Systems and methods for improving the liquidity and distribution network for luxury and other illiquid items

Abstract

Systems and methods for improving the liquidity and distribution network for luxury and other illiquid items are provided. These systems and methods preferably include the trading of futures and options contracts, which will provide the liquidity and distribution network for luxury items. Possible embodiments of these systems and methods include the trading of futures and options contracts for diamonds and wine. Another embodiment of this invention preferably includes generating indexes for diamond prices, wine prices, luxury item prices, housing values, mortgage prepayments, privately-held companies or for anything with from sufficiently liquid points of value. Another embodiment of this invention preferably includes a centralized data base for retrieving closing and current auction prices for determining the value of, and best method for the auctioning of various items. The data provided by this data base would improve liquidity by creating greater price transparency.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus comprising:
 a computing device; and   a non-transitory medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that when executed by the computing device cause the apparatus to:   based on a user-specified region, electronically compile data that represents values of a plurality of instances of real estate located in the user-specified region;   determine a value of an index based on the data associated with the user-specified region; and   transmit a representation of the value of the index.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , in which the instructions cause the computing device to:
 based on a second user specified region, compile second data that represents values of a second plurality of instances of real estate located in the second user-specified region, wherein the second user-specified region includes a subset of the first user-specified region;   determine a second value of a second index based on the second data associated with the second user-specified region; and   transmit a second representation of the second value of the second index.   
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , in which the instructions cause the computing device to:
 determine information for an option contract based on the index.   
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , in which the instructions cause the computing device to:
 determine information for a futures contract based on the user-configured index.   
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , in which electronically compiling comprises electronically compiling from surveys related to real estate. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , in which electronically compiling comprises sorting the data based on at least one criterion. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the user-specified region states the region in detail. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , in which the values are at least one of housing values, based on mortgage applications, and based on prices. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , in which the user-specified region is specified by at least one of a city, a zip code and a geographic region. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , in which the instructions cause the computing device to:
 receive, over a communication network, index configuration information from at least one user specifying the user-specified region, and in which transmitting includes transmitting to the user over the communication network.   
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , in which the instructions cause the computing device to:
 receive new data that represents a respective value of at least one instance of real estate located in the user-specified region; and   update the index in response to the new data.   
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , in which transmitting includes presenting through a graphical user interface. 
     
     
         13 . A method comprising:
 based on a user-selected region, electronically compiling, by a computer device, data that represents values of a plurality of instances of real estate located in the user-selected region;   determining, by the computer device, a value of an index based on the data associated with the user-selected region; and   transmitting, by the computing device, a representation of the value of the index.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , comprising:
 determine information for at least one of an option contract and a futures contract based on the index.   
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , in which electronically compiling comprises electronically compiling from surveys related to real estate. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , in which electronically compiling comprises sorting the data based on at least one criterion. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the user-selected region specifies the region. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 13 , in which the values are at least one of housing values, based on mortgage applications, and based on prices. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 13 , in which the user-selected region is identified by at least one of a city, a zip code and a geographic region. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 13 , comprising:
 receive new data that represents a respective value of at least one instance of real estate located in the user-specified region; and   update the index in response to the new data.   
     
     
         21 . An apparatus comprising:
 a means for electronically compiling data that represents values of a plurality of instances of real estate located in a user-specified region and determining a value of an index based on the data associated with the user-specified region; and   a means for transmitting a representation of the value of the index.