Zillow and California Desert Association of Realtors
Homeowners across America are selling their homes for bitcoin to cash in on the cryptocurrency bubble.
Over the last year, an increasing number of real estate listings have begun accepting or requesting cryptocurrency for payment. Some sellers only accept bitcoin as payment.
According to Mashable, real estate site Trulia had about 80 listings that mentioned cryptocurrency last month, while Redfin said it's seen the number of listings accepting cryptocurrency rocket from 75 in December to 134 in January.
To make it work, you need two parties to agree on the transaction, according to realtor Piper Moretti, who has closed five sales using bitcoin.
Typically, the buyer and seller agree on a fixed price in dollars and then decide on a fair exchange rate at closing. The bitcoins are then converted to cash by a third party, like BitPay, and the cash is then given to the seller. The buyers take on all the risk, Moretti said.
The opportunity has allowed newly-minted bitcoin millionaires to offload some of their cryptocurrency, which changes value constantly, for a more stable asset.
But skeptics warn that the bitcoin bubble is about to burst. Fears over tighter regulation led the price of bitcoin to fall to $5,947 in February, or about 225% below its record high in December. The currency is now trading over $10,000 per coin, though it remains extremely volatile.
Check out what bitcoin millionaires are buying.
According to the listing for this lake house on the edge of California's Joshua Tree National Park, it's a "money maker." The previous owner rented it out as a vacation home.Zillow and California Desert Association of RealtorsSource: Zillow
The four-bedroom, three-bath house has an in-ground pool, stunning lake and mountain views, and a gated entry. The asking price was $599,000 or the equivalent in bitcoin.Zillow and California Desert Association of Realtors
"It's just crazy what's going on," Michael McCrae, the seller, told Money magazine about his decision to accept bitcoin. The lake house sold for $570,000 (near asking price) in January.Zillow and California Desert Association of Realtors
Source: Money
A midcentury-modern masterpiece in Berkeley, California, offers a quiet retreat on over an acre of native landscaping. It was built by a student and protege of Frank Lloyd Wright.Open Homes Photography and Climb Real Estate
Source: Climb Real Estate
It landed on the market in September 2017 with an asking price of $3.8 million. The seller later shaved nearly half a million off the price and began accepting bitcoin as payment.Open Homes Photography and Climb Real Estate
Source: SF Curbed
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