Cendant Corporation, which includes the CENTURY21®, Coldwell Banker®, and ERA® residential real estate franchise systems, has endorsed REALTOR.COM as the leading online distributor of the three franchises 330,000 electronic listings.

In addition, Cendant has exclusively endorsed RealSelect, REALTOR.COM's operator, to provide web development services to Cendant's brokers and sales associates, including web design, hosting, and support.

Richard A. Smith, chairman and CEO of Cendant's Real Estate Division, told Real Times that earlier reports describing the dollar terms of the agreement had been "inaccurate" but that the transaction represented "one of the highest numbers paid to a company like ours." He said money paid to Cendant under the 5 year announced arrangement came from RealSelect and not any other organization.

Smith said that while REALTOR.COM was the first national online distribution channel selected by Cendant, others would eventually be chosen, but not many.

"We are also seeking out partnerships with other listing alternatives," he said. "We do not believe it is in our best interest to seek out a large number of outlets for our listings, but we do believe another two, potentially three, might be appropriate under the circumstances."

Smith said Cendant -- which has 12,000 offices and 200,000 sales associates nationwide -- had been "noticeably absent from the Internet for some time" because "we felt comfortable watching the landscape develop."

"Now is an appropriate time to seek out the alliances that best meet the needs of our franchisees and sales associates," said Smith. "We have struck our first deal with RealSelect and there will be others."

Smith said RealSelect's web page development services were selected because they "are superior to anything else we've seen in the marketplace. We are very pleased to exclusively represent that service and that product line."

"Certainly brokers are free to select any service or product in the marketplace that they think best meets their needs," said Smith, "but RealSelect is the service provider and web page developer and web page servicer that we believe best meets the needs of everyone."

Smith said his firm would continue to operate its current suite of online sites.

"We see this as a complementary action, so we fully expect that our private web pages will continue and, in fact, we expect that they will flourish through the process of aligning ourselves with RealSelect and with others."

"We have worked diligently to make the Internet a positive force for the real estate industry and the consumer," said Stuart Wolff, Chairman and CEO of RealSelect. "We are very pleased that Cendant has seen what we have accomplished in our other on-going relationships with agents, brokers and multiple listing services and used this as a basis for choosing us as a partner.

"It is critical that all brokers and agents have a highly effective online presence and RealSelect has the agent, office and company-level products and services to help Cendant achieve this goal for their franchisees," added Wolff.

RealSelect operates REALTOR.COM, the official Internet site of the National Association of REALTORS^® , which features existing and new home listings and real estate agent and broker services. REALTOR.COM is the leader in both content and traffic with over 1.25 million listings (almost 95% of available inventory) and over 3.5 million visitors a month.

REALTOR.COM has exclusive distribution relationships with 5 of the top 7 Internet portals, which include AOL, Netscape's Netcenter, Excite, Infoseek, and Lycos. RealSelect also operates HOMEBUILDER.COM the official new home Internet site of the National Association of Home Builders, which is focused on new homes, lots and plans and builder and remodeler services.

Published: August 19, 1998

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