Press Release: March 27, 2001

WR Hambrecht + Co Initiates Coverage of Homestore.com (HOMS) with a Buy Rating and a Price Target of $40

San Francisco, CA, March 27, 2001—WR Hambrecht + Co today initiated research coverage on Homestore.com (HOMS) with a Buy rating and a price target of $40. WR Hambrecht’s eMarkets/Portals analyst Derek Brown cites Homestore.com’s category leadership, profitable business model, and attractive valuation as reasons for the recommendation. WR Hambrecht + Co offers all its research reports free and real-time at www.wrhambrecht.com.

“In our opinion, Homestore.com is rapidly emerging as a key component of the 21st century residential real estate industry. The company’s market-leading Web portal is a valuable consumer resource and an efficient and cost-effective marketing channel for real estate professionals, service providers, and manufacturers. When coupled with its rapidly expanding suite of professional technology solutions, Homestore.com has the appearance of an ‘operating system’ for the home- and real-estate-related industries,” Brown said.

Brown estimates that Homestore.com will post cash earnings of $0.44 per share on $444.0 million in revenue in 2001. For 2002, Brown estimates the company will deliver cash earnings of $0.84 per share on $596.3 million in revenue.

Homestore.com operates the number-one consumer-oriented Web portal for the home and real estate industries. In addition, the company is the leading provider of technology solutions to real estate industry professionals around the country.