Category: Real Estate

Hedera & RedSwan.io Trailblaze To Facilitate High Liquidity Real Estate Transactions

Zena TP Williams

High-Liquidity Real Estate

 

This month, I had the honor and pleasure of sitting down with the RedSwan.io team including Founder, Ed Nwokedi, in Houston, TX. The retreat was held in Midtown at the Ion, right in the heart of Houston’s innovation district. One of the most compelling aspects of this experience was gaining deeper insights into the mechanics and rationale behind some of their pivotal partnerships. How is this global real estate team leveling the playing field for high-liquidity real estate investments through blockchain without the massive transaction fees that typically burden buyers and sellers?

 

Hedera with the tag line: Hello Future, led by Shayne Higdon, emerged as a standout. Hedera, a Web3 application, facilitates transactions for real-world asset tokenization (securitization) . Being a decentralized platform with a distributed ledger, Hedera can process and finalize transactions in around 3.4 seconds—at a fraction of the cost compared to its peers. This efficiency removes the delays traditionally associated with transaction finalization, enabling more transactions to occur faster and with greater ease. One of the most significant takeaways was the team’s initial hesitation to adopt open-source code to avoid mass forking which helps reduce the noise. However, with safeguards in place to minimize forking, their open-source, permissionless network has seen rapid adoption. This openness lowers the barrier to entry for opportunities such as real estate investment transactions for a fraction of the cost and at will speeds.

 

Some of Hedera’s strongest partnerships include working with Deloitte to verify ESG and environmental impact claims, which can help curb greenwashing and enhance meaningful carbon reduction efforts. Hedera is also utilized in financial services applications, including not just RedSwan, but consulting for IBM.


So, how does Hedera benefit? The answer lies in fixed fees. By securing the platform with governance similar to Visa’s but without making it inaccessible, Hedera has focused on refining processes that others have yet to develop. With just under 200,000 transactions every 24 hours, Hedera is poised to thrive with a superior and cleaner product.

 

It was thrilling to hear how RedSwan and Hedera’s founder are making waves in real estate transactions. RedSwan has over $9B in assets trading. Soon to be included is a recent international fund set to go live in a few months. The high-liquidity aspect allows investors to hold their portion of each real estate asset for just one (1) year, per SEC regulations – yes RedSwan is SEC-regulated – for private companies. After that, investors can release their holdings into a secondary market on the RedSwan platform and explore a myriad of new high-liquidity real estate investment opportunities. While this opportunity is currently available only to institutional and accredited investors, these real estate assets have been thoroughly vetted by professionals, providing the type of transparency that investors seek. At this time, the platform is focused on Core and Core Plus assets but also welcomes new opportunities from property owners looking to refinance without renegotiating with institutional backers. 

 

Last but not least, Ed, finalized the event with the Tech & Tequila event hosted by Blue People in the heart of downtown about what benefits real estate tokenization brings potential investors. Log onto the RedSwan.io site and review the portfolio with ease. If you want real insight into investments even from a family office perspective this is worth the time. 

Revolutionizing the way we buy, trade, and sell commercial real estate (CRE)

Zena TP Williams

 

The Game Changer

Are you all about the early retirement paradigm? I thought so. So, let’s talk about the way and why folks are revolutionizing the way you buy, trade, and sell Commercial Real Estate (CRE). CRE is now being tokenized on blockchain technology for fractional ownership. This new system securitizes real estate. The result is a lower barrier to entry and higher liquidity, and the foundations of those benefits are on blockchain today. Therefore, blockchain is a game changer. Keep in mind this is currently NOT a retail offering but today, accredited and institutional investors can most certainly capitalize on this opportunity. See more through the second installment of how RedSwan.io is further revolutionizing how we buy, sell, and trade, commercial real estate today. 

On behalf of asset type, real estate investments are hedges against inflation as they are vehicles through which you can store value (wealth) while owning a tangible asset. When debt is what our economy has run on, there must be a way to beat inflation by staying ahead of leverage (debt). Staying ahead increases your purchasing power. Having and keeping capital is the name of the game. Like everyone who signs up for debt, it is in hopes of higher returns than what you owe and the interest you owe on your debt combined. As a whole, as long as we stay ahead of our leverage through productivity (putting your cash assets to work) that leads to economic growth, healthy commerce, and more sound investments. Economies will prosper, and opportunity will flourish.

You are probably asking yourself what actions you can take to set yourself up for success:

I am not yet financial advisor, but the logic goes that the right investments can set you up for a healthy retirement and hopefully through various vehicles income as well. The Social Security system isn’t a given in the next 30 years. Real estate is, and it is, one of the fastest ways to grow your wealth. Lastly, and as mentioned above, it can help you hedge against inflation through its ability to store value. Later in this post, I state that our US currency isn’t currently backed by tangible real-life assets. Real estate is a tangible real-life asset. Also, according to the experts, space (real estate) is here to stay, although its use will keep evolving based on what is most productive. Throughout history, there has been a higher barrier to entry to growing your wealth through commercial real estate ownership. What if you could now get in the game and afford to purchase and trade fractional ownership of property through a transaction from the owner straight to you powered by self executing contracts (once all terms of trade are met)? Let’s add in the generation of passive income (dividends) should you choose to hold. Might that be a needle mover in your financial success? I think so. Now, you can purchase and trade real estate, more easily follow transactions, and sans the middle man with intensive transactional costs and all those hidden fees.

