American History 1988
Chapter 81 - 76 Monopoly

Chapter 81: Chapter 76 Monopoly

How many banks are there in Youngstown? Honestly, as a native of Youngstown, Dean himself wasn’t sure.

However, it was only when NCR’s Charles had his assistant deliver his business card to Dean that he realized a small place like Youngstown actually had thirteen or fourteen banks.

That was thirteen or fourteen different banking institutions, not just thirteen or fourteen branches. This number truly shocked Dean; the banking industry in America seemed too well-developed.

Of course, since Youngstown itself wasn’t very big, the branches of these banks in Youngstown were generally smaller in size. For some local small banks, like Woodster Bank, Huntington Bank, KeyBank, and so on, their branches were not much bigger than a convenience store.

Only big banks like JPMorgan Chase, the Federal Reserve Bank, and First National Bank had imposing office buildings.

But honestly, Dean preferred dealing with the local small banks, because the people there were more flexible in their way of handling matters. When Dean quoted them 75 cents per credit report in the name of collecting more rent, most of these small banks signed a contract with him.

However, the big banks were full of concerns, either thinking Dean’s quote was too low or looking down on a small company like more rent. Some even outright refused to disclose their customers’ information, even when Dean mentioned Charles’s name.

Still, information like the banks’ credit scores was just the icing on the cake for more rent. It was good to have more, but no big loss without it.

In one week’s time, Dean and Wedner ran through all the large and small banks in Youngstown. Of the fourteen banks, eight had signed contracts with more rent.

The content of the contract was as discussed earlier: when more rent sent over a target list, the contracted banks were responsible for providing their credit score information.

cents per report, of course, if the person on the list didn’t have an account at a particular bank, then there was naturally no need to provide a credit score report.

For example, if more rent’s investigation report included credit score information from three banks, then Dean would have to pay 75 cents to each of these three banks. This number wasn’t fixed; it depended entirely on how many banks the investigation target had accounts with.

Integrating these credit data from the banks into more rent company’s investigation reports was an upgrade to more rent’s services by Dean. Future more rent reports would include not only criminal records but also banking credit information.

With this dual approach, barring any surprises, more rent was unlikely to have any competitors in the market in the future.

Although the banks that had signed contracts with more rent were all local small banks, for Dean, they were already enough. These small banks had branches in Ohio and adjacent states, and with the cooperation in Youngstown as a starting point, it would be much easier to expand in the future.

...

"Susie, how many counties are there in Ohio?"

"I need to look that up," said Susie as she rolled over to take a state geography book from the nightstand. After flipping through a few pages, she reported an accurate number. "There are a total of 88 counties in Ohio."

"Shit!" Dean sat up straight from the bed in a swift motion, "NCR is going to make a fortune."

"What’s wrong, dear?" Susie sat back at the edge of the bed, gently stroking Dean’s arm, her eyes brimming with concern.

Since Dean had sorted out the more rent and quietly helped her become the president of the Youngstown Real Estate Investors Alliance, Susie had been utterly submissive to Dean recently, assuming any pose he desired.

Seeing Dean’s astonished expression, Susie couldn’t help but feel anxious too.

"Ohio has a population of over ten million, and with 88 counties, that averages out to a few hundred thousand people per county. Susie, does each county have its own courthouse?" At this moment, Dean was silently calculating, but the more he calculated, the more shocked he became.

"In theory, yes, every county has a district court established under the state court. Of course, some larger cities might cover the entire county, so the city courts and county courts overlap," Susie replied, being a more native local than Dean and with her full-time landlord status, she had a clearer understanding of administrative matters.

"That means Ohio has at least 88 district courts, plus the federal circuit courts, and this number might well exceed 100..." If NCR were to promote DCAP across Ohio, the initial sales might approach the ten million dollar range.

Plus ongoing maintenance and upgrade services, Mother F*cker! Calling it a goldmine might not be an exaggeration.

"Susie, I’ve missed out on tens of millions of dollars of wealth~" Dean looked as though he had eaten a lemon, sour all over.

"What?" Susie couldn’t understand what Dean was talking about. Was it a side effect of eating too much seafood pasta?

"Forget it, that fortune is too heavy; I can’t carry it now." Although Dean was extremely envious of NCR for making so much profit off him, he was self-aware enough to know that he wouldn’t have been able to promote DCAP across all of Ohio himself.

Even though NCR would earn a large profit, they also had to invest a lot. Thinking about the many relationships that needed to be managed, Dean felt less sour.

Fortunately, he hadn’t come away completely empty-handed; the exclusive authorization from NCR was Dean’s greatest gain.

With this thought, Dean picked up his clothes from the floor beside the bed, fumbled in his pocket, and handed an agreement to Susie.

"Take a look, there’s nothing wrong with it. Just sign it, and it’s done."

"What is this?" Susie took the paper and examined it carefully. Soon her eyes widened with disbelief. "Dean, is this for real?!"

