After years of receiving criticism for the way in which its existing ranking format gave certain agents like long-time No. 1-ranked Ben Caballero a leg up on the competition, Real Trends has finally decided to switch up the way it ranks agents and teams for its Real Trends + Tom Ferry The Thousand ranking this year.
The new format has significantly expanded the categories available. In previous years, rankings were broken up into individual agent transaction sides and sales volume, and agent team transaction sides and sales volume. This year, teams have been broken up into small (teams of 2-5), medium (6-10) and large (11 or more) categories. In addition, categories have been expanded to include agent-owned and team-owned brokerages.
Steve Murray | Real Trends
“The biggest issues with everybody were — there were a couple,” Steve Murray, president of Real Trends, told Inman about the friction over previous years’ ranking systems.
“One, we didn’t segregate the teams by how big they were,” Murray said. “The second thing, we had a number of people [who] raised issues for years [over] agents and teams who own their own brokerage, and people didn’t like being ranked against those people.”
Murray said that in years past, Real Trends has also received backlash for categorizing agents who were part of a team as individual agents because that’s how they represented themselves to the organization. However, this year, the company was meticulous about reviewing all agents who filed as individuals to be certain they were not in fact actually part of a team, and re-categorizing them as a team if their findings revealed otherwise.
“We’re not perfect at this,” Murray said. “We don’t have access to all the information I’d love to have, but we reviewed the top 1,000 individual agents one at a time to determine if there was any evidence on their websites or social media that they were actually part of a team. There were many that we found that were part of a team, and we made the determination that if you’re labeled as a team, and you market yourself as a team, and we find evidence of people who are on your team, then you’re a team.”
With the reshuffling of categories this year, Ben Caballero of HomesUSA.com still took away top rankings, this time in agent-owned brokerage transaction sides and agent-owned brokerages sales volume. Caballero sold a whopping 5,778 homes in 2019 — just shy of his record in 2018 of 5,793 homes — and completed $2.2 billion in sales. Caballero exclusively works with builders that construct several hundred new homes, providing them with multiple listing and marketing services on the homes and charging them a flat closing fee for every new home the builders sell.
The new categories allowed some fresh names to step into the spotlight this year, with Kyle Seyboth of Keller Williams Realty taking first place for individual agent transaction sides, with a total of 497 transactions closed and $127.7 million in sales.
Alexa P. Lambert with Compass earned first place in individual agent sales volume with a total of $761.6 million in sales and 104 transactions closed over the course of 2019.
See the top five in each category below:
Individual agent: transaction sides
- Kyle Seyboth; Keller Williams Realty; Providence, Rhode Island
- Matt Menard; Austin Real Estate Experts; Austin, Texas
- Bruno Arapovic; HomeSmart; Phoenix, Arizona
- Derek Morgan; USREALTY.com; Womelsdorf, Pennsylvania
- Kevin Gioia; SoldBot; San Diego, California
Individual agent: sales volume
- Alexa P. Lambert; Compass; New York, New York
- Cathy Franklin; The Corcoran Group; New York, New York
- Jade Mills; Coldwell Banker Realty; Beverly Hills, California
- Serena Boardman; Sotheby’s International Realty; New York, New York
- Tere Foster; Compass; Bellevue, Washington
Small agent team: transaction sides
- Amanda & Kyla Team; ERA All In One Realty; Albany, Georgia
- Pam & Barry, Inc.; RE/MAX Professionals; Lawton, Oklahoma
- Elite Nebraska Real Estate Team; Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Ambassador Real Estate; Omaha, Nebraska
- The David Terbeek Team; RE/MAX Haven Realty; Solon, Ohio
- The Kurzner Group; ERA Atlantic Realty; Alpharetta, Georgia
Small agent team: sales volume
- The Sukenik | Glazer Team; Compass; New York, New York
- Branden Williams & Rayni Williams of Williams & Williams Estates Group; Williams & Williams Estates Group at Hilton & Hyland; Beverly Hills, California
- Mauricio Umansky Team; The Agency; Beverly Hills, California
