REDMOND, Wash., April 19, 1999 — The MSN
™HomeAdvisor
™
online real estate service, the award-winning guide to finding homes and loans on the Web, today announced the addition of five new national lenders: Bank One Corp., Citibank Mortgage, GreenPoint Financial Corp./Headlands Mortgage Co., American Home Mortgage LLC and North American Mortgage Co., a subsidiary of The Dime Savings Bank of New York*. This is the latest in a series of major alliances between HomeAdvisor and the nation’s leading consumer-lending institutions. These new lenders join other nationally known lenders already on the site and will be part of the
“Get a Loan. Get a Free PC”
spring promotion, available to home buyers at http://www.homeadvisor.com/ .
The HomeAdvisor
“Get a Loan. Get a Free PC” spring giveaway offers a free personal computer to customers who apply for and close a loan through the HomeAdvisor Loan Finder, while supplies last. The promotion, which began just three weeks ago, has already inspired record numbers of home buyers to apply for home loans online at the Microsoft® home buying guide, saving valuable time and money.
“Our broad agreements with the most trusted consumer brands in real estate and mortgage lending make HomeAdvisor the most complete online guide to the home-buying process,”
said Ian Morris, group product manager for MSN HomeAdvisor.
“We’ve seen thousands of new home buyers looking for loans on HomeAdvisor as a result of our ‘Get a Loan. Get a Free PC’ spring giveaway. The addition of these new lenders, along with the unmatched tools and editorial content throughout the Loan Finder, makes HomeAdvisor the best place to get a mortgage loan.”
This announcement is the latest in a series of major agreements signed by HomeAdvisor, the only complete guide to the home buying process. In just the last three weeks, Microsoft has announced the addition of the biggest names in mortgage lending, including Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corp., Countrywide Home Loans Inc. and Prism Mortgage Co. These lenders join HomeSide Lending Inc., Principal Residential Mortgage Inc., American Finance and Investment Inc. and LoanWorks Inc., which signed with HomeAdvisor when the site launched last August.
“HomeAdvisor is the pre-eminent destination for home buyers on the Web,”
said Saundra Schrock, head of the new Consumer Lending Group at Bank One.
“Microsoft gives us the broad national exposure we are looking for as online lending continues to grow exponentially this year and into the next millennium.”
Several analyst firms, including Forrester Research Inc. and Killen & Associates, have forecast significant increases in online loan originations over the next few years. Deutsche Bank Securities, in a February report, predicted that home buyers in the United States would originate
$60 billion in loans online by next year. Killen & Associates further predicts that the Web could drive 30 percent of all loan originations nationwide by 2005.
“Citibank is looking forward to working with MSN HomeAdvisor to connect directly with our existing and potentially new customers on the Web,”
said Dave Lowman, president and COO of Citibank Mortgage.
“This relationship aligns well with our strategy of providing a consultative home buying experience and rounds out our wide array of distribution channels.”
About MSN HomeAdvisor
MSN HomeAdvisor is the Internet’s most complete guide for finding homes and loans, combining Microsoft® technology with services and expertise from some of the most trusted names in the real estate industry. It empowers consumers through every step of the home-buying process and is the first Internet site to fully integrate content and services such as neighborhood, crime and school statistics with homes, loans, editorial content and expert advice. Winner of the Inman Innovator Award as the best residential real estate site, HomeAdvisor is a PC Magazine Top 100 Web site and Yahoo! Internet Life
“Best of the Best”
winner. Part of the MSN network of Internet services, HomeAdvisor launched in July 1998 and is free on the World Wide Web at http://homeadvisor.MSN.com/ (connect-time charges may apply).
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.
* MortgageSelect.com is the Internet mortgage banking subsidiary of American Home Mortgage.
** Supplies include 1,000 Censentric Systems PCs and 300 Casio PV-200 Personal Viewers. The offer is open to legal U.S. residents, but is not available in all 50 United States.
Microsoft, MSN and HomeAdvisor are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ on Microsoft’s corporate information pages.
