“And the 2014 Nominees Are . .  .”

In previous years (the last six, in fact), Mpls – St. Paul Magazine sent me a letter in late June congratulating me on being selected as a “Super Real Estate Agent.”

According to the magazine, “more than 20,000 recent homebuyers, and all Mpls – St. Paul Magazine and Twin Cities Business Magazine super 2013subscribers, were asked to cast a ballot to identify the Twin Cities’ exceptional real estate agents.”

Quality > Quantity?; Part-Time Realtors

This year?

I just received a letter (June 4) congratulating me on being “nominated by my clients” as a Super Real Estate agent.

Step #2:  log on to their web site, confirm some basic info (state license #, contact info, etc.), and field some questions about my sales data going back 3 years (“check, check, and check”).

The magazine(s) take pains to point out that the award “is not based on sales volume — it celebrates your service to clients.”

However, my guess is that they’re trying to screen out Realtors whose clients love them, but who only handle 3-4 deals (or less) a year.

Happy Medium

I wish I could devote full attention to just one file for weeks — or months — at a time.

Unfortunately, that’s not how it works for busy, full-time Realtors.

At the other extreme, I’m sure there are agents out there who take on so many clients that someone’s always getting short shrift — or perpetually dealing with the agent’s assistant(s).

(Question for their clients:  if you email or text your agent, what’s your agent’s response time?)

However, at least for me, there’s an optimal (if elusive) workload, where I’m busy enough that my skills stay sharp (and my bills get paid!), but not so busy that my client service suffers.

About the author

Ross Kaplan has 19+ years experience selling real estate all over the Twin Cities. He is also a 12-time consecutive "Super Real Estate Agent," as determined by Mpls. - St. Paul Magazine and Twin Cities Business Magazine. Prior to becoming a Realtor, Ross was an attorney (corporate law), CPA, and entrepreneur. He holds an economics degree from Stanford.

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