The National Association of Realtors® has won the rights to the new .realestate top-level domain. NAR intends to use the .realestate domain along with the recently acquired .REALTOR domain to create order for real estate information on the Internet and to provide NAR members with tools that help brand themselves as the most trusted, valued source of real estate information. 

While .REALTOR will be used exclusively by NAR members and its affiliated NAR business partners, it is anticipated that .realestate will have wider business applications. NAR encourages members to participate in the .REALTOR domain launch later this month, during which the first 500,000 members who register will be awarded a free one-year license, and procure the domain names they want and as many as they wish to creatively brand themselves.

“NAR is thrilled that it has acquired the rights to the .realestate top-level domain,” said NAR President Steve Brown, co-owner of Irongate, Inc. Realtors® in Dayton, Ohio. “As the leader in the real estate industry and the ‘voice for real estate,’ NAR has been a  pioneer for new technology in the digital space and intends to use the .realestate domain in conjunction with the .REALTOR domain to build an online space where homebuyers, sellers and investors can find credible and professional real estate resources and services.”  

NAR Senior Vice President of Marketing Bob Goldberg is excited about how these acquisitions will help transform the way Realtors® do business online. “Obtaining this top-level domain along with .REALTOR will solidify NAR and our members’ standing as groundbreakers in the rapidly changing real estate environment and change how the Internet is used to educate and connect with consumers, not only today, but in the future.”

NAR applied for the top-level domains through the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, the organization that directs domains and IP addresses for the Internet. Throughout the process of acquiring the .realestate domain, NAR has worked closely with Second Generation subsidiary Real Estate Domains, LLC, an investment firm and registry operator for the top-level domain .JOBS.

“We are pleased to have helped our partner NAR navigate the complex process of applying for and acquiring a top-level domain,” said Tom Embrescia, chairman of Second Generation, Ltd. “NAR continues to prove to be a trailblazer for cutting edge, real estate technology.”

Details on business rules, pricing and the launch date of .realestate will be available in the second quarter of 2015. For more information, visit www.realtor.org/topics/top-level-domain.