HomeShark Partners With InfoSpace; Alliance Helps Millions Navigate Through Mortgages and Home Buying

Business Wire, July 10, 1998

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 10, 1998--San Francisco-based HomeShark(TM) Inc., the Internet real estate gateway, and InfoSpace(TM) Inc. today announced the creation of a new, co-branded real estate classified section at www.infospace.com.

HomeShark's HomeScout, the Web's largest home listings search engine, provides potential homebuyers with national real estate listings from four of the top five online listings sites. HomeScout is the only national listings source that includes comprehensive listings for every major metropolitan U.S. market, including New York City.

With listings gathered from over 350 real estate databases, HomeScout offers InfoSpace visitors the broadest array of listings available including Realtor listings, homes for sale by owners, and new construction listings.

The easy-to-use HomeScout interface is faster and more convenient than other online listings sites and traditional newspaper searches. HomeScout transforms these cumbersome search methods by allowing users to focus in on relevant listings. With the entry of only two data fields, users can search for homes in just one click or narrow their search with more specific criteria.

To help make the search process even easier, users can also save their customized search settings to receive weekly email updates of new home listings.

The co-branded agreement also offers InfoSpace customers looking to buy or refinance a home access to HomeShark's customized mortgage rate comparison and recommendations. In addition, the arrangement will also offer InfoSpace's customers a range of educational tools and access to discounted mortgages available from national lenders.

InfoSpace plans to redistribute HomeShark's services through their extensive partner network, making HomeShark services available to many more online users.

"InfoSpace's selection of HomeShark as a partner reflects our goal of continuing to provide our users access to best-of-breed online services," said Naveen Jain, president of InfoSpace Corporation. "Our arrangement with HomeShark enables us to deliver superior real estate services to our customers, helping us to continue to build customer loyalty with the delivery of relevant services."

"There's no doubt that shopping for a home online is a viable option. There has been a tremendous growth in the use of the Internet to search for a home over the last two years. With this InfoSpace alliance, we hope to make it accessible to millions of home shoppers looking to save time and money," said Ned Hoyt, HomeShark president and CEO.

"The traffic we'll get from InfoSpace will allow us to demonstrate excellent HomeShark service to more customers looking for an easy and convenient home purchase."

About HomeShark Inc.

HomeShark Inc., http://www.homeshark.com, is the Internet real estate gateway, providing consumers with a better way to buy their home. HomeShark is the only on-line source for both discount mortgages and property listings, offering customers savings, convenience and superior service.

HomeShark enables users to search for homes and loans with targeted offerings including instant customized interest rate and loan comparisons, discounted mortgages from national lenders at less than half of traditional mortgage fees, the only open real estate listings search engine, property valuation tools, Realtor referrals, and comprehensive information for home buyers and owners.

Additional HomeShark partnerships include Excite/Classifieds 2000, HotBot, and Lycos. HomeShark Inc. is headquartered at 118 King Street No. 226, San Francisco, CA 94107, phone 415/908-6420, fax 415/908-6430, e-mail info@homeshark.com.

About InfoSpace Inc.

InfoSpace is a leading "aggregator and syndicator" of content. Formed in April 1996, InfoSpace has grown from an unknown startup into one of the top sites on the Internet today. InfoSpace is continually adding content and forging partnerships with independent yellow pages publishers, newspapers, television stations, search engines, ISPs, Information Appliances and popular Web sites.

InfoSpace offers its users yellow pages which offer detailed business information, white pages, classifieds for automobiles, personals, employment and homes, an investment section, International directories, news, e-commerce and many other services. The ultimate shopping directory enables users to shop for the best prices on the net and purchase products ranging from books and music to software and hardware.

InfoSpace directory services are licensed by: Netscape Communications (NASDAQ:NSCP), ABC News Internet Ventures (NYSE:DIS), CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS), Lycos, The Microsoft Network, The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition, Compuserve (NASDAQ:CSRV), Playboy (NYSE:PLA), AT&T Worldnet Service (NYSE:T), go2net's MetaCrawler (NASDAQ:GNET), BarnesandNoble.com (NYSE:BKS), Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK), CommerceNet, Maine Network, Data Channel and several others.

InfoSpace also has strategic partnerships with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL), DIBA, Sega and Bandai. Through its relationships with WolfeTech Corporation and Unwired Planet, InfoSpace directories will be available on cellular phones and pagers from Motorola (NYSE:MOT), GTE Mobilnet (NYSE:GTE), Bell Atlantic/Nynex and other telecommunications companies.