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19 February 1999

Contacts:

John Hensley
HomeSeekers.com
JohnHensley@HomeSeekers.com
(714) 993-4295

Doug Greenwood
OpenMLS
(530) 583-1775
Doug@OpenMLS.com

Brea, California, February 19, 1999 - HomeSeekers.com joins the XML Open Standards Process by participating with OpenMLS and 4thWORLD Telecom to co-author the RELML specification. The XML based RELML (Real Estate Listing Markup Language) specification has gained momentum this week as HomeSeekers.com has joined OpenMLS.com and 4thWORLD Telecom to participate in the co-authoring process of describing real estate listings.

"The senior technologists at HomeSeekers took a hard look at the RELML DTD (Document Type Definition), and found that it came very close in describing the information that is core to their MLS2000 internet based MLS system. XML is central to MLS2000, and now that they have agreed to the co-author the specification with John Petit of 4thWORLD and myself, RELML will be re-worked to enable it to be used as the medium for information interchange in MLS2000", explains Doug Greenwood, President of OpenMLS.

"I'm delighted HomeSeekers has jumped into the XML standards process to describe real estate listings", Greenwood continues. "They know XML, they understand DTD's, they had the technological savvy from the start to implement XML in their MLS2000 product, and they have a vast amount of experience with MLS's and MLS data. In other words, they bring much credibility to the table".

John Hensley, Chief Engineer at HomeSeekers states: "I feel our (HomeSeekers) knowledge and experience of the various MLS's data elements and structure combined with 4thWORLD Telecom and OpenMLS's existing research and understanding of XML DTD's will help to create a more complete and better defined specification for the Real Estate industry. This will be a
win for everyone. The more organizations that work together on such a spec the more likely a true standard will evolve. This will be a huge advantage for the industry. Of course, this will also be a huge advantage for MLS2000 customers.

The RELML specification was first announced in the summer of 1998, after John Petit of 4thWORLD Telecom and Doug Greenwood worked to develop the original draft. That version of the draft is currently implemented in OpenMLS's Real Estate Listing Management system along with the Xsearch! and Xsort! tools developed by OpenMLS. "As soon as the committee comes to agreement with revisions, we'll simply tailor our system to meet the requirements of the revisions", states Greenwood. And HomeSeekers will do the same with MLS2000."

Finally, Greenwood points out, "by definition, the standards process for DTD's is 'open'. By that I mean any organization is invited to participate in the co-authoring process, or simply the adoption of the specification. This has always been the case, and we're delighted HomeSeekers.com has agreed to participate and become a key player in the RELML co-authoring process".

The current draft of the RELML specification can be found at CommerceNet's clearinghouse for DTD's, www.xmls.com.