As you say no one has reasonably said how a third party person holding funds would be able to make this deal work. I don't quite know what you are saying about the buyer denies receiving funds and I could be scammed can you elaborate?
corrected myself here:
So, the contract is signed, funds are sent afterwards vs. contract signed, no funds sent. Will the blockchain be sufficient as evidence that no payment was made?
Actually OP, I come to think that YOU would be the beneficent of an escrow service.
1) Auction ends
2) funds are transferred to escrow
3) deal is made perfect
4) funds are forwarded to you.
5)
?
6) Profit
An escrow service would actually be useful for you in case your customer wouldn't pay and you'd have a hard time proving legally that no payment was made.
I'd not discard it from the beginning.
Also again, don't get pissed so easily. On this forums, everyone is a scammer until proven otherwise. It lies in the nature of a non-reversible transaction system and is not an insult to you personally so you really shouldn't take it personally.
But the customer does not get a payment certificate from me until they make payment. I suppose the only use for escrow would be that they pay the escrow holder the money and a notarised certificate stamped 'all funds paid' is posted to Mr. Escrow. Then when he has said document monies are released and the document sent to the buyer.
However if Bitcoin crashed during this time my GF would be left with nothing and the other person a free house. So it would have to be done at speed- the document would need to be basically prepped and sent within days which would be possible.
I understand that playing the currency game is risky and admit a bit of adrenalin comes into play when risking on the Buy/Sell, but it would be very annoying if hands were tied and unable to access the funds whilst say, watching BTC on a downwards slide and seeing $1000s lost every day with funds sat in escrow, simply because of a trust issue that is covered in any case with lawyers. Why should we have to loose because someone else does not trust in lawyers.....unless they are happy to therefore fix the price in Euros on day of sale with bitcoin an agreed medium. Otherwise Might as well ebay the house. Has to be SOME give and take.
I get that its plain to see there is a 'everyone on the forums is a scammer' mentality here, which is a shame for peoples health and stress levels really. Hey, end of the day, there are lawyers who deal with properties so apart from as I said, sending the BTC and sale proof document to someone and then having them post it out- but agreeing to cover any BTC loss in the wasted days those BTC could have been in my account- I can't see any use in the escrow system in this particular transaction.
Maybe after I have sold this house and it goes through I will have some trust shown and should start the worlds first Bitcoin only estate agency here. Until then I really don't take it personally, just take it personally that I have to repeat myself continuously without having fresh argument presented.