Quote:
Originally posted by Taboo
Everything you said is correct.
but because of so many strategies, combinations of strategies, or sheer luck... it doesn't matter how much capital you start with. Or what your "perceived value" of the domain is. This market can bite you in the ass and you could lose your house if you're not careful. and yes, some have come crying to forums saying exactly that. and its painful to read. if you started with $100 today, you could still make a fortune. if you started with $100k now, you could lose it all if the domain market u-turns and the vein you "wisely" mined is obsolete. with $100.00, your risk is minimal, but so are your options and the opposite with $100k.
There is great risked involved in having lots of capital and we all know it doesn't translate into success by any means. Not even in the adult world. I only need to point to the cash/stock acquisition of business.com back in the heyday of the original domain wave. When the incubator, eCompanies (started by ppl from Disney and Earthlink) made that $7.5M cash/stock acquisition, the domain market skyrocketed and other companies with massive funding followed their lead for fear of being left behind. Where is that site now in terms of competing with Hoovers, WSJ, Thomas Registry, etc? For the $7.5M they spent you would think the name Business.com would be the juggernaut of the internet. It isn't. maybe in the future, but not now. In fact, they get laughed at when ppl look at the first bubble. But back then, because of perceived value, other incubators, VCs, fortune 100s,etc went on a buying spree believing that a category-killer domain = success on the IPO markets or guaranteed other liquidity events. Before domains were bought, there was an exit-strategy already in place. eBusiness.com was bought by another incubator, IdeaLab, for far less than Business.com, but because of "perceived value" at that point in time, it was a great coup for them. When was the last time you visited either site or even knew that eBusiness.com existed? That new bubble looks like it'll be fueled by smarter purchases because the net has matured into "fee over free" (thank god) and there is an easy way to monetize traffic now. But all this could disappear overnight for too many reasons I would not get into now, some of which are tech-influenced, some aren't. But even smart companies miss the boat sometimes, for example, ebusiness.com, because it never really launched, should have been flipped a few years ago when a Fortune 100 rolled out their 100+ million dollar ad campaign that featured the "ebusiness" term everywhere. but it's still owned by the same ppl because they weren't exploring all their options. Why do I keep bring them up? Because when I approached them and told them I could flip it for them in less than 30 days for $10,000,000 and anything above that price would be mine to keep, they rejected the idea and said impossible: "The Game is Over" - if you had only seen the site back in the day, you would have smiled (wayback machine at Internet Archive to see for yourself). Their incubator had received over $1 Billion in funding, but because of investors suing for their money back because of "overhang" and more misses than hits, they have less than $150,000,000 left. Which is a lot of money to have, but sad when compared with the amount that got "vapor"ized . All this is publicly available at lexis-nexis and searching tech law firms and vc boards. But maybe they'll get a chance during the second wave to try to build or flip again.
Look at ClearDay.com, formerly an internet wedding album site that flipped their domain this year for $60,000. (Internet Archive).
Look at the #1 reported sale for this week:
BoiseRealEstate.com $50,000
http://www.dnjournal.com/domainsales.htm
I'm sure some of the current owners of other "CITY/STATE"RealEstate.comS have no idea of what they are sitting on. Can't hurt to contact them and see what they're selling for before other realtors read in realtor newswires about this week's purchase. Why did I bring this up, because I'm sure there are plenty of smaller, localized CITYRealEstate.comS available right now for under $10. So for those that want to get in cheap, look to your local markets and spend some time seeing if any domains are yours for the taking. because they won't be in a week because every realtor out there will scoop them up if they haven't already. I don't want people to think they can't start with $10, because they can, I just showed them how.
After reading the dnjournal article, I found 5 in my local area that were sitting there and shouldn't have been, if I was doing my job. But play it smart, don't grab every city, region in your area, only those where you know a realtor would want to advertise, buy or license, YES license the domain from you. AND do NOT reserve domains with the word REALTOR, it is a trademarked word and you will get a guaranteed C&D in the mail.
also, check for:
NameofCity Homes.com
NameofCity Realty.com
ISellNameofCity .com
NameofCity Guide.com
NameofCity Online.com
if you want to stretch the vein, not always a good idea, try these terms: Search,Portal,News,etc.
good luck.
i'm deep in the mines right now. meet you there. :winkwink:
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Well I disagree on that.
Having money gives you the ability to be a player in the marketplace. Money brings power. True it doesn't guarantee success in every endeavor, but it gives you the staying power to endure the failures and go on to the next deal.
You can also catch desparate people looking for quick cash deals.
You can buy the bigger domains, most can only dream of.
You can use your acquisitions to get other good deals coming your way before others know about them. |
