• Real Estate Transactions & Bitcoin •

Using Bitcoin in Real Estate Transactions

Is using bitcoin in real estate transactions possible?

Is using Bitcoin in Real Estate transactions possible? Yes. More and more Real Estate transactions are being made with bitcoin payments, including right here in California. Glen Oaks Escrow, one of Southern California’s largest independent escrow companies announced just a few months ago that they recently closed their second Bitcoin Real Estate transaction.

Glen Oaks shared with news outlets that homebuyers are now contacting their southern California offices to inquire about using Bitcoin for their real estate transactions.

Using Bitcoin in Real Estate Transactions

Glen Oaks Escrow made the decision to start accepting bitcoin as an acceptable payment currency for escrow services in 2018. They have been happy with this decision as it has been a success in two real estate transactions with the company. They believe that bitcoin is still a young technology but expect it to grow and become a large part of the real estate market in the years to come. Joe Curtis, the COO of Glen Oaks Escrow shared that the company is proud to be at the forefront of offering this service to customers. Some experts are predicting that real estate, gold, and bitcoin are going to perform strongly over the long-term.

Glen Oaks Escrow uses BitPay to accept bitcoin payments, they act as the payment processor in a bitcoin transaction to verify funds. Glen Oaks Escrow then sends out an invoice to the home buyers that is similar to wire instructions in a flat currency transaction. The buyer then has a pre-set amount of time to submit their payment via bitcoin or another cryptocurrency.

Escrow Using Bitcoin in Real Estate Transactions

Using Bitcoin in Real Estate transactions quite easy and not much different than the traditional form of the transfer of funds. Once the cryptocurrency funds are received into escrow, processed through BitPay, and converted to cash by BitPay, the money is wired in US dollars to the escrow account. BitPay assists Glen Oaks escrow by converting the cryptocurrency of the homebuyer into cash and then Glen Oaks holds that cash in the escrow account until all of the sale terms are met. The escrow payment is then released as US cash dollars to the home seller once the terms of escrow have been met. This means that the seller never actually sees the bitcoin payment, only the cash. Having a buyer using Bitcoin in Real Estate Transactions should not matter to the seller, as the Bitcoins are ultimately converted to cash and deposited into the sellers account. 

Glen Oaks Escrow is providing more ways for buyers to be able to purchase homes by extending their services to accept more forms of payment. Now other escrow firms and other real estate companies around the country are also dipping their toe in the Bitcoin pool. Word on the street is that over time, Bitcoin and other forms of cryptocurrency payments will soon be common place in Real Estate transactions. 

As a seller their is no downside or risk as the Bitcoins are liquidated before recordation and the official close of escrow. Naturally it is just important to select an escrow company with expertise in Bitcoin to ensure your transaction is smooth.  The last thing you want, especially if you are the seller, is to have your deal fall out due to the inability of the buyer to successfully fund the transaction.   

For more information about using Bitcoin in Real Estate transactions, the escrow process, funding, financing, or finding the perfect homes contact me any time.

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