Topic: How would buying property play out with crypto? (Read 3839 times)

This is an American point of view based on American practices.

Under the right circumstances it is more than possible to buy real estate with cryptocurrency only, without the need to convert it to cash.

For Sale By Owner. No real estate agent or bank is involved.

Unimproved land that is owned outright.

A deed exchange between buyer and seller.

Both buyer and seller having a wallet.

The only legal authorities involved are a notary public and the lady behind the counter at the county recorder's office where the deed has to be submitted for public record.

"John" has an acre of unimproved land he wants to sell for $10,000 USD. "Unimproved" meaning that there is no septic, no well no gas or electric lines........nothing. Just a patch of dirt outside of the city limits. For all intents and purposes, the only people besides John who even know his property exists is the recorder's office in the county where the land is.

"Jane" see's the property for sale and wants that land. John and Jane get to talking, establish trust [VERY important] and make the sale go through from wallet to wallet with the deed exchange happening through a notary public for a nominal fee.

All legal, all as much under the radar as possible with the only cash exchanging hands landing in the hands of the notary for services rendered, and the people selling John the paperwork, like Legalzoom.com or Office Depot, needed to transfer the deed over to Jane.

No taxes involved because as far as the legal authorities are concerned, John simply transferred the property to Jane. Why? Because he's a nice guy. That's all people need to know.

This is all legal and was done with legal currency that both parties agreed upon before the transaction took place.

My opinion Its too much hassle if you hire lawyer and bitcoin expert for consultations. That will cost you huge. You can do everything with cash.

At the end of the day we still depend on the governments approving about our real state investments. This is why I think those that think bitcoin can end governments are delusional. I don't see how. If you want to buy property, there's no way around the government radar, they will always find out, so don't over complicate and just pay the taxes. You must go with fiat because theres no regulated way to accept crypto in exchange of real state.

I think it would be best if you would convert your crypto into cash first before buying some property,
At least in that way you could just easily pay them without hassle and get it done much more faster rather than having a debate.

With a normal financial attorney, shouldn't be that complicated. The firm would receive and convert the bitcoin, and make the purchase on your behalf with fiat. Once the btc becomes fiat, this would look like any other home purchase on paper. Bitcoin is money; all the lawyer is doing is functioning as an exchange. And you will pay dearly for this service

Be your own bank! Unless these funds are illegally gained, it would be much cheaper to just sell bitcoin and buy the house with cash.

i think its not stupid idea because i think in future after everything is set up and there is a way that can allow us to buying property is available, i am sure that we can buy directly with our bitcoin. but before we can do this, we can only use bitcoin to buy another thing in online. there are many aspect that is not ready to accept bitcoin as payment and we need to prepare this to work properly. but if i am not wrong, i think someone has purchase a villa in bali with bitcoin and its really expensive for us to spend our bitcoin.

I can understand that people are constantly in search of new, different ways to use cryptocurrencies, that nobody have ever dreamed of but in my opiniom, buying a house or a property for bitcoins is something actually stupid.

why would anyone want to get payed in cryptocurrency, which is actually really hard to convert in big quantities, there is a risk that the goverment will try to find you guilty for laundering money.
You can just simply use bank transfer for that, there will be less troubles in withdrawing that from the account instead of converting btc to fiat.

You can transfer the coins in the notary's office and/or in the presence of a witness. This way both sides can see the transaction go through and confirm it in writing.
It's possible to sell your apartment for a gold bar, a painting, a bottle of wine, it all comes down to having both sides agree to the terms. Once they both sign the document it's too late to get cold feet and try to reverse the transaction.
The only possible issue I see is with taxing the sale. It would have to be paid in fiat, based on the estimated value of the transaction.

I don't think it matters the cuurency of use when it comes to transfer of property so far the two parties have agreed on the right value for the property. Even if they go the way of fiat, most times the money involved will have to be transferred from one bank account to another and if bitcoin can serve same purpose, then so be it. The documents will surface in a case of litigation...

You should run with legal advisors when purchasing property with crypto. I think it would be a hazard, there should be earlier meeting with specialists in the field. I trust it is conceivable in the event that you pay tax on it certainly if you can purchase property with crypto, yet in the meantime, the holder of the property additionally should prepare to admit installment as crypto.

I don't know how he can fill all requirement documents to transfer ownership of that apartment.
Anyone at this point should be worried that after some time original owner might be back with claim that that this transaction was illegal.
Or say that he didn't receive any bitcoin, or price of BTC shifted - or any other ridiculous excuse. To many potential legal issues IMO.

