Capitalism 2 and Capitalism Lab Forum

I've found I can make a fairly decent saving when building new shops by buying all the land around them, putting down 2-3 shops, then selling the extra land at ~150% profit.

It helps funding start ups a lot, because you can borrow the money and repay it in a day with no real interest.

Would this be an exploit? The computer doesn't seem to engage in it, at least in the short term.

quick profit in beginning !

I've tried this and it dosen't work in a day...you have to hold on to the land for at least a month. After you've bought land and set up shop its true if you hover over the affected unused land it shows a 30-70% gain and even when you click to sell it... it will say its selling for "upped" price, but it doesn't. Unless you wait a month. Its still a great way to fund start up even having to hold on to it. The interest or tied up cash is trival compared to the profit. Thanks for your tip cause it has helped a ton in the early start up of my games.

When I tried I wasn't able to get any significant profit. I'm probably doing it wrong.

Are you putting several shops around the land? Is the economy in expansion or boom? If not, then the land might not go up.

I personally find this strategy not to be very effective, there are better ways to use money to make profits and at a much quicker rate, especially in the beginning when you don't have enough cash, even with borrowing. Just building another retail shop, buying back your stock, buying other company's stock, are all much more profitable than land. Basically the land purchases are to block your competitors from building and benefiting if you are planning to develop an entire neighborhood by donating public buildings and sports facilities.

True there are other areas to invest and make a better return on your investment. I simply use it to help offset the cost of the land and startup of a retail store i was going to build anyways. I dont ever alter where and if I was going to build, just that I can make a quick buck of the land around the build site. Example I usally start off in foods...farms, cannned goods,supermarkets. I find a nice traffic area 20's to 30's affordable, there are better but gotta watch every dollar. Buy 3x3 where im going to build and say 8-10 tiles connected to and around the site. Build the store. One is all i build, im sure you can up values more by building two or three shops, but just one works. The unused tile values are upped by anywhere from 30-80%. Each tile just turned a $300,000-$500,000 profit. Depending on how many tiles you bought you turn $3-$4 million profit in a month. Your not going to glide thru the rest of the game on that cash but it helps in the early days.

Also forgot to mention....You do not have to hold on to the property for an entire month the cash out values click in at the beginning of the following month. So Vorpal in his orinigal post was correct if you buy and build on say...April 31, then on May 1 you can sell the land at increased value. Turning your profit in a single day.