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Warren Buffett gives nod to LPS Real Estate Group

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I missed this while at Inman, but thought it worth noting. This is a huge win and validation for LPS Real Estate Group. The fact that they have been able to keep them as a customer for so long, mirrored with this announcement of expansion of services is a huge win and validation of LPS Real Estate Group.

If you aren’t familiar with HomeServices of American they are the real estate company owned by Warren Buffett’s company Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Click here to see a list of HSoA real estate companies, click here.

LPS Real Estate Group Signs Multi-Year Agreement to Provide rDesk® Broker Suite of Products to Eight HomeServices of America Companies

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – August 5, 2009 – Lender Processing Services, Inc. (NYSE: LPS), a leading provider of integrated technology and services to the mortgage and real estate industries, today announced that it has signed a multi-year agreement to provide its rDesk® Broker Suite of products, offered by its LPS Real Estate Group division, to eight operating companies that are part of the HomeServices of America, Inc (HSoA) network.

These eight companies have signed contracts for a variety of rDesk® Broker Suite products, including broker and agent Web sites, lead and contact management, comparative market analysis (CMA) and document management. The comprehensive, Web-based suite of integrated software solutions gives brokers the online marketing and productivity tools they need to create a competitive edge. These tools help them acquire more leads that can be converted to clients, work with buyers and sellers to close more transactions, and maintain lifelong customer relationships.

The HSoA companies currently leveraging rDesk are: Edina Realty (which services North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin); Kansas City-based Reece & Nichols; Prudential California Realty; Long Realty Company in Arizona; CBSHome Real Estate in Omaha, Nebraska; Champion Realty, Inc. in Maryland; and Home Real Estate and Woods Bros Realty, both in Nebraska.

“Over the years, the rDesk® Broker Suite’s depth and breadth of content and functionality have evolved, in great part, from input offered by innovative, market-leading brokers and thought leaders like the HSoA companies,” said John Hensley, chief product and technology officer, LPS Real Estate Group.

“Since its inception, the rDesk® platform has leveraged new technology and standards to deliver brokers and agents a Web-based integrated solution that meets their growing business needs and keeps them ahead of their competition.”

An affiliate of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Minneapolis-based HSoA is the nation’s second largest provider of homeownership services and has a nationwide network of companies in 19 states that offers integrated real estate services, including brokerage services, mortgage originations, title and closing services, property and casualty insurance, home warranties and other homeownership services.

“These companies are leaders in their respective markets,” said Ron Peltier, HomeServices chairman and CEO. “To further that leadership position, they must offer products and services that set them apart from the competition. rDesk® is a product that both strengthens market presence and enhances the customer experience.”

The rDesk® Broker Suite includes rDesk® Broker Website, Resource Center and Contact Manager; rDesk® CMA and Buyers Tour; a turnkey marketing campaign manager and professional flier program; the industry’s most thorough neighborhood, school and environment reports; and a centralized document management system that can easily integrate DocCentral™, the LPS non-proprietary document management system that is becoming the industry standard.

The rDesk® Broker Website platform creates custom-branded, content-rich and scalable company Web sites that make it easy for customers to search for homes, get community information, investigate financing options and request additional information.

The Broker Suite also includes rDesk®’s exclusive Client Relationship Manager, which creates a broker’s online communication and customer management hub for the entire office with easy-to-use software tools to manage leads, customers, listings and transactions. The system instantly routes new leads to participating agents and then ensures that the agents respond within the timeframe set by the broker. Client Relationship Manager also accommodates real estate teams, other office groups and e-teams to share in new prospects collected by the broker’s own site and in their market’s portion of more than 600,000 leads LPS Real Estate Group generates to its broker and agent customers each year.

For more information on rDesk® products, contact Michael McCulloch at 480.556.9848 or e-mail michael.mcculloch@lpsvcs.com.

About Lender Processing Services
LPS is a leading provider of integrated technology and services to the mortgage and real estate industries. LPS offers solutions that span the mortgage continuum, including lead generation, origination, servicing, workflow automation (Desktop) portfolio retention and default, augmented by the company’s award-winning customer support and professional services. Approximately 55 percent of all U.S. mortgages by dollar volume are serviced using LPS’ Mortgage Servicing Package (MSP). In fact, many of the nation’s top servicers rely on MSP, including eight of the top 10 and 14 of the top 20. LPS also offers proprietary mortgage and real estate data and analytics for the mortgage and capital markets industries. For more information about LPS, please visit www.lpsvcs.com.

The LPS Real Estate Group has relationships with more than 300 MLS organizations, 250 broker companies, settlement services companies, and more than 350,000 real estate professionals. The technology applications include innovative tools such as Paragon™; the reInsight™ collection; rDesk® Broker & Agent Suite of products; TransactionPoint®; DocCentral; Cyberhomes; the Real Estate & Living Media Network that generates revenue for its publishers; as well as a robust real estate property and tax database that includes 285 million residential and commercial property, ownership, sales, assessment and mortgage records. This represents detailed information on at least 92 percent of U.S. property ownership records in more than 2,000 counties with over 648,000 new ownership records added monthly. To learn more, visit www.lpsreg.com.

About HomeServices of America
HomeServices of America, Inc., based in Minneapolis, Minn., is the second-largest homeownership service provider in the United States. Owned by MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company, an affiliate of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., HomeServices’ operating companies offer integrated real estate services, including brokerage services, mortgage originations, title and closing services, property and casualty insurance, home warranties and other homeownership services. HomeServices Relocation, LLC is the full-service relocation arm of HomeServices which provides every aspect of domestic and international relocation to corporations around the world. HomeServices operates in 19 states with more than 17,000 associates under the following residential real estate brand names: Carol Jones REALTORS; CBSHOME Real Estate; Champion Realty Inc.; Edina Realty; EWM REALTORS; Harry Norman, REALTORS; HOME Real Estate; HUFF Realty; Iowa Realty; Long Companies; Prudential California Realty; Prudential Carolinas Realty; Prudential First Realty; Prudential York Simpson Underwood Realty; RealtySouth; Rector-Hayden REALTORS; Reece & Nichols; Roberts Brothers Inc.; Semonin REALTORS and Woods Bros. Realty. Information about HomeServices and the locations of its subsidiary companies is available at www.homeservices.com.

Investor Contact: Parag Bhansali, 904.854.8640, parag.bhansali@lpsvcs.com

Media Contact: Michelle Kersch, 904.854.5043, michelle.kersch@lpsvcs.com

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