The submission period for the agent and team rankings has opened. If you’ve never submitted or aren’t sure how the rankings differ, we are breaking down the differences between REAL Trends + Tom Ferry The Thousand and REAL Trends + Tom Ferry America’s Best Real Estate Professionals. Although they are similar; they are different rankings.
Background
Let’s start with the basics, what are The Thousand and America’s Best agent and team rankings?
These annual rankings highlight the top agents and teams in the nation, based on verified data submissions that agents, teams, brokerages or national franchise organizations* submit to REAL Trends. We will not publish any data that is not submitted to us. If you did not submit, you will not be featured in the rankings.
To qualify, an individual must have closed at least 50 sides OR $20 million in sales volume. A team must have closed at least 75 sides OR $30 million in closed sales volume.
An individual is defined as an agent who works alone, under a brokerage company, does not share transactions or commissions with other buyer/seller professionals on their transactions. You may; however, employ unlicensed or licensed, non-selling administrative staff.
A team is defined as all others for the purposes of our rankings. An applicant may only submit as an individual or team; you may not submit for both. We no longer allow an individual within a team to break out their individual production and submit it. If you are on a team, you must submit as a team.
Many people ask how to submit for both The Thousand and America’s Best. There is only one submission form that needs to be filled out per agent and per team. This submission covers both rankings.
The Thousand
So, why do we have two rankings? Simple, The Thousand is an elite ranking that is created from the best of the best submission data. This ranking is also in partnership with Tom Ferry International and advertised in The Wall Street Journal. The Thousand is released on its own before America’s Best and includes the next production tier of sale associates and teams.
The Thousand is separated into four sections—two sections for individual agents, and two for teams. The four sections together equal 1,000 of the top agents and teams from around the country.
- Top 250 agents by transaction sides
- Top 250 agents by volume
- Top 250 teams by transaction sides
- Top 250 teams by volume
Those who meet the minimum qualifications but did not make the cut off for The Thousand (the top 250 in the above categories) are featured on America’s Best Real Estate Professionals.
America’s Best Real Estate Professionals
America’s Best is the larger ranking and featured tens of thousands of agents and teams. There are a number of ways that America’s Best differs from the Thousand.
- It’s released approximately two weeks after The Thousand.
- Agents and teams are broken out by state and Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA). When the ranking is live, we feature an interactive map of the United States that allows website visitors to click each state and see the best real estate professionals in a particular state.
- Agents/Teams who rank on The Thousand and America’s Best are in an elite group. These are the most prestigious agent rankings in the United States. Spread the word to your firm and area, and encourage all qualifying agents and teams to apply before the March 31, 2019 deadline, so they can receive the recognition they deserve.
To Recap
Although these rankings are released on different days and are separated into two rankings, there is only one submission form and only one application fee. The $100 application fee puts you in the running for BOTH rankings. There is no way of knowing where the cut off for The Thousand will be each year, the 250th agent/ team varies year to year.
Lastly, for the second year, REAL Trends is offering agents and teams on the rankings a customizable marketing package to help them showcase their success. This year, we partnered with an outside firm to bring these packages to a whole other level! More information on how to order these packages will be available in the coming months.
Alright, who’s ready to submit for The Thousand and America’s Best?!
*PLEASE NOTE: If you are with one of the following national franchise brands – BHGRE, BHHS, CENTURY 21, Coldwell Banker, COMPASS, Engel & Völkers, ERA, Exit Realty, Keller Williams, LeadingRE, NextHome, NRT, Realty Executives, RE/MAX or Sotheby’s – your franchise will submit for all qualifying sales professionals and teams and pay the submission fee.