Incessant paperwork and fee-grubbing intermediaries are the real estate industry’s bad roommates.
They like to loaf around on most days, not doing much for themselves or anyone else until they hear you making dinner. Almost out of thin air, they’ll appear and bring nothing but their appetite for your provisions.
The good news is that their disruptive days will soon end. Blockchain startup — Zillios — wants to evict these clowns. And in multiple countries around the world, the delousing’s already begun.
What’s the project’s game plan for the rest of the planet? Let’s have a quick chat about it, and I’ll fill you in. But first, let’s get one thing straight…
Disclaimer: This is not investment or financial advice. I’m not a financial expert by any stretch of the imagination. Most information within this article is speculative and merely personal opinion. Always conduct your own research before contributing to any startup projects.
Always remember that what you do with your funds is your decision to make. And if that decision proves too difficult for you alone, seek guidance from a financial professional.
I may or may not receive a small allocation of tokens for creating this content. That said, I do my best to remain unbiased and fair. I try to avoid all FOMO and FUD and don’t wish to evoke those emotions in my fellow crypto-heads.
FYI: The Zillios project carries an extensive list of countries ineligible to participate in 2019’s token sale.
50 Countries & Counting
The title of this article claims over 1M property listings. And, I’m not here to disappoint. The majority of homes are within France and Spain, two countries that helped spark the Zillios project’s growth.
The team works with over 10k agencies within those regions. And the number of properties is steadily rising. As I write this, Spain contains over 800k property listings, while France is a distant 2nd with more than 64k.
Given time to propagate, expect to see a wealth of listings in most civilized countries.
Zillios aims to be the world’s largest geotargeted meta-search engine for international property sales and vacation rentals
International Real Estate’s MVP — Most Versatile Portal
The name Zillios, especially if you’re in the US, may remind you of another real estate search engine: Zillow. Coincidence? Probably not.
While Zillow may have notoriety, Zillios — like Ethereum did for Bitcoin — plans to improve upon an existing product.
The Zillios Beta is live now, and over a million properties are listed. It’s only a matter of time— 2021 according to the roadmap — before properties are eligible for sale or rent with the project’s native ZLST ERC20 token.
The Zillios engine, unlike most real estate portals, doesn’t focus on a single region or country. Instead, the platform aggregates listings from all over the globe.
Visitors to the Zillios site are served content based on their location, which further customizes a user’s search results.
The Zillios project is bringing geotargeting and meta-search to the real estate industry, while adding blockchain tech’s inherent qualities of security, transparency, and cost reduction via tokenization.
Now, let’s travel to a different region and, for the sake of comparison, let’s search for a home to buy in Costa Rica.
The tiny nation in Central America has a lot going for it — breathtaking greenery, warm ocean waters, secluded beaches, inexpensive food, super-nice locals, loads of wildlife and outdoor activities.
One visit and — even if it’s not your honeymoon — you may want to stay forever. The country stays true to its reputation as a tropical paradise.
Searching brings further searches
Google: Wading & Wading
Outside of the mega-corp’s theft questionable privacy practices, including the outright theft of our personal data, Google’s not all bad.
You can typically find the object of your search.
But in most instances, data is merely passing through. In other words, you don’t get direct information; you get a list of data-points to sift through on your own.
Zillow: Uh… Wrong Country
Guess I’m not comparing apples to apples here because there’s zero international action.
Although you can find Costa Rica Avenue in Texas and Florida several scattered across California, you won’t find listings within the actual Central American country.
Daily departures: 3-hour tours of the Chilligan Isles
Zillios: On Point
Typing ‘Costa Rica’ into the Zillios website’s search bar reveals over 100 properties.
Currently, most listings are from the same realtor. I’ll confess to digging only as deep as page three.
But it’s important to remember that the engine is still in Beta. Not every feature is fully functional. The filter is nothing but a placeholder.
However, you can still view photos, request a brochure via email, and get in contact with an agent.
Enhanced control over real estate marketing campaigns
Another Blockchain First
Looking to buy or rent a property means browsing listings for free. Selling or renting a home, on the other hand, typically involves paying a listing fee.
But that’s not the case here.
