First American Unveils New Automated Suite of Real Estate Services RAPID provides direct EDI access to title insurance, tax reporting and a host of real estate and property information services.

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 28, 1996-- First American Real Estate Information Services announced at the Mortgage Bankers Association's Technology in Mortgage Banking Conference the release of RAPID, its new electronic one-stop, comprehensive service. RAPID is the first electronic order service that enables mortgage lenders to initiate a variety of services via electronic data interchange (EDI).

In one order, a lender can access multiple products such as appraisals, credit reporting, title insurance and First American's Accelerated Tax Set-Up eliminating redundant data entry for a lender's origination and servicing operations, as well as reducing errors by standardizing data exchange.

"Our goal with RAPID is to integrate all of our products and services into a central system of `one stop shopping'," explained John Long, President and CEO of First American Real Estate Information Services, Inc. "The obstacle in combining these services into a single product is creating a seamless environment for our customers."

Long continued, "With RAPID, we've overcome that hurdle and can now give the end user the flexibility to choose which of our products fits their needs."

First American is currently working with various mortgage volume lenders to implement RAPID, which supports all communication protocols. The service also conforms to the American National Standards Institute's (ANSI) X12 format and can support any proprietary interface.

Commenting on RAPID, industry consultant and Principal of SSP Associates Jeff Lebowitz said, "Successful lenders seeking to remain so will invest in the technology infrastructure necessary to compete in today's business environment. Services such as RAPID represent a bold offering by vendors looking to meet the challenges of an on-line, information-on-demand world."

The implementation of RAPID begins with an on-site technical assessment that determines the lender's operational needs. A custom plan is then developed and integrated into the lender's overall business.

"The mortgage arena to larger extent is now a commodity business. It forces lenders who want to be in the industry to be extremely efficient," Long said, citing as an example that in servicing lenders are achieving cost efficiencies by budgeting their economies to scale.

"We created RAPID to not only create those efficiencies, but also as a tool for improving productivity. We want to free up our clients to focus on building relationships, not just moving and retrieving data." Headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida, First American Real Estate Information Services group is a wholly owned subsidiary of First American Financial Corporation (NYSE:FAF), and is a comprehensive, single-source provider of real estate services. The company provides real estate tax reporting, credit reporting, tax outsourcing and certification, property valuation and reporting, flood compliance and mortgage assignments. Employing more than 1,350 real estate service professionals across the nation, First American serves more than 5,000 customers nationwide.

For more information on First American Real Estate Information Services, write First American Real Estate Information Services, 150 2nd Avenue, Suite 1600, St. Petersburg, FL 33701.

CONTACT: William Mills Agency, Atlanta

Mark Wheeler, 404/264-7204

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