I am in the process of building a butt-kicking single property website for a home here in the Atlanta area (not ready to spill the beans quite yet on which one…).  I have previously mentioned this here.

As I’ve put this together, I have been consulting with a small number of other agents around the country that are doing or planning similar campaigns.  I think this is going to be a full step past most of what has been done previously… but that is another post…

But, what has happened is that I got a call that disturbed me.  It wasn’t from a homeowner in the Atlanta market, it was a few hundred miles west.  It was what they were struggling with that bothered me…  This person was hoping to do a single property website as part of their marketing effort, and they found that their home’s internet address had been bought by a real estate agent they didn’t know. That’s right… and he wanted $500 to sell it back to them.  Not to give them a property web site.  Not to represent them.  Just to let them have their address URL back.

Luckily, while we were on the phone, we came up with an alternative (actually about 4 different ones without even getting into the whole .com, .net, .org, .tv, etc thing).  And, if it came down to it they would likely win a lawsuit to get their URL back from this huckster.  Several large companies have successfully sued and beat URL squatters… but that is expensive and time consuming.

So, go to your favorite domain registrar (hopefully that isn’t Network Solutions) and buy your domain.  It only costs $10-$20/year.  In fact, you can find domains for less than that if you look.   When you decide to sell your home, your agent can build a single property website for you and then you can point your domain there.