That’s Odd

The Bad Real Estate Deal is Saved

Time is a critical factor in the real estate industry. If you deliberate too long, you can miss a golden opportunity. Being in the field, I knew this and thus, when I noticed a property for sale in a central residential area, perfect for building an apartment complex, I grabbed it. I signed the contract, confident that I would be able to convince one of my regular investors to partner on the deal.

Only then did I discover that the property was only slated for commercial use only. It could not be rented out to individuals to live in. To my bitter luck, justifiably so, none of my investors were interested to partner with me in this undertaking. I tried to change the zoning of the property, but it wouldn’t go.

I was left with the property, and no ideas on what I could possibly do with it. I didn’t have the money entailed to be able to invest in it alone, and only a few weeks remained until the closing. I feared a big loss. Who would want to use such a commercial structure in a residential area?

Leafing through the local paper, searching for some solution, I noticed a story written about a similar situation that ended well. How? Tehillim Kollel membership. I had nothing to lose, so I decided to sign up and see if it would really help.

Unbelievably, several days later, I had an interested buyer!

For whatever reason, this particular person had an interest in using this property as storage, specifically because it was in this residential neighborhood. Amazingly, he was ready to pay even more than I had paid for it. Not only did I not lose money over the deal, in the end I even earned a profit!

I was shocked by the quick and unexpected solution to my problem. Just days before, I had seen no way out

and suddenly, once I garnered the strength of tefillah, the yeshuah – in the form of a person – walked through the doors of my office, shook my hand, and left me with a much-needed, handsome check.

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phasized.

The letter was sent to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, and Attorney General Merrick Garland.

$24.3M License Plate

Cars, like many other products, are becoming exorbitantly expensive. In California, it’s not just automobiles that have people clutching their wallets. An extremely rare license plate is now for sale in the Golden State for a whopping $24.3 million.

The license plate debuts two letters: MM.

There are over 35,000,000 registered vehicles in the state of California, each of which has its own unique license plate with anywhere from two to seven characters. Of these, two-character plates are the rarest, especially two-character repeating plates like “MM.” There are only 35 two-letter plates, making this license plate literally one in a million.

Looking to purchase this out-ofcontrol plaque for your car? Don’t worry. You’ll be able to use it on the road. A recent change in the state’s Special Interest License Plate Application includes the option to “release interest to a new owner.” Before that change, the plate could only be transferred to another of the original owner’s vehicles – now, license plates can be sold, and the buyer can use and register it on their own vehicle.

The “MM” license plate is currently available for purchase on OpenSea, a popular digital art auction space, for 5,888 ether, which is the equivalent of $24.3 million. That’s because you’re not just buying the plate and the right to transfer it to your own vehicle, you’re buying its matching non-fungible token, NFT. Why an NFT? Because both the plate and digital artwork are both completely unique. The token also acts as a proof of authenticity and ownership, with its QR code ID number both inscribed on the back of the plate.

“Just like NFTs, license plates are exclusive by nature, always 1 of 1,” the OpenSea listing says. “The pairing of these two rarities was inevitable. This minting has established provenance and hopes to inspire an entire community around an aftermarket buying/selling desirable license plate configurations.”

For now, it’s unclear if someone is willing to shell out tens of millions on a license plate, but if they do, they will be able to claim ownership of the world’s most expensive license plate. Until then, that honor belongs to an Abu Dhabi license plate with the number “1” which sold for $14.3 million in 2009.

The most expensive one in the U.S. is a Delaware plate with the number “11” that sold for $675,000 the year before.

Let’s get this show on the road.

Spot the Fake

It’s a veritable art Where’s Waldo? conundrum.

A New York art collective recently announced that it will be selling 1,000 Andy Warhol sketches for $250 each. Sounds like a steal, right? Except that 999 of the sketches are elaborate copies of the original.

The Brooklyn-based MSCHF collective said that its “Museum of Forgeries” project involves a single Andy Warhol sketch titled Fairies and 999 copies made by a machine with artificially aged paper to match the original.

The real artwork was randomly mixed in with the forgeries, so one buyer of a $250 sketch will receive the real deal, while 999 others will receive

copies.

Daniel Greenberg, chief revenue officer of MSCHF, said the sketch was sold for $8,125 by auction house Christie’s in 2016, and the artwork’s current value is estimated at about $20,000.

According to MSCHF, the project is aimed at making a statement about famous works of art only being accessible to the wealthy.

“By burying a needle in a needlestack, we render the original as much a forgery as any of our replications,” the site states.

An interesting case of artistic license…

Squashing the Competition

Like pumpkin pie? Well, you may want to become friends with Stefano Cutrupi.

