RE: Blockchain & Real Estate Cross Paths to Disrupt Industry
I think society has to adopt blockchain first before the real estate industry will follow. Although buyers are not obligated to go through the agent’s preferred closing company, most do. It’s convenient. They pay the conveyance fee, which includes a title search. Agents receive a share of that conveyance fee. Moving to a blockchain platform where users do a title search themselves would definitely disrupt the real estate industry. I’m sure agents would have a big disclosure on their documents stating “they are not responsible for any title search done independently.” They will also warn buyers that they will not be responsible for closing delays if title becomes an issue at settlement. Most uninformed buyers would simply let the agent handle the search. That’s just life for many, taking the path of least resistance.
Great points Beeyou! - I think clients will still allow their agents to handle a lot of the footwork I agree -but that could still equate to lower fees for clients ( as the agent can look it up for free) and likely faster results as good agents are eager to please with timely information.) I also agree that new disclosures are likely to be written to release liability - the people may have a choice to pay for the service or to trust the blockchain and get it for free from their agent - so it will put a certain premium on title company searches -at least until blockchain has total adoption and then they will have to discount their services - and likely be using the blockchain to obtain their data! As far complete adaption of the blockchain - i think we will see it sooner than we think - when the large companies and industries see the value in it and start using it -then the rest of us will be forced to go along with it whether we understand it or not - and chances are 0 it will invisible to the basic consumer - much like no one understands facebook algorithms - but they know how to use it all day ... being decentralized might pose a problem for most large companies though... since centralization is how they control their market - peer to peer transactions upsetting lots of industries could have negative effects also - how many industries do he have that we can cut out the middle man? lots. between that and AI / robots taking over manual labor jobs - this whole Universal Basic Income might become a real thing
Makes me wonder what life will be like for our next generation. The www changed life for all of us. Blockchain is this generation's www. I agree, many industries will be disrupted. The real estate industry will change along with it (when forcced). It's starting already with accepting Bitcoin for real estate transactions. There is just so much to learn in this blockchain world. Now I understand the angst that seniors went through when transitioning from paper to digital.