Real Estate Domains Are Super Hot !!!

[thegenius1]

The website for the North County Times (a regional newspaper serving the San Diego, California area), has an interesting article from writer Chris Bagley about how the domain boom has produced a severe shortage of viable .com domains in the real estate sector. Bagley does a good job of conveying the value inherent in a good domain to his paper's readers so that they can understand why prices can run into 6 figures. It is encouraging to see mainstream journalists grasp what we've known for a long time and pass that knowledge along to the general public. We'll still see occasional mainstream articles loaded with misinformation about this business, but as more and more media outlets get it right, we're confident that the man on the street will eventually understand why good domains command the prices they do today.

As the last meadows and vacant lots disappear from inland boomtowns, some of the businesses sprouting up there find themselves jostling for space even on the virtual landscape of the Internet.

Temecula's economic growth has increased the value of locally focused domain names that have long been registered and used, such as temeculavalleyhomes.com and temeculainformation.com. Development in surrounding communities has created a more recent market for Web addresses that incorporate names such as Menifee and Murrieta.

It all makes for a field of domain names that's increasingly crowded, with real estate agents, informational businesses and other companies coming up with increasingly varied spellings of local place names. While temecularealestate.com has been in use for a decade, temvlyhomes.com was first registered in 2003.

"It's very difficult to find a good dot-com name right now," said Dan Jauregui, a Ramona-based agent who sells real estate locally through lakeelsinoreland.com and menifeerealestate.com. "They're pricey."

Caroline Collins said a real estate agent once offered her $100,000 for the rights to her domain name, temecularealestate.com, which she first registered and built a site around in the mid-1990s. Collins turned down the offer; her business had come to depend on the site, she said.

Collins launched a sister Web site, murrietarealestate.com, in 2000. It gets fewer visitors than the Temecula site. A couple of years ago, another real estate agent offered to buy it. After she suggested $25,000, she didn't hear back from the other agent, she said.

Collins' experience is common, said Judy Zulfiqar, a Temecula-based consultant who advises clients on Internet strategies. Though Zulfiqar said she regularly hears of local businesses making and receiving offers of $300 to $15,000 for their domain names, they often are unable to agree on a price. The would-be buyer usually ends up registering a less desirable name, she said.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/07/08/news/californian/21_32_037_7_06.txt

 

[Monsterman]

Not only are real estate names hot now they have been for many years. A while back I sold RealestateBid(s).com for $xx,xxx and it does not look as thow they have slowed since then.

 

[LittleBigMan]

Here's my little collection...

PropertyMovers.com
RefinanceDeal.com
GoldVillas.com
LondonHomes.info
ParisHomes.net
eHomeDirectory.Com
SoldPro.co.uk
SoldPro.Com
Brokering.in
Brokering.ws

 

[mis_chiff]

Well just read the thread again and had to go get

RealEstatePlace.ca
GotProperty.ca
GotProperty.info

:wave:

 

[Jo]

I recently regged a .com and now it's up on Ebay:

homespros

We'll see if you all are correct...or if I regged a crap name :lol:

 

[Monsterman]

I recently regged a .com and now it's up on Ebay:

homespros

We'll see if you all are correct...or if I regged a crap name :lol:

Boy, is there any way to pry off that "s" on homes? If you can figure it out you would have 50 bids up into the $xxxx-xx,xxx range at least.

Dave & Chris http://homepros.com/about_us.htm have a good thing going in that name. They just need a new modern web site. :hehe:

 

[duceman]

That's crazy if Realtor is TMd. Just don't own Realtor.com and you should be fine...

I'm a REALTOR member and have owned several REALTOR domains. But even attempting to stay with-in NAR's guidelines I've received C&D emails....

Thank you for your response to our email correspondence regarding your domain name. The National Association's approximately 1,000,000 members, each, is licensed to use one or more of the membership marks to identify himself or herself and their real estate businesses. The National Association has developed a set of rules governing the legal use of the membership marks by members. In a domain name the National Association allows members to use the REALTOR marks with a member's name and, if the member is a broker, with the complete name of the broker's real estate firm. Below are examples of proper ways in which a member can use the REALTOR marks in a domain name.

JohnDoeRealtor.com, JDoeRealtor.com, JohnRealtor.com, ABCRealtyRealtors.com

The National Association does not allow members to use the REALTOR marks with a descriptive term such as "contract" "chicago" or "best" etc . This reflects the rule in the bylaws of the National Association Article V, Section 7, concerning the use of the terms REALTOR and REALTORS, which expressly prohibits the use of descriptive words or phrases with the terms. Because the term REALTOR is a membership mark, and its sole function is to identify the person using this mark as a member of the REALTOR association, using it in this fashionpresents the public the incorrect idea that our membership marks, REALTOR and REALTORS, can be used as synonyms for real estate agent/broker/salesperson or to generically describe an occupation rather than the correct use of identifying a real estate professional as a Member of the REALTOR organization.

For your convenience, I have included a link to a section on internet use from the Trademark Manual which is located on our website: www.REALTOR.org in the Law & Policy Section.

http://www.realtor.org/letterlw.nsf/pages/trademarkmanual

As a member of the National Association, and therefore one who understands the importance of protecting and promoting the valuable REALTOR marks, after reviewing this material, we are confident that you will decide not to use the realtor#####.com domain name. Perhaps you can share this information with the Member attempting to sell you a domain name that is using the marks. We request that you provide us with your assurance that you will comply with this request.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Mary Newill, Trademark Administrator
Legal Affairs Department

I do still own a few that they have given the O.K on, but they are very picky

so i have lost reg fee?
what if someone interested to buy? can i sell?

