New .Homes Website Domains Now Available to Real Estate Pros

Is the .com domain name you really want already taken? Never fear, there's a new domain extension in town, and it's full of SEO potential for real estate practitioners.

The sunrise registration period opened just last Monday for the new .Homes top-level domain. "Sunrise" registration is a limited window of time that allows trademark holders to purchase .Homes domains that match their marks before registration is opened to the general public. That means if you've trademarked the name of your real estate team or practice--Central Coast Realty™, for example--you can now reserve CentralCoastRealty.Homes so that your company's name isn't taken by somebody else. The Sunrise period runs through May 6. You can learn more here.

However, the domain names with the highest SEO potential are up for grabs on May 12, when open registration starts. Because registration will then no longer be restricted to trademark holders, agents and brokers can buy names that reflect their area, like Boston.Homes. The reason a domain like this has so much SEO potential is because it matches the phrases that consumers are likely to search for, e.g. Boston homes or Boston homes for sale.

.Homes domain names are only available to professionals who serve the residential real estate industry. This includes agents, brokers, mortgage professionals, appraisers, property managers, builders, home insurers, MLSs, and associations. Dominion Enterprises, the operator of Homes.com, is the exclusive registrar of .Homes domain names. To learn more, visit domains.homes.

Other Domain Extensions for Real Estate Pros

.Homes isn't the only real estate related domain extension out there. In October 2014, the .REALTOR domain extension became available to members of the National Association of Realtors and the Canadian Real Estate Association. Realtors can snag their first year's registration of .REALTOR domains for free through the end of 2016. You can claim your .REALTOR domain here.

As for other domain extensions... well, there are quite a few that may interest agents and brokers. Here's a sampling:

• .apartments
• .broker
• .condos
• .community
• .estate
• .forsale
• .house
• .land
• .luxury
• .properties
• .property
• .rent
• .rentals
• .sale

Dot com alternatives are a great way to differentiate yourself from the competition. And with a well chosen domain name in play, you can potentially earn your website a lot of welcome SEO juice. Is a .Homes, .REALTOR, or other alternative domain something you'd consider for your business? Let us know in the comments below!