Real Estate Domain Names: 13 Tips to Follow

How to Choose the Perfect Real Estate Domain Name

Choosing the right real estate domain name for your website is one of the most important steps to focus on.

Your website can become the face of your brand. It can be added to your real estate signs, your business cards, and your social media accounts among other advertising materials.

If you pick the wrong real estate domain name today, changing it later on can be a hassle.

It also can negatively impact your SEO (search engine optimization).

This matters if you want your website to show up on Google results when potential clients are searching “homes for sale” and “realtors near me” and other search queries about real estate in your city.

I dive deeper into SEO in the Real Estate Agent’s Guide to SEO you can read here if you want to learn more about it.

I’ve also got several articles to browse below that help you piece together the different parts of a website. These will help you take the proper steps to set up your real estate IDX website the right way.

Website setup steps include:

Picking out a website hosting company that is fast! (Bluehost)
Choosing the right real estate domain name (Search Here)
Building a WordPress website
Integrating IDX so you have MLS data on your website
Picking out a customizable website theme

Today let’s get into the basics of domain names followed by tips and steps to choosing the perfect domain for your real estate website.

What is a Domain Name?

Great question! A domain name is a unique address people can type into their web browser to be taken to a specific website that is registered under that domain name.

In other words, it’s simply the URL you type in or visit when surfing the web.

Domain names have suffixes indicating which top level domain it belongs to. For example you may have seen the following suffixes before at the end of a domain name URL:

com – Commercial business and the most common suffix
gov – Government agencies
edu – Educational institutions
org – Organizations (nonprofit)
net – Network organizations
ca – Canada

My website’s domain name is AskNickFoy.com and as you can see I chose to use the suffix .com because it is most common and I want to be easy to find by other people searching for my website.

They may try AskNickFoy.com first before trying any of the other suffix extensions if I had made it something else like .org or .edu.

How Do You Get a Domain Name?

Domain names can be purchased from domain registrar companies like Namecheap, GoDaddy, etc. or they can be purchased from your website hosting company like Bluehost and Siteground, for example.

Bluehost is a website hosting company (as discussed in this guide to fast real estate website hosting) that offers you a FREE domain name when you sign up for a hosting plan through them.

You can also purchase from external domain companies, like Namecheap (who I also use for my websites) and then connect the domain to your hosting account in the settings page under “Custom DNS”

I usually recommend purchasing a domain through your website hosting company to keep things simple.

13 Tips for Picking a Real Estate Domain

Use a .com domain
Include keywords in your domain name search
Keep your domain name short if possible
Keep it easy to pronounce and spell
Make your real estate domain unique and brandable
Avoid hyphens in domain name
Avoid doubled letters
Leave room to expand
Research your domain name
Use domain generators
Don’t take too long to purchase your domain
Best place to register a domain name
Get free domain with web hosting

#1: Use a .com domain

The two selling points here are professionalism and reducing errors when people look up your website.

A .com domain name is most popular and would be the most professional choice for a real estate website. If you do a suffix other than .com, .org, or .gov, then these domains are often less trustworthy. For example, .ninja would come across as spammy.

Also, choosing other domain suffixes for your real estate website can also lead people to error pages by mistake. If your website is TomJohn.RealEstate then someone might accidentally type in TomJohn.realestate.com.

#2: Include keywords in your domain name search

One of the benefits of using keywords in your real estate domain is that it helps tell Google what your website is about.

The URL is one of many things Google is analyzing when learning about a website. Using proper real estate SEO is powerful if you want to get your business found on Google and generate internet leads to your real estate database.

Real estate keywords you could consider adding to your domain include:

Homes
Listings
Showings
Real Estate
Agent
Broker
City / County Name (check with attorney / trademarks)

An example real estate domain could include your personal name + real estate keywords. This could be like:

NickFoyHomes.com
NickFoyRealEstate.com
AgentNickFoy.com

Check with a trademark database or ask your attorney / legal counsel if you plan to use certain words that may be trademarked like Realtor or your city / county name. Or even your company franchise (RE/MAX) if you plan to use them in the real estate domain name.

