.REALTOR gTLD Seen As Struggling

REALTOR gTLD logoDomain name registrations for the .realtor gTLD are way short of targets as the operator has given away 95,000 registrations to bona fide North American real estate agents, way short of its target of 500,000 domains it had initially planned to give away to members, according to a report on the Associations Now website.

Initially the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said it would provide the first 500,000 members who register for a .realtor domain with a free one-year registration, and their Canadian equivalent the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) 10,000 free domains to members, on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Registrations of the gTLD have been increasing by around 60 per day which the report notes would mean the NAR would take 18 years to reach its target.

According to the latest nTLDstats.com figures, there are 97,400 domains registered with registrations increasing by 391 in the past week.

One reason is the restrictions the NAR puts on registrants. One real estate agent has written [subscription] of her .com domain that she “[owns] the domain names and I own the hosting account. My business sites are backed up daily and can be moved with the greatest of ease if I need to. I make the rules on my own site and decide how to use it.”

The agent, Teresa Boardman from Minnesota, wrote she has no intention of registering a .realtor domain and that someone else can have her personalised domain that she’d be entitled to.

The restrictions, according to the .realtor website, on the gTLD mean registrants must use part or all of their first and/or last name as registered with the NAR or its Canadian equivalent. Something that many will not find appealing. And that may be a lesson – no matter how cheap a domain, if there are too many restrictions on registration it won’t be appealing.