Purchasing expired domain

I believe it is 3 months until a domain is made available again after delete, if this is the case, then it should be to be registered mid april ?

If you contact the provider who holds the domain etc - you might find they'll charge you a fortune for the domain. I also think they have to hold it for 90 days for the old owner to renew it (legal?).

- Justin

here is a brief info on the process of expire domain :

If the owner of a domain does not renew by the expiration date of the domain, the domain goes into “expired” status. For 40 days, the domain is in a grace period where all services are shut off, but the domain owner may still renew the domain for a standard renewal fee. If a domain enters this period, it is a good first indicator that it may not be renewed, but since the owner can re-register without penalty, it can also just be a sign of laziness or procrastination.

After 40 days are up, the domain’s status changes to “redemption period”. During this phase, all WhoIs information begins disappearing, and more importantly, it now costs the owner an additional fee to re-activate and re-register the domain. The fee is currently around $100, depending on your registrar. When a domain enters its redemption period, it’s a good bet the owner has decided not to renew.

Finally, after the redemption period, the domain’s status will change to “locked” as it enters the deletion phase. The deletion phase is 5 days long, and on the last day between 11am and 2pm Pacific time, the name will officially drop from the ICANN database and will be available for registration by anybody.

The entire process ends exactly 75 days after the listed expiration date,

there is a few companies that catch expire domains once they are available again
maybe you should check them out

snapnames.com , namejet.com and pool.com
also godaddy has a backorder service - but it less strong then the 3 above