The National Association of Realtors has won the rights to the new gTLD .Realestate

The three other applicants for .Realestate Donuts, Uniregistry and and Top Level Domain Holdings (Minds + Machines) have withdrawn their applications.

The remaining applicant is dotRealEstate LLC is in actuality the The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), which already owns the new gTLD .Realtor and has announced plans to give away to 500,000 .realtor new gTLD domains to realtors.

According to the application of dotRealEstate LLC:

NAR is composed of REALTORS® who are involved in residential and commercial real estate as brokers, salespeople, property managers, appraisers, counselors, and others who are engaged in all aspects of the real estate industry.

Consistent with its Vision, NAR strives to be the collective force influencing and shaping the real estate industry. It seeks to be the leading advocate of the right to own, use, and transfer real property; the acknowledged leader in developing standards for efficient, effective, and ethical real estate business practices; and valued by highly skilled real estate professionals and viewed by them as crucial to their success. Working on behalf of Americaʹs property owners, NAR provides a facility for professional development, research and exchange of information among its members and to the public and government for the purpose of preserving the free enterprise system, and the right to own, use, and transfer real property.

NAR firmly believes that establishment of a .REALESTATE top-level domain imbued with the Vision of NAR and the professionalism of REALTORS® will promote competition, consumer trust and consumer choice. The mission⁄purpose of .REALESTATE is to create a name space wherein users can come to find trusted sources for real estate information and ethical real estate services. With the intent to accomplish this purpose, NAR will permit NAR, REALTORS®, NAR members, NAR affiliates, NAR licensees and parties otherwise in a contractual relationship with NAR, the opportunity to register and⁄or use domain names in .REALESTATE under terms, policies and guidelines as NAR so determines in its sole discretion, consistent with any applicable ICANN Consensus Policies, ICANN’s registry agreement, any applicable rules of law and NAR-approved guidelines.

NAR firmly believes that the .REALESTATE gTLD, as used to promote the above-stated mission⁄purpose, would provide benefit to Internet users in general (including, for example, home buyers, home sellers and others involved in real estate transactions), REALTORS®, NAR itself and its members, affiliates, licensee and contracted parties. In fulfilling .REALESTATE’s mission⁄purpose, NAR, upon allocation of .REALESTATE, intends to explore ways of promoting adoption and use of .REALESTATE to fulfill the mission⁄purpose set forth above, and will likely obtain input from its members, affiliates, licensees, contracted parties and REALTORS® towards investigating many such ways.

One way of promoting adoption and use of .REALESTATE which NAR intends to explore includes providing support to REALTORS® in promoting their on-line real estate businesses by allowing individual REALTORS® to acquire domains at the second level. In this example, a REALTOR® who otherwise may not be able to obtain a second level domain of “my name” in a meaningful TLD will be able to obtain a marketing term or descriptive term at the second level of the .REALESTATE gTLD, which would be very useful to users and REALTORS® alike. This would promote competition in the TLD space by providing alternative domain options to REALTORS®.

In another example which NAR intends to explore, geographic terms not otherwise reserved from registration and⁄or use may be used at the second-level to provide listings of real estate in the area associated with the geographic term. In this regard consumer trust and choice are promoted by providing a trusted, easily accessible source for providing real estate-related information.

NAR recognizes that consumers associate the REALTOR® mark with membership in the National Association of REALTORS® and the associated level of professionalism and ethics in real estate services appurtenant to such membership. Consumers have come to trust real estate professionals who practice under the REALTOR® mark.

NAR believes that NAR’s stewardship of the .REALESTATE gTLD would extend that trust into the DNS namespace.

NAR believes that the .REALESTATE gTLD can provide a trusted and valued space similar to current consumer perception of the trust and value associated with REALTORS®, and that such trust and value is created in no small part by NAR’s ability and willingness to protect the value and trust associated with REALTORS® both through the registration limitations set forth above and compliance with NAR’s Vision. When a consumer visits a .REALESTATE domain, she can be assured that the registrant is associated with NAR as a member, affiliate or contracted party as set forth above.

Towards these missions⁄purposes, NAR has engaged DotRealEstate LLC to apply for, obtain and operate the .REALESTATE gTLD under direction from NAR.

