Each and every cryptocurrency project that aims to utilize the benefits of blockchain technology have one thing in common – they all aim to solve a real-world problem. In the case of ReBloc, through the phenomenon of decentralization, our underlying objective is to revolutionize data sharing within the real estate industry. Essentially, we will achieve this facilitating a platform for real estate stakeholders to both contribute and share data through a tokenized-based incentivization model. We’ll come to that shortly – however first, let’s take a moment to look at the problem the industry is facing.
The Issues Pertinent To Real Estate Data
As a global multi-trillion dollar industry, real estate stakeholders rely heavily on data. This could be in the form of property valuations in a certain district, the quantity of empty homes in a particular neighborhood, the percentage of homeowners that default on their mortgage or the average cost of land on a city-by-city basis. This data subsequently supports relevant stakeholders in their business decision making process. However, the key problem that these stakeholders face is that credible data is extremely difficult to come by.
At present, if an entity is in need of a particular data set, then there are generally three avenues that they can attempt to take. Firstly, there is a slim chance that the data might be available in the public domain. The key issues with public data is that it is often highly unreliable. There are no safeguards in place to ensure that the data is accurate and in most cases, no incentives in place to motivate these public platforms to keep it up to date. One such example of this is the online property valuation platform Zillow.
In a nutshell, Zillow provide a platform for millions of U.S. based properties, allowing users to view their estimated valuation. However, this data is based on an algorithmic calculation that many argue is highly inaccurate. In fact, according to a recent Washington Post publication, Zillow estimates are sometimes so wayward, that they are often 20-30% too low or high – subsequently misleading users.
As a result, although the data is free, some believe that it offers no real-world value as the estimates are often incorrect.
The second option available to real estate data seekers is through a paid/subscription provider. Although these data sets can at times provide value, the big problem is that there is no transparency regarding the method that was used to obtain the data. In other words, how does the purchaser know that the data is credible?
Finally, and probably the most important is the data held by industry leaders. These are the organizations that actually operate in the industry and can include estate agents, banks, surveyors, mortgage lenders, construction firms and architects. The reason for this is that these stakeholders have obtained data from a primary source, notably because it centres on their day-to-day operations.
The major issue here is that industry leaders often hoard the data they hold because there is no motivation to share it, either in the public domain or with their fellow real estate counterparts.
All in, the aforementioned factors leading to the inaccessibility of up to date, accurate and credible data is solely based on the inability to verify the credibility of the data sharer, as well as a lack of incentivization to share it. Here’s how ReBloc plans to provide a solution.
How Will ReBlock Create A Real Estate Date Sharing Eco-System?
Rebloc believes that the solution to the previously discussed problems is to create a decentralized platform that has the capacity to benefit both the data seeker and the data provider. To that end, the team installed an incentivization model to reward those that share the data they hold. As this will be facilitated through the blockchain protocol, its immutable characteristics ensures that the data is highly secure.
Once the data is stored, it will then be available for data seekers to purchase. As ReBloc operate a tokenized eco-system, buyers will pay for the data using a native ReBloc token. However, before the seeker receives the data they requested, the underlying blockchain mechanism will first attempt to reach consensus on the accuracy of the data. If consensus is reached, then the provider receives the token and subsequently, the data seeker receives the data that they paid for. On the contrary, should the blockchain protocol fail to reach consensus on the accuracy of the data provided, then the buyer will not be charged. Moreover, the entity that was responsible for sharing the inaccurate data would receive a small penalty, with the view of incentivizing them to retain the integrity of the platform.
To illustrate how much of an appetite we believe real estate stakeholders will have for such a model, ReBloc have already received keen interest from a number of notable industry leaders, including but not limited to the Bank of Montreal, The Real Estate Board of New York, The Toronto Real Estate Board, MLS Long Island and Canaccord Genuity. The team hopes to incorporate as many real estate stakeholders as possible, with the ultimate aim of creating the world’s go-to platform for seamless, accurate and highly credible real estate data.
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