I'm still in Dallas and spent the morning taking a look at the many New Urbanist type developments here in Dallas. I have to say I am very impressed. I'm also interested in the way all these new lofts, condos are being marketed. I have several websites and have had plans to develop many more that focus on downtown living in Oklahoma City. I had mentioned in my introduction thread that I found OKC Talk by seeing it show up in my site statistics. All the new urban housing in Dallas has brought about a lot of marketing via referral web sites that are one stop sites for info to downtown living. I love the way most cities with a lot of urban housing have these sites. Take a look at my downtown OKC domain site and click on EXAMPLE SITES. Check out the very cool way which urban properties are being marketed in various cities, including Dallas. I am impressed with not only with the Dallas properties but in how they are marketed.

Downtown OKC Domains Website (http://downtownokcdomains.com)
In the upper right you'll see a link to EXAMPLE SITES. Check them out. Some are VERY well done.

I still hate the traffic in Dallas and am ready to be home. I'm anxious to get back and start looking at all of our new urban housing opportunities with a new perspective after checking so many out here in DFW.

Anybody have any thoughts on how the NBA downtown will affect the mindset of living downtown?

Anybody have any thoughts on how the NBA downtown will affect the mindset of living downtown?

I was waiting for the March 4th vote to decide whether or not to move downtown. Now, I'm getting my house ready to put on the market, as in these more uncertain economic times, I want my house sold before I buy a townhouse downtown. I'm not in as big a hurry as I could be, as I also want to see what the BOG vote is this month. So, my answer is that the NBA is a huge part of me initially thinking about moving downtown (after spending almost 70 evenings downtown in 2005-7) and the deciding factor in my decision to move there. I've got several other friends currently looking, for the same reason. I feel like having an NBA team continues our downtown improvement momentum, and makes me feel comfortable about buying real estate there, in terms of it's long term value.

So you're squatting on a bunch of domain names and trying to sell them? Might as well be upfront about it.

Is this an online example of people who buy up overlooked downtown properties with no intention whatsoever of improving them, and then try to sell at a big profit and exploit the hard work of others who are attempting to improve the area?

Is this an online example of people who buy up overlooked downtown properties with no intention whatsoever of improving them, and then try to sell at a big profit and exploit the hard work of others who are attempting to improve the area?

DING! DING! DING! Bob, tell him what he's won...

Hey guys! That's not what I was doing at all. There is no squatting as you probably noticed the names are incorporating district names and no trademarks. It's a legitimate business as the Example Sites from other cities clearly show. That's what I was trying to show when I pointed to the Examples. I was upfront about it, wscougar, I said when I joined here what I did. The site had many referrals from a thread in OKC Talk and it's a great place! I think that the Example Site shows a lot of possibilities for marketing our many new urban housing possibilities.

Steve, I am surprised at your response. I picked up my portfolio over a period of time and domain speculation is no different than real estate. Off the hard work of others? There was no work at all in marketing downtown urban housing online. I showed in the Example Sites how it is working across the country. Just because it's online and digital doesn't make my work any different than anyone else who might use their medium to improve and bring good things downtown. I have a feeling you didn't visit some of those sites on the Example Site page. If someone owned a building in Bricktown and showed examples how a bowling alley would be a good fit here, a sports bar there, how is that different than my ownership of a domain and showing how the exact same names, branded for OKC, are working in other cities? On another note, I love your columns!

Those snap judgments are not right.

wow.. I too have sat on a few domain names and have sold them for more than what I bought them for... if that is in fact what you are doing. It's just capitalizing.

Mike OKC, don't listen to the negative people here who are critical of what you are doing. It's the American way and you don't need to defend yourself. I admire you for your ability to think ahead and create domains that could help businesses to increase traffic to their websites. If these businesses haven't already thought that far ahead and secured a domain that they could have purchased on their own, that's not your fault. You thought ahead, you did your research and you your invested time and money to purchase domains that other people haven't given any thought to. You deserve to earn a profit for the time you invested researching domain names that could increase traffic to someone's website. In fact, some people would never have thought about developing a domain that you came up with, so essentially, you are helping them to create, and own, a domain that they may have never thought of themselves. You are doing a good thing, and we need more people who have an entrepreneurial spirit like you. Don't listen to the naysayers--keep up the good work!

I was thinking the same thing.. it's a business.

Buy low, sell high... what's wrong with that?

It's called being in the right place at the right time and taking advantage of the discounted price.

Look at Ebay, people go to a garage sale, buy a $1 item, list in on Ebay for $100 and make a profit.... business. That's all.

MikeOKC ... I read through your names and thought, pretty good idea. I like it, wish I would have added to my inventory of domains.

Nothing wrong with what you are doing. Everyone else HAS the SAME opportunity to make this happen if they want.

FWIW ... and if this is true - another beautiful story of capitalism!

Pizza.com

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | US man gets $2.6m for domain name (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7331042.stm)

Thanks for the comments. I really didn't mean to start a controversy.

Back on topic, I went to dinner with a man last night who made a very good point about Oklahoma City being positioned to be a very attractive place for urban dwellers. He said while Dallas has all these New Urbanist developments but they are scattered all over while OKC is looking at rebuilding the city core. He said Dallas has done that with only limited success because of the size of the Metroplex. He was excluding Uptown from downtown. OKC can have the NBA, arts, entertainment and restaurant district, all the vibrancy of a downtown with people actually living there and not having to recreate it someplace else. He thought we're better positioned for that than Dallas! While I have been impressed with some of these new developments out in the suburbs, the thought of having the real thing in a real downtown is exciting. As Betts pointed out, the NBA will clearly help and things downtown are just now heating up. Like Betts, people are making plans. It's an exciting time and we've come a long way.

