Well, in my perspective, the impact of competition largely depends on its source and the order of doing a thing. Within the area of real estate, competition among real estate professionals can be a mechanism for positive change. It fosters an environment of honesty, integrity, and fair play. Moreover, it serves as a natural filter, gradually eliminating agents who contribute little to the advancement of our industry. The essence of competition compels us to continually enhance our skills and service quality, this action ultimately benefiting our valued customers.

However, it's crucial to recognize that competition in real estate isn't limited to our peers. There's another imposing player in this arena, one that's been making waves in recent years – Zillow and companies with similar platforms. For the sake of this article's clarity, we'll refer to them as "unfair competition" or “UC” for short.

This situation creates an imbalanced playing field, where Realtors sometimes find themselves in the position of having to pay for their own data. In our industry, real estate professionals generate valuable data in the form of listings for placement in the local MLS. This data is now the intellectual property of the local board of Realtors and not the individual Realtor that generated the data. This data is then packaged and sold to the “UC” for a nominal fee. The “UC” subsequently repackages the same data, originally generated by individual Realtors, to market to the very same customers that the Realtors serve. Additionally, the “UC” often charges Realtors a fee to advertise their own original data. Furthermore, the “UC” has even created companies to purchase and sell inventory to directly compete against the Realtors.

In my opinion, this scenario cannot be considered a "healthy rivalry" within our industry. So back to the original question, is competition good for our industry? The short answer is yes when the competing parties are peers but in the case of the “UC” I say absolutely not and should never have been allowed to exist.