Before selling this piece of land, over the past twenty years, the family of a 61-year-old woman in Phu Hoa village was still considered the poorest in Yen Hoa commune, Cam Xuyen.

The whole family of 6 people lives in a four-level house of about 70 square meters, built more than 20 years ago. Inside, the paint is peeling, many holes in the walls are patched with speckled cement.

Her husband’s health is weak and he works every day. The daily profit of 100,000-200,000 VND from Ms. Lan’s seafood sale is only enough to feed a family of 6.

In mid-March, Ms. Lan received 1.9 billion VND from selling land.

The couple plans to spend 500 million VND to build a tube house about 800 meters away from the old land location to live in, divide a little with their children, and deposit the rest in the bank.

Mrs. Lan was happy to talk about her family earning a large amount of money from selling land.

Phu Hoa village is 2 km from the sea. Ms. Lan said that before 1980, seeing the barren sandy land lying bare, people in the village often improved the land to grow casuarina trees to sell, and recently they switched to sowing peanut trees.

However, land prices in two neighboring villages, Phu Hoa and Bac Hoa, have changed rapidly since mid-2021, after news that a business applied to build a golf course and eco-tourism area on an area of more than 480 hectares adjacent to the border.

Recalling that time, Ms. Lan said that since August 2021, seeing many customers coming to ask to buy land was a bit `suspicious`.

In the following days, strangers continuously called her, many groups of customers parked dozens of cars in front of the house asking to buy the land, asking for 3-3.5 billion VND.

A people’s house in Phu Hoa village has now become a place to buy and sell real estate.

Seeing her husband’s thoughts wavering and intending to `break the deposit`, Mrs. Lan analyzed that the `sky-high` price was probably told by brokers to lure the partner to cancel the transaction to fine the deposit.

`I hesitated very much, every night I struggled with my thoughts, I lay down to sleep with the billions of money floating around in my head. I told my husband, I have suffered more than half my life, I have to maintain my stance. Whatever God gives me, I will enjoy it.

Bordering Phu Hoa village of Mrs. Lan’s house is Bac Hoa.

A 50-year-old man in Bac Hoa village shared that his family lives by fishing and raising chickens, which is just enough to cover daily meals. If land prices don’t increase, they don’t know when they will have a place to rest.

According to statistics, more than 100 households in two disadvantaged villages have improved economically during the land fever from mid-2021 until now.

A new house in Bac Hoa village was built by people using money from land sales.

Mr. Tran Van Thuan, leader of Bac Hoa village, said: `If calculated according to the general level, land prices here are not expensive, people often sell large areas so they can make money. Compared to some other rural areas in

Phu Hoa and Bac Hoa villages had fever in three waves.

But besides making many people change their lives, land fever here also has consequences.

In addition, many households also have the intention of expanding their current garden to land areas managed by the commune with the purpose of later legalizing the red cover application.

In Viet Tien commune, Thach Ha district, where rural land fever occurred at the same time as Yen Hoa commune, two sisters pooled their money to buy a piece of land larger than 1,000 m2.

`In the past, land was cheap and few people were interested. Some families agreed verbally, signed a paper to sell the land they were living on, then took their children to the South to do business and settle down there. Recently, when land fever occurred, they returned to the land.

Currently, with projects to build a golf course in Yen Hoa commune (Cam Xuyen) and an industrial park in Viet Tien commune (Thach Ha), the People’s Committee of Ha Tinh province has only allowed businesses to survey for planning, but has not yet taken action.

From 2021 until now, the entire Ha Tinh province has had a `land fever` situation from rural to urban areas.

Duc Hung