Homestore.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: HOMS), operator of Realtor.com®, the official site of the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), announced that it has completed its acquisition of move.com from Cendant Corporation.

The company says that the deal more than doubles the number of professional subscribers on the Homestore.com™ family of Web sites, augments leading content on Realtor.com® and offers professional clients increased exposure, both through anticipated new traffic to the site, as well as through other offline cross-marketing opportunities.

Cendant also has agreed to become an equity investor in Homestore.com’s and NAR’s eRealtor.comsm – an innovative online system designed to streamline the steps involved in managing the transaction of the purchase or sale of a home. With the backing of Cendant’s CENTURY 21®, COLDWELL BANKER® and ERA® franchises, as well as other leading franchise organizations, Homestore.com and the NAR have garnered considerable industry support for their online real estate transaction solution.

The acquisition, approved by Homestore.com’s stockholders last month, combines two of the Internet’s leading home and real estate Web sites. The acquisition provides that Realtor.com®, already with 1.4 million homes listed for sale, will have exclusive access to the online aggregated listings of Cendant Corporation’s CENTURY 21®, COLDWELL BANKER® and ERA® national real estate franchises for a period of 40 years. In a separate transaction, the Real Estate Technology Trust has agreed to purchase certain Homestore.com professional subscription products for approximately 190,000 agents and brokers in the CENTURY 21®, COLDWELL BANKER® and ERA® franchise networks, thereby more than doubling Homestore.com’s current subscriber base. Additionally, Cendant’s three national real estate franchises have committed to develop a series of cross-marketing and advertising programs with Homestore.com’s family of Web sites.

Beginning immediately, Homestore.com will integrate key Cendant assets into its family of sites, including Web sites move.com, Rent Net, House Net, Senior Housing Net and Storage Net, and will engage in joint promotion, marketing and advertising programs with Cendant.

Homestore.com also acquired all rights to Welcome Wagon®, the widely recognized direct marketing program that introduces participating neighborhood retailers and their services to new homeowners, lauded by the industry nationwide as a valuable source for their clients. Welcome Wagon® represents a network of more than 35,000 merchants and reaches 1.8 million new homeowners annually.

Published: February 20, 2001

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