First American Real Estate Solutions Nominated as Finalist for Inman Innovator Award - Designation Validates Market Demand for Vector(TM) - ANAHEIM, Calif., July 26 /PRNewswire/ -- First American Real Estate Solutions (RES(R)), the nation's largest provider of property and ownership information, analytics and services, announced that the company has been nominated for an Inman Innovator Award in the "Real Estate Data" category for Vector, a collateral valuation and risk management decisioning engine that revolutionizes the way Wall Street and lenders deploy automated valuation models (AVMs). The awards will be announced at a ceremony on July 28 in San Francisco during Real Estate Connect 2004, the industry's premier commerce and technology conference. "We are very excited to be nominated for the second consecutive year," said George Livermore, president of First American RES. "The timing could not be better for the launch of Vector. The marketplace has changed significantly in that users of AVMs are more sophisticated and require an intelligent, enterprise-class, and secure platform to create and manage underwriting rules. Vector truly legitimizes the process through which multiple AVMs are deployed." First American RES won an Inman Innovator Award last year in the "Best Transaction Innovation" category for Realist(R).com, an advanced information system for Multiple Listing Service (MLS) organizations. The prestigious Inman Innovator Awards honor those companies that are pioneering cutting-edge tools, services, applications and business models for the real estate and mortgage industries. Winners are selected based on the level of innovation, ease-of-use and efficiency in product delivery to the target market. The introduction of Vector signals the next generation of AVM cascade technology that enables lenders to select among multiple AVM models using a business rules engine. The process ensures that investor and loan program guidelines are adhered to in an operational environment. A robust reporting module tracks results and provides lenders with real-time opportunities to modify their AVM selection rules based on performance. The system is highly-customizable and available either as a self-managed platform for lenders or in full-service mode where First American RES configures and manages the platform for clients. Vector provides credit and risk policy managers a means to optimally deploy a risk management-based AVM platform predicated upon such considerations as: accuracy, confidence, loan size, loan type and borrower credit standing. "Lenders require better documentation and flexibility today in order to remain compliant and demonstrate solid practices in lending," Livermore said. "Using a rigorous platform like Vector helps them to achieve this while maintaining efficiency in the underwriting process." The platform further provides a streamlined and cost-effective approach to collateral policy implementation and ensures that lenders receive the optimal balance between high hit rates, high accuracy and low cost. The efficiency gains provided by Vector lead to faster point of sale decisions and ultimately result in cost savings for consumers. First American RES, a member of the First American Family of Companies, is the nation's largest provider of advanced property and ownership information, analytics and services. RES' database covers more than 2,000 counties representing 95 percent of the nation's real estate transactions. With more than 500,000 users nationwide, RES products are used by companies to improve customer acquisition and retention, detect and prevent fraud, improve mortgage transaction cycle time and cost efficiency, measure the value of residential and commercial properties, identify real estate trends and neighborhood characteristics, track market performance, and increase market share. More information about First American RES can be found on the Internet at http://www.firstamres.com/. The First American Corporation is a Fortune 500 company that traces its history to 1889. As the nation's largest data provider, the company supplies businesses and consumers with information resources in connection with the major economic events of people's lives, such as getting a job; renting an apartment; buying a car, house, boat or airplane; securing a mortgage; opening or buying a business; and planning for retirement. The First American Family of Companies, many of which command leading market share positions in their respective industries, operate within six primary business segments, including: Title Insurance and Services, Specialty Insurance, Mortgage Information, Property Information, Credit Information and Screening Information. With revenues of $6.21 billion in 2003, First American has 29,000 employees in approximately 1,800 offices throughout the United States and abroad. More information about the company and an archive of its press releases can be found at http://www.firstam.com/. For further information, please contact David Schulz, Corporate Communications of The First American Corporation, +1-714-800-3298, . DATASOURCE: First American Real Estate Solutions CONTACT: David Schulz, Corporate Communications of The First American Corporation, +1-714-800-3298, Web site: http://www.firstam.com/ http://www.firstamres.com/

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