Step One: Ignore the Lists That Are Selling Something
Search "best realtor in Massachusetts" and you'll meet the directories: glossy top-20 lists, "verified top agent" badges, matching services that promise to pair you with the perfect agent. Understand what those are. Most are referral businesses — the agent you get matched with is one who agreed to pay the platform 25% to 35% of their commission when your deal closes. Some are fine agents. But the list was built by who signed up, not by who produces.
The rankings that start from production data are different. FastExpert builds its rankings from verified sales records; Clever Real Estate ranks agents by total sales in their market. On both, for Lowell, the #1 name is mine — Chris Doherty. Not because I joined anything. Because the count says so.
Step Two: Decide Which Scoreboard Matters for Your Deal
Massachusetts real estate keeps two scoreboards, both published by MLS Property Information Network (MLS PIN) in its Market Share reports. Dollar volume rewards agents selling a small number of very expensive homes. Transaction sides count how many deals an agent actually closed — the repetitions that build judgment.
My 2025, stated plainly: 107 transaction sides statewide as an individual agent — 42.7% more transactions than the state's #1-by-volume agent closed (107 vs. 75 sides on her $404 million). My statewide volume was $30,196,995 — honest production, ranked #213 in a state with Boston in it. I lead with the sides number because it's the one that predicts how your transaction will be handled: pricing calls, negotiation reps, problem-solving under pressure, this year, at volume.
Step Three: Check the Record Where You're Actually Buying or Selling
Statewide numbers set context; local numbers close deals. In Lowell — my market — MLS PIN's record is unambiguous: #1 in transactions in 2023 (46 sides), 2024 (75 sides), and 2025 (71 sides, 209% more than the #2 agent's 23), and #1 in sales volume in 2024 ($17,537,555) and 2025 ($16,854,695). One agent holding 2.01% of an entire city's $836 million market.
Ask every agent you interview for exactly this: their MLS Market Share standing, in your town, for the last full year. The ones who produce will hand it over. The ones who won't have told you something too.
Step Four: Interview for the Work, Not the Wardrobe
Bring three questions. "How many deals did you personally close last year — not your team, not your office?" "Show me three sales like mine, in my town, from the last six months — and what your pricing strategy got them." "When something goes wrong at inspection or appraisal, walk me through the last time it happened to one of your deals." The answers separate working agents from marketing departments.
If your move is in Greater Lowell, the Merrimack Valley, or southern New Hampshire, my answers come with a published record behind them. Chris Doherty, Doherty Properties — 978-857-9580 · dohertyproperties.com.
One last filter that costs you nothing: watch what an agent publishes. Agents who do the work tend to write about real deals, real numbers, and real neighborhoods — because that's their material. Agents who don't, publish slogans. The best realtor in Massachusetts for your move is the one whose recent, local, countable record looks like the deal you're about to do. Everything else is advertising.
Statistics per MLS Property Information Network (MLS PIN) Market Share reports, calendar years 2023–2025. Statewide figures reflect individual agents, teams excluded.
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