A brief history (as I understand it) of the impetus of the Blockchain and why it’s valuable to you: 

In 2008, the United States saw poor lending and investment practices crash the world economy; the debt that created the mess didn’t just disappear. The United States Fed printed more money, thereby diluting the supply for a massive bail-out. Yes. Laws were enacted to stop the same type of disruption from occurring again. However, the banking system had already been exposed, and there are a million and one ways to fail. The banks who endorsed poor lending practices walked away without paying the full toll for their actions (it’s not that simple, but…). The banks we rely on daily are currently too big to fail and perhaps learn.

Imagine your future success enabled by the right technology tailored to your end-end goals.

Newsflash: The US dollar isn’t backed by real-life assets (ex: gold or silver). The true worth of the dollar is sentiment and consensus – just like Bitcoin. The point is that the US’s central banking system is centralized, which means we got the first taste of what kind of power our banks hold and what their practices are and can become if unchecked – which they largely are. That is why in 2009, global citizens got to work on how a new, better, and more transparent economy could work through a new currency – with blockchain technology as a foundation to grow that economy. The rise of a decentralized financial model using blockchain technology (a distributed ledger) revolutionized the financial industry.

Crypto was born and is easily distributed (now more than ever), stores value, and is easily traded through an open yet distributed ledger although crypto’s volatile nature has cause for much concern. Cyrpto is not blockchain but Crypto transactions are stored on the tech.

The term “follow the trail of money” has never been more powerful. The use of blockchain has expanded significantly past cryptocurrencies that seek to improve upon the dollar and other fiat systems since the Great Recession. Good money and economic strength through a thriving economy often mark the success of a civilization. The opposite can be said for a society with a weak currency (one that prints money) and a less productive economy (not stimulating the growth that those who printed the money had hoped for). The Fed has the unenviable job of controlling interest rates to stimulate the economy while hoping to balance the causation of inflation. Part of the challenge will be to not print more money as the US government has done i the past. Bloomberg as of June 26th has inflation rates at just above 4.5% which is an improvement from 2022 where is was estimated by Bloomberg to be almost double. 

Revolutionizing the way we buy, trade, and sell commercial real estate (CRE)

As the world becomes more integrated and experience focused on personal and financial gain, here is how the pioneers are shaping the future of real estate on blockchain tech. Check out the two (2) installments on opportunities for fractional CRE ownership on my homepage and what that means. Another fun project is Fractionvest (residential) out of Ontario, Canada, which just took a massive leap in regulatory processes.

I encourage you to do your due diligence on what could be your next opportunity to learn and grow alongside this evolving industry where fintech meets real estate and proptech moves spaces to be better, more intelligent, and more productive to support a thriving economy.

Finally, be sure to see more through the second installment of how RedSwan.io is further revolutionizing how we buy, sell, and trade, commercial real estate today.

First-time Homebuyer Experiences

Zena TP Williams
Map of the Greater Heights Area – #5

In 2020, I purchased my own home in an emerging neighborhood of Houston, Texas called Independence Heights. I served as my agent and saw something special in the quiet quarter between I-45 just north of the 610 Loop that encircles this enormous and growing city. I moved from my parent’s home in Bellaire also off the 610 and there were many comparables regarding how retailers were positioned throughout my new neighborhood. Although Independence Heights is no Bellaire, it is nestled perfectly on the borderline of Garden Oaks, a lovely neighborhood with tall lots and plenty of mature trees. The agent that upsold me was Rachael Hadzega. She assured me that the home was a good, energy-efficient build and that the neighborhood was coming up. Let me be perfectly honest, most agents are trained to say those things, however, like a good agent, she understood what to lean on. This was not just a home; it was also an investment. Further, the neighborhood was on the brink of a transition that could go in any direction given a fragile economic state due to the global Covid-19 pandemic. So, here is what I did right, and what more I could have/should have done better.

What I did right

  • I moved back to Houston, TX permanently in 2015. At the time, I was not able to purchase a home. I did, however, get my real estate (RE) license. Having a license was the source of $7 – 9 thousand in savings. It also connected me to a network of people with key information about local culture, neighborhoods, and opportunities. Although I was more interested in the commercial RE perspective, the license was an excellent first step to everything RE. It also helped me obtain plenty of data points to be able to make sound decisions moving forward.
  • A major factor of my decision-making process was the current and future health of my neighborhood. How did I assess this? I looked at neighborhoods that had already matured and took note of which retailers positioned themselves in or near my neighborhood of choice. I had the fortune of the perfect retail model to help establish the trend.  

