Bitcoin Forum

I have been thinking about selling my condo for BTC. I live in a prime downtown neighbourhood in one of Canada's largest cities.  I feel that, due to risk, I could potentially list my home at a higher price and wouldn't have to pay a broker commission. Additionally I think listing my property in BTC would attract attention that may be hard to do without the traditional MLS system. Of course it would also help me build up a significant holding of BTC.

I'm interested in any possible legal or financial issues I may run into. I can only find limited information online with respect to Canada. I would love to hear from anyone who has conducted a real estate transaction with BTC in Canada.

your main issue will be finding someone who is willing to "spend" that much bitcoin. it is a lot of money and people usually have less in bitcoin and even if they have that much, they are considering it as their investment not something they want to spend.

the other thing is the taxes. apparently it is considered capital gain and it can be from 0% ($0 – $36,250) to 20% ($400,001+)
also found this: https://www.sunlife.ca/ca/Learn+and+Plan/Money/Drivers+and+homeowners/Selling+your+home+What+the+new+tax+rules+mean+for+you

in any case you better consult some professionals in your town about this.

As this is my primary residence it would be capital gains exempt. I agree with the needs for professionals to be involved in the sale.

It's interesting you feel finding someone to spend that much bitcoin would be the problem. It does seem like people are sitting on their Bitcoins and not necessarily eager to spend right now. That's one of the reasons I wanted to toss this question out there. See if such a thing has been done in Canada. There are a couple Google results and I see large value items listed on sites like bitpremier. I imagine it's entirely possible that people who have done these type of transactions don't want to bring them to anyone's attention.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

there is no doubt in my mind if you sell your canadian condo; that this will be online everywhere - news articles - publicity. can only imagine that its going to be good for it.

This surely is possible but I think you should definitely consider the fact that Bitcoin is not a super steady currency. Sure no currency is perfectly stable, but as you know, Bitcoin is just very volatile and it may not be a great idea to put such a significant sum of money into BTC if you don't know what you're doing. Beyond that, you will probably have to work out some legal issues with a lawyer but otherwise I see no reason why this exchange won't work.

I imagine the publicity could be a potential negative as well. I think there would be complaints about foreign buyers and fears that it's a sign of suspicious activity.

We've seen million dollar homes for sale accepting BTC in Vancouver, the owners of the real estate were from Hong Kong.

It was on craigslist so it could of been real or not. There are some stupid listings on that site.

I think this is the house you're speaking of, http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/house-for-sale-in-bitcoin-on-craigslist-upsets-realtor-1.4118832

The realtor asked for the ad be removed. Apparently the listing was made by a friend trying to help sell the property.

According to that article a Canadian realtor cannot accept Bitcoin for payment but a homeowner working without a realtor can.

I think it would be difficult for you to sell it mate, Unless you can find a buyers here who is also a bitcoin enthusiast like us,  that would agree to pay you in bitcoins.

is Canada accept bitcoin? so when sell house do we pay tax or something? anyone known? I'm curious about this

There's no reason you couldn't sell a house for Bitcoin. It's certainly not common. As a previous reply said, I think such a sale would get a lot of press.

There is no tax if you sell your primary residence. Capital gains tax does apply on sales of property that is not your primary residence.