How to Choose a St. Louis Real Estate Agent

Here's a question I want every St. Louis home seller to think about.

You need eye surgery. One surgeon performs the procedure a handful of times a year. Another does it every week, has a full team behind them, and works in a practice built around getting it right. Which one do you book?

Nobody picks the first surgeon. Yet that's exactly who many sellers end up hiring to handle the biggest financial asset they own.

The numbers most sellers never see

I just ran our local MLS ranking report for January 1 through October 20, 2026. It lists 4,498 agents who closed at least part of a sale in that time. That doesn't include agents who hold a license but haven't closed a single deal this year.

Here's what the report shows:

• The typical agent has closed 4 transactions this year. That's the median.
• 55% of agents have closed fewer than 5.
• 72% have closed 8 or fewer.
• 81% are averaging less than one closing a month.
• Only about 1 in 100 agents has closed 50 or more.

A real estate license is easy to get. Practice is not. Most agents have worked on fewer homes so far this year than a busy agent handles in a month.

Too small: the solo, part-time agent

Many agents work alone, and some work part-time. They may be kind, well-meaning, even a friend of the family. But consider what they're working with:

• Little practice. A handful of deals means fewer chances to negotiate, price, and solve problems when an inspection goes sideways.
• No support. One person juggles marketing, showings, paperwork, deadlines, and your phone calls.
• Little oversight. No one double-checks the contract or catches a missed deadline before it costs you.
• A stale read on the market. Pricing a home well means knowing what sold last week, not last season.

Too big: the mega-team that's really a brokerage

The other extreme looks impressive on paper. Some of the biggest "teams" post hundreds of closings a year. Look closer, though, and many of them work like brokerages, with dozens of agents under one famous name.

You meet the name in the ads. Then you get whoever is next in the rotation, often a newer agent still building experience.

So it's worth asking: Who exactly will I be working with, and how many homes have they sold?

Just right: an experienced team built around you

The sweet spot is a team big enough to support you and small enough that the lead agent stays personally involved.

That's how we built the Dawn Griffin Group. So far in 2026, I rank #40 out of 4,498 agents in our market by sales volume, with 71 closed transactions. That's the top 1%.

The number that matters more is what's behind it:

• Daily practice. We price, negotiate, and close every week, so we know the pulse of the market because we're in it.
• A dedicated listing agent and listing coordinator for every seller.
• A marketing specialist who prepares your home before it goes live.
• A transaction coordinator who tracks every deadline through closing.
• The backing of eXp Realty, an agent-centric brokerage that puts tools and support behind your agent.

The result: our listings average 103% of asking price, backed by 300+ five-star reviews and 22+ years in business.

Questions to ask before you hire anyone

1. How many homes have you personally closed in the last 12 months?
2. Will you be my main point of contact, or will I be handed off?
3. Who else on your team will work on my sale, and what do they do?
4. What's your average list-to-sale price ratio?
5. How will you market my home in the first two weeks?

You wouldn't trust your eyes to someone who barely practices. Your home deserves the same standard.

Ready to talk? Call me at (314) 541-3840 or request a free home valuation.

— Dawn Griffin, Team Leader & Broker, Dawn Griffin Group

Source: Local MLS agent ranking report, closed sales January 1 – October 20, 2026. Transactions are counted by side; co-listing and co-selling agents receive half credit.