You have a legal abligation to disclose the fact that you know of a TM issue. That doesn't mean that you can't sell it. You just have to disclose your knowledge of the TM.

 

[thegenius1]

So many Articles Recently

It's always 'OPEN HOUSE' as real estate goes online The Internet has become a powerful tool for people looking to buy or sell a home. Traffic on real estate websites jumped 8% in the past year - double the growth rate of Internet traffic overall. Here are the most popular sites and the number of visitors:

March 2006 (in millions) Pct. change from 2005
Homestore.com Network 9.6 -7%
HomeGain.com 4.8 NA
AOL Real Estate 4.0 17%
MSN Real Estate 3.7 NA
Rent.com 2.9 -13%
RealtyTrac 2.9 38%
Apartments.com 2.4 16%
Zillow.com 2.3 NA
ServiceMagic 2.1 40%
Yahoo Real Estate 1.8 -4%
HouseValues sites 1.8 11%
HPCInteractive (ApartmentGuide) 1.8 NA
Century 21 1.8 25%
ForRent.com sites 1.7 3%
Re/Max International 1.6 NA
All real estate sites 38.0 8%
Total Internet audience 171.4 4%
Source: ComScore Media Metrix


By Noelle Knox, USA TODAY
For six months, Nancy Teer-Sims tried selling her parents' home in Durham, N.C., with a real estate agent. The results: few showings, no bids. So when the agent's contract expired in December, Teer-Sims dumped the agent, cut the asking price and listed the home on five websites, including eBay, Craigslist and ForSaleByOwner.com.

"By selling it ourselves, we could lower the price by $50,000," she says, because she wouldn't have to pay the standard 6% commission. In four months, she's shown the house 10 times and had three offers.

Though the offers so far were too low, she's amazed by the flood of responses: 1,400 visitors to her website (www.43beverly.com) and dozens of e-mail inquiries from people interested in the property.

"It's been remarkable, the feedback," says Teer-Sims, 49, a manager of small online companies.

Her story illustrates how the breadth of information now available on the Internet is shifting the balance of power in the real estate industry, giving home buyers and sellers more control over the deal than ever before and fueling competition among agents.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2006-05-07-real-estate-online_x.htm

 

[yandig]

i recently picked up a few:

ArchonHomes.com
ApogeeRealEstate.com
TimeshareProfits.com

We'll see waht becomes of them

 

[Jo]

Boy, is there any way to pry off that "s" on homes? If you can figure it out you would have 50 bids up into the $xxxx-xx,xxx range at least.

Dave & Chris http://homepros.com/about_us.htm have a good thing going in that name. They just need a new modern web site. :hehe:

Ohhh you know I didn't even check for the singular...maybe the site will get residue traffic. I think homespro.com would be good too but that one's regged also.

Edit: I added the articles links and other domains info TY

 

[GreenGambler]

BulkRealEstate.com

I just reg'd my first real Estate domain name.

BulkRealestate.com

I think it may be a winner!

 

[mis_chiff]

maybe if I stop re-reading the threads I'd stop
buying them :bah:

2 more
MaxHomes.ca
NetHouse.ca

 

[jaikini]

if a place in usa with the word realty will have value?
eg xxxxxrealty.net or xxxxxxx.us
the name is avail in net,us and biz
are all

 

[jaydub]

You know what they say Bryant.....

Great minds think alike....
(and fools seldom differ..... :hehe: ...Lets put us in the first one)

Jim

Thx Jaydub for the info on HouseHunters. Hey, we have very similar FSBO sites! LOL:

MyHomeMySale.com
MyHouseMySale.com
DirectOwnerSales.com
ForSaleBy0wner.com (that "O" in Owner is a Zero)
4SaleBy0wner.com (that "O" in Owner is a Zero)
OwnerIsSelling.com
OwnerSoldHome.com
HouseSoldByOwner.com
HousesesSoldByOwner.com
ISoldOurHome.com
PennFSBO.com

That's funny! Your's: OwnerSelling.com Mine: OwnerIsSelling.com
Your's: OwnerSellingHouse.com Mine: OwnerSoldHome.com

 

[quality]

I only hold three useful real estate domains: property.us.com, property.uk.com and property.web.com but I think its an excellent market.

 

[WebWave2]

Atlanta-Realty.net

I just picked this name up. Atlanta is a really hot area.

 

[thegenius1]

I just picked this name up. Atlanta is a really hot area.

One of my business partners is a R.E agent in the Atlanta area , definelty a very hot area for property.

 

[WebWave2]

Thanks. I might sell it then!

 

[harkster]

Reg the org?

I have never reg'd a .org but this one is very tempting. Realtyxxxxx-org (generic xxxxx) was once reg'd at Register-com but never developed and let drop.

The com, net, info, biz, us, ws and cc extensions are active or redirected to an active site. The ca and eu are parked. The net is redirected to a Buy Domains site and for sale.

I am such a fan of matching names with extension & can't make up my mind.

 

[LazyD]

So in the realm of real estate domains do you guys find that .biz or .us are more fetching? Say you had the same domain name, available in .us or .biz which would you prefer, and do you imagine buyers prefer?

 

[Carlton]

So in the realm of real estate domains do you guys find that .biz or .us are more fetching? Say you had the same domain name, available in .us or .biz which would you prefer, and do you imagine buyers prefer?

Both are very good for real estate businesses. Reg both if available ... though almost all metro areas are long gone in both extensions.