PropTech Inovation Award 2017 - Application until 15 March

The PropTech Innovation Award, initiated by Union Investment and German Tech Entrepreneurship Center (GTEC) in Berlin supports new ideas in the use of digital technologies for the real estate economy.

Watch the video (English):

http://realestate.union-investment.com/mainpage/the-company/proptech.html

This is the link to the German version: http://realestate.union-investment.de/startseite-immobilienkunden/das-unternehmen/proptech.html

How Can Blockchain for Real Estate work?

Blockchain is a much discussed topic in Real Estate, especially in the context of PropTech. Many discussions are around subjects and solutions that can comfortably be solved using "normal" database applications, some even better as Blockchain Databases can be searched comfortably like a "normal" database or even your  Microsoft Excel or Google Sheet.

A Blockchain approach will be helpful when the following answers can be answered with yes:

1. Do you need a decentralized shared control over the data? A popular example currently making it into the Real Estate world: Shared registry of land titles.
2. Do the recorded transactions need to be immutable and provide an audit trail? An example waiting to be tackled and probably facing high resistance: Notarization of property contracts.
3. Is there a physical asset, a digital license for artist creations like digital art or music? Another example is software licenses.

So before thinking about a startup based on Blockchain ideas ask yourself: "Is a Blockchain approach necessary of even helpful?"

Here are two videos that I found very helpful to understand the basic technical processes behind Blockchain technology.

Understand Blockchain in Two Minutes

https://youtu.be/r43LhSUUGTQ

Blockchain 101 - A Visual Demo

https://youtu.be/_160oMzblY8

Blockchain for Real Estate Meetup Berlin 12.01.2017

The Berlin Meetup Blockchain for Real Estate 12.01.2017 was a big success.

Both presentations

Trent Mc Conaghy: How To Identify Blockchain Opportunities in Real Estate

Prof. Katharina Adam: The Challenges of Starting a Blockchain Venture in Real Estate

were full of information on "how to" and "how not to" for either side of the isle, which in this case were "info techies" and "real estate". We actually got along very well, me being a real estate guy. We were in awe of the wealth of information and I still am.

We had a warm welcome at Immoscout24

Trent's information is available on bigchaindb.com and it is fascinating. Only in hindsight after looking at the websites I have become aware that some of the "searchability" and "scalability" of Blockchain is a project and not an upgrading of blockchain but a mimicry of a conventional database acting like blockchain. I am sure it can work if people can believe in the security of it and the processes are transparent which "the project" is working on diligently. More information here:

http://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/454091/27411381/1484305573937/20170112+Berlin+Real+Estate+Blockchain.pdf?token=sgA1JItxuFEIXmkyOCBSXY39dPs%3D

 

For Katharina's presentation, I have to feel sympathy as you don't see many presentations of things gone wrong. Being a professor at the HTW Berlin she believes in teaching and it was of great value for anyone trying to break barriers. Being German myself  I can appreciate the obstacles she was up against. The project was a shortcut in the property register in a sales process, turning 6 weeks into minutes. Guess what the reply was she received: "Good idea but how dare you question our processes?  That was the end of a promising idea. So beware, coming to Germany you have to reckon with beaurocracy older than, ... well think of some thin really old.

I am looking forward to the next Meetup on "Blockchain for Real Estate" on March 9th.

https://www.meetup.com/Blockchain-for-Real-Estate/

Announcing Blockchain Expo Berlin and North America 2017!

Blockchain conference, Blockchain Expo, has today announced the expansion of the event series with shows confirmed to take place in Berlin and Santa Clara after the inaugural London event, 23-24 January 2017.
The event which examines the disruption blockchain technologies are expected to bring to the legal services, financial services, insurance, energy, legal, governmental and real estate industries has been embraced by the blockchain community with notable experts and leading organisations joining the conference agenda.
Blockchain Expo Global will take place in London, 23-24 January where the conference will joined by over 1,500 attendees and more than 60 speakers including; Brian Behlendorf, Executive Director, Hyperledger, Paul Kammerer, Specialist Corporate Strategy, Commerzbank AG, Sofus Mortensen, Chief Quantitative Analyst, Nordea Bank, David Pinski, Chief Strategist for Financial Innovation, Hitachi, Leanne Kemp, CEO/Founder, Everledger, Eddy Travia, Pioneer Blockchain Investor & CEO, Coinsilium and Neil Pennington, Director of Innovation (UK), RWE npower.
Blockchain Expo Europe will take place at Estrel, Berlin on 1-2 June 2017 and Blockchain Expo North America will take place at the Santa Clara Convention Center in the heart of Silicon Valley on 29-30 November 2017.
Beth Betts, Marketing Manager for Blockchain Expo said:
“We’ve seen unprecedented demand for the inaugural Blockchain Expo and we’re thrilled to announce two additional events in Berlin and Santa Clara to allow new audiences to hear from some of the industry’s most respected figures."

Blockchain for Property in 2017

(c) https://unsplash.com/@mikezo

The development of Blockchain-based applications will be a main focal point in the PropTech field. At the heart of the development is are Smart Contracts as the hinge of other processes including FinTech and LegalTech approaches.

The purpose of this blog will be to provide contributions to the discussion and supporting the development of actionable building blocks to a Blockchain-based concept for the Operational Phase of a property or property portfolios.

The legal side of rental contracts will be one of the biggest obstacles in the traditionally tenant friendly German legal system. With more options for legal adjustments, commercial rental contracts will be the natural starting point and from a managing point of view, a completely vacant or new property would be ideal as a prototype.