Web-based real estate services firm Homestore.com Inc. plans to purchase iPlace Inc. for $150 million in an effort to supplement its services with neighborhood and online credit information, Homestore said Friday.
The deal is expected to close during the third quarter.
IPlace, Langhorne, PA, is a compiler and provider of credit, home and neighborhood information. It has more than 600,000 paid subscriptions. Homestore expects this to move its network of Web sites into the top 20 most visited Internet networks.
Separately, regulators last month announced that Homestore's acquisition of move.com, a unit of Cendant Corp., did not violate antitrust laws. Cendant is to take a 16.9 percent stake in Homestore.com. Cendant's holdings include Century 21, Coldwell Banker and ERA Realtors.