"Yeah~," Dean nodded calmly, "10% of the shares, that’s what you deserve. You’ve done really well these past few months, Susie."

"Oh~ dear..." Susie’s eyes filled with tears of excitement, "Please, why give me such a big surprise?"

"I’ve said it before, you’re the rent-collecting partner, so of course you have a stake in it," Dean said with a smile, teasing her.

When Dean registered the rent-collection business, he had called Susie to ask for her help in looking after the business. At that time, Susie was very unhappy with Dean’s stinginess, sarcastically calling herself a partner with zero shares.

Now, more than two months later, Dean had delivered his payback. Susie had done well during the days he wasn’t in Youngstown. The emergence of a good rent-collection opportunity was something she had promptly reminded him of.

Honestly speaking, when it came down to rent-collection alone, Susie’s contributions were even greater than Dean’s.

Although Dean explained the reason for his actions with a joke, Susie knew that this was his way of rewarding her.

"Dean..." Susie wrapped her arms around his neck from behind, then bit his ear with her warm red lips.

"Hey~Hey~ I haven’t finished talking..." Dean said with a laugh as he lifted Susie onto his lap, "Are you ready to go to Columbus?"

"What?!" Dean switched topics so quickly that Susie couldn’t keep up with his train of thought.

"Come on, why do you think I agreed to sell DCAP to NCR for $60,000? Do you think I don’t know its real value? Or do you think I agreed to the deal purely under pressure?" Dean winked at Susie, smiling. "Those are some of the reasons, but not all. The real reason that prompted me to agree to the deal is that rent-collection has become DCAP’s exclusive authorized agent!"

"Exclusive authorized agent?" Susie seemed to catch on to something.

"Yes, just as you’re thinking," Dean liked the cleverness Susie possessed, "Remember how we just discussed how many courthouses there are in Ohio? DCAP will soon be in every courthouse in Ohio, and wherever it goes, rent-collection will have smooth sailing~"

"Oh~ OMG!" Susie finally grasped the significance, "So the whole of Ohio will be the market for rent-collection, and we still have no competitors?!"

"Uh-huh~" Dean nodded with pride, procedural justice, ha~

"Now think about which courthouse NCR would want to conquer first after getting DCAP?" Dean continued coaxing her with guidance.

"The Ohio Supreme Court in the capital, Columbus?" Susie’s eyes lit up.

"Bingo~" Dean snapped his fingers in agreement.

"To expand the market in a timely fashion, once DCAP officially goes online at the Supreme Court, rent-collection must follow suit. We have no competitors right now, and there are no companies of the same type on the market, which means the difficulty for rent-collection to take over the market will be greatly reduced." It had to be said, the track that Dean was paving for the company indeed had unique conditions. The feeling of having no competitors was just too good~

"What do you need me to do?" Susie was now fully immersed in her role, wanting nothing more than to grow rent-collection big and strong.

"Just like in Youngstown," Dean pointed to the badge of the Real Estate Investors’ Union President that Susie had just received from the bedside table. "When you get to Columbus, first connect with the local real estate association. Whether it’s landlords or investors, start by breaking through there. You can offer some perks, but don’t promise stock options—those are our money!"

"Also, keep a low profile, especially don’t flaunt our existence in front of NCR. They might not yet realize what that authorization will bring us. So, before we grow, let’s be ostriches."

"Ok," Susie noted all his instructions.

"Of course, there’s no need to worry now. Even if NCR has significant influence, it’s basically impossible for them to take over Columbus without two to three months. So we also have two to three months to prepare, which is just enough time to further expand our market in Youngstown." Dean had already anticipated that in the coming years, rent-collection would experience rapid growth.

"By the way, Dean, many landlords think our $19 fee is too high—do you think we should consider making some concessions...?" Susie brought up the suggestions some landlord friends had made to her in private, as they were more looking forward to a price around $12 since good rent-collection had briefly existed before.

"No!" Dean shook his head, "This price will only go up in the future, not down!"

"Dean?" Susie thought she had heard wrong, wasn’t this the total opposite of what was expected?

"Susie," Dean began to massage his hands with her body, "In the long term, housing prices are going up, and naturally, rent will too. Economic inflation will be one of the culprits, but that’s not the main point. To placate them, I’ve already signed agreements with most banks in Youngstown. In the future, in addition to criminal records, the rent-collection reports will also include bank credit checks."

"Wow~ Is this adding value without raising the price?" Susie let him continue to handle her.

"You could say that." With the service upgrade, Dean believed that landlords wouldn’t question rent-collection’s pricing anymore.

"Dean, come on, get on top of me!" All the issues were resolved smoothly, and Susie was even starting to idolize Dean.

Of course, the most important thing was that she got 10% shares of the rent-collection company, representing the entire Ohio market!

PS: All 20,000 words done!

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