Two years ago, she was a rising star in the region named to the inaugural list of the Moody on the Market 40 Under 40 in Michigan’s Great Southwest. Now, Realtor Gretta Volkenstein has made another prestigious list, this time on a national scale as among the best Real Estate Professionals in America.
Volkenstien of @ Properties in St. Joseph, has been named one of America’s most productive sales associates as a part of a ranking report produced by REAL Trends and Tom Ferry International. She is now a member of the “America’s Best Real Estate Agents.”
REAL Trends America’s Best Real Estate Professionals ranks over 14,500 residential real estate professionals solely based on their excellence in real estate sales during calendar year 2019. All production numbers are independently verified by a third party to ensure accuracy and report integrity. The resulting group of highly successful real estate sales agents represents the top 1-percent of all real estate practitioners in the United States.
Tom Ferry, owner and founder of Tom Ferry International, says, “Congratulations to Gretta Volkenstein who made the America’s Best list,” adding, “I have the pleasure of working with successful real estate professionals day in and day out, and I know all the hard work, late nights, and huge effort that goes into achieving such incredible results.” Ferry notes, “There are multiple ways to become successful in real estate. Yet, despite the differences, the real estate professionals on this list have one thing in common—they are simply the best. Congratulations to all recipients of this prestigious recognition.”
The America’s Best are ranked in twelve categories:
By Transactions
- Agent-owned brokerages by Transaction Sides
- Individuals by Transaction Sides
- Teams, Small (2-5 licensed members) by Transaction Sides
- Teams, Medium (6-10) by Transaction Sides
- Teams, Large (11+) by Transaction Sides
- Team-owned brokerages by Transaction Sides
By Volume
- Agent-owned brokerages by Volume
- Individuals by Volume
- Teams, Small (2-5) by Volume
- Teams, Medium (6-10) by Volume
- Teams, Large (11+) by Volume
- Team-owned brokerages by Volume
To qualify for inclusion, an individual agent must have closed at least 50 transaction sides or $20 million in sales volume in 2019. For real estate agent teams, the minimum is 75 transaction sides or $30 million in closed sales volume.
Ferry reports, “Those individual agents and teams who make up the 2020 America’s Best Real Estate Professionals represent only about 1.5-percent of all Realtors in the country, yet account for over 10-percent of the closed transactions, and more than 16-percent of all the sales volume closed last year.” He concludes, “To say that Gretta is an exceptional sales professional is an understatement. To attain this level of sales is extraordinary.”
For her part, Volkenstein says, “I’m pleased and honored to be ranked on this ranking of the country’s top residential real estate agents,” adding, “It represents the time and effort that we put into each client that we serve and how much work it takes to build a successful real estate career. The level of sales it takes to qualify makes it a special recognition.”
REAL Trends + Tom Ferry America’s Best Real Estate Professionals honors America’s finest real estate agents and their companies and is compiled and analyzed by REAL Trends.
The rankings are compiled based on surveys from virtually every nationally branded network, many state and local Realtors associations, Multiple Listing System providers, all applicants from past years’ rankings, and the 900 largest brokerage firms in the United States. Verification from an independent source is required for all submissions. In addition, REAL Trends senior staff reviews every submission for completeness and accuracy.
Volkenstein is actively involved in the local community as a primary publisher to the Berrien County Strong Community in Action Facebook page online, and was also voted as “Best Local Real Estate Agent” for 2019 in The Herald-Palladium’s Readers Choice.
