I’ve been involved in 3 home purchases and 2 sales. I’ve loved my realtors and would use them again. But the real estate business does need to evolve with the Internet. However the holders of the traditional business model refuse to budge. Online brokerage Redfin has had the heart & soul ripped out of its “Sweet Digs” blogs after Northwest Multiple Listings Service threatened to cut off its lifeblood of for-sale listings unless Redfin stopped publishing its reviews of houses on the market. Written by freelancers, these fun, chatty postings detailed their personal reactions and observations of houses they toured. But NWMLS rules prohibit advertising of another broker’s listing so they slapped Redfin with a $50,000 fine. Redfin says it has also received complaints about how they add extra information like Zillow‘s Zestimates alongside listings (think about the real estate listing mash-ups that may never happen!). NWMLS maintains that it is important for listing agents to maintain control over the marketing of their property. As Redfin puts it: “The question at the center of almost every skirmish in the modernization of real estate is who controls the information.”