Abstract. 1. A decentralized listing service 2. A decentralized escrow service to safely transfer real property on our distributed ledger.

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Darleen Whitehead
5 years ago
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2 Abstract We believe in breaking down the barriers of the real estate market. Our solution is Quarteria; a platform for real estate transactions on the Blockchain. Quarteria aims to alleviate the main issues in the current global real estate market by facilitating two core tasks: 1. A decentralized listing service 2. A decentralized escrow service to safely transfer real property on our distributed ledger. Quarteria will accomplish these aims by providing an international decentralized listing service. Here, people will be able to list residential or commercial properties for sale, lease, or for auction. Anyone in the world will be able to browse the listing service and view properties valued in real-time fiat and cryptocurrencies. This will be supported with a decentralized moderation service, which will prevent the platform from being overtaken by bad actors. Through this network, people will even be able to perform transactions, leasing and purchasing real property with cryptocurrency. Quarteria operates as a custom decentralized system built on the NEO platform. The platform is powered by its token, PROQ. The Quarteria network has three main players. They are the Buyers, the Sellers, and the QuartMasters. The Buyers use the network to browse listings as well as to purchase or lease property in various tokens. The Sellers use Quarteria to advertise their properties and sell or lease them for various tokens. The QuartMasters are holders of the PROQ token, and verifiers for the Quarteria platform. They review all transactions and act as a decentralized third party for escrow services. They ensure that property transactions are performed correctly by staking PROQ tokens. Through this model, Quarteria is able to remove third parties who typically charge exorbitant fees. Thus, Quarteria is able to provide a largely fee-less real estate platform the first in the industry. Quarteria will support users through the entire real estate transaction life cycle, from advertising listings to actual transfer of property or leases. Quarteria is a one-stop shop for real estate in the modern age. Quarteria will also immediately partner PROPY from the outset, which will utilize Quarteria s validation protocol system of QuartMasters.

3 Introduction The following is a blueprint for the creation and construction of a new cryptocurrency platform termed Quarteria, formulated around the current needs of the real estate industry and based on Blockchain technology. Our mission is to create the first international decentralized residential and commercial real estate listings database controlled by both Buyers and Sellers. Real Estate Brokers and self-represented Sellers will be able to upload their listings and eventually, transfer title of properties, all paid for via the PROQ token. The platform will eliminate the issues with current database websites that charge Brokers and Sellers exorbitant fees to list their properties and contact information on listings, not allowing a fair and open market for Sellers. Ultimately, Quarteria will serve as a one-stop shop property database offering: 1. The ability to upload one s own listing/property which will be seen internationally and which you, the user, will be the only point of contact on that property 2. Real Estate transactions with cryptocurrencies tied to smart contracts that provide decentralized escrow services 3. Luxury Auctions There are two protocols that support Quarteria and allow it to operate. The first is the Upload Verification Protocol. This protocol allows us to bring about a decentralized listing platform, with decentralized moderation. The second is the Transaction Verification Protocol, which is used to support transactions. Through both protocols innovative staking model, users will be able to avoid paying fees (besides the cost of GAS to run transactions) for all of these services. Transacting property and advertising Real Estate is expensive, and Quarteria will even the playing field by removing these fees.