The Italian farmer has carved out his place in history with a pumpkin grown by him that weighed in last week at approximately 2,702 pounds, breaking the Guinness World Record to become the heaviest pumpkin in the history books. Cutrupi submitted the pumpkin to the Campionato della Zuccone pumpkin festival in Peccioli, near Pisa, on September 26.

“At the time of the weigh-in, I had my back to the screen,” Cutrupi said. “When my friends and the audience saw the weight, they swept me up in celebration. At that moment, I knew I had made it. I screamed until I lost my voice.”

The orange squash has been nabbing accolades wherever it rolls.

Two weeks after the Pecciolo competition, Cutrupi’s pumpkin made its way to Ludwigsburg, Germany, to be presented at the European Giant Pumpkin Championship on October 10. While its bulk had slightly reduced, the roughly 2,684-pound gourd was still large enough to claim first place there, too.

Cutrupi has been growing pumpkins since 2008 and has been growing his monstrous pumpkin since March. The high temperatures in the summer did leave Cutrupi a bit concerned because there were often temperatures between 91 degrees Fahrenheit and 104 degrees Fahrenheit from midJune to mid-August.

Cutrupi expressed optimism that he can someday defeat his own record.

“Everything is possible,” he said. “Records are made to be broken. I’ll try next year.”

Sounds go(ur)d.

Human Hippos?

Abie Rotenberg may have been onto something when he made up a song about hippopotamuses’ feelings. Now, a group of almost 100 hippos has been recognized as legal persons in the United States.

These hippos are not your average hippos. They are descendants of hippos that were owned by late drug lord Pablo Escobar in Colombia. And they are now the first non-human creatures to have been legally considered people.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio recognized the hippos as legal persons, an integral step in trying to save the animals, as authorities in Colombia have discussed killing them since 2009.

Escobar illegally imported animals at his ranch in Colombia until his death in 1993. The animals were sent to other zoos with the exception of four hippos too difficult to move. The four have now multiplied over the years, with authorities referring to them as an invasive species.

Colombian attorney Luis Domingo Gómez Maldonado filed a lawsuit on the animals’ behalf in July to save them from being killed. Non-human

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animals in Colombia have the right to bring lawsuits to protect their interests. Interested parties in the country are allowed to go to a federal court in the U.S. to obtain documents or testimony.

The Animal Defense League applied on behalf of the hippos.

“Animals have the right to be free from cruelty and exploitation, and the failure of U.S. courts to recognize their rights impedes the ability to enforce existing legislative protections,” Animal Legal Defense Fund Executive Director Stephen Wells said in a statement.

“The court’s order authorizing the hippos to exercise their legal right to obtain information in the United States is a critical milestone in the broader animal status fight to recognize that animals have enforceable rights,” he continued.

Sounds like this calls for a “hip, hip, hooray!”

Auto-Nap

Need some sleep? Hop on a bus.

A Hong Kong tour company is offering a unique solution to help stressed-out passengers get some rest – a five-hour bus ride to nowhere.

For those who find they get their most restful sleep to the sounds and motions of the road, Ulu Travel is offering tickets to the longest bus route in Hong Kong, traveling 47 miles around the Tuen Mun highway and North Lantau Island on the “uninterrupted sleeping bus.”

Passengers can choose among four types of cabins on the double-decker bus, with tickets prices ranging from $13 to $51. The itinerary offers a “food coma lunch” and stops at various scenic sites and drop-off locations.

Passengers meet at a restaurant for a two-course before boarding the bus to start sleeping. The sleeping bus tour was sold out for its inaugural trip Saturday.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that the guy next to you won’t be snoring.

Potluck

An Indian couple started their new life together in an unusual way.

Akash Kunjumon and his wife, Aishwarya, were legally married on October 6. Their wedding ceremony was planned for October 18 at a temple at Thalavady.

The day of their ceremony, though, massive flooding submerged many places in town, including the temple and including many of the roads. And so, the event was moved to a nearby hall with a stage that was not underwater.

But how would the bride and groom get there through the flooded streets?

“Although we tried to arrange a small boat to reach the venue, none was available,” Kunjumon explained.

Officials at the temple provided an alternative solution: a pot.

The couple climbed into a large cooking pot and set sail, finally reaching the venue after a 20-minute pot-boating trip. Volunteers pushing the pot had to fight “a strong undercurrent” to get them to their wedding.

“My father swam to the temple and my mother, grandmother and sisters used another pot,” Kunjumon said. “The photographer had to struggle. But he knew the story and was ready to take the risk.”

We’re happy that it all panned out.