reo.us v. reo.biz

[homebuyer]

TDNAM offered reo.us to me for $2,116 because the highest bidder failed to pay. Before I could pay, however, the owner reclaimed the domain. I was disappointed because REO is a good three character keyword.

After this lost opportunity, I got to thinking about the economy and the subprime "scandal" as it relates to the REO industry. Plenty of research on the Internet justifies the prediction that foreclosures will result from this historic event. The newest article on the subject predicts: "Nation Doomed To 2 Million Foreclosures."

See: http://realestate.yahoo.com/Real_es...es/item-7a561f8d38111a8d3ce9cf67da8e277b.html

I gotta tell you, after reading up on this matter I felt driven to figure out a way to capitalize on the impending doom. One man's loss is another man's gain. And don't we domainers know that. To make a long story short, there it was, untouched since the landrush of 2002 - reo.biz. It was sitting in a domainer's big portfolio in Seoul, Korea. Now, it is sitting in my godaddy account.

Granted, I'd be much happier if I had bought reo.com, but I didn't have a spare million to spend on it. Now this brings me to whether or not I would have been better off with reo.us or reo.biz. Neither TLD is a household word like the .com. But that doesn't mean that they couldn't be. Or course, both have had four figure sale's, with the .us yielding a few five figure sales. But these sales might have more to do with domain speculators' willingness to bet on what everyone else is betting on, and less on what an end user could do with it.

I, myself, would like to bet that with the right advertising, the .biz will be seen for what it is - a business domain. The .us, on the other hand, is associated with the US, and not business in particular. In fact, when I think of .us, I think of government; and if I am not mistaken, that's how the .us started out. So where does this leave me with my reo.biz?

Happy. Happy that I have a three character domain that means something. Happy that it is associated with a business TLD. Happy that REO is tied to a predicted tidal wave of foreclosures. Happy that reo.biz has potential. And happy that I only paid $450 for it.

In the end, my success will be determined by not whether I have reo.us or reo.biz, or if the .us flips for more money than the .biz, but by what I do with it.



Note:
Here a few dnjournal reported sales for those domainers who flip for profit:
traffic.biz $8,000
crm.biz $7,796
gold.biz $3,700
idahofalls.biz $2,050

 

[Name Trader]

What does REO stand for? I personally think the .us would be better than the .biz if you are primarily dealing with the US market. I think it has greater upside potential for domainers. As a developer, I think you can brand (almost) any domain to your website. It just takes marketing skills and a word of mouth customer base. So, if you are developing, you should not be too unhappy with reo.biz.

 

[hawkeye]

If you work at promoting, seo-ing, etc etc. on reo.biz, I think it is fine. It's short, and relates to what you plan to, I believe, promote on it - home foreclosures etc. .biz is obviously an also ran extension, but developed right can still get good ranking and recallability. I picked up HomeForeclosures.biz a while back, and was stuck on the .biz thing in deciding what to do with it. It has now moved up to my 'quick to be developed' list. It may have to compete with the other extensions, but I'll see what can be collected from the over flows!! GL with it.

 

[seeker]

.biz is just as good.
If you only wanted to dal within the US, then yes, the .us version would give you an advantage.
But Internationally, .biz wins.
SInce this is so business related, you can do just fine with the .biz extension.
Congrats and good luck with it.

 

[AdoptableDomains]

I think .biz is way undervalued right now and just has a bad reputation among domainers because there are so many other alternatives out there recently. I do see a lot of wasted money on domains that don't fit the extension, and not as many will fit as would with .info or .net. If the use is truly for business, I think it's a great extension for a small to medium business. Big business will always "need to have" .com so they don't look like an also-ran. This does effect the value since a buyer doesn't have as deep of pockets, but it doesn't mean there isn't money to be made. In a broad market for names like Exterminating.biz, JobPlacement.biz, or other generics and acronyms, not everyone can have the dot-com and many will be happy and find .biz an affordable alternative and still profitable to the secondary market seller. Some will say get the longer three or four word .com, but those are harder to type and print email addresses on business cards. As for SEO, the search engines probably don't really care what extension it is.

By the way, I'm the one who paid $3,700 for Gold.biz. In my opinion, I bought gold at the price of tin. I really think within a year or two, maybe even three, I'll get a good 5 figures for that domain. Maybe not 6 or 7 figures, but more than if I'd put it in a savings account or invested in a mutual fund. The key is that it both fits the extension and there is a huge multi-use market for the domain in jewelry, investment, mining, metals, and many other sectors. I would classify "gold" as one of the super-words.

 

[homebuyer]

I Agree

I agree with everything you said, AdoptableDomains. I also think that the .biz got lost in a flood of .info and .us TLDs releases right as the .com headlines started to rain down on us again. Bottom line for me is I am glad that the .biz spark was soaked at the very beginning. Had it not been, I wouldn't have gotten a three letter keyword business domain for $450 last week. In short, I got a great deal on an REO domain name.

Who's to say that the media and general public won't one day embrace the .biz in a great entrpreneurial frenzy like they did the .com? I can remember back in 1994 when people I know laughed at dictionary .coms as something ridiculously simple and useless. We all know nobody is laughing now.

Assuming that the .biz doesn't become a household word anytime soon, it doesn't necessarily follow that REO.biz won't quickly become a widely known REO website in my location, the San Francisco Bay Area. Come on, it's three easy letters to remember and its relevant to the REO business.

As for gold.biz, I've always liked that domain. You should put a gold price ticker on the gold.biz site.

 

[NameCharger]

Nice acquisition homebuyer :tu:

 

[homebuyer]

T.r.a.f.f.i.c.

Mortgages.biz is on the upcoming T.R.A.F.F.I.C. New York City auction list, http://marketplacepro.moniker.com/auction/detail.html. The list is the best one I have ever seen. I look forward to seeing what Mortgages.biz goes for.