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The dangers of buying a property on a long leasehold instead of a freehold are becoming clearer every day, says @MerrynSW https://t.co/eHGKgCz4Uj pic.twitter.com/1SkZSsI3Nk

— MoneyWeek (@MoneyWeek) September 10, 2018

Keppel Infrastructure Trust is nearing an agreement to acquire Ixom, an Australian chemical company controlled by Blackstone Group LP, people with knowledge of the matter said.

A deal may be announced in the coming weeks, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. A sale of Ixom could fetch more than $1 billion, people familiar with the matter said in August.

Acquiring Ixom would help Keppel Infrastructure, led by recently appointed Chief Executive Officer Matthew Pollard, to widen its exposure beyond Singapore. Its portfolio mostly comprises investments based in the city-state, although it also owns Australian electricity and telecom firm Basslink, which it acquired when it merged with CitySpring Infrastructure Trust in 2014.

Negotiations with Blackstone are ongoing, the people said. A representative for Keppel Infrastructure said the firm regularly evaluates potential transactions and will make necessary announcements if there are any material developments. A Sydney-based external representative for Blackstone declined to comment.

Blackstone bought Orica Ltd.’s chemical business for $536 million in 2015 and renamed it Ixom. Its water treatment and chemical distribution business is centered on Australia and New Zealand, with a growing presence in the Americas and in Asia, its website showed.

Keppel Infrastructure’s portfolio includes the sole producer and retailer of piped town gas in Singapore, waste incineration and water desalination plants and a data center.

Last week, Greg went deep on “Certainty as a Service”, as a follow up to his piece the previous week on certainty for all. When reverse engineering the components that add up to a sum of certainty that Opendoor and Zillow are selling into the marketplace, he posits they revolve around a few core concepts; inspect, warrant, cash, carry, and float, which make up the ecosystem of certainty as a service.

Greg and I both believe Certainty as a Service (CaaS) will be a major topic of conversation in the months and years ahead as practitioners strategize how to compete against iBuyers.

I dove into the “Home OS” opportunity, an iteration of my previous thinking on the history of a home. We all know operating systems are the core of every computer, phone, and, soon to be car. Eventually, software will control the home as well. A few of the major consumer opportunities that will be enabled as a result are security, inventory management, a financial dashboard, partial ownership, and a home services marketplace.

Weekly Radar Sample

ADVICE ABOUT ADVISORS
Elie Finegold, who is a real estate and technology entrepreneur and advisor (EIR at MetaProp), posted The Advisor’s advice about Advisors. As someone who has been on both sides of this equation many times, there are some critical pieces of advice Elie shares. Notably, the importance of respecting an advisors relationships and having an agenda sent in advance. I’m always surprised with how many entrepreneurs don’t have a strong answer when asked: “What do you need help with?” -DM

WE DONT NEED NO EDUCATION
More stories are surfacing about the success of graduates from coding schools who seem to find well-paying careers at unbelievable rates. I was lucky to office out of General Assembly when I lived in New York and the quality of most of these schools is top notch, even online. Besides, “According to LinkedIn’s analysis of its 500 million users, emerging online educational platforms like Udacity, FreeCodeCamp, and General Assembly have each placed more full-stack engineers into jobs this past year than any American university.” -GF

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1. Curate the world’s most innovative and diverse community of real estate creatives, doers, and pioneers.
2. Make our members wildly successful in their careers building real estate companies.

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A vacant lot in a neighborhood can summon a number of reactions: despair, anger, apathy. But many Detroiters are finding ways in which a vacant lot can lift up a community and inspire—even create a place for sanctuary.

Last week, we visited the Garden Detroit in Jefferson-Chalmers, with both a corner lot with hoop house and a plot of nine vacant lots transformed into a lush garden. The land and the flora is indeed inspiring.

Nancy Weigandt and Tom Milano of the Garden Detroit had been cleaning up vacant land as volunteers for years. Both experienced gardeners, they understood the potential for turning blighted land into a place of beauty, and started working with the Land Bank to acquire vacant lots. They intended on planting vegetables, but neighbors worried they might attract rats, so now flowers create a sanctuary on the lots on Manistique Street.

A few blocks away, a vacant house sat on the corner lot next to the purple house at 313 Newport Street, where Milano has lived for 30 years. Weigandt notes that dogs took up residence on the upper level of the vacant house at one point. After the land bank demolished the house, Wiegandt and Milano bought the vacant lot in order to create a new garden. They started a non-profit—the Garden Detroit—and received an implementation grant from the Kresge Foundation to plant non-edibles.

