The National Association of Realtors is warning members not to pay domain sellers like GoDaddy for the rights to a “.realtor” top-level domain.
NAR has applied to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) for the rights to administer .realtor, one of hundreds of new “generic top-level domains” ICANN is expected to approve in the months and years ahead.
When NAR is granted that right, only members of NAR and the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) will be eligible for a .realtor domain, the trade group says. NAR plans to provide the first 500,000 members who apply with a free .realtor domain associated with their name for one year. (A “.realtor” top-level domain would look like this: “your_name_here.realtor”)
CREA has also applied to ICANN to create and manage a new .MLS top-level domain, but must win out over a rival applicant — Dublin, Ireland-based Afilias Ltd.
CREA has the backing of the MLS Domains Association, a nonprofit group of 55 U.S. multiple listings services representing more than 600,000 agents and brokers that had also filed an application to manage the .MLS domain. CREA’s ownership of the trademarks for “Multiple Listing Service” and “MLS” in Canada were thought to make the trade group a stronger applicant. Source: realtor.org
