.realtor domains (free for 1 year) and disses .re — NAR pitches
NAR to provide free .realtor registration for one year.
National Association of REALTORS (NAR) sent an email to its members earlier this month pitching “priority registration” for .realtor domain names.
Priority Registration basically means they will email you a day ahead of general availability to remind you regarding .realtor registration. The email points members to SignUpForDotREALTOR.com.
.realtor will be offered for one year free to the first 500,000 members who register the domains. 500,000 seems like a lofty goal, although at no charge I suspect a lot of REALTORS will sign up to protect their name.
The real estate agent who forwarded NAR’s email to me stated he doesn’t see a point in registering the domains, as he by now has descriptive domain names for his business. On its website, NAR addresses the question of using a .realtor domain instead of an existing .com:
…members will be able to continue using their current domain names for as long as they wish. Over time, members may choose to redirect traffic to their fresh .REALTOR domains as consumer search patterns and full adoption advance.
A fresh era is dawning in the use of the Internet. While the expansion in number of TLDs is not expected to affect the way the Internet operates, it will potentially change the way people find information on the Internet and how businesses plan and structure their online presence.
NAR has strict guidelines in place for how its members use domain names that include the REALTOR mark. It forbids descriptive domains such as “AustinRealtor.com” for use by an individual agent, for example.
The email also warns against .RE domains. .RE is the country code domain for Réunion and is apparently being pitched as a domain for “real estate” professionals.
.Realtor will have to compete with non-trademarked and less restrictive real estate domain names such as .realty and .realestate. (NAR is one of four applicants for .realestate.)