I'm still a good 4 years away from downtown real estate.. sadly, but I do want to move downtown.

It might have been best for me to have asked that question in private. I apologize.

much ado about not much overall. Luck with the sale. Though none are of the megaword.com stratosphere, there are a few green bananas there which may ripen in time.

This is no different than the sportswriters on staff at the Daily Oklahoman who bought up a bunch of OKC Sonics related websites in anticipation that the Sonics would be moving to OKC.

No offense to you Steve, but this is probably one of the sleeziest articles the Oklahoman has allowed.

Sonics' decision spoils domain partnership | NewsOK.com (http://newsok.com/article/3220937/1206540865)

Sonics' decision spoils domain partnership
The Daily Oklahoman
By Jim Strafford

I've been a part of a partnership for almost two years that has owned the Internet domain name "okc-sonics.com.”
My partner, a co-worker I'll call "Don,” and I pooled our resources and bought the domain name in anticipation that the Seattle SuperSonics would one day relocate to Oklahoma City and need an appropriate Web name. We poured our hearts — along with $18.80 for the domain name rights — into the dream that Sonics' ownership would turn to okc-sonics.com for their online brand.

Our domain was certainly available for the right price. But don't call us domain name squatters.

We weren't going to demand thousands of dollars for the domain name. All we were asking was season tickets. On the floor. For us and our spouses. And free parking.

The dream died on Tuesday when it was revealed that Sonics ownership has told the city of Seattle that it is willing to leave the name with them when the team is relocated to Oklahoma City.

Now, it appears that our investment is as worthless as an Enron retirement account.

We've spent all morning pointing fingers and trying to assign blame for the financial losses we've sustained. Nearly $20 down the drain.

But as I read the story about the Sonics name online at newsok.com this morning, I found some hope for our partnership. Readers suggested dozens of possible names that might fit the renamed Sonics in Oklahoma.

Some were whimsical and others asinine. But some have real potential. The OKC Boomers, for instance. Or the Bandits. Scorpions, Gales, Twisters. Mud Daubers or Bison.

The list of potentials grew longer.

The Thunder. The Chiefs. The Dust Bowls. The Storm Chasers. The Barnstormers. The Scissortails. The Pioneers. The Geysers. The Prairie Fires (a personal favorite). The Ruffnecks. The Outlaws. The Barons. The Stallions.

All of which will lead to a long and contentious meeting as our partnership attempts to ferret out the most likely name for the Oklahoma City NBA franchise. Then we will raise the necessary capital, pay another visit to godaddy.com and try to beat other investment groups to likely names.

As for our now apparently forlorn investment in okc-sonics.com, it seems that we ought to get a little something for the effort. We're not asking for much.

How about a pair of tickets for when the Grizzlies come to town? Upper deck? We'll pay for parking.

Now if we could just find the sleaziest post of metro's.

(not sleeziest, that's not a word)

You really can't blame Jim for wanting free parking...
;)

Now if we could just find the sleaziest post of metro's.

(not sleeziest, that's not a word)

I bet we can find plenty from the former SR&G. :) But seriously, this is the same principle, and writer Jim Strafford got free press for his domain squatting, poster MikeinOKC above just got sarcastic comments.

That article was completely tongue in cheek... humorous, satirical, poking fun at themselves.

I wouldn't say completely tongue and cheek Karried, yes there was some sattire or sarcasm in there, but from what I hear, they would have tried to cash this in had/should the Sonics land in OKC. If/when they do, it will be a new name though.

Steve, Thank you for the apology.

As for the Oklahoman writer domains, that truly IS domain squatting. They were using a name that rightly belonged to somebody else by all fair measures. There is a difference in domain squatting and domain speculation. I am only dealing in speculation. For example, I own BricktownRentals.com, DowntownOKCApartments.com, DowntownOKCLiving.com, OKCDowntownRentals.com, OKCUrbanLiving.com, OKCUrbanRentals.com, core2shoreliving.com, etc. See the pattern? They are generic, they are what they say they are. I have never registered anything like MaywoodParkOKC.com or anything that rightly belongs to someone else. One is squatting, the other is speculation. See the difference?

My intention is to sell to those who truly want to develop these domains similar to other cities like in Dallas (http://www.downtowndallasapartments.com/), Cincinnati (http://www.downtownliving.com/), and this site, one of my favorites, in Phoenix (http://www.phoenixurbanliving.com/). Some of these are owned by developers showcasing their own properties, but most are owned by entrepreneurs who develop them for referral income for referring to the property sites. It's a legitimate digital business versus sleazy domain squatting. And it's not like I am asking an arm and a leg for any of my names even though some could be very valuable to somebody who chooses to develop them like that Phoenix site above or any of the other examples. This is all legit stuff folks, I promise.

I hope I have made the difference clear and put any controversy to rest.

I'm not much of a webmaster or I would develop some of these sites myself. It's being a part of a growing and dynamic downtown, albeit in a digital way. Having sites like the above examples is simply another sign of a thriving city!

good explanations Mike, there is a difference between squatting and speculation. As you mentioned, the sportswriters did squat, your domain names are speculation and not for any specific development/business.

ah ah! That makes more sense.. I get the distinction now.

I bet we can find plenty from the former SR&G. :)

But not one without a retaliation from metro.

But not one without a retaliation from metro.

I bet you can, I believe you've mistaken me for mranderson and others that antagonized you far more than I did. I only called em as I saw em. In all fairness, your posts as of late have been more well received and some even appreciated or agreed upon. I appreciate the effort in the quality of your posts.

All I can say is this is a great idea. There are several of those domain names I would buy and develop if I had the needed skills to pull it all together. I went to several of those example sites and real estate companies were running a couple of them, that's smart.

Welcome to OKCTalk, Mike.