to all the parties involved. Background checks and credit reports are electronic and effectively instantaneous. Ap- praisers can look up sales and find detailed information, pictures, even blueprints online from the convenience of their desks. Many of the previously time-consuming ac- tivities that justified a longer purchase and sale process can now be complete in hours. And new technologies promise even greater transfor- mation. Blockchain is being used in several prototypes (e.g., Cook County, IL, and the country of Georgia) to record title in an immutable and electronic format. Going beyond electronic signatures, some states have begun to approve electronic notaries. Multiple Listing Services are becoming more available to ordinary people and the services are gradually combining local services into regional. This consolidation is anticipated to continue into national and even international listing services. Several newer technologies (generally blockchain based) provide the capability to complete an entire real estate transaction online. And the advent of cryptocurrency can
even make payment faster and easier with international transactions easily facilitated. The combination of all these technologies makes it faster and easier to find a property that meets your criteria, place an offer, sign a contract, qualify for a mortgage, and close. Other technologies, in particular the tokenization of real estate with security token offerings, promises to further democratize the ability to own real estate. Historically, you could purchase large buildings as part of a syndication or a factional interest or within a real estate investment trust (REIT). Even time shares (despite their well-deserved horrible reputation) were a way to own property for investors with fewer resourc- es. But tokenization and the technology that makes it possible (cryptocurrency and blockchain) provide the ability to sell shares of large real estate projects to the masses at a whole new scale and with extremely simple processes. There are very few parts of the purchasing (or selling or investing) process that can’t be accelerated or haven’t
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