When I first started out in real estate, buyers and sellers hired real estate agents primarily because agents held the keys the information vault. Knowledge is power, and because agents had exclusive access to the MLS and other sources of information, consumers had to hire agents in order to buy or sell a home.
According to The Progressive Farmer magazine, the U.S. is experiencing a "rural renaissance." Rural counties, such as every county in Tennessee and in much of the U.S. increased in population during the 1990s, while metropolitan areas lost population, according to the U.S. Census.