More than just JPEGs: real estate sells for US$175,000 on OpenSea

Since the rise of NFTs, critics of the technology have often maintained that they have no real-world value apart from being overpriced cartoon monkey images. 

Meanwhile, NFT believers have repeatedly proven that applications of the digital assets go beyond computerised images in innovative ways. 

One such company is Roofstock, a California-based online real estate marketplace that hopes to revolutionise the property sector with the application of NFTs.

Roofstock has been enjoying some popularity lately after a three-bedroom home it listed on OpenSea sold for 175,000 USDC (US$175,000) on Saturday. The NFT listing represented the ownership deed to the South Carolina property and even featured details of the house, such as the floor dimensions and year built – displayed through OpenSea’s NFT trait display.

'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,' said Adam Slipakoff, the property buyer, in a press release.

'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,' Slipakoff added.

Explaining the benefits of tokenising real estate on the blockchain as collectables, Roofstock chief blockchain officer Geoffrey Thompson said it 'creates frictionless transactions, simplifies the process, and makes information more readily available.'

Details of the property and the transaction can be found on the Roofstock Onchain website.

Photo: Unsplash