How We Evaluate Mortgage Professionals

1. Evaluation Stage (February-May)
   More than 120,000 members of the Twin Cities community have the opportunity to evaluate a Mortgage Professional for inclusion in the Super Mortgage Professional™ program. Beginning in February, the program's independent quantitative marketing company, Five Star Professional, begins the four-month research process. Individuals from the following groups have an opportunity to nominate a Professional for review:
   • Any subscriber to Mpls.St. Paul Magazine or Twin Cities Business
   • Any subscriber who received a paper evaluation survey
   • Any recent homebuyer who received a paper survey
   • Any Professional currently listed with Super Real Estate Agents
   Each entity or individual can evaluate up to two mortgage professionals whom they know through personal experience. Each evaluation must be accompanied by a quantitative assessment of the Mortgage Professional.
2. Screening and Validation Process (May-June)
   Scoring: Each evaluation is scored based on the three criteria. A weight is assigned to each evaluation based on the source of the evaluation, and how long ago the individual making the evaluation used the services of the professional. For mortgage and title companies, evaluations from the same office or company are also weighted differently to eliminate "back scratching."
   More than 40 individuals were invited to be a part of the Mortgage Professional Blue Ribbon Panel Review. These individuals are selected from the following groups:
   • Presidents/owners of mortgage and title companies
   • Minnesota Mortgage Association
   • Minneapolis Board of Realtors
   • Western Wisconsin Board of Realtors
   Screening: A Google news check is performed for both the individual Mortgage Professional and their company. Any existing news stories are reviewed and a score adjustment may be made based on the nature of the story.
3. Final Selection and Verification (June)
   Each selected mortgage professional must certify that they are licensed to conduct business in the State of Minnesota or Wisconsin and have had no disciplinary actions taken against them by the state, or industry regulatory authorities. Each professional also confirms their contact information that will appear in the magazine.
4. List Published (November)
   Each year's list of Super Mortgage Professionals is revealed to the public in the November issues of Mpls.St.Paul Magazine and Twin Cities Business.