USA Real Estate Firm Puts New York Building for Sale as NFT

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Jaroslaw Adamowski

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Jaroslaw Adamowski

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January 8, 2024 08:41 EST

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Exploring innovative ways to use non-fungible tokens (NFT) in real estate deals, the US real estate firm Okada & Company has listed its first commercial property as an NFT on the OpenSea marketplace with an ETH 15,000 tag price (USD 28.7).

The NFT gives the buyer exclusive rights to “acquire the building all its uses rights & related deed covenants,” the firm said in a statement. “Due to the nature of real estate sales, the sale of the NFT does not warrant the completion of the real estate transaction, or reflect the transfer of the deed or title. The traditional real estate process must still be complete,” it explained. 

Okada & Company is selling a 46,299 sq. feet property in the USA, in New York City’s prestigious Chelsea neighborhood which is located on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan. It is a seven-story office and retail building in close proximity to Madison Square Park and other NYC landmarks. 

There is one token for this deal, and this NFT will be minted on the Ethereum blockchain, according to the realtor.

Chris Okada, CEO of Okada & Company, told Cryptonews.com that the company has already received expressions of interest in purchasing the building from a number of people, “but as we launched the sale of the property three-four days ago we are still in the beginning phases of the sale.”

“Most transactions of this size take around three-four months before signing a contract. We shall see. The people that reached out have not submitted an offer,” according to the CEO.

Asked about the advantages of such a hybrid transaction for both buyers and sellers, Okada said that they included the “utility of the NFT and finding another way of receiving payment for commercial real estate.”

Meanwhile, commenting on the company’s latest initiative, some industry observers argued that Okada is using the sale to make its activities more visible to potential buyers.

“My guess is it’s a marketing tactic, but imagine a building can trade as nft? Buyers can see the deed, NOI [net operating income], tenant mix on the blockchain+ trade hands immediately. 10 years away? 15? Whenever this happens will be so sick,” tweeted Web 3 investor Benjamin Cohen.

Robert Leshner, Founder of Compound Labs, said that the sale indicated that real estate’s future was on-chain.

“This property last traded for [USD] 16.25M 7 months ago; now listed for 15,000 ETH […] That would be quite the NFT flip!” according to the entrepreneur.

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