October 21, 2003
For Immediate Release

Oklahoma City, OK, October 21, 2003 — a la mode, the nation’s largest developer of valuation workflow software, announced the completion of phase one of a multi-part Mercury Network appraisal management integration project for LandSafe Appraisal Services, a subsidiary of Countrywide Financial Corporation. The project provides LandSafe with internal appraisal workflow efficiencies and end-to-end connectivity with the Mercury Network’s pool of tens of thousands of real estate appraisers.

LandSafe is a premier national appraisal company and provider of information management services to the real estate lending industry. The development of LandSafe's custom plugin to a la mode's Mercury Desktop software enables appraisers to communicate directly with LandSafe's backend management systems. Custom workflow and review rules pre-process the report before delivery to LandSafe’s servers, and the delivered appraisal packet includes the appraiser’s PDF of the report plus the data in MISMO-compliant XML format.

The key to the Mercury Network’s popularity and appeal to the lender and appraisal management community is its ability to work through a consistent data interface regardless of the type of software used by the appraiser. With legacy systems, interfaces had to be built for every individual software vendor’s file format. But a la mode’s Mercury Desktop conversion technology provides the XML data and PDF even for users of appraisal products which don’t support XML natively.

"LandSafe continues to improve the quality and speed of our product delivery systems to mortgage brokers and lenders across the nation," said Greg Dennis, President of LandSafe Appraisal. "That means joining with industry-leading technology resources like a la mode and the Mercury Network to provide top quality appraisal products and services through a next generation appraisal delivery system that combines service and automation to improve the process."

"LandSafe’s vision meshes perfectly with our ability to connect them to our huge database of Mercury Network appraisers and to automate their workflow rules at the same time. A lender or management company simply cannot spend thousands of hours a year managing unstructured PDFs arriving in a deluge of individual e-mails, and then rekey data from those PDFs into upstream links to LOSs or other decisioning systems. The Mercury Network’s custom Internet and desktop components allow them to completely eliminate that nightmare," said Jennifer Miller, Mercury Integration Project Manager.

Built on a la mode's net.X™ data backbone technology, the Mercury Network provides appraisers, loan officers, and management companies a simple and elegant solution to workflow problems, particularly XML data access and compliance reviewing, which have plagued generic internet portals and legacy report-conversion products. Mercury Network appraisers are available and connected in every county in the United States.

About a la mode, inc.
a la mode, inc. is the leader in the design, development and support of real estate related software, Internet solutions and electronic document technologies. The company’s flagship product, WinTOTAL, is used by more than 50 percent of the nation’s appraisers, nearly three times the share of its closest competitor. a la mode’s Mercury Network (http://www.alamode.com/mercury) servers delivered more than 14 million electronic appraisals in the past 12 months, making it the undisputed leader in paperless real estate transactions.

About LandSafe
Founded in 1994, LandSafe, Inc., a subsidiary of Countrywide Financial Corporation, (NYSE: CFC), provides high quality, technology-driven closing services and superior customer service to the residential mortgage industry. The services include appraisals, credit reporting, flood determination, title insurance and escrow services for residential mortgage transactions. For more information about LandSafe products, please call 1-877-LS-CLOSE or visit LandSafe on the Web at http://www.landsafe.com.