Detroit Abloom now has a hoop house, a root cellar, and so many dahlias.

Weigandt says that 80 percent of cut flowers come from Central America; growing cut flowers here can not only beautify vacant land, but the growing movement in the U.S. can reduce the carbon footprint for shipping flowers.

The group also sells cut flowers at many local retailers, hosts floral workshops and events, and helps others plan sanctuary gardens.

Milano sees a more spiritual purpose for the gardens, that they’re an external manifestation of how we’re all equals and share the same purpose. The gardens not only demonstrate how the land can be used, but how we can beautify our neighborhoods, create jobs, and create safe places of sanctuary.

Weigandt says that this year has been difficult and temperamental for growing, with the very cold winter and hot, humid summer. But looking around the property, especially along the perimeters of the hoop house, visitors can see a variety of flowers on full display.

The Garden Detroit is hosting the Detroit Abloom Dahlia Festival September 30 from 2-6 p.m.

A sprawling oceanfront Florida compound owned by the Ziff family is asking just under $200 million, according to people familiar with the property, making it one of the highest priced listings in the country.

고종완 한국자산관리연구원장은 "대부분 지역이 준강남권으로 평가될 수 있지만 시흥·의정부 등은 강남 접근성보다 공급 편의성을 더 고려한 것으로 보인다"고 말했다. 안산 2곳 주택 수가 1만6700가구로 가장 크다. 과천이 7100가구로 뒤를 잇는다. 광명이 4900가구로 세 번째로 크다.

수도권 주변에서 가격이 급등하는 투기과열지구를 중심으로 저렴한 공공주택을 집중적으로 공급해 가격을 안정화시키겠다는 의도로 읽힌다.

박상언 유엔알컨설팅 대표는 "과거 이명박 정부 때 강남·서초보금자리 주택에서 수천 가구 규모를 제외하고 광명·시흥 등에 몇 만 가구씩 집중적으로 넣었으나 주민 반발로 사업 추진에 진통이 많았다"며 "지역별로 소규모로 물량을 분산시켜 최대한 사업을 원활히 추진하려고 한 의지가 보인다"고 말했다.

안산과 과천을 제외하고는 1000~5000가구 규모로 아파트 1~2개 단지 규모다. 대부분 지역이 기존 택지지구 주변에 위치해 있어 공급 규모를 '확' 늘리지 못한 것으로 보인다.

장하성 청와대 정책실장도 지난 3일 "대규모 단지를 조성하는 방식이 아니라 생활 근접성이 높은 지역에 소규모로 여러 곳에 주택 공급을 늘리는 방안을 고려 중"이라고 밝혔다.

문제는 현재 불붙고 있는 서울·수도권 집값을 잠재울 수 있느냐다. 이들 주택이 분양이 이뤄지기까지는 일러야 1년 이상, 입주 때까지는 최소 3~4년 걸린다. 정부 계획은 내년 공급물량이 많지 않은 광명·시흥·의정부·성남·의왕 등에 대해 우선 지방자치단체와 협의를 완료해 3월까지는 지구 지정을 완료한다는 방침이다. 이렇게 되면 아무리 일러도 내년 말은 돼야 공급이 가능하다.

이명박 정부의 보금자리 사전 청약 때처럼 실제 분양 이전에 사전 예약을 받아 시장 수요를 미리 흡수하는 방법도 있다.

그러나 많은 부작용으로 정부는 사전 예약에 대해 부정적이다. 국토교통부 관계자는 "보금자리 사전 예약은 7~8년이 지난 지금까지도 아직 본청약을 실시하지 못해 많은 민원이 발생하고 있다"며 "아무리 급해도 부작용이 많은 정책을 반복하지는 않을 것"이라고 말했다.

앞서 국토부와 LH는 경기도에 13개 입지를 발표한 바 있다. 의왕 월암, 군포 대야미, 부천 원종, 부천 괴안, 구리 갈매, 남양주 진접2, 성남 복정, 성남 금토, 김포 고촌2 등 10개 지구 479만1000㎡에 3만9901가구를 공급하기 위한 지구 지정은 이미 완료됐다.

주민공람이 완료된 화성 어천, 성남 서현, 시흥 거모 등 3개 지구 250만2000㎡는 지구 지정을 앞두고 있다. 신규 지정을 추진 중인 8곳까지 합하면 경기도에 추진되는 신규 공공택지는 총 21곳으로 1272만3000㎡에 9만6223가구가 공급된다.

