Blockchain in the real estate industry 2020 – Everything you should know

The decentralized structure of blockchain technology is designed to create efficiency for commercial and residential real estate from buying property to conducting due diligence to enabling crowd-sourced investments, and more.

Blockchain in the real estate industry, the advice, knowledge, and know-how of real estate professionals will remain crucial to commercial buyers is done through Ethereum based technology – the digital securitization of real estate properties, also known as tokenization.

Today,

We will discuss the Areas which are Transformed by Blockchain in the real estate industry.

But First,

Let us see how do tokenization impacts real estate funds and asset management?

How do tokenization impacts real estate funds and asset management?

In real estate, tokenization refers to the digitization of securities, alternative assets, and financial instruments.

With the Ethereum blockchain, digital assets can be programmed to include ownership rights, transaction history, and rules to ensure asset issuance, distribution and transfers are regulation compliant.

Simple examples include controls to ensure that tokens can only be transferred to certain counterparties, or not at all during a lock-up period.

Digital assets can be customized to meet all kinds of issuer requirements. 

Moreover, tokenization reduces the costs and increases the speed of creating, issuing, and exchanging assets, innovating new features, administering dividends, and managing other corporate actions.

In-depth customization and rapid issuance allow issuers to tailor digital assets directly according to investor demands, significantly reducing counterparty risk. 

Areas Transformed by Blockchain in the real estate industry –

1. Property search process

Brokers, buyers, owners, tenants use the most common method and for the property listings is through the involvement of a third party or intermediate platforms.

These platforms are usually subscription-based and can command high fees from users and they may need to suffer from the lack of standardization processes and often poor communication between the platforms.

This can lead data of the properties to be inaccurate and incomplete also, the data gets inefficient due to fragmented multiple listing platforms. 

With the help of the blockchain decentralized structure, Blockchain in the real estate industry fixes the listing problem on a single database.

With data distributed across a peer-to-peer network, brokers would be able to have more control over their data, as it would be more difficult for it to be interfered with by any third parties.

Market participants could access more reliable data at a lower cost.

2. Due diligence and financial evaluation process

Documentation or paperwork is required for proof of identity.

This approach requires the commitment of significant time and effort for due diligence and financial verification.

Verification done manually can probably lead to errors and it may involve multiple third-party service providers.

These factors are usually costly and slow down the diligence process. 

Using tokenization or digital identities on the blockchain, the online process can be secured, increase efficiency, lessen the cost, enhance data security, and reduce the chance of manual errors.

Blockchain solution streamlines the process of transferring property titles while also adding some layers of security.

All parties involved in the process, including the buyer, seller, real estate agent, the buyer’s bank, and the land registry, have their own digital identities.

Each can use a single application to securely send and sign official documents blockchain – verified smart contracts. 

3. Property Management

Property Management, includes landlords, property managers, tenants and vendors, and stakeholders and it’s a very complex process.

Properties are being managed through software programs or manually.

This usually does not integrate well with each other. 

With the help of a decentralized application that uses blockchain-backed smart contracts, the entire property management process, from signing lease agreements to managing cash flow to filing maintenance requests, can be conducted in a secure and transparent manner.

In residential real estate, for example, a landlord and tenant could digitally sign a smart contract agreement that includes information such as rental value, payment frequency, and details of both the tenant and property.

Based on agreed terms, smart contracts initiate lease payments from the tenant to the landlord.

After the lease period gets over, smart contracts could also be set to automatically send payment of the security deposit back to the tenant.

4. Title management

Property titles are often paper-based, creating opportunities for errors and fraud.

Any identified defect makes it illegal to transfer a property title to a buyer until it is rectified.

This means property owners often incur high legal fees to ensure authenticity and accuracy of their property titles. 

These title management issues could potentially be solved by using blockchain technology to build immutable digital records of land titles.

This approach could simplify property title management, making it more transparent and helping to reduce the risk of title fraud and the need for additional insurance.

Some companies and governments around the globe have already implemented blockchain technology for the title management process.

5. Financial and payments systems

Due to the extensive documentation required and the involvement of various intermediaries, existing modes of financing and payments for property transactions are currently slow, expensive, and opaque. 

This process could be simplified and made more transparent when Blockchain in the real estate industry technology is applied.

For example, verifiable digital identities for properties could allow a reduction in both due diligence and loan documentation time, thus speeding up the mortgage approval process.

The borrower and lender could also use blockchain technology to execute an immutable smart contract-based loan document, fully accessible by all legal parties involved. 

6. Real estate investing

Real estate investing, this investing is done in regards to commercial property and multifamily housing.

Additionally, real estate investing often involves expensive intermediaries such as fund managers, further raising the barrier to entry. 

Blockchain in the real estate industry technology can decentralize the process by crowdsourcing and tokenization.

Tokenizing real estate assets refers to a process in which a property owner can offer digital tokens that represent a share of their property.

Using a Blockchain in the real estate industry to track these investments, with each transaction being time-stamped and immutable, makes it possible to limit the risk of fraud.

This approach makes it easier to establish a market for property small shares, creating the potential for a property to effectively have numerous co-owners with a stake in potential returns.

There are many blockchain-based real estate investment platforms that currently exist, though most are still in the development phase. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, blockchain still needs to mature, companies are still experimenting with its applications, and many issues remain to be addressed as the general public continues to learn how to use and understand decentralized technology. 

Cryptic Ocean is a blockchain technology company that provides end-to-end blockchain development and blockchain consulting services to multiple business domains.

Our goal is to assist corporations adopt new technologies and change difficult problems that arise throughout technology evolution.

Contact us for the most effective solutions regarding the utilization of blockchain technology to resolve the toughest challenges faced by the globe nowadays.

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