Sea village in the "vortex" of land - Part 2: Obsessed with land

(QBĐT) - In the role of “land hunters”, we went to Hai Ninh commune ( Quang Ninh ) to buy land. But when asking many people here, everyone expressed doubts. It seems that, for the honest and simple coastal people here, everything related to land has now become a “sensitive” issue. Because the “shock” about land and its consequences still haunts many people’s minds.

I go buy land

Now, in Hai Ninh commune, it is not difficult to find real estate transaction offices, which used to be the center of land buying and selling services in the area. After wandering around “looking for land to buy”, we stopped by “HN Land Real Estate Transaction Floor”. It is called a transaction floor, but the office now only has a signboard.

The homeowner said that the office was set up by her cousin before the “land fever”. This cousin rented her house to have a place to do business. However, after the fluctuations in land prices, the cousin “ran away” due to bankruptcy. She did not know, did not know or did not want to tell us how much the debt was, but only knew that because she “held on to the land” and could not sell it, she had to “abandon her property and run away”.

In hardship, the sea is still the eternal salvation of the people of Hai Ninh commune.

When we knew we were looking to buy land, the owner immediately said that they still had a few plots left. If we were satisfied, they would be willing to sell. The owner did not forget to add the "advertisement" that she was not doing business, but only selling plots of land that her family had bought a long time ago. The price of the plot of land right across from the FLC project (over ^200m2 ) was 22 million VND/ ^m2 .

Seeing us wondering about the high price, she reassured us that she was a reputable seller. The land had a "red book" (land use right certificate - GCNQSDĐ) in the name of the owner. If we could close the price, we would have the "red book" after 1 week. She bought this plot of land when the price was high, so she could not sell it lower. In 2022, someone offered 27 million VND/ ^m2 but she had not sold it yet. Now, although the price is low, if there is a buyer, she will still sell. She said there is another plot of land next to DT569 road (the main road of Hai Ninh commune). This plot of land has an area of more than ^300m2 , the price is cheaper, only 8 million VND/ ^m2 .

On June 30, 2023, the Investigation Police Department, the Provincial Police Department executed an arrest warrant for Nguyen Thi Thuy (born in 1984, residing in Cua Thon village, Hai Ninh commune, Quang Ninh) for fraud and appropriation of property. Initial investigation results determined that since 2019, in order to have money to pay off debts in business, Nguyen Thi Thuy met many people in the area, providing information that she needed money to pay off bank loans to some households, in order to mobilize capital. Thuy promised that if she lent money, she would receive high profits. Trusting Nguyen Thi Thuy, many people gave Thuy money. From the end of 2022 to May 2023, Thuy defrauded about 25 people in Hai Ninh commune to appropriate an amount of about more than 23 billion VND.

To make us believe, she also showed us the land use right certificate in her and her husband's name. To be more certain, she also affirmed: "Whoever buys land now is at the right time, because land prices are going down. In just a few years, when FLC's project is back in operation, land prices here will rebound. And somehow it will have to "live" again."

In response to her enthusiastic invitation, we had to “tell the truth” that we wanted to buy many plots, not just a few. She said that most of the families here who had land to sell had already sold it all. She “held” all the land in this village in the palm of her hand. If anyone needed to sell land, the land use right certificate was “in” the bank, because it was mortgaged to borrow money. Many people here have long since had to “run away” to avoid debt. The rest are struggling to bear debts of up to billions of dong because they held land but could not sell it.

The whole family became "debtors"

Mrs. B., nearly 70 years old, was sitting alone in a small, shabby grocery store by the roadside. When she saw a stranger coming in, she asked: "Are you buying something or are you here to collect a debt?" After a while of chatting, Mrs. B. shared: "She took other people's money and gave it all to them, she didn't keep any of it. It was because she trusted people too much that she ended up in this mess today." She also couldn't remember when her daughter joined clubs and groups, pooling money to lend to others.

“Probably since the time when there was a three-wheeled vehicle for the disabled, because with her disabled legs, without that vehicle, she couldn’t go anywhere,” she said. She remembered that at that time, sometimes Th. asked her mother to look after the store so she could go out.

As for where she went and what she did, she did not know. It was only when she saw many people coming to collect debts that she learned that her daughter had gone bankrupt with a debt of up to 10 billion VND. Not only the disabled daughter was in debt, but Mrs. Th.'s other 3 children were also carrying a debt of billions. 2 daughters owed 4-5 billion VND each. One son also owed 5 billion VND. She asked her several times why she owed, but "They said it was for business. But in life, making money is not that easy. If you take from heaven, you have to give back to earth," she said with tears in her eyes.

Along with the consequences of debt due to land "surfing", in recent years, the security and social order situation in Hai Ninh commune has been quite complicated. Specifically, in 2021, Hai Ninh commune had 19 cases/23 cases of criminal offenses and administrative violations in the field of security and order; in 2022, there were 7 cases/10 cases; in 2023, there were 10 cases/20 cases.

Now, whenever she mentions money, she trembles. At night, she has nightmares. Currently, her son has gone to work abroad, and her two sons-in-law are also doing the paperwork to leave. She said that before, the whole village was poor, but life was peaceful. Even though they owed each other, it was only cassava or sweet potatoes, but now, the village has many big and beautiful houses, but everyone is in debt. She still has a plot of land of more than 1,000 ^{square meters} near the sea.

At the time when the land price was high, someone offered 13 billion VND, but she refused to sell it because it was the land her family used to live on. Now, seeing that all her children are burdened with huge debts, she is considering selling it if the price is right. Selling it will give each of her children a little to pay off their debts. However, how will she know when the land price will be high and how much it will cost to cover the billion-dollar debts her four children are currently carrying (?!).

Duong Cong Hop

>>> Lesson 3: When will the "dream" come true?

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