Thank you for your time and insight. Your voice is very much missed in the blogging community.

What worked then, won’t work now. You can’t go back in time. It was a different set of circumstances. So you can’t keep drilling in the same hole looking for oil that has been pumped out long ago. You have to be forward thinking. Looking for opportunity in front of you not the opportunity behind you.

You could have just as easily been Frank Schilling in 2001 when he entered the business. The domainers back then believed all the great domains were snapped up by folks like me and none were left. Frank forgot to listen to their bullshit and accomplished what they believed could not be done. So success has little to do with the economy and much more to do with a state of mind.

People talk about the weak dollar and nobody wants dollars. I say that is nonsense. If people had the dollars, you would not be seeing all these foreclosures. The dollar may be weak, but it is also scarce. So that forces folks to sell assets they ordinarily would not sell. They have to take out their best stuff, whether it be domains, cars, boats, condos, etc. They have to find the stuff that will sell in a market that does not want to buy anything and then price it so aggressively that it forces somebody with dollars to come to the surface and buy it anyway.

What happens is at some point the folks with the dollars come off the sidelines and start snapping things up a GREAT bargains. So those that saw this coming and saved up for it, are in a very aggressive mode and those that have been short of cash are in a protective mode. Many are holding on for dear life. The more desperate they get, the more opportunity will be brought to market. That is why I am making the most out of this downturn. Most are in a wait and see and are paralyzed. I see opportunity and want to be in the game. More importantly, I have not limited myself to just domain names. I am looking at all sorts of deals on the net and off. Opportunity comes in many shapes and forms and it is important to be open to diversification IF the deal is right.

JMO

I got some more detailed info on these houses that sold.

Many had been on the market for upwards of a year, but they dropped the price and the buyers came out really since May 1.

In a little over a month since May 1 they sold more units and more volume that they had from Jan1-April 30

Similar realty market here in SoCal…most residential properties have; and continue; to tank…but, those high-end estates priced 5 million+ have seen very few foreclosures, little or no change in time on market, and steady sales prices.

The rich/super rich want what they want, and have the money to get it.

As far as I know all of hit farms domains are offshore in a no tax jurisdiction

Thanks for that post. That’s what I thought too regarding how much more difficult it is now to acquire good domains vs 1997 and 2002. Not saying that it’s not possible, just saying I don’t see how today is just as good or better an opportunity than back then. That’s just not possible. And I agree about the taxes, but that’s also something that’s a constant now and back then.

However, if a domainer has a new killer app/idea like a Youtube or Facebook, the opportunity to go from zero to billionaire can be done within a couple of years. But that’s always the case no matter if it’s now or 5 yrs ago or 5 years from now.

If there is a new domainer juggernaut(s) to emerge from this era, it would have to be done completely different from Kevin Ham or Frank Schilling who both did it differently from Rick Schwartz. Their tactics don’t work as well today as back then simply because they are not taking anyone by surprise or operating under the radar so to speak. I was hoping Rick had some insight into what that new kind of “domaining” that would be.

Rick can speak for himself.

However from my perpective you have in the domainers world, PPC income going down, renewal rates going up and you are going to see more dropping domains.

In the general economy people are looking to raise cash.

You are also going to see good domains sold at reasonable prices by non-domainers and domainers alike.

However I do not think you are going to built a portfilio like Frank or Kevin.

Many of us who got in the business early got many of our domains for registration fees before the drops became auctions. Those days are gone. Any decent domain is going to be priced in the hundred and good
domains are going to be 4 and 5 figures in the drop.

You also are US based like us, so your never going to build a portfolio like Frank or Kevin because you, like us, are at a huge disadvantage tax wise.

I will blog about this at some point, but those guys can reinvest 100% of their revenues to acquire additional domains. US guys have a thing called taxes which takes a lot of the money you could use to reinvest in more domains, and give it to the government.

Rick,

Now is an even better time than the mid 90’s or the early 2000’s? I agree there’s great opportunity out there but it’s real tough for the next Kevin Ham, Frank Schilling or Rick Schwartz to emerge today than back then. If you could elaborate, I’d greatly appreciate it.