They say that there are two things that lead to divorce - having an affair and buying a new home. Real estate transactions are notoriously tedious and painstaking, and much of the headache is caused by a lack of technological advancement.
Listings and sales are still done much in the same way as they were a century ago, with property agents, listing services, and transactions having barely even digitized while other essential industries have globalized and democratized.
This means that traditional profit and access structures are still in place, and centralized fee systems take unnecessary funds and agency away from buyers and sellers, as well as agents.
Enter Blockchain
One company has seen the issues and is seeking to change them via Blockchain technology. REX, a decentralized real estate listing and transaction service, is committed to creating a platform where buyers, sellers, agents and firms can list and complete real estate transactions on a global level without the traditional hassles.
Founded by a team of professionals from both real estate and technical backgrounds, the REX platform is built to make real estate data more accessible to people around the world. A pre-alpha version released this summer suggests the tech to achieve that goal is well on its way.
By removing the centralized structure, REX aims to create a system that allows agents, sellers and firms to list properties and transact real estate deals without a fee structure and control of a local board. Also, because the entire database is decentralized, listings can be accessed by anyone on the platform without paywalls or restrictions, unlike traditional listing systems. Buyers can get better, almost real time data through curated registries, closing the loop for an efficient system.
While many Blockchain startups cater to the technical community of digital currencies and decentralization, REX is directed towards the real estate industry itself.
Stephen King, REX CEO, says:
“We want our interface and ecosystem to be so intuitive and simple that you don’t need to be a Blockchain fanatic to understand its value. The reaction we’ve gotten at the major real estate industry conferences has been great. They’re ready for this change.”
Tokenizing transactions
The REX system is devised around the REX token, a digital token designed to limit the friction in global transactions and to provide an incentive mechanism to the listing ecosystem.
The token can be traded freely within REX for a number of services and upgrades. It can also be exchanged for fiat currencies via token exchanges. REX users can utilize the token to trade data, sponsor markets, curate data and eventually close real estate transactions.
REX is in the final stretch of their token sale, with the current segment for contributions of ETH at a rate of 1 ETH to 700 REX tokens. The sale represents 50 percent of the REX tokens, and will conclude Monday, Aug. 28. Subsequent portions of REX will be allocated to listing rewards, partnerships, investors and affiliates.