4 Inefficiency of Current Competition The biggest issues in the Real Estate industry today is the lack of a centralized OR decentralized working, listings database of residential and commercial properties. Major listings services in the United States for example have been at the forefront of numerous law suits by homeowners frustrated with the inconsistencies associated with the independent and unofficial appraisal of value on a property by the service. These values have been shown time and time again to be incorrect with a standard deviation of up to 60%. Furthermore, local MLS (multiple listings service) databases have not yet come to an agreement on a national database. Internationally, thousands of databases exist with no interconnectedness or uniform platform for all to view. The void in the United States was then filled by websites such as Zillow.com, Trulia.com, and Realtor.com. In addition to dues of $700 per year paid to local MLS databases, Real Estate Agents, Brokers, and Brokerage Firms must pay these various listings platforms exorbitant sums to be a part of their databases. Those platforms then offer to the highest bidder the ability to advertise on each listing by purchasing a zip code, thus stealing the lead from the originator of the listing; the listing Agent/Broker/Homeowner/Business Owner. In short, Agents are essentially having to buy back their own leads from these national databases. The cost to have your name appear on a listing in a particular zip code (not necessarily your own listing) starts at $200 per month and can rise to over $1,200 per month based on various formulae by the Listing Service. These excess fees then get passed on to Buyers and Sellers in the form of commissions. Everyone loses except for the corporate databases. Lastly, the information pulled from various sources onto these databases is often incorrect and not easily correctable due to poor customer service among other variables. We are in the process of creating the first decentralized database of residential and commercial property listings controlled by property Owners and their Real Estate Brokers should they wish to use one. This platform does not cut out the real estate service industry, but allows them to work more efficiently and less costly by cutting out the corporate database websites that charge excess fees. Sellers and their representation can now market their properties by cutting out the middle man. Furthermore, we are adding services such as pricing properties in real-time fiat currencies (USD, Renminbi, Yen, Euro) as well as cryptocurrencies (BTC/NEO/Ethereum/LTC), as well as adding simplified options such as HD photography and videography for a better user experience. Lastly, new trends such as property auctions will be available.

5 The PROQ Token The PROQ Token is a utility NEP-5 token which stands for Protocol- Quarteria. The token will be utilized by all the players in the network. The Sellers will use the PROQ token in three ways. When they wish to list a property on the database, they must stake PROQ, for should their ownership of the property go under review by the QuartMasters. They will also stake the PROQ token when they transact a property with a Buyer. This is used to pay the QuartMasters when the transaction goes under review and the QuartMasters side with the buyer. In both cases, if there are no issues with the QuartMasters, the PROQ staked will return to the Seller at the end of the transaction. If a Seller wishes to begin an auction they will have to stake PROQ as well. If they decide to cancel the transaction at the conclusion of the auction the PROQ will go to the Buyer, otherwise it is also returned. The Buyers will also use the PROQ token in three different ways. When they wish to participate in an auction, they will have to stake PROQ proportional to their bid. If they cancel the transaction at the conclusion of the auction, they will have to forfeit their PROQ to the Seller. Similarly, when Buyers purchase or lease a property from a Seller, they have to stake a portion of PROQ in the case where there is a dispute and the QuartMasters side with the Seller. Finally, Buyers will also have the option to transact properties with the PROQ token as payment to the Seller. The QuartMasters will use the PROQ token to settle disputes. They are the Verifiers in our network. Disputes arise in two cases: when a Seller s ownership of a property listed on the platform is under dispute and when a property transaction is under dispute. If the majority of QuartMasters votes for one party, that party will win the dispute. All QuartMasters who sided with the winning party will gain a portion PROQ staked, while the QuartMasters who sided against the winning party will gain nothing. Thus, QuartMasters have an economic incentive to settle disputes correctly. Whenever PROQ is transferred on the network or a smart contract is used (listing fee or transaction), there will be a small GAS fee to power the NEO smart contract. Because we are planning on using IPFS to keep multimedia files off NEO, we don t foresee these fees to be very high. The PROQ Token s staking model allows users to avoid fees where they are traditionally needed. Users of Quarteria will most likely never have to pay any fees (besides the aforementioned cost of GAS) to perform any functions. The PROQ staked will be held in a smart contract, and paid back to the holder after the

