Throw in the fact that I’ve received no offers on these names and I’d sure as heck give someone a good deal if they were to make me an even remotely decent offer.

XXXXXX Stephen Douglas Responds:

Hi B McGuire,

You probably innocently purchased a domain with the word “realtor” in it. This is a no-no because “realtor” is a TM. Just delete the domain name and try to replace it with a similar domain using “realestate agent” “broker” etc.

I have seen and heard of this mistake in buying domains hundreds of times, because most people don’t realize the name “realtor” is a trademark. You can get around it tho by just trying to find a good domain that defines the geo-services you’re trying to represent. You can use the words “property” “properties” “real estate” “home” “house” (plural also on both) “broker” and I advise getting online and finding a real estate “glossary” to attach to your domain name so it makes sense.

Like I think I said before, I have more real estate ATTORNEYS as clients than any other category of business. For some reason, the real estate attorneys understand domain values more than the “realtors™” — -

Thanks for writing, and hope you find your replacement domain.

The issue in RE is not so much the quality of your product/service, but how you sell it. This is a hugely fragmented industry where the agent at the street level controls the vast majority of the marketing spend. There are no easy channels to sell through – not the broker, not the multi office owner, not the franchise. The only way is one at a time to the agent.

The broker/owner/franchise has little incentive to spend beacuse the agent keeps most of the commission. In 2000 I was at a RE industry tech conference and Dave Liniger, the founder of Re/Max, was a keynote speaker. He rambled on for an extended period of time bashing the Internet and all of the various RE start-ups it was sprouting (including mine). His basic message was, “we don’t need the Internet, consumers don’t want it, real estate is local, blah, blah, blah”. I was really embarrassed for the guy, he made a fool of himself. Of course, since then Re/Max has seen the light.

Anyway, I know how to sell to them and I’m building a portfolio. If you have local geo or quality generic real estate domains to sell, please email me the details.

356racer (at) gmail dot com.

XXXXXStephenXXXXXX
Thanks Mark for your informative response. It’s amazing that your comments smack of the truth. From my own experiences, I’ve actually been on phone calls with top real estate agents who were arguing about why they would need to own the very domains that represent the LOCATIONS and even DEVELOPMENT NAMES that they are selling. It seems they are so busy in driving around trying to sell face to face, that they forget that at least 50% of their buyers have checked out the homes first online. I think that percentage may even be higher. Anyone have some bona fide statistics from a reliable source on how many homebuyers check out the homes first online? Email me Mark, I have about 30 high profile RE domains you might be interested in brokering. I give 20% commission.

Hi Stephen,

I hear ya!
You would think they understand it, but for some reason they remain clueless.

“Other domainers and myself already own some decent real estate domains, and no matter how I attempt to market them, the agents or companies don’t see the value of “LOCATION” on the internet. Hope that changes soon, or real estate businesses might just find themselves “priced out of the market.”

I tried to market a niche real estate portfolio recently, domains with type-in traffic exceeding 350+ U.V and growing.

Now 350+ doesn’t seem much, but if you take account for the prices the average property sells…1 million GBP!

You would be surprised if you would after they show initial interest to form a business relationship…

And tell you: As of now we don’t see how the domains could stand on their own to be of use to us.

But still keep on advertising on Adwords and pay dollars for a single click!

I provide that traffic for free for them which is only a add-on bonus for them and additional potential business.

They could either make an arrangement with me to provide a fee on a closed sale or outright buy the domains.

But no action from their part to jump on the opportunity…

So i know exactly where you’re coming from Stephen.

It will probably take years for the Marketing & Sales teams realize the strength of direct navigation domains, but by then it’s too late for most of them!!