Getting gouged by middlemen in real estate deals - 3-10% of every transaction vanishes to agents, title insurance, and a Byzantine closing process - is tiresome. The whole system exists because no one trusts anyone, so we pay a parade of middlemen to verify, notarize, and “protect” us from fraud. But with blockchains we can just encode trust, right? Wrap a property in an LLC, tokenize the LLC’s ownership as an NFT, and record it on-chain. Whoever holds the NFT owns the property. No more title searches, no more escrow drama, no more weeks-long closings. The blockchain is the source of truth. Smart contracts can automate every step-ownership transfer, cash flow, mortgage payments. Title insurance becomes obsolete because the blockchain is the title. The result? Massive cost and time savings. Early pilots (Propy, Roofstock) are already seeing much lower closing costs and settlements in days, not weeks. But let’s get real: the main obstacle isn’t technology-it’s legal inertia and regulatory complexity. Most jurisdictions still require paper deeds and wet signatures, so these systems run as hybrids: LLCs for legal compliance, NFTs for actual ownership transfer. Only a handful of states and countries recognize blockchain property records, and title insurers (a $20B/year industry) have every incentive to lobby against disruption. What’s been tried so far? Fractional NFTs: Letting anyone buy a slice of a property, adding liquidity to a historically illiquid market. RealT, Roofstock, and others have shown this works for both single-family and commercial assets. Hybrid NFTs: Linking digital tokens to real-world assets, bridging Web3 and traditional finance. Tokenization platforms: Ethereum, Tezos, Solana, and others are being used for real estate tokenization, with platforms like Securitize and Vertalo handling compliance and investor onboarding. Why hasn’t this gone mainstream? Legal recognition: Still limited. Most pilots require hybrid structures (LLC + NFT + paper deed). Regulatory complexity: Securities laws, KYC/AML, and consumer protection rules are still catching up. Market trust: Institutional adoption is rising, but skepticism lingers after crypto’s boom/bust cycles. What’s different in 2025? Regulatory progress: The EU, Singapore, Japan, and the UK are rolling out clearer rules for digital assets, making tokenization safer and more stable. Institutional interest: Major financial players are piloting tokenized securities and real estate, signaling a shift from hype to utility. Tech maturity: Platforms now offer robust compliance, security, and interoperability, making it easier to bridge old and new systems. Bottom line: The tech works - fractional NFTs, hybrid tokens, and on-chain title management are slashing costs and making real estate more accessible. But the real bottleneck is legal and regulatory inertia, not technology. As laws catch up, the “trust tax” of real estate could finally disappear. Realtors and title companies won’t like it, but for everyone else, it’s a no-brainer.