People are constantly looking for new ways to use the Bitcoin Blockchain technology for regular uses. It is already being used for proof of existence, data management and it will soon be integrated into electoral system as well. There is another sector which we have not dealt with before and that is the real estate industry.
I came across a nicely written piece in one of the online magazines where the author talks about the use of Blockchain technology in real estate and how it can make your house hunting and moving in process easier. The author explains the struggle people have to go through while buying a house. Coming to a decision of buying a house is a big move. Deciding to buy a house and setting aside a budget is not the end of it. If you thought that was troublesome, try searching for a suitable house. That’s when the real pain starts. You will probably check at least 10 to 15 houses before you come across one that suits both your taste and budget. Once you find it, you have to start digging into the history of the house to ensure that the house has a clean bill of health issued by the concerned authorities, any outstanding bills or taxes, owner information, information of repairs etc. If you manage to finish all these, you will have to complete the transaction and get the property transferred to your name and then you can breathe easy.
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Doing all these things manually, each time someone buys a house or when the same house changes hands is a cumbersome task. Imagine a house that has its own identity, everything about it stored somewhere, which can be easily tracked and retrieved. It makes the job a lot easier. That is what Blockchain technology is capable of doing. By using the power of Blockchain, every house can be given an identity, similar to that of an individual. Each property will have its own health record which keeps track of the age of the structure, changes it has undergone and repairs made, everything along a timeline. Similar to your credit score, the house can also have its own database which keeps record of the number of inspections made, evaluation reports, number of mortgages on the property, tax statues, records of utility consumption etc.
When all relevant information about a property is available on the Blockchain, the whole process of identifying and verifying the property will become transparent and easy. Any information regarding the property can be readily retrieved from the Blockchain using a specific hash key assigned for that particular property. The information can be even accessed by the municipal authorities and other land departments that are responsible for registration, transfer and sale of properties.
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Blockchain technology can be leveraged in the real estate industry to protect the rights of owners, resolve any disputes, to ensure proper record keeping to facilitate easy transfer to new owners after sale and to prevent sale fraud.