The proposed .REALESTATE gTLD will benefit registrants, Internet users and others by, among other reasons, providing a trusted and valued space for NAR, REALTORS®, NAR members, NAR affiliates, NAR licensees and other NAR-contracted parties to provide real estate related information. Use of the .REALESTATE gTLD under NAR’s stewardship will provide new on-line opportunities for REALTORS®, other NAR-related entities and users alike.

NAR, REALTORS®, NAR members, NAR affiliates, NAR licensees and other NAR contracted parties will benefit from the .REALESTATE gTLD by having expanded domain options (an example of beneficial TLD competition). For example, a REALTOR® will be able to use a domain for marketing their services comprising a term which is inherently associated with the professional services offered, including the geographic location(s) of such offerings. Such an appropriate domain may not be available in other TLD’s. NAR members, affiliates, licensees, etc. will further benefit from using a domain in a trusted, valued gTLD that is associated with NAR’s Vision.

NAR-related entities will benefit from the .REALESTATE gTLD by having a new opportunity to provide real estate related services to NAR members and consumers alike. For example, NAR-related entities may provide content, such as real estate buying tips, or content services, such as real estate listings, to a NAR member’s website at an appropriate .REALESTATE second-level domain.

Awareness of the existence of the .REALESTATE gTLD will also benefit Internet users — such awareness will create new choice within the DNS for how to access and locate real estate-related information. Users will also benefit from the trusted, valued nature of the .REALESTATE space. Users can be confident that a domain in the .REALESTATE gTLD is associated with NAR, a REALTOR®, an NAR member, an NAR affiliate, NAR licensees and other NAR-contracted parties.

1. The goals of the .REALESTATE gTLD in terms of areas of specialty, service levels and reputation.

NAR and NAR members are associated with NAR’s Vision and other professionalism in the provision of real estate services, and specifically with adherence with the strict Code of Ethics set forth by NAR. It is NAR’s goal to continue such association under operation and use of the .REALESTATE gTLD. In this regard, NAR anticipates that the same level of specialty associated with its Vision and REALTORS® in the non-digital world, the same level of service provided in association with its Vision and REALTORS® in the non-digital world, and the same level of reputation associated with its Vision and REALTORS® in the non-digital world, will continue in the .REALESTATE gTLD.

NAR and NAR members are associated in a consumer’s mind with NAR’s Vision, NAR’s reputation and the provision of professional real estate services by those members. Use of a .REALESTATE second level domain, under the stewardship of NAR, should bring forth the same association in the mind of the consumer. Nowhere is NAR’s and reputation better exemplified than the Pledge of Performance and Service which is shared by all REALTORS®, which include the following elements:

a) To protect and promote their clients’ interests while treating all parties honestly.

b) To refrain from exaggeration, misrepresentation, or concealment of pertinent facts related to property or transactions.

c) To not provide professional services where they have any present or contemplated interest in property without disclosing that interest to all affected parties.

d) To make sure that contract details are spelled out in writing and that parties receive copies.

e) To give equal professional service to all clients and customers irrespective of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.

f) To be knowledgeable and competent in the fields of practice in which they engage or they get assistance from a knowledgeable professional, or disclose any lack of expertise to their client.

g) To paint a true picture in their advertising and in other public representations.

h) To not engage in the unauthorized practice of law.

i) To willingly participate in ethics investigations and enforcement actions.

j) To make only truthful, objective comments about other real estate professionals.

Use of a .REALESTATE second level domain, under the stewardship of NAR, should evoke the same reputation in the mind of the consumer.

2. What the .REALESTATE gTLD will add to the current space in terms of competition, differentiation and innovation.

Creation of .REALESTATE will provide competition to existing TLD’s in the form of a new name space for registration of real estate-related domain names.

Over time, NAR anticipates a single dedicated name space under the unique .REALESTATE gTLD, in combination with the reputation and professionalism users associate with NAR, NAR members, affiliates, etc., will resonate with users of the Internet to create differentiation that otherwise could not exist in current gTLD’s. Further, provision of the .REALESTATE gTLD as a trusted, valued space due to NAR⁄REALTOR-related registration restrictions will differentiate .REALESTATE from other, untrusted TLD’s. Association in the minds of consumers with the reputation of NAR, NAR’s members, affiliates, etc. and the associated provision of professional real estate services will differentiate .REALESTATE from other TLD’s which do not benefit from such consumer association, whether by the generic or descriptive nature of the TLD itself, or by association of the TLD with products and⁄or services unrelated to the real estate industry, or related to the real estate industry but not associated with NAR or membership in NAR.

