A New Hope for Families
By Jon Snow
I would like to tell you a story about a family. Maria Cabrera is a 35 year-old attorney who lives outside of Buenos Aires with her husband, Juan, and their one-year old son, Casario. I have known Juan and his family for over ten years, and this is their story and those of people like them that make The Viva Network project a beacon of hope with globe-spanning ramifications.
In addition to Maria’s steady employment with her law firm and the comfortable and consistent income that it provides, her husband Juan works remotely for a financial entity that pays him in US Dollars. This arrangement is particularly beneficial for a family in Argentina, a country that has seen runaway inflation for years as it means that some of the Cabrera’s income is shielded by default from the Argentine peso, which seems to depreciate daily.
The Cabrera’s are fortunate, all things considered. But when the conversation turns to the possibility of home ownership, Juan smiles wryly and gives a dismissive nod. “The rates here are over 20% — not many do that (buy a home). It’s just not something we consider”.
Juan’s story is not unique. The most recent numbers from November of 2017 put the average mortgage rate in Argentina at close to 19% compared to the average rate in the United States of 4%. I ask Juan if he’s considered applying for a mortgage given the family’s seemingly favorable risk profile, just to see what would happen. He gives a noncommittal shrug as if to say “what’s the point?” To Juan and many like him, home ownership is a far-off dream.
That’s where Viva intends to enter the picture by 2019 with a globally crowd-sourced mortgage platform that is completely decentralized and removes the need for a financial institution. I ask Juan if he would be interested in the Viva platform and a mortgage at a rate of, say, 10%. He answers quickly. “Of course. Anyone here would want to try using something like that, (blockchain-based mortgage technology) that would open up some lending options. I would think that would be an instant success. The government and banks just aren’t providing much hope”.
I, for one, would gladly be one of the investors of the Cabrera’s mortgage at an interest rate of 10%. Their credit is impeccable; their income more than sufficient, verifiable, and consistent. And they are willing to put down a 25% down payment in order to obtain a favorable rate. Stories like these are why I joined the Viva project. We are introducing a technology that has the ability to change the lives of the millions and millions of families all over the world just like the Cabrera’s by providing them with a concrete avenue to home ownership. The additional benefit of opening up the fixed-income mortgage market to ordinary investors all over the world for the first time is the icing on the cake.
Bottom line: better options for the Cabrera’s, better investment options for me, less money in the coffers of financial intermediaries which means more money in local communities. For the citizens of the world, it’s a no-brainer win-win-win.
Viva - Build Dreams. Join us: www.vivanetwork.org
