. However, because of the island's size, the price would not be low. Both of the real estate agents estimated that the island was worth 50,000,000 Australian dollars or even more.
Upon hearing this price, Li Du let out a sigh of relief. He said, ”Fifty million is not that high. I think I can afford it. I can get a loan from the bank for buying an island in Australia, right?”
Stuart and Tony looked at each other, and they both shook their heads. ”Mr. Li, this is different from buying a building on land. The difficulty of getting a bank loan approved is very high. Because more than half of the islands are unowned, the banks are generally not willing to approve the loans. We suggest that you prepare a large amount of cash.”
If he could not take out a loan, then Li Du would be a little troubled. He had to transfer another 30,000,000 to 40,000,000 Australian dollars in a short time. After all, you had to pay tax to the state government and the Australian Taxation Office when you purchased an island, and the tax was very high.
This was not the only difficulty. Stuart told him that buying an island was expensive, but maintaining an island was more expensive! Buying an island was merely the beginning. The food supply, tourist accommodations, and other facilities on private islands were the bigger expenditure.
Any small island just like Seagull Island would need another few million Australian dollars to build its waste disposal system, water supply system, and electric power system because the island was still undeveloped.