It would seem like you would want to get a lawyer to act as executor for you. You would be able to deed it over no problems if the parties involved don't have a problem with Bitcoin, but property taxes and legal fees will have to be paid in fiat. Thus, you may need an agent if you are trying to do this strictly bitcoin (ID suggest a contract pointing to the txid, and a physical signature of receipt).

there is a topic on bttalk where a guy is selling his appartment for bitcoins
it is in Spain if I'm not mistaken
and yes,he wants to sell it for bitcoins only ,strictly no fiat
wonder if he has sold it already

There have actually been people who sold and bought houses for BTC and other crypto's.
I recall seeing one house in Italy being offered for Dash on some other forum, and someone apparently bought that less than a month ago.
On bitify and another bitcoin auction place I've seen houses for sale priced in BTC and another cryptocurrency, as well, one of those was in the US, the other house was either in Germany or Austria, I forgot which.

And seriously, as someone else already pointed out with an example of a gold ring... it doesn't matter which form of trade is agreed upon; fiat money, Adam West's worn socks from his last time in the Batman suit, six camels and a goat, a rare misprinted stamp on which Queen Elizabeth has a third boob... bottom line, as long as buyer and seller agree on the exchange of the house for -whatever trade item was offered/wanted in return- and all the paperwork involved is done, it's a valid deal.

This explanation is quite good. Keep in mind fiat currency is not a concept of legally accepted or not. Instead, it is a concept of a currency accepted by the government for the purpose of paying taxes.

If you happen to be in a country in which crypto is accepted as a form of currency then you can just buy and pay with it and the function of a lawyer is not too difficult just to prepare the papers and stand as a witness then no problem. On the issue of them getting attacked after you have fulfill your own obligation is just like saying I gave you money to for a service then you keep in the bank after which the bank get attacked how then is my own problem with that. I dont see any issue there whatsoever and I am sure its part of what the lawyer will agree to and since its cryto is accepted in the first place I am sure block trail will serve as evidence that you actually paid in case any issue arise.

Problem is the person you are buying from needs to be able to set up a wallet themselves, not many people understand how to do it right now.  What could solve the issue would be if some of the online estate agents started using coinbase or bitpay etc to process the transaction and seller gets fiat without even needing to know about the BTC part.

You don't need a "special  lawyer", but you need a notary to confirm the deal. When everything is signed nobody can come after you, because you have the transaction ID and the other person's wallet is included in the documents you both and the notary signed, which means you both agreed to all terms. If the document said you are buying that property for a gold ring and he later lost it or it got stolen from him, do you think he'd be able to sue you?

Buying property with crypto actually it is not a problem because the most important both (buyer and seller) agree to transact with crypto. And really do not need to require a crypto specialist lawyer, because the most important both (buyer and seller) to be careful and execute the agreement. Because I think actually buying a property with crypto same as buying property with fiat, the only difference being the transaction tool. And while buying property with crypto should still be conducted face to face between the buyer and the seller and immediately do signature acceptance, it was done in order to avoid mistakes or possibilities bad as you mentioned.

Yeah it does just seem like an extra hassle atm, its really frustrating there isn't a service set up to deal with this.  So that seller (who probably doesn't understand crypto) gets cash and you just pay service BTC and its all legit, no scam crap etc.
Thanks for info

It will just give hard time and headaches. Why dont you just exchange your bitcoin into cash? Theres so many exchangeer in the internet. You should use one to exchange your bitcoins. Its too much hassle if you hire lawyer and bitcoin expert for consultations. That will cost you huge. You can do everything with cash.

I hope it is possible if you pay taxes on it definitely you can buy property with crypto, but at the same time the owner property also should ready to accept payment in the form of crypto. While transferring it should be done in between the lawyers after getting confirmation from both parties, the property owner should sign it on the documents. It would be good if you go with lawyers when buying property with crypto's.

Purchasing real property with crypto-currency is possible and legal.
At the time of property purchase, the bitcoin will be converted into fiat for government records.
Taxes and any other fees will need to be paid in fiat as normally, on that converted amount.
Also, when a bitcoin-holder converts to fiat for the property purchase, they will need to pay taxes
on any gains from those bitcoin the purchaser is using. (Since btc can be capital gains.)

In theory you do not need a special crypto lawyer for this, if the buyer and seller both agree on buy/sell
with crypto-currency. But, it would be smart to follow normal standards and have an independent escrow
agent hold your coins and transfer them to the property seller after everything checks out, to alleviate
any complications. (Maybe a crypto-lawyer could perform the escrow.)

In short, do everything you would do normally, but substitute for bitcoin converted into fiat.

EDIT: This is not legal advice nor a legal opinion and the OP is aware that they should seek council with
a licensed attorney within their jurisdiction, prior to taking any action.

I think it would be a risk,, should be prior consultation with experts in the field

How would buying property play out with crypto? as in would you need a specialist crypto lawyer to complete the transaction? what if the person you buy property from is terrible on secuirty and 1 day later they get hacked can they come after you saying you sent them fake payment or some BS..