Why You Shouldn't Care If Your Agent is "Number 1" !

We’re closing in on the end of the year so it's realtor award season. There will be billboards. There will be banners. There will be Facebook posts. And they will all claim the featured realtor is a "Top Agent" in something. How can all of these people be “Number 1 “ you wonder? They can’t. Unless there is an award for tweaking data. The only legit award for some of these people is the "3st Award".

SHOULD YOU CARE IF AN AGENT IS "NUMBER 1"

No.

Here's why: Teams reporting sales don’t share an accurate picture. A team of 25 is obviously going to report more sales than an Indie broker. A more accurate picture is if the Broker reported individual agent sales and you could compare that agent's progress and profit to past years. Kind of like how real businesses gauge success.

Companies like Zillow offer “Top Agent” awards. The qualifications: Who pays the most! Here’s how it works: An agent agrees to pay into Zillow. That means they are paying up to 40% of the commission earned back to Zillow when they close. Top agents won’t do that.

Companies like Homelight claim to analyze hundreds of thousands of agent sales to find you top agents in your area. What they leave out is that those "top agents" have agreed to give Homelight 35% of their commission. Top agents aren't paying Homelight either.

SO WHAT SHOULD YOU LOOK FOR?

Consistency - not years in the business. Look for your agent's closings over the past several years. There is a lot of value to experience. But someone that has 20 years experience and closes two homes a year, is not as in touch with the market as someone with far less experience who is closing more than 20 deals a year.

Since I’m the owner of my own real estate company I don’t have anyone to give me awards. There is no chance for me to win the “Best Tryin' to Gaslight Other Agents ” award or “Best Trying Super Duper Hard” award. So I made one for myself: