Top 35 Real Estate Firms Recognized for Service Excellence

America's top 35 real estate firms based on service excellence are being honored for exceptional customer service satisfaction with unique industry recognition -- a QE Award (pronounced "Quie") -- "recognizes the delivery of the highest levels of customer satisfaction and service quality in real estate in North America through independently measured service quality of verified actual customers," according to Larry D. Romito, CEO, Quality Service Certification, Inc. (QSC), creator of the QE Award.

The 2021 QE Award recognizes the industry's Top 5 Large Companies, the Top 10 Midsize Companies and the Top 20 Small Companies, in delivering the highest levels of customer satisfaction. QE Award recipients span more than 22 states, from Florida to Minnesota and California to Massachusetts, and includes some of the most respected independent and well-known national and regional brand names. Thirteen 2021 QE Award recipients generated 100% customer satisfaction and 13 others achieved 99% overall service satisfaction based upon service feedback from many hundreds to many thousands of customers completing the purchase or sale of a home.

"We started our company 17 years ago with the goal of becoming the best real estate company in the Chicago area. While traditional metrics on a company's performance is typically transaction volume or net income, we felt the only valid measurement was the level of service we provide to the client," said Ray Zabielski, Designated Managing Broker Charles Rutenberg Realty. "To gauge that, we retained the services of Quality Service Certification because of their process of incorporating the results of every returned survey, both good and bad, in the calculation of the final results. Being named a recipient of the QE Award once again is invaluable confirmation we have met our goal of creating a company of agents who universally provide exceptional service to our mutual clients. We know that by focusing on providing the highest level of customer service, all of our other goals will be met as well," he added.

The 2021 QE Award is based upon the results of an independent survey limited solely to buyers and sellers who completed a real estate transaction with participating real estate companies from January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020. Quality Service Certification, Inc. and Leading Research Corporation, Laguna Niguel, Calif., administer the survey process to ensure that every past customer is surveyed, preventing agents or companies from influence, interference, manipulation or selectivity any form.

The 2021 QE Award winners for the Top 5 Large Companies include:

• Charles Rutenberg Realty, Greater Chicagoland Area
• BHHS Drysdale Properties, CA & NV
• Harry Norman, Realtors, Atlanta
• RE/MAX of Reading, Reading, PA
• The Keyes Company, Realtors, South Florida

The 2021 QE Award winners for the Top 10 Medium Companies include:

• RE/MAX Properties, Inc., Colorado Springs, CO
• ERA Martin Associates, Salisbury, MD
• RE/MAX Allegiance, Alexandria, VA
• Real Living The Real Estate Group, WA/OR
• Kinlin Grover Real Estate, Osterville, MA
• Page Taft Christie's, Guilford, CT
• RE/MAX Estate Properties, Los Angeles, CA
• Coldwell Banker Hickok & Boardman, Burlington, VT
• Randall, REALTORS, RI/CT
• BHHS Tomie Raines REALTORS®, East Lansing, MI

The 2021 QE Award winners for the Top 20 Small Companies include:

• Gibson Sotheby's International Realty, Arlington, MA
• Pittman & Associates REALTORS®, Raleigh, NC
• Real Living Great Lakes Real Estate, Rochester Hills, MI
• NeXstep Real Estate Group, Denver, CO
• Novella, Greenwood, CO
• Golden Real Estate, Inc., Golden, CO
• Park Sterling Realty, Westchester County, NY
• Missoula Realty, Missoula, MT
• RE/MAX Urban Properties, Denver, CO
• Home Realty, Inc., Owensboro, KY
• First Colorado Realty, Estes Park, CO
• MikkiMoves Real Estate, Inc., Eureka, CA
• RE/MAX Nexus, Firestone, CO
• SaraBay Real Estate, Sarasota, FL
• Counselor Realty, Glenwood, MN
• Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Starck Real Estate, Woodstock Cass & Eastwood, IL
• Ness Bros., Realtors & Auctioneers, Fort Wayne, IN
• Hamilton Landon Real Estate, Apple Valley, CA
• Real Living Spectrum Real Estate, Whitehall, PA
• RE/MAX Action Associates, Exton, PA
• Schatz Real Estate Group, Hopkins, MN

"At a time when consumers are seeking transparency, greater accountability, and trusted information to help them make better, more informed decisions and choices, hundreds of companies and tens of thousands of their service professionals are now electing to participate in service assessment and feedback following every transaction, which is setting a new and better standard for excellence," said Larry D. Romito, CEO, Quality Service Certification, Inc.

"They're not just raising the bar for customer service; they've committed to a whole new standard knowing consumers are tired of seeing meaningless perfect reviews where every agent has a 5-star rating," Romito adds. "We believe that in a consumer-centric world the higher standard for gauging excellence in professional services should authentically measure how well each customer is served not just how much business is done."

Larry Romito, Chairman and CEO, sees the QE Award as motivation for change. "We hope the prestigious recognition of the QE Award for measurable excellence in service and satisfaction will launch a viral movement toward better customer service, transparency and accountability, where every real past customer is surveyed and all surveys are unedited. That's what QSC and the new QE Award are all about. A complete, reliable picture of customer feedback, from real past customers on issues important to prospective consumers," he added.

Romito notes that the QE Award is based upon the aggregated overall Customer Satisfaction Rating of all returned surveys of real customers where every past customer has been surveyed without selectivity, editing, deletion, cleansing or manipulation. "No other system exists in the real estate industry that can legitimately make that claim," he said, noting that "accurate, reliable, independently validated survey results of individual agents" can be accessed by visiting RatedAgent.com.

Quality Service Certification, Inc. created the QE Award to foster, encourage and recognize the highest levels of service quality and customer satisfaction. QSC with its sister company Leading Research Corporation assures the careful measurement and independent validation of service and satisfaction results.

Eligibility for the 2021 QE Award requires a minimum number of surveys sent and returned, which may be adjusted from year to year based upon market conditions and the number of participants. More than 30,000 real estate agents and 750 companies elected to participate in the customer satisfaction assessment survey process in 2020 for the 2021 QE Award.