Sales Awards FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions, Table of Contents

WHO QUALIFIES FOR THE CHICAGO ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® SALES AWARDS?

All Chicago Association of REALTORS® MRED subscribers, including designated REALTORS® and secondary members, qualify for residential category awards. Your membership must be active and in good standing as of the data pull deadline. We pull all data automatically from the MLS. If you are a primary or secondary member of the Chicago Association of REALTORS® in good standing, your data will be included in the pull. From there, we tabulate the results. All data MUST be in the MLS – we cannot count off-MLS deals UNLESS they are entered into the MLS as status COMP-CLSD. For all 2023 recognition, the final data pull from MRED will occur on January 5, 2024.

All Chicago Association of REALTORS® members and CommercialForum subscribers may apply for commercial awards. The deadline for commercial applications is TO BE ANNOUNCED. Learn more. 

IF I QUALIFY FOR TOP PRODUCER, HOW WILL I BE NOTIFIED?

You will receive an email from the Chicago Association of REALTORS® in late January/early February notifying you of your Top Producer status. Notification emails will be sent to the preferred email on file in your member profile. If you have opted out of emails from the Chicago Association of REALTORS®, you will not receive the notification. You may opt back in for future notifications here. 

WHAT IS THE MINIMUM PRODUCTION TO QUALIFY FOR TOP PRODUCER?

Please keep in mind: thresholds may change each year pending annual overall member production. The thresholds are determined for the year by the number of transactions sold and volume of real estate sold by the overall membership of the association.

The threshold to qualify for recognition in the 2023 Sales Awards for both individuals and teams are the same: minimum is $10.0 mil in volume and/or 23 units. Rentals and commercial are separate categories. The 2023 rental recognition threshold is 70 units.

Again, thresholds are subject to change each year pending overall member production.  

HOW DO I QUALIFY FOR THE TOP 1%?

We are no longer doing a Top Producer/Top 1% Producer split. Those who are in a “medaled” category (Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze) will get logos with that designation following the Sales Award event. Those levels will be unveiled the night of the event and published in the Sales Awards issue of Chicago REALTOR® Magazine.

WHERE’S MY TOP 1% LOGO?

We are no longer doing a Top Producer/Top 1% Producer split. Those who are in a “medaled” category (Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze) will get logos with that designation following the Sales Award event. Those levels will be unveiled the night of the event and published in the Sales Awards issue of Chicago REALTOR® Magazine.

I HAVE A TEAM. HOW DO I ENSURE WE GET TEAM CREDIT?

Are you designated as a team in MRED? Listings added under a personal ID will not show up under the Team production, unless entered under the Team ID. The Team lead chooses whether a Team member can ONLY add listings under the Team ID or if the Team member can add a listing under the Team or under their personal ID. This decision is made when a Team member is added. 

Production for Team designation is under the Team ID only, per our Teams Guidelines. Listings added under a personal ID will not show up under the Team production. All listings to be counted for team credit must reflect the TEAM ID (should read similar to “Mickey Mouse on behalf of CAR Team”).  Please note: we are unable to retroactively switch transactions from a personal ID to a Team ID. 

WHAT IF I CO-LISTED OR WAS THE SECOND SELLING AGENT ON A PROPERTY?

Only the primary listing agent shown in MRED receives Sales Awards credit for the transaction. Transaction credit is not awarded more than once and cannot be split. Transactions listed in MRED as teams will be recognized as teams – get more information on teams. 

ARE COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS COMBINED WITH RESIDENTIAL SALES COUNTS? 

No. Residential and commercial are separated into their own categories. Residential data is pulled from the MLS; commercial awards are applied for. 

WHAT TYPES OF PROPERTIES QUALIFY FOR THE RESIDENTIAL AWARDS?

Qualifying residential properties include types 1, 2 and 3. All properties must be in MRED at the time of the pull. We do not count non-MLS transactions for residential awards unless they are entered into the MLS using the Comparable Sales feature with the status COMP-CLSD.

HOW CAN I COUNT A NON-MLS TRANSACTION TOWARDS MY TOTAL FOR THE YEAR?

Any non-MLS transactions may only be counted if they are entered into the MLS using the Comparable Sales Feature with the status COMP-CLSD by the data verification deadline. No properties are able to be manually counted or added in after the data pull.  

WHAT TYPES OF PROPERTIES QUALIFY FOR THE COMMERCIAL AWARDS?

