Digital Assets For Real Estate Professionals
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The past couple of weeks I have spent working and talking with people outside of the real estate industry about their web presence. It really brought home the point of how advanced many real estate agents, mortgage professionals, and those in the industry are.
We have domains that can be worth a great deal of money that others may be interested in. We also have information that is crucial to doing business tied up in our email, banking, and other accounts. But the question I have for you is what happens to these assets if you die or are incapacitated?
The question is winding it’s way through the courts and is really not determined. If you do not have a plan where the accounts are identified and the passwords are not recorded in a place where your heirs and executors can get them, you may lose some significant assets that can be passed down to your family.
Here is an example.
You are an agent and own the domain MyCityRealEstate.com. Well you have invested a great deal of time in developing the site, it has a high page rank, and gets a ton of traffic. You run your real estate business through it.
You pass away and the domain sits there till the domain registration runs out. Some yahoo registers it for $9.95 and gets the benefit of your hard work. Well that sucks.
Your heirs could have sold that to another agent for thousands of dollars and that money could have remained in your family. Odds are if you have 1 great domain you have a dozen pretty good ones. They are all worth good money quickly and easily.
We are in a brave new world. The legal profession is just starting to realize the value of online assets but the old forms and methods are not focused on recovering them. Take the time to make sure it is brought to their attention either in your will or in instructions to protect your assets.
So take the time to record these assets in a safe place and that if something happens to you your family will have the chance to profit from your hard work.
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Comment by Portland Real Estate on 13 November 2009:
Well in my case the other people in my office would just get the fruit of my hard work if something bad happened to me.
-Tyler
Comment by Evans Homes for Sale on 14 November 2009:
Interesting information. Definitely an issue I need to address. Thanks for the post.
Comment by Harold Scott on 15 November 2009:
Good point! For those of us who have put thousands of hours into our sites, we certainly have built up equity in our sites. The time you spend on building your site is a great investment when done consistently and systematically!
Comment by Matthew Hardy on 16 November 2009:
Digital has become the new real, although I don’t think most people understand that yet. When you can sell your real estate business because you’ve properly cared for your digital assets you get it for sure. Thanks for the post.