6 other party agrees that no mistakes were made. If the transaction goes to review, only the fee of the malicious party will be lost to the Quartmasters. Listing Service The core functionality of Quarteria is a decentralized listing database that will display properties and their value in various cryptocurrencies. Quarteria will present an interface for parties to browse listings across the globe in all price ranges, both residential and commercial. The database will run on top of the Neo platform as a smart contract. It would be impractical for users to query Neo and IPFS directly so Quarteria will provide a web front end server for the listing service. The listing database is supported by the upload verification protocol. One of the issues with providing decentralized platforms is moderation. Without moderation, a platform is ripe for abuse users can pretend to sell houses that aren t theirs, or may submit grossly offensive listings. Typically, the company who provides the platform performs the moderation themselves, and this is why they charge fees. With the upload verification protocol, we can provide a moderated decentralized listing service without inherent fees. Quarteria Upload Verification Protocol This protocol is used to support our decentralized listing platform with decentralized moderation. Due to our system of staking PROQ tokens, this protocol should be free to all users that don t break the rules, as they will have their deposit reimbursed at the completion of operation. This protocol can be extended to any such decentralized service that relies on users uploading content that needs decentralized moderation, such as uploading classified s, advertisements, and even a decentralized image hosting service. This is because the Listing Data is really any data uploaded to IPFS. For the purposes of Quarteria, we use this protocol for uploading listings to our real estate marketplace. In this scenario, the data uploaded to IPFS is a JSON file including all relevant information about the listing, such as images, street address, etc. THE PLAYERS

7 There are three main players in this protocol: The Seller o The Seller uploads listings to the platform. They wish to advertise homes or apartments. They have an economic incentive not to upload bad listings, as if they do they will lose their stake. The Contesting Party o The Contesting Party is someone who thinks the listing is not valid in some way. They have an economic incentive to flag bad listings, as if it is truly invalid, they will receive half of the Seller s stake. They have an economic incentive not to flag any random listing, as if they are wrong, they lose their stake. The Verifiers (QuartMasters) o The verifiers are people registered in the Quarteria network (we fondly call them Quart Masters ). They look for contested listings, and then weigh in with their judgment. To do this, they place a vote on whether the listing is valid or not, based off of analysis of the listing, user identification, and public records, as well as stake PROQ. If their vote is correct, they receive their stake back as well as a split between all the majority verifiers of 50% of the fraudulent lister s stake and all of the losing verifiers stakes. Thus, they have an economic incentive to vote correctly, as if they do they will be awarded PROQ, and if they do not, they will forfeit PROQ. THE CONTRACT The contract is displayed in Figure 1. The contract contains a map data structure of all the uploaded listings, such that the listings can be easily referenced by any interested party, as well as iterated over for displaying listings on the website to people who are browsing. Each listing contains a hash of the listing data in IPFS for retrieval. We store data in IPFS to reduce costs with transactions it is infeasible to store full files in a Neo contract. When a user wishes to see the content from a listing, they will simply fetch the file from IPFS. The listing data is a JSON file including all relevant information about the listing, such as images, or the street address. Along with the IPFS hash, the listings contain the seller s wallet address, as well as their PROQ deposit. This is so the deposit may be returned to them at the end of the listings life-cycle.

8 Figure 1 - Structure of Listing Smart Contract NORMAL CASE OPERATION Figure 2 - Normal Case Listing Protocol Operation

Normal case operation is described in Figure 2. This is how the protocol operates if there is never a contesting party. In this scenario, the Seller uploads their listing data to IPFS.

9 Normal case operation is described in Figure 2. This is how the protocol operates if there is never a contesting party. In this scenario, the Seller uploads their listing data to IPFS. They create a new listing entry in the listing contract by invoking a function within the contract. Along with their IPFS hash, they include their staked PROQ. When the Seller no longer wishes to have the listing on our platform, they will signal to the contract that they want the listing removed. The contract will remove the listing, and return to them their staked PROQ. CONTESTED LISTINGS When listings are contested, the verifiers enter in to decide if the listing is valid or not. There are two scenarios: the first is that the listing is invalid. The second is that the contesting party is incorrect. Figure 3 - Invalid Listing Protocol Operation

