Company Press Release
May 19, 2000
MENLO PARK, CA -- Homes.com Inc., the leading provider of Internet business solutions for the real estate industry,
today announced the appointment of five top former Cendant Corporation Sales and Financial executives to significantly
expand the already successful sales initiative. The new Homes.com members include: Rick Del Sontro, Matt Bolin,
Dan Fry, Peter Del Sontro, and Greg Drechsler.
These seasoned executives from the largest real estate franchisor, mortgage, relocation and real estate company
in the United States, illustrates the growing trend within the real estate industry as executives leave traditional
firms to join leading online players like Homes.com. The new team of executives will head up the sales and marketing
group at Homes.com, including: Direct Sales, Telemarketing, Seminar and Convention Sales.
``The future of the real estate industry is through the Internet for both the real estate professional and the
home-buying consumer,'' said Rick Del Sontro. ``In today's economy there was a great deal of demand for industry
expertise in the online world. After doing extensive industry research surrounding the future of real estate we
chose Homes.com. With the majority of homebuyers using the Internet to search for homes and learn more about the
process, Homes.com is perfectly positioned to provide brokers, agents, and consumers with the information and tools
they need. We are excited to be part of this industry shift.''
``Homes.com is committed to maintaining our leadership as a provider of online business solutions for the real
estate industry,'' said Bob Prince, president and CEO of Homes.com, Inc. ``Our ability to attract key industry
leaders demonstrates the transformation of the real estate marketplace and our dedication to enhancing broker and
agent productivity. The knowledge and experience that these individuals bring will be a key force in driving Homes.com's
continued success as the leading online real estate company.''
Rick Del Sontro
Rick Del Sontro comes to Homes.com as the senior vice president of Sales and Marketing and will be responsible
for its North American sales effort. He was formerly the senior vice president of the 53-member Century 21 Franchise
sales force at Cendant Corporation. Del Sontro was responsible for nearly $600 million in revenue sales in a little
over three years. Mr. Del Sontro was instrumental in building the infrastructure for the franchise sales and administration
at Century 21, Coldwell Banker and ERA for what was formerly known as HFS Incorporated (now Cendant Corporation)
five years ago. He has over 10 years of experience in managing and directing national sales organizations within
the Real Estate arena. Rick Del Sontro is a graduate of the University of Maryland.
Matt Bolin
Matt Bolin was Cendant Corporation's regional vice president of Franchise Sales at Century 21 Real Estate. Bolin
will be senior vice president of Telemarketing, Seminar and Convention Sales. As regional vice president for the
Southeast Region for Century 21 Real Estate Corporation, Bolin was the most tenured of any of the regional vice
president's of sales for Cendant. He was consistently recognized as a leader within the franchise sales division.
In Bolin's 11 years of industry experience, he also served as the director of Recruiting and Training. In addition,
Bolin brings telemarketing experience from the commodities industry. Bolin is a graduate of Otterbein College in
Ohio.
Dan Fry
Dan Fry joins Homes.com as regional vice president of sales for the South Central Region. Fry is formerly the regional
vice president for the South Central Region for Century 21 Real Estate and was the top performing regional vice
president for Century 21 in 1999. In 2000, on a year-to-date basis, he was the top performing regional vice president
for the entire Cendant Real Estate Division. Fry has over 17 years of experience in the real estate industry and
is a graduate of Carnegie-Melon University.
Peter Del Sontro
Formerly regional vice president for the South Central Region for Coldwell Banker Real Estate. Del Sontro was honored
as the top new franchise sales director for Coldwell Banker in 1999. He took over as regional vice president three
months ago and was widely considered a rising star within the sales division. Peter has over nine years of real
estate industry experience including experience in the home construction field. He is a graduate of Rowan University
in New Jersey.
Greg Drechsler
Greg Drechsler joins Homes.com as its vice president of Sales Administration and will be responsible for overseeing
the financial and administrative aspects of the sales process. Mr. Drechsler previously served as vice president
of Acquisitions for NRT, Inc., a joint venture of Cendant and Apollo Investments operating the largest residential
real estate brokerage in the nation with over $2.8 billion, 700 offices and 33,000 agents. Mr. Drechsler, a certified
public accountant, oversaw the successful acquisition process for NRT completing over 117 acquisitions in the past
two years. Drechsler brings over nine years of financial industry experience including three years with Deloitte
& Touche, LLP spending the four years prior to NRT at various financial and administrative posts at Cendant
Corporation. Drechsler is a graduate of Villanova University.
ABOUT HOMES.COM, INC.
Homes.com, Inc. is the premier Internet business solution provider enabling the real estate industry. The company
provides a nexus for the entire real estate industry through offering an integrated set of market-making solutions
designed to support next-generation real estate transactions. These solutions coupled with Homes.com's network
of industry professionals create the only online marketplace for real estate. By providing a nexus for the entire
real estate industry to conduct transactions from the desktop, Homes.com is the clear leader in integrated market
solutions for the real estate industry. Homes.com's proprietary technology will allow over 105,000 real estate
industry professionals in its network to initiate, manage, and close real estate transactions online. The company
derives its consumer base from a real estate and home ownership web center at www.homes.com, and delivers these
qualified consumers to its network of web-enabled industry professionals. At www.homes.com, users benefit from
a single resource of information and content with an integrated and highly personalized experience. From home buying
and home selling, to mortgages, relocation and home improvement, Homes.com provides advanced personalization tools
to enable users with virtually any home-related resource.
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Contact:
Homes.com, Menlo Park
Jason Myers, 650/475-2525
myersj@homes.com
or
McGrath/Power Public Relations
Scott VanSickle, 408/727-0351
scottv@mcgpr.com