Trader Publishing Company Acquires Best Image

Released on = May 24, 2005, 7:37 am

Press Release Author = Homes.com

Industry = Real Estate

Press Release Summary = Best Image Marketing, Inc., one of the country’s leading providers of real estate agent Internet marketing and lead generation services
through its innovative NUMBER1EXPERT™ products, was acquired by Trader Publishing Company, owner of Homes.com, HarmonHomes.com and Harmon Homes Magazines®

Press Release Body = FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Trader Publishing Company Acquires Best Image

May 23, 2005, Norfolk, Va. - Best Image Marketing, Inc., one of the country’s leading providers of real estate agent Internet marketing and lead generation
services through its innovative NUMBER1EXPERT™ products, was acquired by Trader Publishing Company, owner of Homes.com, HarmonHomes.com and Harmon Homes Magazines®.

“We are ecstatic to merge our efforts with a company capable of fueling even more growth of NUMBER1EXPERT™ in the real estate industry, along with providing our clients one of the premier IDX-MLS solutions,” said Dennis Duff, President and majority owner of Best Image.

The company will continue to be managed by Lawrence Schoeffler, the founding mastermind of the company’s Internet strategy, said Duff, who will be retiring from the company.

“We’ve known the Trader people for years through our use of its HarmonHomes.com search engine to produce quality leads for our clients,” said Schoeffler. “In discussions of attracting more leads through its Homes.com portal, it became compelling for us to completely ally our efforts through a merger.”

Trader’s Vice President of Web Services, Rick Murchake, agreed, saying, “Best Image now serves an extremely impressive group of the country’s leading real estate agents who take advantage of the services they offer. Many have urged Best Image to
enhance its products with a tool to facilitate the display of their multiple list service’s full database of real estate listings, and Homes.com will soon be able to provide that.”

Best Image will continue to operate as a separate entity from its headquarters in Clearlake, CA, and support will still flow from its existing staff of sales and customer service representatives, Schoeffler said. Schoeffler also confirmed that Best Image would retain a focus on offering leading real estate agents advertorial products.

Best Image was founded in 1983 as a producer of advertorial products syndicated in newspapers nationwide. With the advent of the Internet, Best Image recruited Schoeffler in 1996 to expand its product offerings to provide website hosting,
Internet marketing and lead generation services, under the brand name NUMBER1EXPERT™. To receive NUMBER1EXPERT™ credentials and gain access to the
company’s well-respected Warm Web Leads™ Internet marketing products, agents must meet Top Selling Agent™ annual sales requirements.

Trader Publishing Company, based in Norfolk, VA, is the nation’s largest publisher of classified advertising magazines like Auto Trader, For Rent Magazine, Auto Mart, Harmon Homes, and The Employment Guide. It also operates such market leading Internet sites as ForRent.com, Homes.com, Traderonline.com, Boats.com and RentJillsHouse.com.

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For more information contact:

Lawrence Schoeffler, Vice President/General Manger
Best Image Marketing 707-995-5050
Lawrence@NUMBER1EXPERT.com

Rick Murchake
Vice President/Trader Web Services
757-321-8569
murchake@traderonline.com

Web Site = http://www.homes.com

Contact Details = Jessica Woolwine
Marketing Coordinator
Homes.com
5301 Robin Hood Road, Ste 200
Norfolk, VA 23513
phone: 757.961.4625
fax: 757.226.9580