10 The first scenario is when the listing is invalid. The flow diagram for this is demonstrated in Figure 3. Like in the normal case, the seller uploads their data to IPFS and creates a new listing entry as well as staking PROQ. However, in this scenario, the contesting party flags the listing for review. At this point, the network of Verifiers is notified and a group of them (size to be determined) is gathered to make a decision on the listing on a first come first serve basis. They vote on whether or not they believe the listing is valid by staking PROQ. After a requisite number of verifiers vote, the votes are tallied. In this scenario, the Seller uploaded a fraudulent listing and the vote should be against the Seller. The Verifiers who voted correctly will receive their stake back, as well as a cut of 50% of the Selling party s stake added with all the stakes of the losing verifiers. This total is split amongst all the correct verifiers. The listing will then be removed from the listing contract, so it can no longer be indexed and will no longer be displayed on the Quarteria site. Finally, the contesting party will receive their stake back, as well as 50% of the selling party s stake.

Figure 4 - Invalid Contester Protocol Operation The second scenario is when the listing is valid, yet it is still flagged by a contesting party. The flow diagram for this is demonstrated in Figure 4.

11 Figure 4 - Invalid Contester Protocol Operation The second scenario is when the listing is valid, yet it is still flagged by a contesting party. The flow diagram for this is demonstrated in Figure 4. As before, the Verifiers will make a decision on whether or not they believe the listing is valid. In this scenario, it is, so the vote should go against the contesting party. The Verifiers who voted correctly will receive their stake back, as well as a cut of 50% of the contesting party s stake added with all the stakes of the losing verifiers. This total is split amongst all the correct verifiers. The other 50% of the contesting party s stake will then be sent to the Seller s wallet.

12 Quarteria Property Transaction Protocol This introduces the Quarteria Property Transaction Protocol. This protocol is used to support our decentralized escrow service. Due to our system of staking PROQ tokens, this protocol should be free to all users that don t break the rules, as they will get their deposit back at the completion of operation. THE PLAYERS There are three main players in this protocol: The Seller o The Seller wants to sell their property. They have an economic incentive not to make invalid sales, as if they do they will lose their stake. The Buyer o The Buyer is someone who wishes to purchase a property. They have an economic incentive not to flag any random listing, as if they are wrong, they lose their stake. The Verifiers ( Quart Masters ) o The verifiers are people registered in the Quarteria network (we fondly call them Quart Masters ). They look for contested transactions, and then weigh in with their judgment. To do this, they place a vote on whether they think the transaction is valid or not, as well as stake PROQ. If their vote is correct, they receive their stake back as well as a split between all the majority verifiers of 50% of the bad persons stake and all the losing verifiers stakes. Thus, they have an economic incentive to vote correctly, as if they do they will gain PROQ, and if they don t they will lose PROQ. THE CONTRACT The contract is displayed in Figure 5. The contract contains a map data structure of all the transactions, such that the transactions can be easily referenced by any interested parties. Each transaction contains (6) fields which are filled in by the Buyer and Seller in the initial handshake of the transaction: o Hash of deed in IPFS for retrieval. We store data in IPFS to reduce costs with transactions it is infeasible to store full files in a Neo

Seller s Approval o A Boolean for the Buyer s Approval o A Boolean describing if the transaction went through or not Figure 5 - Structure of Transaction

13 contract. When a user wishes to see the deed, they will simply fetch the file from IPFS. o The Seller s wallet address o The Seller s PROQ deposit o The Buyer s wallet address o The Buyer s PROQ deposit o The Buyer s payment o A Boolean for the Seller s Approval o A Boolean for the Buyer s Approval o A Boolean describing if the transaction went through or not Figure 5 - Structure of Transaction Smart Contract NORMAL CASE OPERATION We store data in IPFS to reduce costs with transactions it is infeasible to store full files in a Neo contract. When a user wishes to see the deed, they will simply fetch the file from IPFS.

