You wanna buy some land?
Buying property is simple in theory, but there's a fair amount of bureaucracy in practice. Once you jump through the hoops, there's the constant overhead of taxes and upkeep. If you're using the property as a rental, managing tenants adds an additional layer of complexity.
Blockchain doesn't fix this.
Sure, you can move all of the paperwork into smart contracts, cut out escrow agents, build a way to pay taxes automatically with crypto, and even create a web3 marketplace for tenants and landlords.
Ultimately, you're trying to wrap a centralized (government-owned) system in a decentralized system (blockchain). So, why bother?
Blockchain offers the potential to make owning and operating real estate (and many other assets) more accessible to the little guy. The concept of "fractional ownership" has existed for a long time, but it requires additional overhead of daily management, investment decision making, etc. This results in 2 different approaches:
- direct fractional ownership in large real estate projects exclusive to large investors
- hiding all the complexity inside of a company (or REIT) and offering shares in that instead
The first option excludes smaller investors and the second centralizes all control. I won't say blockchain solves this completely, but it enables efficiencies that existing options don't have. Less overhead in management and flexibility to get involved with any size investment and non-monetary contributions.
Not everything should be done on blockchain, but when the technology can be used offer more accessible options, it's worth the effort.
More tomorrow,
-Luke
P.S. The key word is "options" -- I don't want anyone forced to use blockchain for anything. It needs to be the most cost effective and easiest option available. There's a reason only 0.5% of the world population is using blockchain today.