I am honored to be selected by 5280 Magazine and 5 Star Real Estate Agents as the Top 5% of over 16,000 real estate agents in Colorado! Thank you to my clients, peers, and industry experts for this humbling recognition. I wish to serve many more people very soon!
Below was the research methodology they employed:
The Five Star Real Estate Agent Program is designed to identify and showcase real estate agents in a local market who score highest in overall satisfaction.
As part of an in-depth research process real estate agents are evaluated by their customers and real estate industry professionals based on customer service, integrity, market knowledge, communication and negotiation skills, closing preparation, helping you find the right home, marketing the home being sold, and overall satisfaction.
Five Star Professional contracts a third party research firm, QMI Research, to conduct the Five Star Real Estate Agent research methodology using objective market research methods. The intent of the research is to develop a list of real estate agents in a given market who score highest in overall satisfaction, based on an objective market research methodology that takes into account client evaluations (C) in nine categories, with adjustments to reflect inputs from peers (Padj), regulatory compliance reviews (Radj), and a panel of industry experts reviews (PIEadj). The foregoing can be expressed as:
 | Overall Score = C – Padj – Radj +/– PIEadj |
QMI Research administers a survey, by mail and phone, to recent homebuyers (all area residents who purchased a home over $100,000-$200,000 within a 12-36 month period depending on market size), readers of the partnering city/regional magazine, and approximately 200 Mortgage and Title Companies. Each respondent is asked to evaluate only real estate agents whom they have worked with and evaluate them based upon nine criteria: customer service, integrity, market knowledge, communication, negotiation, closing preparation, finds the right home, marketing of home, and overall satisfaction. Additionally, respondents are asked whether they would recommend the agent to a friend. This information is incorporated into a scoring algorithm as a cross check against their average rating. Recent homebuyers and readers of the partnering city/regional magazine may evaluate up to two real estate agents (buy and sell side), while Mortgage and Title Companies may evaluate up to three agents.
After the evaluation surveys are received, each real estate agent is given a Client Score and a Peer Adjustment Score. Both favorable and unfavorable evaluations are incorporated. Safeguards are in place to eliminate any bias including; self-nominating, “back-scratching,” and “stuffing the ballot.”
Each real estate agent is reviewed for regulatory/disciplinary action as reported by state regulatory agencies and given a Regulatory Adjustment Score. In order to be named a Five Star Real Estate Agent, an individual must hold a current real estate license and be in good standing.
QMI Research then prepares a preliminary list of results for review by a company-selected panel of local real estate industry executives, professional and trade-association officers and others directly involved in the real estate industry. A panel of industry experts reviews each real estate agent appearing on the preliminary list. As part of their review and evaluation, panelists are able to recommend additional real estate agents for inclusion and to recommend real estate agents for removal from the preliminary list (based on objective criteria). Checks and balances are in place to avoid conflicts of interest; specifically, panelists remain anonymous, only receive a portion of the preliminary list and, in most cases, cannot add or remove a real estate agent by themselves.
After reviewed by a panel of industry experts, QMI Research determines each real estate agent’s Overall Score. The Overall Score is calculated using the following formula:
| Overall Score = C – Padj – Radj +/– PIEadj |
| C = Client Score, a statistically valid, objective measure of client responses |
| Padj = Peer Adjustment, an objective measure of peer feedback |
| Radj = Regulatory Adjustment, an objective measure of regulatory history |
| PIEadj = Panel of Industry Experts Adjustment, an objective analysis of comments received from a panel of local experts. |
The final list is set by sorting the real estate agents by their Overall Score in descending order. The Cutoff Score is determined to be the point where the number of Overall Scores that exceed the Cutoff Score is equal to or less than 7% of the market’s real estate agent population. Those real estate agents with an Overall Score equal to or greater than the Cutoff Score are included on the qualifying Five Star Real Estate Agent list.
QMI Research then sends a notification letter and confirmation form to the qualifying Five Star Real Estate Agents. Within the confirmation form, the real estate agent is asked to certify that their license has never been suspended or revoked by a regulating authority. Real estate agents that are unable or unwilling to verify contact information or to provide the required certifications are excluded from the final list. Real estate agents are required to submit their completed business contact confirmation form to Five Star Professional to be listed.
Once the list is finalized, the partnering city/regional magazine will publish an article, prepared by Five Star Professional, which describes the evaluation process and presents the resulting list of Five Star Real Estate Agents. The Program is not administered in the same market more often than once each year.
Real estate agents do not pay a fee to be included in the evaluation process or to be named as a Five Star Real Estate Agent.