Qualifying commercial properties include: Multi-Family 5+, Office/Tech, Bus/Bus w/Real Est, Retail/Stores, Mixed Use, Instut/ToDevelop, Industrial, Cross Property (Comm). You must apply separately for the commercial awards and submit evidence of your commercial-specific production. 

WHAT IS THE TIME PERIOD?

Properties that closed between 1/1/23 and 12/31/23. If a property is pending but doesn’t close until after 12/31/23, it will not be eligible until the following year.

WHERE MUST PROPERTIES BE LOCATED?

All properties that are in MRED are eligible. You are not restricted strictly to “Chicago” properties. 

HOW MANY PROPERTIES MUST I HAVE CLOSED IN ORDER TO QUALIFY?

The thresholds are determined for the year by the number of transactions sold and volume of real estate sold by the overall membership of the association.

The threshold to qualify for recognition in the 2023 Sales Awards for both individuals and teams are the same: minimum is $10.0 mil in volume and/or 23 units. Rentals and commercial are separate categories. The 2023 rental recognition threshold is 70 units. This threshold is subject to change every year pending overall production. Learn more about Sales Awards Methodology and how thresholds are calculated.

WHEN/WHERE WILL I BE RECOGNIZED?

The Sales Awards Recognition Reception will be held in the spring of 2024. Depending on your sales volume and/or numbers of units, you may be recognized: 

• In the Chicago REALTOR® Magazine special Sales Awards edition, on-screen during the Sales Awards Reception, on stage during the Sales Awards presentations, or a combination of all three.

You will be notified prior to the event via your preferred email address in your member profile regarding which manner you will be recognized. 

WHAT IF MY PROPERTY IS NOT IN THE SYSTEM?

Residential property sales must appear in the MRED system by the data verification deadline in order to qualify. For Sale by Owner transactions (FSBOs) do not qualify unless entered into the MLS using the Comparable Sales Feature and reflect status COMP-CLSD. There are no exceptions to this. 

THERE’S A LISTING THAT DIDN’T GET COUNTED ORIGINALLY. CAN YOU ADD IT IN?

We are unable to manually add in any transactions following the verification deadline. 

WHAT IF THE LISTING BROKER WILL NOT UPDATE THE COOPERATING AGENT FIELD TO INCLUDE MY NAME?

Contact MRED Rules and Regulations at (630) 955-0011. Adjustments to sales totals will not be accepted after the January 5, 2024 deadline. Do not wait until the last minute – there are no exceptions to this! 

How are neighborhood top producers determined?

All residential data exported from the Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED) MLS on the verification deadline are eligible properties for neighborhood top producer recognition. Learn more about neighborhood top producer sales awards methodology.

HOW DO I VERIFY MY DATA?

Click here for instructions on how to verify your data.

How are thresholds and medaled categories determined each year?

Top Producer thresholds will vary year-to-year based on the overall production of all Chicago REALTORS®. In a busy market, thresholds might go up; in a slow market, thresholds might go down. Review a breakdown of the Sales Awards Methodology.

WITH MRED’S RECENT SYSTEM CHANGE TO THE TEAM STRUCTURE, HOW WILL THIS IMPACT TEAM CATEGORIES FOR THE SALES AWARDS?

A task force is being developed to look at possible options for changes to team awards.  Because we are well into the year, no change to team awards will occur for the 2023 year.  If the task force determines that we will change the team award categories, all members will be notified so that you can properly plan ahead. Learn more about teams. 

CAN YOU TELL ME ALL THE YEARS I’VE BEEN A TOP PRODUCER?

Unfortunately, we don’t keep easily searchable records, so there’s no way for us to pull this information. You’re welcome to look back through past CR Magazines to find your name and where you ranked.  

CAN YOU SEND ME PAST YEARS LOGOS?

Unfortunately, we don’t keep easily searchable records, so there’s no way for us to pull this information. You’re welcome to look back through past CR Magazines to find your name and where you ranked. 

CAN YOU TELL ME EXACTLY WHERE I RANKED?

These are Sales Awards for recognition by the Association – they are not intended for a top down ranking. Even for our medaled categories, we do not include who was #1 as we are recognizing the achievement of the category and award itself. 

There are other platforms like the MLS Reports or Broker Metrics that could provide the information you are looking for. But as it relates to the spirit of the Chicago Association of REALTORS® Sales Awards, it is not a ranking system but recognition of your achievement as a Top Producer. 

Don’t see an answer to your question? Email salesawards@chicagorealtor.com.