Well, it looks like I’m going back to school. To become an appraiser – something I’ve already been doing for years! Why? Well, in any field, I believe it’s important to make sure that you’re not just doing the same thing year after year. You have to keep your ear to the ground and stay in touch with changes not just as they happen, but before they happen. So even though I’ve been a real estate appraiser and tax attorney for over ten
You already know I’m fascinated by tech trends, personally and professionally, and that I keep a close eye on how those trends are going to affect my business and my clients’. So you’ve probably already noticed that I’m enthusiastic about blockchain and its potential to make almost every type of real estate transaction and investment faster, simpler, and more efficient. It does that in part by eliminating the middleman. In real estate today, every transaction, every change in zoning or registration,
I’m very excited to announce here that I’ve been selected as a keynote speaker for the upcoming Decentralized 2019 conference. This is Europe’s premier conference on blockchain and digital currencies, being held in Athens on Oct. 30-Nov. 1. I’ve been to a lot of blockchain conferences recently, so why am I so excited about this one? First of all, as a lawyer and lover of philosophy and deep thought, there’s something about Greece’s 3000-year tradition of democracy, justice, ethics, and esthetics that
It’s easy to fool yourself into thinking real estate hasn’t changed much. Drive around any big city, or a small town, for that matter, and it’s easy to believe that real estate not only isn’t changing – it can’t change. After all, buildings are still buildings, and they’ll always need land underneath them, owners, builders, renovation, development, redevelopment. Everybody still needs to live and work somewhere. And it’s true, that isn’t changing. But that doesn’t mean the industry is static – far
By Ido Shacham and Yael Tamar With all the buzz around Facebook’s recent announcement of its Libra cryptocurrency, what’s gotten lost in the shuffle is how this will affect digital assets. On the surface, these look like unrelated questions. Libra’s goal, from its one-sentence mission statement, is “to enable a simple global currency and financial infrastructure that empowers billions of people.” This doesn’t seem (on the surface) to have anything to do with the world of digital assets: Facebook’s coin is service-based
Despite the scary headlines all over the world, it’s usually pretty quiet here in Israel. But occasionally, especially in the south, things can heat up. Like while I was recently teaching a real estate appraisal and taxation course at the Ashkelon Academic College, 12 km (7.5 miles) from the Gaza border… and things suddenly started escalating, with serious rocket fire and near-misses very close to the college. I didn’t hesitate to show up for class, knowing my students – future real
The word on everybody’s lips these days when it comes to tokenization is valuation. And with good reason. Investors are wary these days and want to be sure they’re backing a solid asset, while asset owners want to ensure fair valuation so they can leverage their property to the greatest benefit. When we’re talking about turning a real-estate asset into a token, there are two ways that valuation comes into play. First is valuation of the underlying property, which is essential
One key advantage of tokenization is the opportunity to sell or trade real estate asset-backed security tokens on secondary markets. The greater liquidity of security tokens as compared to traditional real estate investments is probably the core of their appeal. Yet ensuring that tokens will have a stable value during secondary market trading is highly dependent on correct valuation. When valuating a security token backed on a real estate asset to ensure maximum stability in secondary trading, there are three important
An agricultural estate transaction is usually more complex than an ordinary land transactions, since a person who owns an agricultural estate holds several different rights to which he sells to the buyer – each of these rights has a different tax impact. For inheritance, it is customary to divide the bundle of rights into five separate rights entities: The residences and/or existing residential buildings on the estate. Remaining residential building rights. Remaining residential plots that allow for the establishment of non-agricultural business activities (e.g.,
For immigrants who arrive as part of a “Group Aliya Flight,” a flight that takes place every six months or a year, something as small as a delayed flight can cause them to lose between tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of shekels. All due to land taxation regulations that are not suitable for modern times. The Real Estate Taxation regulation, which was legislated in 1974, is unsuited to modern immigration to Israel, and causes many immigrants to lose
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