Good morning, real estate folks aiming for the stars, here's a quick read about the path to greatness.
A 93 minute film - named Writing with Fire - about the women behind the online news outlet "Khabar Lahariya" - meaning News Waves in Hindi - was nominated in the Best Documentary Feature category for this year's Oscars.
Started by a group of women 20 years ago, Khabar Lahariya focuses on women's and local issues in rural Uttar Pradesh. Yeah, that's two decades of being at it.
🔖 Moral: There's no shortcut to greatness. Hard work, persistence and the patience of a tree are qualities that could lead you to the podium. Umm, what we really mean is that doing all this gets you a one in a million chance to bask in the limelight. That's about it.
🎧 Winning a pair of boAt 441 Airdopes is statistically far more probable than that.
Chai's Giveaways
💝 Love is in the air and because we love our readers to the moon, this Valentine's Day, we are giving one lucky Ginger Chai reader a pair of cool boAt 441 Airdopes.
How Do You Get It?
Simply reading this newsletter on Monday, 14th February, makes you eligible for a boost in your music time, with the Airdopes offering up to 35 hours of charge-free playback.
💌 Want a friend or colleague to become eligible for our giveaway too? Ask them to subscribe to Ginger Chai before midnight, 13th February. We assure you, their chances of winning are better than top movie stars bagging an Oscar.
*Winner will be announced on 15th Feb. For Indian Residents Only.
Supreme Court Asks For Land Allotment Guidelines
Unlocking unused government land for housing is a sure fire route to address the affordable housing crisis plaguing our world.
And guess what? The Supreme Court of India is taking that solution pretty seriously.
Starting With Creating A Process
A Supreme Court bench including the Chief Justice NV Ramana, Justices AS Bopanna and Hima Kohli has recently asked the Attorney General, KK Venugopal to submit proposed guidelines to govern and allot government land to housing societies.
And Weeding Out Unethical Practice
The court wanted to know how they can regulate and create a uniform policy across the country for the allocation of land after the AG said that these plots of land are being distributed to politicians, journalists, and even judges to “curry favours for particular entities”.
How Did We Get Here?
A plea was filed in the High Court in 2008 where it was stated that the land situated within the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation included various societies that housed MLAs, MPs, and other high profile officers.
Further, an appeal was filed by the then Andhra Pradesh government in 2010 against the Hyderabad High Court judgment which set aside various government orders on allotment of residential plots to housing societies.
Now its successor, the Telangana government is following up the matter.
A House Is Being Sold As An NFT Today
Let's get this straightened out. JPEGs of sushi and monkeys aren't the only things being sold as non fungible tokens (NFT).
A house in Tampa Bay, Florida, is being auctioned off as an NFT as you read this, in what is claimed to be the first American real estate NFT transaction. FYI, bidding for the house starts at USD650,000 in ether.
But, But, But… How Does It Work?
For the transaction to happen, the NFT will effectively replace the house’s deed by representing a limited liability company (Llc - is the US-specific form of a private limited company) that owns the property rights.
So, the winning bidder walks away with an NFT of a company that owns the house.
😃 - CAs reading this.
Has It Happened Before?
Yes. The sale is being handled by proptech company Propy, and would be its second NFT real estate transaction. In 2021, Propy sold an apartment owned by TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington in Ukraine, as an NFT.
What's The Buzz About?
🐝 After many years of anaemia, the housing market is finally experiencing that old college feeling from homebuyers - the fear of missing out. And experts feel that this time around, home prices going through the roof could actually be a good thing.
🐝 There are tons of folks who move to other countries for secondary residence or sometimes, even citizenship. A recent survey of such people showed that Dubai is currently the world's most sought after destination.
🐝 In 2021, about 22 million sq. ft. of space was leased across warehousing and industrial facilities in the top 5 Indian cities. Most of the space leased was for warehouses, followed by industrial sheds.
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How do you plan for this?
A geomagnetic storm has disabled at least 40 of the 49 satellites newly launched by SpaceX as part of its Starlink internet communications network.
How? The speed and severity of the solar storm warmed Earth's atmosphere, thus increasing atmospheric density at the low-orbit altitude of the satellites, thereby creating intense drag, knocking out at least 40 of the satellites, per Reuters.
You can't have a bad day after reading that. 💚
☕ The Crew@Ginger Chai