In Just 3 Years, HouseValues Agent Rose from Rookie to Six-Figure Comm

In Just 3 Years, HouseValues Agent Rose from Rookie to Six-Figure Commissions in Competitive Real Estate Market

    Business Editors/Real Estate Writers

    SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 13, 2005--

During April 21 Session of Popular MasterMind Conference Call Series, Catherine Gortner Shares How Lead Generation and Management Tools Helped Her Quickly Become a Top-Producing Bay Area Agent
    During the next session of the popular MasterMind Conference Calls sponsored by HouseValues Inc. (NASDAQ:SOLD), the nation's leading marketing partner for real estate professionals, top-producing real estate agent Catherine Gortner will explain how HouseValues' online lead-generation and lead-management tools helped propel her to the top of a profession she entered 3 years ago.
    The conference call with Gortner -- owner of Catherine Gortner Properties in San Jose -- will be available at 7:30 a.m., 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on Thursday, April 21. It is free and open to all real estate professionals throughout the nation by calling 1-800-349-8037 and entering passcode 173546.
    HouseValues created the MasterMind Conference Calls series as a convenient way for top-producing real estate agents to share tips and engage in lively, real-time exchanges with their colleagues nationwide. Launched in 2002, the twice-monthly program hosts thousands of real estate professionals for each call.
    Gortner first entered the real estate industry just 3 years ago as an assistant and marketing executive for a small brokerage. Soon after, she earned her real estate license and joined a local office, before stepping out on her own as a broker a year and a half ago. However, she quickly realized it would be an uphill climb to build a successful brokerage business in the competitive Northern California market she serves, including San Jose, Fremont and the greater Santa Clara County.
    "My previous farming efforts to about a thousand homes were almost fruitless, generating only two listings," she explained. "I had to very quickly find an effective way to build a base of prospects. I was ready for a better solution than farming, one that would give me a much greater return for my investment. That solution was HouseValues."
    In 2004 -- her first full year as an independent broker -- Gortner earned more than $300,000 in gross closed commissions, about 40 percent of which came from online leads from HouseValues.
    From 2004 through early this year, more than 40 percent of Gortner's business could be traced back to online leads provided by HouseValues -- including a trio of transactions that resulted from a single lead.
    "Before discovering HouseValues, I was scrambling and spending money on unproductive advertising," she said. "Now, my problem is budgeting the time to follow up properly with all of the HouseValues leads. My whole business plan is based on HouseValues."

    About HouseValues Inc.

    HouseValues Inc. (NASDAQ:SOLD)(http://www.housevaluesinc.com) provides innovative marketing services that enable residential real estate professionals to capture and cultivate leads, and convert these leads into closed transactions. HouseValues' integrated offering provides real estate professionals with consumer requests generated from its HouseValues.com and JustListed.com Web sites, together with its online prospect management system and personalized coaching and training to help them grow their business.

    SOLD: CORPORATE

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CONTACT: Siler & Company Public Relations for HouseValues Inc. Hugh Siler, 949-646-6966 hugh@silerpr.com

KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA WASHINGTON INDUSTRY KEYWORD: NETWORKING REAL ESTATE BUILDING/CONSTRUCTION INTERNET E-COMMERCE PRODUCT CONFERENCE CALLS SOURCE: HouseValues Inc.

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