Front Page of BAN Print Issue!

[ericbramlett]

Broker Agent News just sent me a copy of their latest print issue & they published "Top 7 Mistakes Rookie Agents Make" on the first page w/ my avatar & all!

[webmaster]

Great stuff buddy congrats! Certainly your writing is going to take you far in terms of your internet marketing efforts.

[SEO Nick]

That's great, Eric! Congratulations.

[judyo]

That's great, Eric! You know, after another thread on the forum about getting published, I was once again interviewed for our local newspaper. At the end she double checked my office address and I said, "And if you can ever get my website in there, please do!" She asked me for my url so we'll see!

[RESteve]

How are you guys getting contacted by authoritative entities like that? I know quality content is important, but are you posting your articles somewhere specifically?

Congrats to both of you as well!

[judyo]

Oh boy, Steve, how can I make this long story short? I lost an established domain name - some kid swiped it up to resell to me at $2,500.00 - I wrote about it here - Morgan surprised me by buying the domain back & giving me my Oak Lawn website template.

Wall Street Journal got wind of the story & interviewed me. Publishing went nationwide, in WSJ & many other local papers in print and online, including the Chicago Sun Times & the Daily Southtown. The local papers wrote it that I "forgot" to renew my domain which is not how it happened. I tried to get them to correct their story. I also spoke on a local radio show that was interviewing this kid who buys up these domains for ad revenue & resale.

The Daily Southtown did a new story with photos & everything & I got on their interview list & get interviewed about 4 times a year for different real estate related stories.

[webmaster]

Transcript from transaction for Judy’s domain.

First email sent:

Hello,
My name is Morgan Carey, AKA SEO Guy of seochat.com realestatewebmasters.com
and many other webmaster supporting sites. Recently you snapped a domain
from one of our favorite forum members Judy Orr. I would like to get it
back. I understand you are running a business, and likely a lucrative one at
that, but from my perspective I watched Judy work very hard on that domain
for over 2 years and to have it taken away from her is just not fair, she is
an amazing lady and we want to help.

I am willing to pay for the domain, as long as it isn’t priced absurdly.
Please understand, I am not making any $ off of this transaction, nor is
Judy a paying customer of ours in any way, she has just been a great
contributing member of our forums for a long time and to repay her, I
thought this would be a nice thing to do.

I can offer you a reasonable amount of $, or if you would like, I have an
amazing web dev team (24 programmers and designers) so perhaps we could hook
you up with some webwork (A new web design or something)

If you would be willing to work with me on this, I would really appreciate
it. I understand your business, and do not look down on it. It is
important that we get this domain returned and get some relevant topic
specific content back up so that it does not lose the positions Judy worked
so hard to earn.

Let me know what it is going to take to get it back, and the process.
Thank you
Morgan Carey
250-753-9893 Feel free to call my office if you want to discuss.

His reply
Morgan,
I must say–I definitely agree with you on the “not being fair” part. It truly is unfair for Judy to have had lost out on such a graetly optimized name due to the complete negligence of her hosting company. I truly hope they’re being held responsible in some form–and in my personal opinion–It would have to be them that would have to assume the cost of acquiring the name.
In regards to the cost of the name–At the time of the first price quote–It truly was worth all of $2488. At that point–3 days into it–It was the exact multiple that we typically receive on portfolios from much larger companies that buy domains ( i.e.–IREIT, Marchex, misc VC’s, etc.) (I’m sure your familiar with all of them). However, at the time of the new quote of $1288, the revenue average had dipped, and that was why I had reflected it in the new quote. It is quite standard for domain valuations to be derived strictly off of revenues in this business. Since then, the domain average has risen again (especially with the article that came out). At this point there would be no way to sell it at under $2488.
Since I have given a quote of $1288 in the past–I do however feel obliged to honor it. As a show of good faith I would be willing to honor it, however, this will not be available for more than 7 days from today, seeing that the domain will make that revenue anyways. If you decide to purchase it, or the hosting company decides to purchase it (to not sacrifice there name) we can move forward using Escrow.com.

As I stated earlier, this offer WILL NOT be available after 7 days. Personally, I’m tired of dealing with this situation, and would much rather just collect the revenues on the risk I had assumed when I purchased it.
Sincerely,
Anthos C
Lease Domains, Inc.

My Reply

$1288 – consider it done, do you have a # I can call? I will take care of it tonight if you like.

His reply

Before I initiate a transfer request through Escrow.com–I want Judy Orr to call me herself just to confirm that this name truly is for her.

My Reply

She actually doesn’t know that I am doing this for her, I wanted it to be a surprise I was going to post it at http://www.realestatewebmasters.com/thread6417.html - I own www.realestatewebmasters.com btw and Judy is a moderator for me. I would be willing to sign any docs stating that this purchase is solely for the express purpose of returning the domain to Judy Orr or something like that if you like. I am not sure if there are terms in escrow that can be dictated like that. I will call you and we can chat about it, if absolutely necessary, I will tell Judy to call you, it’s just she doesn’t know I am doing this, and it would be a really nice surprise.

Calling right now.

Morgan

His Reply after a 2 hour phone call
I must say–That is one hell of a good gesture by you for her…There are so many great stories of internet people and there companies that get lost, and this truly is another great story…It is individuals like you that help to create positive sentiment for our livelihoods…E-Commerce
On behalf of many friends and business associates in E-Commerce-Thank You for yet another great story!!

[webmaster]

That is the resolution of the long part lol

[ericbramlett]

Wow Morgan! I'm impressed! That's one of the coolest things I've seen in a while!

[RESteve]

That's an awesome gesture, Morgan. That really shows how much you care for your community.