Blockrails™ is the National Association of REALTORS® Official Provider of payment fraud protection services under the REALTOR Benefits® Program. Blockrails™ and the National Association of REALTORS® partnered to provide an exclusive product for realtors to pre-screen prospects, manage their deal flow efficiently, eliminate fraud and make homebuying safe and easy.
Streamline deal flow and future-proof yourself & your customers against fraud.
Blockrails™ helps realtors pre-screen prospects, manage their deal flow efficiently, eliminate fraud and make homebuying safe and easy.
Pre-screen prospective homebuyers with a few short clicks! Quickly gauge buyer sentiment, price sensitivity, estimated down payment and estimated moving date by sending a quick and easy to complete survey.
Manage multiple listings and prospective buyers simultaneously. Stay on top of all your real estate deals, track progress and let us help you automate timely communications and reminders to keep deals on track.
Eliminate paper checks and securely collect earnest money deposits. Invite the escrow/title company to deal. Payments made through Blockrails™ are backed by our $1 Million Safe Payment Guarantee*.
Eliminate Paper Checks
Blockrails™ eliminates the need for paper checks with safe, secure, and guaranteed earnest money deposit payments.
Going beyond secure payments, Blockrails™ provides some of the most sophisticated fraud detection and protection technology available today.
REALTORS® have unlimited monthly use with their Blockrails™ subscription.
Make Homebuying Safe and Easy
Customers trust you when buying their homes. Give them another reason to tell others why they should do the same.
Identity Validation
Using our patent-pending process, we collect, process, and verify identities, ensuring each party is validated against the possibility of fraud, while never storing any personally identifying information.
Safe Bank Integration
Blockrails™ uses Plaid™ for BSA-compliant automated banking integration & authorization, giving everyone peace of mind that account information is protected, compliant, safe, and secure.
Compliant Payments
Blockrails™ uses leading market provider Dwolla™ for all deposit payment transactions, ensuring a seamless, trusted, and federally compliant movement of cash between banks on every transaction.
AES-256 encryption: Highest Grade Security
Blockrails™ was designed and built from the ground up on a foundation of maximum security. Our mission is to protect you, your customers, and your title/escrow partners from payment fraud in every transaction.
All sensitive customer data is stored in our permission-based blockchain built on Hyperledger Fabric™. Customer data is further segmented into private user channels. A certificate is generated and stored for each user, and this certificate is used to read and write information into the private user channel. Blockrails Web Application Security then incorporates the use of JWT tokens for users to access their unique certificates within the application. This presents the highest possible level of security benefits, including:
- Users have full control of their data and where it is shared, as well as the ability to retract when necessary, and
- Users can choose to delete their accounts, thereby destroying the private keys for their private channels, which ensures fully GDPR compliance within the application.
Visit Hyperledger Fabric at the Linux Foundation to learn more, or read the Data Sheet here.
Blockrails™ uses Cobalt web application penetration testing service leveraging the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) Application Security Verification Standard (ASVS) and the OWASP Testing Guide. Together, these create a comprehensive framework for assessing the security of web-based applications and form the foundation for the web application assessment methodology in security testing Blockrails™ at the highest possible standards. On top of OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities, Cobalt Core pen-testers also test the security of Blockrails™ business logic associated with its web application such as weaknesses in data validation or integrity checks — flaws that can only be discovered through manual testing, not automated vulnerability scanning. Please contact support@blockrails.com for our 2022 Cobalt Pentest Report.
Blockrails™ is securely hosted with AWS in a shared compliance responsibility model by operating and building on top of the security controls AWS already uses on its infrastructure. The IT infrastructure that AWS provides is designed and managed in alignment with best security practices and numerous IT security standards. The following is a partial list of assurance programs with which AWS complies in cloud hosting the Blockrails™ platform:
- SOC 1/ISAE 3402, SOC 2, SOC 3
- FISMA, DIACAP, and FedRAMP
- PCI DSS Level 1
- ISO 9001, ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018
More information is available in the AWS Risk and Compliance whitepaper and the AWS Security Center.
Frequently Asked Questions
With an active subscription, REALTORS® also have access to new, upcoming features and benefits only available through the Blockrails™ platform, including expanded prospect and deal management tools, integrated live chat, e-sign, document storage services, and more.
With Blockrails™, REALTORS® can now (a) remove the risk of payment loss due to fraud, (b) raise reputation value, (c) eliminate paper checks, and (d) securely manage the earnest money deposit across multiple parties, all combined to protect REALTORS® while helping improve workflow efficiencies.
WHO CAN USE BLOCKRAILS™?
Blockrails™ is a new Member Benefit application for active REALTORS®. It is specially designed to help REALTORS® more efficiently manage deals, pre-screen prospects to save time, and protect against payment fraud. REALTORS® invite homebuyers and title/escrow agents into the app so they can safely interact and perform a secure earnest money deposit, giving REALTORS® full transparency on when payments take place.
EXPLAIN THE APP - HOW DOES IT WORK?
Blockrails™ has been designed with REALTORS® in mind.
First, register to enroll and access the Blockrails™ application. You will be automatically started on a 30-Day Free Trial, and will not be prompted to enter your payment information until the trial period expires.
Once in the app, you can verify or update your profile, and have access to begin using the following services and features.
