Merger Joins Two Leaders in Online Real Estate Marketing

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Reply acquires Connecting Neighbors
RISMEDIA, Jan. 31?Reply! Inc. (www.reply.com), a leading provider of online services for consumers and performance-based marketing solutions for the real estate and automotive industries, today announced the acquisition of Connecting Neighbors, one of the real estate industry?s most prominent online marketing companies.

Terms of the agreement were not released.

?With Reply!?s acquisition of Connecting Neighbors, the company has firmly positioned itself as one of the most dynamic providers of online marketing solutions for the real estate industry,? said Payam Zamani, president and CEO of Reply!. ?We see tremendous opportunities to bundle and expand our combined service offerings for the benefit of real estate agents and the consumers we serve.?

This transaction provides:

- The addition of over 4,000 real estate customers, which increases Reply!?s real estate account base to over 10,000 professional accounts

- All Connecting Neighbors members with access to Reply!?s quality customer referrals in their local markets

- Reply!?s member agents with the ability to exclusively sponsor online marketing programs for their local neighborhoods

- An additional experienced 50-person field sales force to sell Reply!?s combined industry leading online marketing programs and referral services to agents and brokers nationwide

- Significantly increased revenues, important new capabilities and additional real estate industry expertise to strengthen Reply!?s service offerings

Serving more than 8,000 neighborhoods across the United States and Canada, Connecting Neighbors is one of North America?s leading providers of Internet-based neighborhood marketing programs for real estate agents and Realtors.

Founded in 1999, Connecting Neighbors has been led by its president, Sean Fox, for the past two years, during which time the company doubled its revenues. Fox previously held senior management positions with a number of real estate marketing companies, including bamboo.com, iPix, Homestore, and Access Technology Services. Fox will join Reply! as Executive Vice President of Connecting Neighbors, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reply!

The idea for the merger was born at last year?s NAR conference in Orlando, where Zamani and Fox first met. ?This was a mutually beneficial idea,? says Zamani. ?We were both on the same wavelength. We talked about it for about a month and we closed the deal in about six weeks. It happened very quickly.?

?Reply! is well positioned to become the premier provider of online marketing and lead generation services for the real estate industry. Our quality programs will enable real estate professionals to rapidly and cost-effectively grow their business,? said Fox.

Zamani added: ?This is not just about acquiring companies. This is about finding companies that fit into our company, and into our long term strategy. Reply! and Connecting Neighbors are in the same business space, but we have different business models, so there is no overlap. That allows for a merger where there are not a lot of layoffs. It?s really one of those cases where one plus one equals three or four.?

Zamani also noted more offerings from Reply! will be forthcoming this year.

Reply! and Connecting Neighbors are both privately held companies that have achieved strong market penetration and revenue growth in only a few years. Reply! has expanded its workforce from 35 employees in December of 2003 to more than 160 employees and independent contractors today. The recent growth has prompted the company to dramatically increase its office space in Walnut Creek, Calif., and open a new office in Scottsdale, Ariz. With the acquisition of Connecting Neighbors, Reply! now also operates an office in Walled Lake, Michigan.

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editorial@rismedia.com

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