#3: Keep your domain name short if possible

Shorter real estate domain names are easier to read and easier to remember. This also means less typos by users searching your website they saw on a real estate sign driving around town.

Aim for 10-15 characters or less. Don’t go overboard adding in lots of keywords to your real estate domain name.

#4: Keep it easy to pronounce and spell

Similar to the previous tip, you want your domain to be simple and easy for someone to read but also easy for you or your clients to pronounce.

For example, if you are giving out your email address which is based off your real estate website domain URL then it should be easy to pronounce and spell for someone. Nick@NickFoyHomes.com

#5: Make your real estate domain unique and brandable

Creating a brand is important in real estate just like it is in any other business profession. You want a name people remember and a name that stands out.

Picking the right real estate website domain can be a powerful branding tool that supports your marketing and business growth efforts as a real estate agent.

Example: NickSellsHouses.com

#6: Avoid hyphens in your real estate domain name

Using hyphens is not recommended for two reasons. The first is that hyphenated domains are often considered spammy or bring that untrustworthy feeling.

The second reason not to use hyphens in your real estate domain is that they can lead to typos. People may not remember where the hyphens go or they may forget your domain has hyphens in general.

#7: Avoid doubled letters

Be careful choosing words in your domain name where the ending letter of one word is the same letter as the first letter in the word that follows.

Here is an example: michaellistshomes.com

The word Michael ends with “l” and the word listings starts with “l” which makes the domain confusing to read and can lead to errors/typos.

#8: Leave room to expand

A good example for this tip is the buyer agent who only specializes in helping people find homes. This agent might choose a real estate domain name today geared towards home buyers and it could limit them down the road if they also become a listing agent.

Picking a more general domain like NickFoyRealEstate.com leaves room to expand your business later!

#9: Research your domain name

Researching your domain name is important to make sure (1) it’s not already taken, and (2) it’s not trademarked.

First, research any trademarks by going to the Federal Trademark website.

To research real estate domain name ideas to see if they’re available, you can use the search function on Namecheap’s home page.

Once you enter it in the search bar it will scan the web and reveal several domain ideas with different extensions including the extension you used (.com).

If you see an add to cart button, then it’s available to purchase. If it’s taken, it will also show that as well.

#10: Use domain generators for clever ideas

If you’re having trouble thinking of a real estate domain name, you can also use domain generators.

These are online tools that have you give them some initial keywords you are considering using in your domain and then they’ll spit back lots of different domain name possibilities for you to browse through.

Our favorite is Nameboy which you can try here.

#11: Don’t wait long to purchase your real estate domain

If you’re picking a more general real estate domain name that doesn’t include your personal name, don’t wait too long to purchase. It could be taken by someone else!

Even domains with your personal name run the risk of being bought by someone else with the same name.

Every day, companies scour the web to buy domains that they try to resell or “flip” for a profit. This also adds competition to domain names you may consider purchasing.

#12: Best place to register a domain name

There are many different domain registrars around the web that you can buy your domain from. The important tip to follow is choosing one that is easy to move domains if you have to in the future.

I like Namecheap which offers domains at cheaper prices usually compared to prices you’d pay on website hosting companies.

On Namecheap you can expect to pay about $10 for a domain for the year and it renews on auto annually if you set it up to auto-renew so you don’t have to worry about website downtime on accident when the domain expires.

Namecheap also has a coupon code you can enter to discount the first year further!

Bluehost offers a free domain with web hosting

Some website hosting companies like Bluehost offer a domain for free for the first year as a sign up bonus when you purchase a hosting plan.

I wrote an in-depth guide on Bluehost and buying website hosting for your real estate website so that it operates fast and doesn’t cost you leads & commissions from visitors abandoning a slow website.

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