Manage Your Deals
Our most basic feature is the REALTOR® Deal Tool. This is a simple place to keep track of your current listings (or deals). Input by address and home name you wish to assign. Here, you’ll be able to assign prospects and title/escrow agents for each deal, as well as automatically track who has paid their earnest money deposits.
Pre-Screen Prospects
After any prospect calls you from an MLS listing, you can open your Blockrails™ app, select the deal they called in on, enter their info, and click a button to send them a Blockrails™ Pre-screen Survey. The prospect will receive the survey and can click to enter their responses. Once done, their answers will automatically populate into your Blockrails™ app, displaying buying sentiment, financial position, and purchase timing. You can use these responses across to determine “at-a-glance” how hot or cold prospects are for timing your follow-ups.
Invite Others
Once your prospect becomes “final” and is ready to become the Homebuyer for a deal, open Blockrails™, select their name and click to send them a Blockrails™ Invitation. They will receive your invite, get securely validated, create a profile, and now enter Blockrails, and be able to see the name of the home listing you have assigned them to. Repeat this same procedure to the Title/Escrow agent for that deal. Once the Homebuyer and Title/Escrow are in Blockrails™, they can interact to perform a safe and secure earnest money deposit.
Automated Notifications
Once Title/Escrow notifies the Homebuyer to make a deposit, the REALTOR® is notified. There will also be automatic notifications once a deposit has been sent, and again once the payment has been deposited. This gives REALTORS® full transparency on payment at all times, making it more efficient to track when there are multiple deals being managed.
HOW DO I GET STARTED?
Click the button “30-Day Free Trial” and you will be directed to the Blockrails™ registration page to enroll. Please have your NAR Member ID handy as this will be required.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
After a 30-Day Free Trial, NAR members receive access to the Blockrails™ mobile and web application at a specially discounted pricing of $5 monthly, or with an additional 20% discount when purchased annually at $50.
IS THIS A MOBILE APP?
Blockrails™ is a “progressive web app”, or an advanced application both web and mobile that does not require download from an app store. This means you never have to “update” your app and can be accessed 24/7/365 as long as you have cell phone connectivity or wi-fi access to your device.
HOW SECURE IS BLOCKRAILS™?
Blockrails™ takes security seriously and is our #1 concern in protecting everyone in a transaction from fraud. Blockrails™ is an AWS Cloud™-based application, hosted in a military-grade secure cloud environment.
Blockrails™ eliminates the vulnerability of email as a source of information, establishes identity best practices, harnesses the power of Artificial Intelligence to detect and identify fraud, and leverages blockchain technology to protect all parties in a secure transaction.
Blockrails™ security fraud protection is powered by FraudBlock™, our proprietary, and patent-pending fraud protection service, where identities, parties, and accounts are always verified.
At Blockrails™, we understand that having a fail-proof security posture to conduct business is a significant area of focus for REALTORS®. This is why, as an emerging technology company, we founded ourselves on the core principle of eliminating fraud.
With over 20 years of advanced technical skills and first-hand knowledge across our leadership team, we know what information security best practices look like, and bring these best practices to every member of the National Association of REALTORS®.
Please read more in our Blockrails™ Security Technology Report White Paper.
DO PAYMENTS IN BLOCKRAILS™ COST LESS THAN A WIRE?
Yes, when electing to use the Blockrails™ automated payment tool.
Title/Escrow will request a Homebuyer to make their earnest deposit in one of two ways.
AUTOMATED: Title/Escrow and the Homebuyer can automatically connect bank accounts through a secure encryption service within Blockrails to send/receive payments. No account information is shared or stored and an ACH payment is performed automatically at a maximum fee of $15 to the Homebuyer. This can be $10 – $20 lower in cost than a typical bank wire and can deposit same-day if timing requirements are met.
MANUAL: Title/Escrow can also manually share account information with a Homebuyer within Blockrails™ using our proprietary and secure blockchain account-info-sharing service. Special encryption is created for both the sender and receiver of account information within Blockrails, preventing access by anyone but the designated parties involved. Upon validation in Blockrails™, a Homebuyer can access the account info shared by Title/Escrow and may use that to manually perform a typical bank wire payment.
WHO OWNS BLOCKRAILS™?
Blockrails™ (and FraudBlock™) are owned by Digital Innovation Group Holdings, LLC (DIG”), a GA Telesis™ (“GAT”) company. GAT is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and is one of the world’s largest commercial aerospace firms with over $1.0 billion in assets under management. DIG is also located at GAT headquarters. DIG
WHERE IS BLOCKRAILS™ LOCATED, AND CAN I CALL?
Blockrails™ head office is physically headquartered in the US at 1850 NW 49th St., Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33309. Our business hours are 9:00am – 5:00pm Monday thru Friday except for legal holidays and can be reached by calling (954) 342-8888. Blockrails™ can be emailed at any time to info@blockrails.com.
Get Started Today!
Enroll below or speak with a live Blockrails™ Rep to answer any questions, and let us help get you started.
As an active REALTOR®, you deserve full protection from fraudulent transactions, including our $1 Million Safe Payment Guarantee* on every transaction performed through Blockrails™.
Sign up and get started today and get access to unlimited monthly use of one of the most advanced and powerful tools available to increase trust and reputation value, and give you and your homebuyers the peace of mind you need and deserve in today’s changing world.
Reach Out to Us
Phone
(954) 342-8888
support@blockrails.com