How to buy real estate with Bitcoin?

[Baitty]

What's the best way to go about buying real estate with Bitcoin, of course there is no law firms accepting Bitcoin as far as I know which would be a problem if anyone wanted to solely purchase with Bitcoin.

Any ideas will be greatly appreciated.

[libivan]

As long as the parties agree with the terms, deal closed, I don't see great difficulties.

Since BTC is not treated as a currency by the legislation, I believe the deal will take the form of a barter agreement.

[MakeBelieve]

Just go about it the usual way you would it might be difficult getting a lawyer to accept Bitcoin but I can see it being done if you approach the right open minded person they should know that Bitcoin is legit because they know the law.

[BitCoinNutJob]

Considering the same thing, downsides being:

1.) Still have to pay CGT

2.) Negotiations will be hindered if sellers dont understand BTC

3.) Choice limited

Not sure anything much is gained at this point, need more services.

[professorXY]

I would also like to know the answer to this question. Does anyone have experience buying a property using Bitcoin?

[Mobius]

Use Bitpay. There was a recent transaction involving a piece of land in Lake Tahoe that was purchased with bitcoin that was processed with Bitpay. I think there were a couple others as well that were processed in a similar fashion.

[keithers]

What's the best way to go about buying real estate with Bitcoin, of course there is no law firms accepting Bitcoin as far as I know which would be a problem if anyone wanted to solely purchase with Bitcoin.

Any ideas will be greatly appreciated.

I can help answer some of your questions, I have been in real estate finance for over a decade.   Are you looking to purchase a home for BTC, straight up?  Or were you thinking about using BTC as a down payment and obtaining a loan for the remaining principle balance?

[zedicus]

There was an article in the WSJ (among other places) that highlighted a sale of property in Lake Tahoe for $1.6 million that was paid for in bitcoin. I believe that the seller had used bitpay that gave the buyer 15 minutes to pay for the invoice once all the paperwork was finalized  so the seller could receive the proceeds in fiat.

[Game Sir]

First，you can find a boss of estate who loves bitcoins and then you can buy estate with bitcoins from him.

[wasserman99]

Being that bitcoin is still a very new currency You will be at a somewhat disadvantage if you try to buy a house with bitcoin. The reason for this is because it will add complexity and expense to the transaction on the seller's side.

The seller would more likely then not want to convert the bitcoin to fiat (he will have to if he needs to pay off a mortgage on the subject property). I think most real estate transactions have used bitpay to handle the BTC to USD conversion for the seller.

The easiest way to use bitcoin to buy real estate would be to simply convert your bitcoin to fiat and use that fiat to buy a house.

[barney_stinson]

Does anyone know a website where it is represented real estate which is sold using Bitcoin?

[BitCoinNutJob]

Does anyone know a website where it is represented real estate which is sold using Bitcoin?

I made this thread a while ago might be some helpful tips in here but not sure on sites just yet.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=628403.0

[SHA255]

Does anyone know a website where it is represented real estate which is sold using Bitcoin?

AFAIK there are none as of now. You could easily make an offer on a house being sold for fiat and make one condition that you can pay in bitcoin.

[keithers]

This is going to primarily depend on if you are trying to purchase the home all cash (all BTC), or if you are trying to obtain a loan (using BTC as the down payment), and financing the rest of the home.

I have been in the mortgage banking business for over a decade, and as far as I know, no major investor is allowing BTC as a form of liquid assets.


The easiest way to do this, would be to sell BTC and then purchase the home all cash.   This will be a logistical nightmare with taxes, but it would be the easiest way to get it done...

[needFREElunch]

This is going to primarily depend on if you are trying to purchase the home all cash (all BTC), or if you are trying to obtain a loan (using BTC as the down payment), and financing the rest of the home.

I have been in the mortgage banking business for over a decade, and as far as I know, no major investor is allowing BTC as a form of liquid assets.


The easiest way to do this, would be to sell BTC and then purchase the home all cash.   This will be a logistical nightmare with taxes, but it would be the easiest way to get it done...

I would think, in theory a bank could allow the down payment to be paid for in bitcoin, if the purchase contract specified that part of the purchase price was payable in terms of bitcoin (for example 200 BTC instead of $100,000 worth of bitcoin). 

[keithers]

This is going to primarily depend on if you are trying to purchase the home all cash (all BTC), or if you are trying to obtain a loan (using BTC as the down payment), and financing the rest of the home.

I have been in the mortgage banking business for over a decade, and as far as I know, no major investor is allowing BTC as a form of liquid assets.


The easiest way to do this, would be to sell BTC and then purchase the home all cash.   This will be a logistical nightmare with taxes, but it would be the easiest way to get it done...

I would think, in theory a bank could allow the down payment to be paid for in bitcoin, if the purchase contract specified that part of the purchase price was payable in terms of bitcoin (for example 200 BTC instead of $100,000 worth of bitcoin). 

All down payment funds have to be sourced and verified with any deposits greater than 10% of your monthly income being documented with copies of checks. Because this cant be done with BTC, you wouldnt be able to use it as down payment funds. You would have to

1) sell the bitcoins
2) deposit the funds into the bank
3) season those funds for 2 months

After those 3 steps, you could use the funds for a down payment if you are trying to obtain a loan.

[dankkk]

This is going to primarily depend on if you are trying to purchase the home all cash (all BTC), or if you are trying to obtain a loan (using BTC as the down payment), and financing the rest of the home.

I have been in the mortgage banking business for over a decade, and as far as I know, no major investor is allowing BTC as a form of liquid assets.


The easiest way to do this, would be to sell BTC and then purchase the home all cash.   This will be a logistical nightmare with taxes, but it would be the easiest way to get it done...

I would think, in theory a bank could allow the down payment to be paid for in bitcoin, if the purchase contract specified that part of the purchase price was payable in terms of bitcoin (for example 200 BTC instead of $100,000 worth of bitcoin). 

All down payment funds have to be sourced and verified with any deposits greater than 10% of your monthly income being documented with copies of checks. Because this cant be done with BTC, you wouldnt be able to use it as down payment funds. You would have to

1) sell the bitcoins
2) deposit the funds into the bank
3) season those funds for 2 months

After those 3 steps, you could use the funds for a down payment if you are trying to obtain a loan.

If you have enough other assets (like stocks, bonds, real estate with a lot of equity in terms of LTV and total dollar amount, fiat money in the bank) then an exception could be made to this rule.

Another option would be to go to a lender that is willing to take on more risk, you would obviously pay a lot more in interest, but would achieve your goal.

[hayabusa911]

Try craigslist. I have seen real estate for sale for bitcoins so the seller is expecting BTC.

[toleng]

Try craigslist. I have seen real estate for sale for bitcoins so the seller is expecting BTC.

There are very few people who list their homes on craigslist. The people that do this are mainly people listing their home for sale by owner, which is a small minority of home listings.

IMO it is a much better idea to simply sell your bitcoin on an exchange and use the proceeds to pay cash fiat for a house.

[keithers]

The shadiest way to do it would be to pay the person the BTC and have the seller gift of equity the home to you,  but that is a humongous red flag and highly not recommeded. You will probably make the 8oclock news for tax evasion.