14 Figure 6 Rejected Normal Case Transaction Figure 7 Accepted Normal Case Transaction

15 Normal case operation is described in Figure 6 and Figure 7. This is how the protocol operates if there is never a dispute. Either party agrees to accept, or reject the sale. First, an interested Buyer, after communicating with the Seller, will initiate a transaction in our smart contract. This will register a new transaction object to keep state of this individual transaction process. They get an id to associate actions with this transaction object. They will upload their PROQ staking fee, and upload their down payment for the property in any of the cryptocurrencies that Quarteria will support (including PROQ) to our contract, tying it to the transaction object with its ID. When they initiate the transaction object, they will also set the rules for how QuartMasters will handle this dispute (such as how many QuartMasters can participate). The Seller will then upload all the necessary deed transfer documents to IPFS. The Seller will then submit the hash of the deed transfer documents (which will allow the Buyer to locate the documents on IPFS) to the transaction object in our smart contract. A holding period begins. During which, both parties Attorney s will undergo a title search process. After an agreed upon number of days, both the Buyer & Seller will submit an update to the transaction either approving, or rejecting the sale. If both parties accept the transaction, the deed is officially transferred to the Buyer (as per the language in the transfer documents), and the capital the Buyer submits will transfer to the Seller. If both parties reject, the capital will be returned to the Seller. In both these scenarios, PROQ staking fees will be returned to the party that paid them. CONTESTED TRANSACTIONS When transactions are contested, the verifiers enter in to decide if the listing is valid or not. There are two scenarios: the first is that the transaction is invalid, and the buyer should have their capital returned. The second is that the transaction is valid, and the seller should receive payment.

16 Figure 7 Contested Valid Transaction Protocol Operation The first scenario is when the listing is invalid. The flow diagram for this is demonstrated in Figure 8. At this point, the network of Verifiers is notified and a group of them (size to be determined) is gathered to make a decision on the transaction on a first come first serve basis. They vote on whether or not they believe the transaction is valid by staking PROQ. After a requisite number of verifiers vote (set forth by the buyer), the votes are tallied. In this scenario, the transaction should have been valid (for example, the buyer decided to back out, yet the Seller has transferred them the deed). The Verifiers who voted correctly will receive their stake back, as well as a cut of 50% of the Buying party s stake added with all the stakes of the losing verifiers. This

Figure 8 Contested Invalid Transaction Protocol Operation The second scenario is when the transaction is invalid, yet it is contested. The flow diagram for this scenario is shown in figure 9.

17 total is split amongst all the correct verifiers. The Transaction will then be marked as confirmed on the smart contract. Finally, the Seller will receive their stake back, as well as 50% of the Buying Party s stake, and the payment they are owed. Figure 8 Contested Invalid Transaction Protocol Operation The second scenario is when the transaction is invalid, yet it is contested. The flow diagram for this scenario is shown in figure 9. As before, the Verifiers will make a decision on whether or not they believe the listing is valid. In this scenario, it is, so the vote should go against the Seller. The Verifiers who voted correctly will receive their stake back, as well as a cut of 50% of the Seller s stake added with all the stakes of the losing verifiers. This total is split amongst all the correct verifiers.

18 The Buyer will get their staked fee returned, 50% of the Selling party s stake, as well as their payment returned to them. QuartMaster Validity We would like to ensure that disputes through QuartMasters are settled such that the deserving party always wins. To that end, to improve the judging ability of the decentralized QuartMasters, we plan on implementing a system to verify PROQ holders called QuartMasters. We will allow individual PROQ holders to submit a request for verification by Quarteria. They will provide us with documents proving their identity. If they fulfill all of the qualifications we will register them on the platform. QuartMasters will submit a monthly fee to Quarteria in PROQ in order to remain verified each month Quarteria will audit their votes to ensure they are behaving correctly.

Real Estate Transaction Method And System

( 1 of 1 ) United States Patent Application 20060282378 Kind Code A1 Gotfried; Bradley L. December 14, 2006 Real Estate Transaction Method And System Abstract A method and system for brokering real estate