Via The Domains:
Most people compare domains to real estate. I view domains more like commodities and collectibles. A commodity is something that has limited amounts and demand for them. A collectible is something that is something prized, either one of a kind or very limited in number. Like commodities and collectibles, domain’s value, in large part, come from the fact that all of these resources are finite. Market value is based on supply and demand. Not to say that they are not an infinite combination of letters and numbers that one can use as a domain, or using a non .com extensions, but there are certainly a finite amount of short generic .com’s. The shorter and more generic the domain, the more valuable it becomes.
With regards to real estate, although there are certainly very unique properties, the vast majority of real estate is not that special. Take a tract home in a community of thousands of others. You miss out on buying one of them there are 50 more for sale pretty much just like it. A condo in a building of 500 units. You miss out on buying one there is another just like it on the floor above or below. They are not that unique. Maybe that is why the real estate market has collapsed.
Yet during the same time, commodities have skyrocketed. Oil, gold, copper, silver all way up this year and over the last several years. World demand is high. There will be fluctuations in price, but the long term outlook is that commodities will be only more expensive in the coming years. There is just too many people in the world, countries going through enormous growth, more development, more need.
Domains are similarly poised. The growth of the Internet is certain, domains are needed for sites, blogs, traffic. Not just in the good old USA, but all over the world and the only universal domain is a .com
Stuff.com, there is only one of those in the world.
Michael sure knows what he is talking about. Michael lives right down my canal and his place is full of collectibles, from art to sports memorabilia, one could say “one of a kind” items. Link above, definite must read.
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Ahh, but I respectfully disagree (very respectfully). As todays market will attest, there is limited demand yet also a limited amount of real estate. Domains have much of the same characteristics as real estate. Short .coms are similar to waterfront property, there is a limited number of each. While condos may look like one another so too does BBBBBBBBLogs.com looks like BBBBBBBBBLogs.com (admit it, you counted the “B”s). The vast majority of real estate may not be special (unless it’s your’s, also similar to a domain) but neither are the majority of available domains, not to mention the registered ones. Dont get me wrong, i’m a real estate broker and domainer. I think were are at an incredibly unique place in time, like when the car or phone was invented, and opportunities are endless. There are many REAL good domains that have “nothing” content, and there are some otherwise irrelevant ones that have made fortunes (Google).. The magic of the net is not the domain name per se’, it is what we do with it. Sure, type in traffic helps many make money, and having a name the defines what you offer is very important. In real estate “under all there is land”, on the net, “content is king”. The web itself is the land, the domain is the address, and content is what you build on it. How many great Chineese names are unregistered because most of us dont understand the language of the most populous country in the world. Do those name not have value because we dont understand them? Are sites operating in those languages not as worthy because they are not english .coms? I dont think so. Actually, I see domains and real estate both as commodiities.. supply, demand. What goes up.. same thing happened to the real estate market. What would happen if the “rest” of the world controlled ICANN and convinced tomorrow’s net users that .world was the primary extension? And the others refused to allow “.com” to resolve on their platforms. Sorry for rambling, but I have many, many hours interspecting on domains and how they equate to real estate. Some who view this blog know that I see the future of the domain space as “condos”, which I explain at condomains.com… My buddy owns a Nolan Ryan Rookie card, it’s gone from $2,400 to $500 in value, he tells me. A good baseball card is a nice collectable to hold onto. But what a shame if we collected all the good domains, instead of letting them grow to become the quality content of the internet that we all should aspire to enjoy. Would we really want a few players to acquire all the good names, just to hold onto to them. The magic in it all is that we dont know where it’s all going, but at the same time, we know it is. Alright, i’m shut off. Happy Holidays all.
I remember an accounting prof i had in college said there are only two things to describe something as in business:
1-Asset
2-Liability