- James Harris & David Parnes; The Agency; Beverly Hills, California
- Ruth Harle; Compass; Bellevue, Washington
Medium agent team: transaction sides
- The Boehmer Team; Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Select Properties; Saint Charles, Missouri
- The Icon Team; Keller Williams Realty; The Woodlands, Texas
- Erin Krueger Team; Compass; Nashville, Tennessee
- Michael Kaim Team; Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Professional Realty; Mentor, Ohio
- KMS; Realty Executives Arizona Territory; Tucson, Arizona
Medium agent team: sales volume
- The Altman Brothers Team; Douglas Elliman; Beverly Hills, California
- The Shemesh Team; Douglas Elliman; New York, New York
- The Joyce Rey Team; Coldwell Banker Realty; Beverly Hills, California
- Leavitt McIntosh Team; Douglas Elliman; Palm Beach, Florida
- Adelaide Polsinelli & Ronda Rogovin; Compass; New York, New York
Large agent team: transaction sides
- The Minnesota Real Estate Team; RE/MAX Advantage Plus; Bloomington, Minnesota
- The Robert Dekanski Team; RE/MAX 1st Advantage; Clark, New Jersey
- The Rob Ellerman Team; ReeceNichols Real Estate; Lee’s Summit, Maryland
- The Redbud Group; Keller Williams Realty; Charlotte, North Carolina
- The Jim Allen Group; Coldwell Banker Howard Perry and Walston; Raleigh, North Carolina
Large agent team: sales volume
- Alexander Team; Douglas Elliman; New York, New York
- The Jills Zeder Group; Coldwell Banker Realty; Miami Beach, Florida
- The Network Group/Khrista Jarvis Team; Compass; Mill Valley, California
- NWG Team; Compass; Seattle, Washington
- The Robert Dekanski Team; RE/MAX 1st Advantage; Clark, New Jersey
Agent-owned brokerage: transaction sides
- Ben Caballero; HomesUSA.com; Dallas, Texas
- Ralph Harvey; ListWithFreedom.com; Boynton Beach, Florida
- George Kypreos; GK Properties; Henderson, Nevada
- Will Wiard; Coastal Real Estate Consultants; Belleair, Florida
- Jason Saphire; www.EntryOnly.com; Boston, Massachusetts
Agent-owned brokerage: sales volume
- Ben Caballero; HomesUSA.com; Dallas, Texas
- Tracy Campion; Campion and Company; Boston, Massachusetts
- Ralph Harvey; ListWithFreedom.com; Boynton Beach, Florida
- Christian Angle; Christian Angle Real Estate; Palm Beach Florida
- Stanley Lo; Green Banker; Burlingame, California
Team-owned brokerage: transaction sides
- Mark Spain Real Estate; Mark Spain Real Estate; Alpharetta, Georgia
- Robert Slack Llc; Robert Slack Llc; Ocala, Florida
- Sanders Team of Realty One Group Edge; Realty One Group Edge; Woodstock, Georgia
- Ben Kinney Team; Keller Williams Realty; Bellingham, Washington
- Creig Northrop; Northrop Realty; Clarksville, Maryland
Team-owned brokerage: sales volume
- Creig Northrop; Northrop Realty; Clarksville, Maryland
- Mark Spain Real Estate; Mark Spain Real Estate; Alpharetta, Georgia
- Robert Slack Llc; Robert Slack Llc; Ocala, Florida
- Ben Kinney Team; Keller Williams Realty; Bellingham, Washington
- Sanders Team of Realty One Group Edge; Realty One Group Edge; Woodstock, Georgia
Overall, Compass and Douglas Elliman went home with the most first-place rankings for large agent team sales volume and medium agent team sales volume on Douglas Elliman’s side, and individual agent sales volume and small agent team sales volume on Compass’ side.
Across individual transaction sides, Coldwell Banker and RE/MAX had the most agents rank at 45 agents each. For individual sales volume, Sotheby’s International Realty led the way with 52 agents represented. Not too far behind was Compass with 34 agents ranking.
Overall, RE/MAX had the most top ranked agents on the list.
Adam Contos | RE/MAX
“The real estate agent is the most important part of the real estate transaction and seeing our agents recognized time and time again as top producers in The Thousand says a lot about their passion, focus and perseverance,” Adam Contos, CEO of RE/MAX Holdings, Inc. said in a statement.
Murray said one thing he found interesting about this year’s list was the increase in qualifying teams. In past years, he said about two-thirds of overall rankings were made up of individuals, but this year, that leveled out to closer to 50-50 individuals versus teams.
“We’ve been watching this trend go on for years,” Murray said. “There are more and more agents forming teams to do their business … and it’s accelerating.”
Update: This article was updated on June 19 to reflect that Sotheby’s International Realty had the most agents rank in individual sales volume, while Compass had the second most individual agents rank in this category.
