How many times in life does my father have to wait 15 years for the land plot to increase from over 1 billion to 7-8 billion VND as he expected?
I have a wife and two children, and I worked like a machine to pay off my apartment loan at the age of 39. My brother’s family in the countryside lives in a level four house with a corrugated iron roof and uncemented walls.
My brother is almost 30 years old and still doesn’t dare to get married because the house in the countryside is too shabby, with rickety pillars and broken walls that haven’t been repaired. My mother is 65 years old and still takes care of the vegetable garden, the chickens, and goes to the market to sell at 4am every day.
To be fair, my family was not poor, but with his intense love for the land, my father made the whole family suffer because he clung to the land to live. Regarding assets, my parents had fields and gardens left by their grandparents, but they only made enough to eat.
More than 15 years ago, he sold some of his rice fields to get capital to dig a fish pond. After making a profit in the first few years, he took the money and bought three large plots of land near the communal market for over a billion VND. A few years later, the fish farming business failed, and the family lost their financial strength, so they had to rely on the remaining rice fields and garden. The three plots of land that used to cost 330 million VND each increased to over 1 billion VND after a few years because they were located near the newly built market and the provincial road was also paved and clean.
When I got married and had children, I felt that living in a rented house was stuffy. My wife’s family suggested buying an apartment and each side supported half of the money, the savings of both husband and wife to take care of the children and as capital if starting a business.
We both hadn’t saved much yet, so I discussed with my father about selling a plot of land so I could buy a house in the city because I was determined to settle down here and not return to my hometown. But he was adamant and refused to sell it, partly because he saw it as a result of raising fish and partly because he was waiting for the price to go up.
My family could not support me, so I had to let my wife and children rent a house for a few more years before buying an apartment. Now, after 15 years, the price of the land has increased to 4-5 billion VND, the house is dilapidated, my younger brother does not dare to get married, my older brother lives in a shabby house, many times I discussed with him that we should sell all the land to get money to rebuild the house, let my brother complete the house, buy new furniture but he absolutely refused.
Some belief tells him that land prices will continue to rise, but with the current situation, he is old and sick, I don’t know if he can wait for the land price to reach 7.8 billion as he said. But I’m afraid that when the land price reaches that level, he will wait for the land price to reach a new high. How many times in life do people have to wait 10 years like that?