Overwhelmed with the thoughts of spending his last $29m, Tod decided to take a long walk around his 3 stations. Perhaps there are some things he could learn from walking the ground.

Tod, naturally, used one of his own trains to reach the first of his station. Ah. The sunlight shone brightly, and he observed the passengers disembark from the train. There were chatters in the background, and Tod focused his senses on those chatters.

Most of them were just idle chats, the usual things that commuters do, like ‘how are you?’. Or just talking about work.

But he wanted to zoom in on something else, like, what do they hate about this area? He did recall in his many many other reincarnations, that it’s entirely common for administrators and rulers to impose a plan that did not match what the denizens wanted.

At the same time, he also had to balance the desire for collaborative, bottom-up decision making with the knowledge that quite often, the users don’t actually know what they are missing out on, and there is this ‘resistance-to-change’ that is entirely common. People take time to adapt to new ways of working, even if they were better!

Bottom-up decision making did not always lead to better results!

“So how’s your plan to buy a place to stay?” Tod’s ears zoomed in on two middle-aged commuters. “That’s the dream, right?”

“Yeah, but with the town council not approving any new developments, all my choices are all these old flats! Look at them!” The other commuter responded, and Tod actually looked at those flats.

Well, they looked old. Based on web search results that Tod got instantly, they were built about 30 years ago, and the online reviews from tenants indicated they were old, needed frequent repairs, and there were regular infestation of rats and other domestic pests.

Tod, decided to just walk a distance behind the two commuters. The first commuter nodded. “Yeah. That’s why I didn’t buy too, and am still renting. Can’t imagine owning these old buildings.”

“Exactly! No developer wants to build in these far out areas, everyone wants to go to the city center!”

“Can’t blame them, profits are high there, and demand is strong!”

“But there’s money to be made in the outskirts too! These days youngsters all want to live in the suburbs and commute! NUMTOTS are a thing, you know. Didn’t you check facepage?”

“Bah! Youngsters!”

The two commuters laughed, and Tod changed his target to another group of promising commuters. These two were younger, they looked like a young couple, both freshly out of school and starting out on their careers. Perhaps they’ve worked for 3-4 years.

They chatted a bit about work, about careers, and Tod figured they’d probably be doing something like finance work. The girl worked in a bank, while the guy worked in some kind of kitchen as a chef.

“You think we should get a house?” The girl asked.

“Oh? Where’d that come from?”

“I don’t know... if we’re getting married and if we want kids. I thought we should at least, uhm... save for a downpayment?”

“What, and own these old homes?”

“I mean... we should still save, right? We got lucky that we both don’t have student loans and stuff.”

“Yeah. I guess so.”

Tod nodded, and that revealed a few things. There is pent up demand for property in these regions.

He thought about it for a moment, and wondered whether it’s possible to sell his properties outright.

SELLING PRICE (no rental income)

Low Density

Medium Density

High Density

Land Cost per acre

Region

<30 units

30-100 units

>100 units per acre

Residential-only

Suburban

$1.2m

$1m

$0.8m

Commercial/Mixed Use Properties

Suburban

$1.8m

$1.5m

$1.5m

Residential-only

Outer Core

$4.5m

$4m

$3m

Commercial/Mixed Use Properties

Outer Core

$8m

$7m

$6m

Residential-only

City Center

$15m

$12m

$10m

Commercial/Mixed Use Properties

City Center

$25m

$20m

$15m

Oh. The flipside is that there’s absolutely no rental income once the building is sold. Construction would take two years.

Did he have to go through the usual stuff like town council approvals and all that?

[No Extra Town Council or Local Approval needed for this city. Construction TIme included all necessary planning approvals]

Ah. How about other concerns, like reliability of contractors, availability of planning materials, protests by unhappy NIMBY residents?

[None expected. This city is easy mode.]

Tod relaxed. Seemed like this city was designed for Tod to learn the ropes. At $29m, what could he build, if he went for sale? Sale looked like the best way to earn money quickly, since the payoff of rental income, even if it’s 10% per annum, is way too slow.

He sighed.

Was he going to be a money-minded property developer? He wanted to be a train core!

Are there any optional integrations to the existing train facilities?

Connection and facilities

Cost and effect

All-weather walkways

$200,000. Improves ridership by 1 per unit of property

Vending machines

$5,000. Generates $3,000 per year per vending machine. One Vending Machine for every 300 property units

Parking for bicycle and other personal mobility device

$500,000. Improves ridership by 1 for every 5 properties.

Other options require Level 2 or higher experience levels, or are not available for this city.

Hmmm... More variables to mess up Tod’s mental calculation.