Relaunch .Homes top level domain — Registry to

Firm changes its strategy to make it easier (and less expensive) to register .homes domains.

Dominion Registries is relaunching the .homes top level domain next week with a fresh strategy.

The registry for .homes (and also .autos, .boats, .yachts, and .motorcycles) originally launched its domains with restrictions and pricing that turned off both registrants and registrars.

Dominion Enterprises (parent of Dominion Registries) is a publishing firm that owns Boats.com, Homes.com, Franchise.com and many other sites. Its original goal was to control the registrations of domains at the second level and sell them to their existing clients.

Onerous registrar requirements meant that few registrars carried the TLDs at launch. Also, registrants had to show a connection to the industry and verification could take 1-2 weeks ahead of they were able to use .homes domains. (Listen to a podcast with Dominion’s Jim Schrand that was recorded when the restrictions were in place.)

As a result, the domain hasn’t taken off. .Homes has just a few hundred domains in the zone.

Last year the firm removed restrictions on .boats and tried to re-engage with the registrar channel.

Now it’s doing the same with .homes and it seems to be having success getting registrars on board. Notably, GoDaddy will carry .homes domains.

Promotional first-year rates ought to be around $15 retail with standard and renewal prices around $35 or so.  This compares to over $100 previously.

The relaunch is scheduled for Monday, January 14 at 16:00 UTC.