HomeAdvisor.com Expands California Listings Base To Help Home Shoppers in Busy Buying Season

REDMOND, Wash., July 14, 2000 — HomeAdvisor.com™
online real estate service, the Internet’s most complete guide to everything about the home, today announced it has signed new agreements with four major California real estate companies, providing local homebuyers with access to thousands of new home listings in California now available at http://www.homeadvisor.com/ . California homebuyers can also take advantage of the expanded resources and information offered on HomeAdvisor.com, designed to help consumers with every home-related decision, including renting, buying, financing, moving, maintaining, improving, selling and shopping for a home.

HomeAdvisor.com guarantees consumers the best-priced loans anywhere and automates many of the steps required to approve and finance a mortgage. As a result, this new process can save the average home buyer more than $2,000, enable them to instantly lock in a rate online and cut the closing process from more than a month to just 10 days.*

Beginning today, nearly 73,000 homes for sale throughout Northern and Southern California will be added to HomeAdvisor.com via Multiple Listings Services including Mountain Lakes MLS, Contra Costa Association of Realtors/Bay East Association of Realtors MLS, Mendocino County MLS and Combined Los Angeles/Westwood MLS (CLAW). These new MLSs join those already signed with HomeAdvisor.com throughout California, including California Desert Association of Realtors, Greater South Bay Regional MLS, Orange Coast Association of Realtors, RE Infolink, Santa Barbara Association of Realtors, Southern California MLS and Victor Valley Association of Realtors.

“The most common request we hear from consumers is their desire for a single site that satisfies all their home needs,”
said Sara Narbaitz, product manager at HomeAdvisor.com.
“With thousands of new listings throughout California and expanded home-related content, we’re truly providing consumers with a one-stop shop for the home.”

HomeAdvisor.com’s new features and enhancements represent the latest step in its expansion as the leading online destination for buyers, sellers and homeowners nationwide. Highlights of its five core areas include the following:

  • Selling. A revolutionary new home-valuation feature allows consumers to quickly determine the value of almost any home in the United States.

  • Home improvements and repair. A Homeowner’s Handbook empowers consumers with tools to help diagnose home-related problems and teach simple repairs for every area of the home, including the roof; the electrical, plumbing and climate-control systems; appliances; windows; and doors.

  • Moving. A new Moving section provides comprehensive tools for helping people with all their moving and relocation needs — before, during and after a big move — and includes an interactive Move Calendar, change-of-address tool and Insurance Center.

  • Buying. The improved Home Finder tool enables consumers to more quickly and easily narrow their home search with new search criteria located directly on the home page.

  • Lifestyle interests and shopping. A new Lifestyle section delivers a richly integrated set of features to help consumers enhance and improve their home, including design and decorating tips, home furnishings and appliances, home office and technology ideas, garden and landscape planning, and community forum advice and family-related resources.

About HomeAdvisor.com

HomeAdvisor.com is the Internet’s most complete guide for finding everything about the home, combining Microsoft® technology with services and expertise from the most trusted names in the real estate and mortgage industries. HomeAdvisor.com helps consumers address every home-related decision and will provide the guaranteed* lowest rates for mortgage loans. Winner of the Inman Innovator Award as the best residential real estate site, HomeAdvisor.com is a PC Magazine Top 100 Web site, a Yahoo! Internet Life Best of the Best winner and one of its 100 Best Sites for 2000, and a Family PC Web Site of the Month. Launched in July 1998, HomeAdvisor.com can be found on the Web at http://www.homeadvisor.com/ .

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.

* Certain restrictions apply. Details can be found at http://www.homeadvisor.com/financing/finder/guarantee.asp .

Microsoft and HomeAdvisor are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the 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.

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