System Offers Customers the First Free, Customized Relocation Analysis

PORTLAND, Oregon, January 4, 1999 - Virtual Relocation.com, Inc. announced the availability of Virtual Relocation's ReloSmart program, which will allow consumers and businesses to compare the costs of relocation free of charge. This signifies a dramatic change in the model for providing relocation data to consumers and companies.

"Making this tool available supports our mission of providing non-intrusive, free information to our users. This will help us retain our leadership position as the Internet's best and most comprehensive moving and relocation portal", said B. Scott Taylor, President of Virtual Relocation. "In the past, individuals and companies have paid a premium for this kind of data."

ReloSmart is a software program that performs sophisticated individualized analysis of the financial impact of relocation. ReloSmart is a powerful financial planning tool that performs smart and individualized analyses of the financial impact of a consumer's decision to relocate from one city to another. Because each analysis is geared toward the user's specific financial circumstances, it is much more than a "cost of living calculator" and includes variables and flexibility not currently found in other similar products.

"ReloSmart is unique because it allows personal preferences and priorities to be added to the calculation," said ReloSmart founder James Angelini, "with our product, there is no author or analyst making individual decisions for the user."

ReloSmart also provides subjective data such as crime, weather, educational statistics, and more. Some systems mix objective and subjective data to yield the "best place to live". These are not as effective because the authors make decisions on relative tradeoff variables such as weather. ReloSmart enables the user to prioritize and value such variables. This is also a very useful tool for human resources executives and search firms to provide insightful analysis to employees and recruits considering relocation. The program can tell them how much salary an employee needs, or how much they will gain, due to differences in their cost of living.

Other firms offer software with similar features, but charge for use of the products.