Real Estate Deeds Made Easy Since 1997
July, 2021 — Real estate has long functioned as a store of equity value that owners can exchange for money, loans and lines of credit. Yet the typical real estate transaction is associated with a cumbersome, bureaucratic, and fee-heavy process that every homeowner is greatly relieved to finish. There are other ways to invest in …
Continue reading “From Crowdfunding to Tokenization: The Evolution of Shares in Real Estate”
Real estate is known as an illiquid asset. Turning real estate assets into cash is a complex, costly process. This is so, whether the owner is selling, or seeking profit from steady rental income. Returns on an initial investment are typically slow, cumbersome, dependent on intermediaries, and reliant on other people’s reliability and performance. Blockchain …
Continue reading “Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and Real Estate Investments”
Art met real estate in a new way this year. Krista Kim’s Mars House design appeared on the first irreplaceable, non-fungible token (NFT) for a virtual house and garden. Kim’s virtual experience was followed by an NFT listing for a home in New York (a real one) on the Ethereum blockchain. Think it’s all a …
Continue reading “Deeds, Reimagined: Is a New Day Dawning for the Chain of Title?”
Tesla will accept your Bitcoin when you buy your new self-driving car. Taking note, Realtor.com looked around — and yes, there are home sellers accepting cryptocurrency, too. Most of the homes that can be purchased with Bitcoin are in Florida, New York and California. But a few are popping up in the heartland. Exchanging a …
Continue reading “You Can Buy a Tesla with Bitcoin. How About a House?”
Tech is transforming real estate at a speed that worries some and excites others. But many would agree that current real estate transactions trigger as much anxiety as joy. A deal can take months, with a string of third parties showering sellers and buyers with fees and paperwork. Those with inside knowledge have an edge …
Continue reading “Fintech and Proptech and Deeds… Oh My! Trends Shaping the Future of Real Estate”
The latest impetus to digitalize real estate might just turn out to be the tipping point. Practically overnight, COVID-19 is a defining element of our time. This hideous and deadly virus became a major challenge to the systems that carry us through our everyday transactions.
Are generations different in their approach to buying real estate? The fundamentals of buying real estate arguably haven’t changed, but financial and technological trends have. And with more people seeking houses than houses to be found, home prices have taken an upward path. Despite low mortgage rates, all first-time home buyers face a challenging market.
In every state, contractors who do work on a home can place a mechanic’s lien (construction lien) on the title if they do not get paid. A mechanic’s lien is a claim filed for work done, materials supplied, or both. By operation of state law, this claim becomes a lien against the property’s title. This is the contractor’s leverage to get paid. …
Title insurance emerged more than a century ago. It had a purpose: to stop swindlers from cheating buyers, by ascertaining that land was, in fact, owned by the person selling it. Since then, it has grown into a multi-billion-dollar business. And while today’s title insurance industry ostensibly protects homeowners from defects in their deeds, some believe it has been rendered …
Continue reading “Real Estate Title Insurance: A Brief Explanation”
Quitclaim deeds show up commonly in fraudulent real estate transactions. This type of deed fraud can impact elderly people, buyers purchasing real estate from strangers without warranty, renters who are paying someone who is not a legitimate owner, and anyone involved who might buy, sell, or own property. Here, we examine how it happens and …
Continue reading “The Quitclaim Deed and Fraudulent Real Estate Transactions”