Bellaire: Home Depot & Lowes, Chick-fil-a, PetSmart, Whole Foods & HEB

  • In Houston, Home Depot, Lowes, and Chick-fil-a tend to roll together in viable neighborhoods. PetSmart is in almost every “comfortable”
    The Whole Foods Market 365 mural reflects the African American roots of Independence Heights on Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018, in Houston.

    neighborhood in Houston, and not by mistake. Also, Whole Foods and HEB are some of the titans of the grocery industry. In 2018, before the pandemic and after Hurricane Harvey, the opening of Whole Foods 365 Market was a tipping point for this neighborhood. Whole Foods introduced a new product/brand to support the variety of demographics that the neighborhood is comprised of. HEB followed in 2019. Retailers make their RE location decisions based on a healthy supply chain, demographics, surrounding growth potential, and more. They have determined that their businesses complement each other, a winning combination. After I pinned the neighborhood, I began to dig further into my personal preferences such as a gated community and the accessibility to outdoor activities. The things that you seek, often seek you too.  Established businesses like the ones mentioned have put a ton of resources into their location intelligence models. Know the experts and trust that they have done the heavy lifting.

  • I had the advantage of being in Houston during Hurricane Harvey. Therefore, I drove various neighborhoods to review and assess damages. You can have a perfectly good home, and an excellent location but the risk vs reward of that purchase needs to be taken into account. In Houston, I searched for investments that were outside of the flood zone and near but far enough from the bayou waterways to have a fighting chance in the case of another major flood. Given the history of the neighborhood not flooding during Harvey, that also meant that investing in flood insurance became optional. It was another cost savings opportunity.
  • HOA fees can be insane if not a little rude. HOAs are businesses. The costs rarely, if ever go down. Make sure that you know what neighborhood policies are, how much they cost, and why they cost what they do. Speaking of businesses, ensure that your HOAs do not tie your hands by not letting you monetize your property. You may not want to, but it is always nice to have options. Specific examples are, can you rent, Airbnb, and what improvements are within policy guidelines?
  • Who you choose as a lender can help you gain financial leverage. This program may expire at some point, however, first-time homebuyers could beeligible for up to $30,000 worth of assistance in Houston, TX. Also, some lenders have a discount for the first-time homebuyer education course (if you are required to take it).
  • If you find that a quality builder or RE firm has invested greatly in certain emerging markets, check out their inventory throughout the city. Like the commercial retailers, the odds are that they have done their homework too. Get an expert like Rachael to outline the pros and cons of the options you have outlined. Even if you think you know the answer you could find out something that you didn’t know and that could reframe your search.

What I should have also considered

  • There was an easement on my property that I asked to be relocated before I even knew it was an easement. The telephone line stations were not installed in a straight line. One of them ended up in my backyard and to get to it, the service provider must enter my property. They can dig up my back lawn to burry telephone lines to other homes. Unfortunately, I picked that lot for a compelling reason. I honestly thought it could be a quick removal of the box. It was way more complicated than that. So, I must live with it, for now. Although, lucky me. There was a development in Houston around the same time where the developers forgot to oversee the installation of internet infrastructure within the community during the height of the pandemic and when everyone was working from home. Those residents were out of luck for over six (6) months.
  • The first morning that I woke up after I moved in, I experienced the train. It was way down the road and I did not think that I could hear it from my home. The area is not a quiet zone. When I inquired with a community leader, they gave me a comprehensive list of other items that the community wanted to prioritize. Some of those items were gentrification, extreme poverty, and rising taxes that were forcing the locals to move out of their long-time community. Moreover, in parts of town, there was an increase in flood damages due to an uptick in housing and construction coupled with a lack of progress within the infrastructure. Lastly, the I-45 expansion project may cause the neighborhood to shrink on the East side of town displacing residents due to eminent domain laws. The thunderous train was at the bottom of that list, as it should have been. Did I mention the rooster at dawn?
  • During Snowvid (the winter freeze week of 02.15.2021 – $18 Billion in damages – t-shirts here), it was a shock to tout le monde. It left the city bruised but not broken. Right before the water to the entire city shut off for days, my aunt gave me some sage advice. She told me to fill my bathtubs with water. We usually drink filtered water and not bottled water, so we would not even have had water to drink as the stores were out of, well, everything! I was lucky to do so just in case and we had some form of water supply until we pooled resources with refugees. In my second bathroom, I settled for just a shower. Perhaps having a second tub would have been wise. As the water supply got lower and lower by day three, the second tub issue began to settle in. On a positive note, I also got to experience energy efficiency at its best. The home remained appropriately insulated throughout and my energy bill for last month was only $30.00. My energy retailer, Pulse Power, came through. It was fortune mixed with choosing the right team.

Suffice to say, I am learning a lot from my homeowner experience in Houston, TX. Also, I am happy to live in a diverse and growing neighborhood. Finally, I hope that hearing about my journey will enrich your point of view. You may not think of everything but there are ways to set yourself up for overall success. Oh, and if you are gearing up to be a first-time homebuyer, CONGRATS in advance!

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