How our Process Works

Stage I. Evaluation Stage – February through Mid-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, Crescendo Business Services, begins the four-month research process to identify this year’s Super Mortgage Professionals. Individuals from the following groups have an opportunity to make an evaluation:

• + Any subscriber to Mpls St. Paul Magazine or Twin Cities Business (via the web with a unique subscriber ID)
• + Any subscriber who received a paper evaluation survey (10,000)
• + Any of the 9,859 recent homebuyers who received a paper survey
• + Any of the 4,141 recent homebuyers who received a phone survey.
• + Any 2009 Super Real Estate Agent
• + One of the 437 Mortgage & Title Companies who received a paper survey.

Each individual can evaluate up to two mortgage professionals who they know through personal experience. Each evaluation must be accompanied by a quantitative assessment of the mortgage professional.

Stage II. Screening & Validation Process – Mid-May through Early June

Scoring: Each evaluation is scored based on the three criteria. A weighting 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 processional. For Mortgage & Title companies, evaluations from the same office or company are also weighted differently to eliminate “back scratching”.

Blue Ribbon Panel Review:
More than 40 individuals were invited to be a part of the Mortgage Professional Blue Ribbon Panel Review. The list of individuals selected was sourced from the following groups:

• + Presidents / Owners of Mortgage & Title Companies
• + Minnesota Mortgage Association
• + Minneapolis Board of Realtors
• + Western Wisconsin Board of Realtors

Each individual was asked to review ½ of the preliminary list

Screening:
A Google news check of both the individual mortgage professional and their company to search for news stories involving the individual. Any news stories identified were reviewed and a score adjustment could be made based on the nature of the story.

Stage III. Final Selection & Verification – Early 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.

Stage IV. 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.