2018 kicked off with the price of bitcoin plummeting below $10,000. This sudden drop prompted bitcoin owners to rethink how they plan to manage their e-currency gains in the future. Since bitcoin is being used to pay for everyday goods and services, buying or selling property using cryptocurrency has started to become common practice.
Real Estate Agencies Have Begun Accepting Bitcoins
The use of bitcoins to carry out real estate deals is still in its infant stage. Currently, American real estate purchases using e-currency as their medium of exchange make up only a small percentage. In 2017, the U.S. real estate agency Redfin reported that 75 properties in California and Florida have already incorporated bitcoin as their preferred payment method.
According to the real estate listings website Realtor.com®, 37 single-family homeowners around the U.S. are ready to accept bitcoins. The price of property ranges from $114,000 to $7,920,000 or their equivalents in bitcoin.
Nevertheless, the inclusion of e-currency as an acceptable medium of exchange in the real estate industry remains rare. Foreign investors will use bitcoins as a means for bypassing the strict currency controls international markets have established. Agencies in Texas, New York, and Florida are trying to keep up with new technologies and have already begun accepting bitcoins for completing sales. Here are some such trailblazers:
- Kuper Sotheby’s International Realty (Texas)
- Magnum Real Estate Group and Blooming Sky (New York)
- Brown Harris Stevens and Sand Key Realty (Florida)
The First Successful Cryptoproperty Deals
A huge area near Lake Tahoe owned by the Martis Camp was sold in 2014 for $1.6 million or 2,739 bitcoins. This bitcoin-driven, real estate transaction was completed without complication. To finalize the sale, bitcoins were converted to U.S. dollars. Brian Hull, Martis Camp sales director, commented that many of their buyers were cryptocurrency adopters, which makes closing the sale simpler as it eliminates the risk of problems arising.
In December 2017, a two-bedroom condo was sold for $275,000, or 17,741 bitcoins, by the Brown Harris Stevens agency in Florida. It was the first bitcoin-to-bitcoin real estate deal without converting cryptocurrency to U.S. dollars.
Average Amount of Bitcoin Needed to Buy a Home: by State
Today, real estate agencies and brokerages continue learning more about e-currencies and how they can affect their sales transactions. Over the past decade, the real estate industry has been significantly affected by digital currency. Those already dealing with bitcoins are pioneers, paving the way for the upcoming usage of cryptocurrencies in the market.