Northern Virginia Homebuyers and Home Sellers: Discover If Your Neighborhood Is a Hot or Cold Real Estate Market

MCLEAN, VA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- November 1, 2006 -- RealtyInstitute.com, a new source for Washington, DC, and Philadelphia, PA, area home real estate information, today announced the launch of the Realty Institute Index, which calculates whether a neighborhood real estate market favors buyers or sellers and provides a hot to cold reading on local Northern Virginia and DC home real estate.

FACTS FOR HOMEBUYERS AND HOME SELLERS:

-- The Realty Institute Index, available exclusively through RealtyInstitute.com, calculates the homebuyer-seller balance for neighborhoods and zip codes throughout the Northern Virginia and Washington, DC, residential real estate market based on trends in sales activity, prices, inventory, and absorption rate. The index ranks local sales climates from 0 (very cold) to 100 (extremely hot). It enables existing and prospective DC home real estate buyers and sellers to compare the relative strengths of local real estate markets throughout the Maryland and Washington, DC, metro area.

-- RealtyInstitute.com also offers nearly 100 Neighborhood Specialists -- real people who live in the local neighborhoods they represent, and who act as virtual next door neighbors to DC, Northern Virginia and Maryland homebuyers. They provide unique perspective and commentary on the local area. Neighborhood Specialists are accessible by email and are prepared to answer questions from homebuyers, homeowners, and home sellers about local neighborhoods in DC, Northern Virginia and Maryland.

-- The RealtyInstitute.com site also offers Northern Virginia, Maryland and DC homebuyers and sellers:

--  Statistics & demographics.  The most recent real estate market data
    including the number of available listings, monthly absorption rate, the
    average day's inventory, and average sales price.
    
--  Neighborhood Comments.  We've collected over 1,000 comments from area
    residents on what neighborhoods are really like.
    
--  Articles and News. The site offers over 1,000 articles for homebuyers
    and home sellers and useful links to news and information on local
    neighborhoods.
    
--  Listing Matrix.  A snapshot of the area's real estate market and
    inventory by zip code and neighborhood.
    
--  Real Estate Listing Search.  An easy to use search tool for
    homebuyers.  Home listings include a property map, satellite photos and
    close-up "bird's eye" images.
    
--  Tours In Under One Hour.  One click on a property can schedule a tour
    immediately -- within one hour.
    

Attributable to Mike Gorman, Founder and CEO of CORUS REALTY

"We created RealtyInstitute.com to provide DC, Virginia and Maryland homebuyers, sellers, and homeowners with factual information about their neighborhoods and the home real estate market."

"The Realty Institute Index is a unique tool that quantifies the supply and demand characteristics of each local market. For every zip code in the region, it answers the question: 'Is this a hot market, or has the bubble popped?' And it really shows that the real estate market changes street by street -- while the overall real estate market is slow, there are pockets of hot activity."

"Our neighborhood experts are going to be able to provide the straight scoop on a neighborhood, street or house. In most cases, they live in the neighborhoods and can answer questions that you might ask a trusted next-door neighbor."

About RealtyInstitute.com

RealtyInstitute.com is a real estate information website featuring thousands of neighborhood reports, including real estate listings, market statistics, demographic info, dynamic maps, articles and links containing neighborhood news and info, and comments from actual neighborhood residents. The RealtyInsitute.com is provided by Corus Home Realty, one of the fastest growing and most innovative real estate brokerages in America. Corus Home Realty is known for its information-focused approach to residential real estate brokerage, and RealtyInstute.com represents a continuation of that approach.

About Corus Home Realty

Corus Home Realty is an innovative residential real estate brokerage firm, locally owned and headquartered in McLean, Virginia, with four area Home Centers in DC, Virginia and Maryland and a fifth Home Center in Pennsylvania. Corus was recently recognized as one of the Inc. 500 "Fastest-Growing Companies in America" and was named one of the top 25 brokerages in the area by the Washington Business Journal. Corus Home Realty is the recipient of LendingTree.com's "Best Practices" award for the past two years as a result of its high customer satisfaction ratings. For more information, please visit our web site at www.corushome.com.

Contact Information: Contact Information: Matt Langan Email Contact 202-298-7600 x219