While it is difficult to predict in exact terms what future innovation may occur as a result of the existence of the .REALESTATE gTLD, we expect NAR, NAR members, affiliates, etc. to demonstrate the same capacity to innovate and adapt to new media as they have shown for over one hundred years. One possible example of this innovation which NAR intends to explore is the option of providing a hierarchical and intuitive framework for the .REALESTATE namespace by using geographical identifiers as second-level domain names. Such framework could provide an online, single-source identifying function, allowing consumers to locate real estate-related information regarding real esatate within domain-specified geographic areas.

3. User experience goals of the .REALESTATE gTLD.

A goal of .REALESTATE is for users to experience robust DNS industry standards for technical back-end operations, including but not limited to near 100% uptime; timely zone file dissemination; searchable WHOIS capabilities; and additional security measures such as for DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC).

Over time, an additional goal is for users to experience .REALESTATE websites as trusted, valued sources for professional real estate related information. A goal NAR intends to explore is to provide real estate listings at domains which are associated with geographic and⁄or subject matter terms. Over time, users desiring information relating to real estate in a specific area, or information relating to services in a particular type of real estate (such as, for example, commercial properties), will be conditioned to navigate to “geographic.REALESTATE” or “subjectmatter.REALESTATE” in order to obtain relevant information.

4. Intended registration policies in the .REALESTATE gTLD in support of the goals listed above.

Consistent with NAR’s mission⁄purpose for the .REALESTATE gTLD, NAR will determine, in its sole discretion, who may register domains in .REALESTATE, and, at least during initial operations of the .REALESTATE gTLD, only NAR, REALTORS®, NAR members, NAR affiliates (including societies and counsels), NAR licensees and parties otherwise in a contractual relationship with NAR will be permitted such registration. To the extent, during initial operations, a registrant⁄REALTOR® lapses in membership as a REALTOR®, or a registrant⁄NAR member ceases to be an NAR member, or a registrant⁄NAR affiliate ceases to be an NAR affiliate, or a registrant⁄NAR licensee ceases to be an NAR licensee, or a registrant⁄NAR contracted-party ceases to be an NAR contracted party, registration of the affected domain will have to be withdrawn. NAR will also determine, in its sole discretion, how domains in .REALESTATE may be used.

During initial operation of the .REALESTATE gTLD, NAR further may elect, in its discretion, to still further restrict who will be permitted registration in .REALESTATE, and to provide other policies and practices relating to registration and use of domains in .REALESTATE, which are reasonably necessary for the management, operations and purpose of the gTLD, consistent with NAR’s Vision, so long as any such restrictions, policies or practices are consistent with the mission⁄purpose of .REALESTATE and the restrictions on registration set forth above.

Any such restrictions, policies or practices will be implemented so that the .REALESTATE gTLD can be launched and initially operated in a controlled manner, granting the gTLD the opportunity to fulfill its stated mission(s)⁄purpose(s), and allowing NAR the opportunity to study use of the gTLD and user adoption of the gTLD. Any such restrictions, policies or practices will also allow NAR the ability to explore and implement user experience goals noted above and to find ways of achieving the missions⁄purposes identified above, such as provision of real estate listings at non-reserved geographic .REALESTATE domains.

NAR will periodically review progress and adoption of the .REALESTATE gTLD with an eye towards considering modification or removal of any such initial operation restrictions, policies or practices. NAR may choose to never remove these restrictions, policies and practices. Alternatively, NAR may choose to allow registrations in .REALESTATE to REALTORS®, NAR members, NAR affiliates, NAR licensees or NAR contracted parties as set forth herein.

As expanded operations under the .REALESTATE gTLD are contemplated (if indeed any such expansions are contemplated), NAR – in its sole discretion – may add, delete, amend or otherwise modify registration restrictions, policies and practices, in support of the goals listed above. NAR may adopt use policies consistent with the principles set forth herein and further consistent with NAR’s Vision.””