Domain registration and domain hosting are two very different things. The registration shows that you own the domain name, which is the online address of your site (e.g., example.com). Hosting provides access to your site content so people can view it. Many people use a single company for both of these functions.
To use a custom domain for your HOA website, you need two things: a registration for the domain you want to use, and a place to host your site. HOAStart can take care of both for you. Here’s how the process works in three different scenarios.
- If you haven’t yet registered your domain name, tell us the name you want. We’ll verify that it’s available, register it for you if it is, and offer you alternatives if it’s already in use. Your domain registration is included in your Plan Package. (If you want us to register more than one domain for you, we’ll charge you $30/year for each additional domain.)
- If you’ve already registered your domain name but don’t want to maintain the registration, here’s how to transfer the domain so HOAStart can manage everything for you.
- Obtain a transfer authorization code, also called an EPP code, from your current domain registrar.
- Unlock the domain at the current registrar, and turn off any privacy protection. Otherwise, your domain will not transfer correctly.
- Give HOAStart your domain name, EPP code, and the contact information listed for the administrator of your domain.
- If you’ve already registered your domain and want to maintain the registration yourself, we’ll send you the following information to input on the registration record. Please don’t try to type these values in, as they are lengthy, complex—and do not work if even one character is missing or incorrect. Note that these values are customized for each community’s website.
- A CNAME record, which helps connect your domain.
- A TXT record, which stores authentication information and other types of data.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Under certain very specific circumstances, you may need to wait for up to 60 days to transfer your domain.
- If you’ve transferred your domain registration from one registrar to another within the last 60 days
- If your domain ownership has changed in the last 60 days
- If you’ve changed any of the registrant information (name, organization, or e-mail address) of your domain in the last 60 days
- If your registration is slated to expire within the next 60 days