Listing properties on the Zillios platform is free.
I’m sure you can imagine the appeal for property owners as well as agents. Even if your owned or managed properties have listings elsewhere, it never hurts to spread your messaging. Especially when your advertisements are free.
Now, free is great. Who doesn’t like free? However, I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “you get what you pay for.” Free isn’t always best.
So, what’s Zillios envisioning to ensure properties don’t get lost in a jungle of listings? Interestingly, the solution borrows a little trick from the eCommerce industry…
PPC Auctions
Search results on Google come in two flavors: Organic and paid.
Organic, as the name implies, are those appearing naturally. Complex algorithms process your chosen search terms and deliver the most relevant results.
Paid searches are forceful and unnatural. However, that’s not always a bad thing. When you know exactly what you’re looking for, the answer to your query may very well lie within an advertisement.
Imagine the exact solution to your problem residing on page 18 of Google. It’s very doubtful that you’d ever, ever, go there.
Pay-Per-Click ads show up according to searches, but the advertiser doesn’t pay unless someone clicks one of their paid ads.
The victors of bidding wars see their advertisements listed in the topmost search results.
You see, there are far more competing companies than keywords to go around. Guess how many sporting goods dealers want their page to show whenever someone types “softball bat” into Google? Tons.
Advertisers must jockey for position, and they use dollars to get the pole.
Zillios is applying the same principle to the international real estate market. Throwing some ZLST tokens at the Zillios project lifts a property higher in the meta-search results.
Individual sellers may or may not need this service, but for agents it’s game-changing. Geotargeted property ads served to the right buyer may establish the perfect scenario for both parties.
PPC property ads create a triple-win scenario…
Agents get a method for getting premium listings in front of the right eyeballs. More commissions. Win.
Buyers and vacationers see additional, highly relevant properties in their search results. Less time spent searching. Win-win.
And lastly, the Zillios project creates a source of income. Blockchain or not, every business needs paying customers. Win-win-win!
Packing up…
Cutting costs and boosting efficiencies are two of blockchain tech’s many talents. And within the realm of global property sales and rentals, Zillios is giving those skills their time in the sun.
Sure, there are similar sites out there. But most share common threads — they’re bloated with go-betweens and complicated legalities. Not to mention hidden or obscure pricing structures.
Tokenized, smart contract-transacted properties are much more simplistic and transparent. Each ecosystem participant is privy to most details of every single transaction.
Plus, most of today’s real estate sites list either home sales or vacation rentals. Few sites combine the two as Zillios does.
Real-time, peer-to-peer transactions on the blockchain trim the fat from real estate transactions — and everyone benefits.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not arguing for 100% automation. Some people just can’t or won’t be bothered with the time it takes to sell a home.
Agent commissions are necessary for the ecosystem to thrive. But we can use tech to trim them down substantially. On the surface that may seem like a blow to agents, but I disagree.
A good chunk of their time is spent pushing papers at a desk and typing in front of a monitor. You know, doing the daily admin stuff that only the admin types enjoy.
Smart contracts empower agents with time freedom. And with that freedom comes the fun part of the job — getting out to homes and chatting with clients.
And when an agent does make a sale, the blockchain can record all the minute details of the transaction — giving the agent time to hit the next open house.
Zillios has very ambitious plans. Admittedly, full tokenization is still a few years out. But there’s no denying that they’re off to a strong start. Folding a million properties into a single platform was no easy task.
And, if you like your listings free and your search results pinpoint — especially if you live in Europe — keep an eye on the Zillios project.
DYOR
Zillios may be on my watch list of upcoming ICOs, but that doesn’t automatically qualify it for yours.
I encourage you to dig a little deeper into the project if you think you may want to participate.
Here are some resources to get you going:
Zillios Token Sale | Zillios Real Estate Portal | Zillios Whitepaper
👇 Get Social with the Zillios Team 👇
Facebook | GitHub | LinkedIn | Telegram | Twitter | YouTube
By the way…
If you like what you read here and want help getting your crypto message to the masses, I’d love to hear about your startup.
Even if you just want to chat about crypto or your favorite blockchain projects, you can find me here: blockchainauthor at Gmail
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