실제 추진까지는 적잖은 난항이 예상된다. 이달 들어 과천 주암동 일대는 공공주택 추가 건립 소문이 확산되자 지역 정치권과 주민 반발이 커지고 있다. 여당인 신창현 의원이 돌연 사업 후보지를 정부가 발표하기 전에 공개해버린 것도 협의 없이 사업이 발표됐을 때 민심 이반이 작지 않을 것을 우려한 것으로 보인다.

특히 후보지로 거론되는 과천 주암지구 일대에는 이미 5700여 가구의 행복주택과 공공지원 민간임대주택 등 건립계획이 확정돼 지구계획까지 승인된 상황이다.

국토부 관계자는 '검토 중인 후보지와 주암지구가 별도 계획이냐'는 질문에 "어디까지나 검토 대상일 뿐이며 주암지구와 별도 계획인지 확인해줄 수 없다"고 말했다. 과천시의회는 '과천시에 대한 대테러 행위'라며 강력하게 반발하고 있다. 시의회는 지식정보타운과 뉴스테이 개발 사업에 이어 또다시 과천시에 임대주택 공급정책을 추진하는 것은 과천시를 베드타운화하는 것이나 다름없다며 과천시민과 함께 이 사업을 전면 백지화시켜 나갈 것이라는 뜻을 밝혔다.

이명박 정부 때인 2011년 정부가 과천 지식정보타운 보금자리주택지구 주택 물량을 당초 9600가구로 발표했지만 과천시와 시민들이 대대적으로 반발하면서 4800가구로 급히 축소된 바 있다.

당시 주민들은 과천시장 소환 운동까지 벌여 지정 철회를 요구하며 정부를 압박했다. 신 의원은 "과천은 남태령과 양재대로 교통이 포화 상태라 '선교통, 후개발'이 필요하다"며 "업무 및 IT 기업, 상업시설 등 자족시설, 문화시설 등 강남 기능 일부를 이전하는 자족시설 중심으로 계획을 수정해야 한다"고 말했다.

[이지용 기자 / 손동우 기자]
[ⓒ 매일경제 & mk.co.kr, 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]

Last week, I dove deep on pocket listings and the strategic implications of the 2018 landscape I laid out. The key question is whether the strategy of using pocket listings to build a buyer audience that sticks around after the market turns prove fruitful for the brokerages and startups working on it? If you’re interested in the research that went into my article, you should read this blog post from last week.

Greg talked about the fact that most technos overlook is that the process isn’t as bad as they make it out to be in their board meetings or in the media. That drives practitioners nuts, but as long as investment dollars and media models depend on it, that’s not going to change. He then went on to explore whether the market for certainty is nearly infinite at this stage in the iBuyer game.

Weekly Radar Sample

REBATES WITH A TRANSFER TWIST
A brokerage, Houwzer, offers rebates to sellers. That’s nothing new. What caught my interest about their latest news is that the $2,500 rebate can be transferred to family and friends and doesn’t expire. Not because it’s revolutionary — “the money we owe you, yeah, you can give it to someone else if you want just like you can cash” — but because it alludes to other potential uses for rebates. Parents help their kids with the down payment on their first home; I can see this sort of arrangement helping their kids choose a specific agent/brokerage when they transact. First time buyers don’t have a ton of cash in the bank to start investing, but what if their broker put $5,000 into a real estate investment for them at closing, and managed that investment? All of a sudden, that could be the beginning of this “real estate broker as a wealth manager” trend I’m so excited about. How do you turn rebates into the start of a loyalty program? That your clients give a damn about. That’s something worth thinking about. -DM

BITS ARE THE NEW CAPITAL AND ATOMS ARE THE NEW LABOR
Operator turned investor Mike Maples had an interesting piece in Fortune about how his experiences as an entrepreneur and investor have led him to believe that software-defined networks will displace traditional corporations and bring innovation to our lives at exponential scale if we just get out of our own way.

“However, the global startup culture needs to grow up. We don’t need “disruptors,” “dis-intermediators,” “brogrammers,” robots that “eat” jobs, or technology that eats anything at all. We need people like Bill Hewlett, David Packard, and Bob Noyce. We need the next Andrew Carnegie and JP Morgan. We need to bring prosperity forward for more people more quickly and show how this is possible so people will be excited and not afraid.”

That quote alone is reason enough to go read it from the beginning. -GF

Mastermind Member News

As a reminder, the purpose of the Geek Estate Mastermind is two fold:

1. Curate the world’s most innovative and diverse community of real estate creatives, doers, and pioneers.
2. Make our members wildly successful in their careers building real estate companies.

If you want to read the entire newsletter, and future weekly editions, please apply for a Mastermind membership below.

Apply for Membership