Years ago, real estate was a closed industry. By that, we mean that the public had no way to easily access the current inventory of available homes without the services of a real estate professional. Indeed, inventory was a closely-held secret with agents having the 'book'... literally a phone-book sized publication that they guarded with their lives. After all, the old axiom is that 'knowledge is power'. In those days, buyers based their purchase decision based upon what they were shown, not what was available. In the late 1990s, the real estate industry transitioned to an internet-based model and, Eureka, consumers now had access to all the available inventory. Big improvement, right? Maybe not.While legitimate brokers and agents now display their inventories on the internet and each other’s sites, the past few years have given rise to a type of provider known as an 'aggregator'. An aggregator, simply stated, is an entity that's not directly involved in the sale of real estate but collects a fee for being nothing more than a matchmaker. They also allegedly provide “value added” services such as access to information about sold
