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Buying a house in Bitcoin


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Greetings to all

For private reasons, my current goal is to buy a property only using Bitcoin.

I am looking for a house in the Lot et Garonne department, with at least 4 bedrooms and 1000 square meters of land.

My budget is 500 000 euros, which is about 60 BTC at the current rate.

Please send me a private message if you know a real estate agent who sells in Bitcoin, or if you have a property for sale in Bitcoin

Thank you very much.

Looking forward to reading your answers !

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First find a notaire that will accept bitcoin...

Every property transaction, whether arranged privately or through a real estate agent, must go through a notaire, who is basically a tax collector for the government. AFAIK the French state does not recognise bitcoin as legal currency so it seems unlikely that notaires would be allowed to deal in it.
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The full price of the property plus the taxes and the notaire's fee have to be paid into the notaire's client account prior to the sale.

EDIT. Some time ago I believe it was possible to inform the notaire that the money for the house had been paid privately.
Maybe you can find a notaire who will still do this.

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I am well aware that Bitcoin educated people are a minority, both in France and elsewhere in Europe.  However in the case of real estate sales, crypto currencies can bring advantages.

With Bitcoin, the transaction is done instantly and is considered absolutely irredeemable once it has been confirmed 6 times on the blockchain, which takes barely an hour. The seller can then immediately convert his bitcoins to Euro before any price fluctuation; I would no longer be concerned. Of course he can also keep his Bitcoins in the hope that they will increase in value in the future, which could be wise in my opinion.

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[quote user="notsofrenchguy"]Thank you for your response.

Actually I just need the seller to accept Bitcoin as a means of payment.

The notary will of course be paid in Euro, since the French state does not accept this currency.

[/quote]

             --------------------------------------------

OK so the notary would be paid in euros, for the taxes and their fee?

However, they then will have no proof of the actual sale price, which is what those fees are based on, how could they verify that.

There are lots of rules associated with house sales in France, including the Mairie having the right to purchase if the price is 'right' for them, ie someone selling at too low a price. Laws apply equally to Corsica as to the rest of France. The notaire involved in property sales has to inform the Mairie.

Frankly I do not understand bit coin, as strange an unreal to me as the Tulip Mania of 17th century Holland and the South Sea Bubble of almost a 100 years later.

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[quote user="notsofrenchguy"]
Bitcoin educated people ... However in the case of real estate sales, crypto currencies can bring advantages... Bitcoins in the hope that they will increase in value in the future, which could be wise in my opinion.

[/quote]

I think/you know/where this about to go
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OK so the notary would be paid in euros, for the taxes and their fee?

However,

they then will have no proof of the actual sale price, which is what

those fees are based on, how could they verify that.

There

are lots of rules associated with house sales in France, including the

Mairie having the right to purchase if the price is 'right' for them, ie

someone selling at too low a price. Laws apply equally to Corsica as to

the rest of France. The notaire involved in property sales has to

inform the Mairie.

Since the euro is the standard

currency in France, unlike Bitcoin, the price will be set in euros, so

calculating the fees will not be a problem.

Bitcoin is simply the

unit of account used for this transaction at a given time, the price of

the house remains assessed in euro.

There is nothing mysterious or dark about it.

It's just more convenient for me to pay in Bitcoin, as it could be in any other foreign currency.

   

Frankly I do not

understand bit coin, as strange an unreal to me as the Tulip Mania of

17th century Holland and the South Sea Bubble of almost a 100 years

later.

There's

not much to understand about it, although the technical side is

fascinating and can be the learning experience of a lifetime.

One could simply say that Bitcoin is a currency that exists on the Internet and can be used for a whole range of applications.

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[quote user="Beckett"][quote user="notsofrenchguy"]
Bitcoin educated people ... However in the case of real estate sales, crypto currencies can bring advantages... Bitcoins in the hope that they will increase in value in the future, which could be wise in my opinion.

[/quote]

I think/you know/where this about to go[/quote]

I'm not trying to go anywhere, I would simply like to discuss the financial and legal aspects of the subject I've raised.

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If you want an answer to your question, ask a notaire. And let us know what he says, as I am mildly interested.

As has been said - you don't pay the seller direct. You pay the agreed sale price into the notaire's account, and the notaire transfers from his account to the seller's account the amount that's left after the deduction of any taxes that are due.

It's also normal for a notaire to verify the provenance of the funds being used for the purchase (ie track them back to a savings/investment account or a transaction). For one thing France is very strict on anti-money laundering measures, and for another thing the notaire wants to check it is your own money and you're not actually buying the house on behalf of someone else - there can sometimes a temptation to do this to avoid inheritance tax issues, eg an elderly parent might want to fund the purchase of a house for a step child to bypass succession tax. Not sure how these checks would work with bitcoin.
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[quote user="notsofrenchguy"]
I'm not trying to go anywhere, I would simply like to discuss the financial and legal aspects of the subject I've raised.

[/quote]

The financial aspect is irrelevant.

The legal aspect is that, by law, the funds have to be transferred into a notaires account in Euros, which implies that they come through a recognisable and reputable source.

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Oh well, I'm always interested in a discussion. As someone who is "Bitcoin educated", you'll be in a position to contribute to it, notsofrenchguy. I just think of Bitcoin's untraceability and link that to money-laundering!

What is the advantage to you, the buyer, in buying in Bitcoin (rather than converting your Bitcoin yourself into Euros)? Is there any advantage to the seller since if the seller wanted to buy Bitcoin, presumably he could do so anyway?

In short, what's the advantage to dealing in Bitcoin?
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The problem is that Bitcoin was designed to be untraceable. Which makes it ideal for money laundering. Of course that doesn't mean that it is ONLY used for money laundering and every transaction is dodgy, but because it's untraceable you can never be sure.

To the seller it probably won't make any practical difference if they have unintentionally been involved in money laundering, but probably most people would prefer not to because it would weigh on their conscience. And there's a small chance that you might one day get caught up in an investigation which could be unpleasant. But mostly, it's governments who are keen to crack down on money laundering. And you could argue that stopping criminal activities is also in the public interest. And because there's no way of tracing the provenance of bitcoin and distinguishing between honest users and dishonest users, I guess the honest users will just have to accept the consequences of choosing to use non-transparent payment methods. Their choice.
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EuroTrash wrote : And because there's no way of tracing the provenance of bitcoin and distinguishing between honest users and dishonest users, I guess the honest users will just have to accept the consequences of choosing to use non-transparent payment methods. Their choice.

Such a good point.

Transparency all the way for me.

Somehow this proposal sounds dodgy .. as has been previously said the advantage for the purchaser is easy to see but for the vendor it sounds less straight forward.

He/she might be implicated in some obscure way in the future .. and that would certainly give me sleepless nights.
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nomoss wrote : I have a friend who bought his first house here with cash drawn on a UK credit card.

But that was about 30 years ago, and things have changed a lot since thenWink [;-)]

Gosh .. imagine the charge(s) for withdrawing a (large) lump of cash on a credit card in a foreign land .. even 30 years ago that would not have been cheap.

But then I suppose the house was very reasonably priced ?

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