Roofstock onChain sells its first property via nonfungible tokens

Roofstock has revealed that it has sold its first property via non-fungible tokens (NFTs), powered by its Roofstock onChain.

Roofstock, the leading digital real estate platform specialising in single-family rental (SFR) properties, announced on Tuesday, October 18th, 2022, that it had sold its first property via NFT.

In a press release shared with Coinjournal, the team said the transaction was enabled by Roofstock onChain (ROC), its web3 subsidiary.

ROC facilitates instantaneous sale and settlement of single-family rental (SFR) properties listed on its NFT marketplace powered by Origin Protocol, the team explained.

The property is located in Columbia, South Carolina. Roofstock explained that this property is the first sale of ownership of a home utilising an NFT marketplace purchased with Circle’s USD Coin (USDC).

By enabling web3 technology, properties can be purchased more efficiently and transparently with lower costs, compared to conventional residential real estate transactions.

While commenting on this latest development, the buyer of the SFR South Carolina property, Adam Slipakoff, a seasoned real estate investor, said;

“I never imagined I could buy and finance a house with a simple click, rather than going through the time-consuming and cumbersome traditional settlement and mortgage process. I’m grateful Roofstock paved the way for the rest of the market. Instead of waiting months for underwriting, appraisals, title searches and preparing deeds, I was able to buy a fully title-insured, rent-ready property with one click. Best of all, I am no web3 expert – the Roofstock onChain platform made it simple and easy.”

Roofstock added that each home is associated with a unique Home onChain, which is an NFT on the Ethereum blockchain. Transactions are completed using smart contracts deployed on the Ethereum network. 

Geoff Thompson, Chief Blockchain Officer at Roofstock onChain commented that;

“For Roofstock, it is a major milestone to provide a radically simple way for SFR properties to be purchased and sold with one-click using web3 technology.”

Sanjay Raghavan, Head of web3 Initiatives at Roofstock onChain, added that;

“We’re excited to enable home buyers to have access to various web3 financing options, ushering a new era of real-world asset ownership through our partnership with Teller.” 

Rootstock added that the Teller Protocol would be used to provide financing options for this and future properties. Buyers can seek a loan for up to 80% loan-to-value of the sale price of the NFT with USDC Homes, a DeFi lending pool maintained on the Teller Protocol, the team added. 

Roofstock also explained that buyers could seamlessly convert USD into USDC through Wyre. Teller has partnered with Polygon to facilitate loans due to Polygon’s low gas fees and decentralized network. 

Matthew Liu, co-founder of Origin Protocol lauded this initiative as he said it eliminates intermediary fees, making the project an important one in the Web3 space.