The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is announcing today that the new .REALTOR top-level domains will be available as of October 23rd to NAR and CREA (the Canadian Real Estate Association) members only. They’ve spent the last seven years in the application process through the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) which coordinates domains and IP addresses globally.
In a sea of fledgling .cars, .dental, and even .ninja top-level domains, the NAR will be charged with managing the .REALTOR domain, given their trademark over the term, and rather than hoard it, they’re giving the first 500,000 members who register a free one-year license (and 10,000 free domains from CREA).
Business rules associated with the new URL
The branding boom that is sure to follow the release of the new top-level domain means that members looking to own their domain must abide by business rules which can be found on the newly launched dotrealtor.org website.
Any NAR or CREA members hoping to snap up “IMTHEBEST.REALTOR” or the like will be sorely disappointed, as the business rules outline, the URL must be structured with the member’s first name and last name (or an approved variation) with numbers allowed before or after the name, so crazy combinations will not be allowed.
Ken Burlington, VP at NAR tells Realuoso that by the first quarter of 2015, the top-level domain will be offered to associations, brokerage firms, and affiliated partners, but the final rules for these groups are still being fleshed out.
“This is truly an exciting time for NAR members to be on the cutting edge of Internet technology,” said NAR President Steve Brown, co-owner of Irongate, Inc. Realtors® in Dayton, Ohio. “NAR is one of the first associations to be approved to offer a top-level domain for its membership, demonstrating our organization’s commitment to its members and showcasing the value of the Realtor® brand.”
Explainer video:
For more information on the .REALTOR domain, check out NAR’s explainer video:
