Read this before you click through. This is Mission Realty’s own blog, and Mission Realty is on every county page linked below. We are not a neutral party and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Treat this as one seller’s research shortcut, with the method shown so you can check it.
Methodology, in short. Every county page ranks teams by closed sides from RealTrends Verified 2026 (calendar 2025, independently audited), then adds review counts from Zillow and Google on the date shown, each team’s own published programs, and a plain-language note on who each team is right for and who it is not. Where a number is not on the same geographic cut, the page says so. County-only closing counts from the CVR MLS are the next thing we add.
Most “best real estate agent in Richmond” lists are built the same way: a national site scrapes review counts, sorts by whoever paid for placement, and calls it a ranking. None of them tell you the two things that actually decide whether a listing goes well: who on that team will be in your house on a Tuesday, and what the fee buys. So we built our own comparison, one county at a time, and put ourselves on it under the same rules as everyone else.
The county pages, and what is on each one
Each page has the same six parts: a leaderboard of the six teams that closed the most homes, a profile of each team with a “best for” note and (for us) a “not the right fit” note, five questions to ask before you sign, the local context for that county with links to our neighborhood guides, a short FAQ, and an email address that reaches the founder for corrections.
| County | Status | Teams compared | Neighborhood guides linked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chesterfield County | Live, updated September 15, 2026 | Mission Realty, The Yeatman Group, The Strum Group, Jenny Maraghy Team, Ruckart Real Estate, Cabell Childress Group | Midlothian, Woodlake, Hallsley, Harpers Mill, Salisbury, Bon Air |
| Henrico County | Live, updated September 15, 2026 | Mission Realty, The Strum Group, Jenny Maraghy Team, Ruckart Real Estate, Cabell Childress Group, The Marc Austin Highfill Team | Short Pump, Glen Allen, Wyndham, Twin Hickory, Tuckahoe |
| Hanover County | Next | In research | Mechanicsville, Mountain Run |
| Goochland, Powhatan, New Kent | Planned | In research | County guides |
| City of Richmond | Planned | In research; the Fan District version is already live | Neighborhood guides |
Two things the table cannot show. First, the same five teams appear on both live pages because the Richmond region’s top producers work every county; what changes by county is the sixth team, the “best for” notes, and the neighborhoods each team has actually written about. Second, the leaderboard order is regional sides, not county sides, and the pages say so in the source line under the table.
What the leaderboards cannot tell you, and what to ask instead
Production tells you who is busy. It does not tell you who will be in your house. A 400-side team and a 40-side team can both give you great service or hand you to a junior agent after the listing appointment; the number does not say which. These are the five questions we put on every county page, and they work with any team in any county.
1. How many homes did you close in this county in the last 12 months, and in my zip code? Regional totals flatter everyone. The county and zip numbers are on the MLS and any agent can pull them in five minutes. If they will not, that is your answer.
2. Who will actually show up? Every team has a lead agent whose name is on the sign and a team that does the work. Ask who attends showings, the inspection, and the walk-through, and get it in the listing agreement.
3. What is your fee, and what does it include? Since August 2024 there is no standard commission. Mission Realty publishes its 2026 numbers; ask every other team for theirs in writing, including what happens to the buyer-agent side.
4. What would you do if my house does not sell in 30 days? A good team has a written plan (price review, marketing changes, staging). A great team also tells you the rent number, because sometimes the right answer is to keep it.
5. Can I cancel? Ask for the cancellation terms before you sign, not after. Ours can be cancelled with written notice; ask each team for theirs.
Three sellers, three different shortlists
A $450,000 home in a master-planned Chesterfield community
Interview the high-throughput listing teams and at least one team that has written about your specific neighborhood. Ask question one hard: the county page shows regional sides, and the right team for Harpers Mill or Woodlake is the one that can show you its closings inside the gates, not across the region. Start with the Chesterfield page.
A $900,000 home in the West End or River Road corridor
This is the price band where marketing decides the outcome: photography, video, and the buyer network behind the listing. Interview a full-service team with a dedicated luxury division, one legacy West End brokerage, and a luxury specialist, and compare the marketing plans line by line, not the adjectives. Start with the Henrico page.
A house you might keep and rent instead
Only one team on either page also runs a property management company, and that is us, so treat the “sell, rent, or take the direct offer” comparison as our home-field advantage and check it. The same goes for marketing: we put two full-time in-house marketers, professional photography and video, and a paid staging consultation behind every listing, and a dedicated luxury marketing division behind the ones that call for it, so ask every team you interview to show you the same list in writing. Ask every team you interview for the rent number anyway. If they cannot give you one, they cannot tell you whether selling is the right move.
What the numbers behind the pages look like right now. In 2025, Mission Realty closed 427 sides and $172.0 million in volume in the Richmond region, the most of any team on the RealTrends Verified Richmond, VA label, and was ranked the #1 Mega Team in Richmond, VA in the 2026 RealTrends Verified rankings. Every Mission Realty listing gets professional photography and video, a paid professional staging consultation, and a two-person full-time marketing team; luxury listings get a dedicated luxury marketing division. The Strum Group closed 313 sides, Jenny Maraghy Team 279, Ruckart Real Estate 206, Cabell Childress Group 178, and The Marc Austin Highfill Team 145 under the Glen Allen label. The Yeatman Group closed 747 sides under the wider metro label, which is not the same cut. Every one of those figures, with source and date, is on the county pages; none of them is a county-only count yet.
Questions sellers ask about comparing agents
Why compare teams by county instead of one Richmond-wide list?
Because the agent who is busiest in Chester is not automatically the right one in Glen Allen. Every team on our county pages works the whole region, but each has a home base, a price band, and neighborhoods it has actually written about. A county page lets us say who fits which seller instead of handing you one list and letting you guess.
Where do the production numbers come from?
RealTrends Verified 2026, which covers calendar 2025 and is independently audited. We use closed sides (one side is one half of a transaction) and sales volume under the Richmond, VA label, and we say on each page when a team is listed under a different label such as Glen Allen or the wider metro. Review counts come from Zillow and Google on the date shown at the top of each page.
Is Mission Realty ranked first because it is your site?
No. Mission Realty closed the most sides in the Richmond region in 2025 (427), so it lands first on a sides-ranked table. We wrote our own “not the right fit” note the same way we wrote everyone else’s, and if you think we got a competitor wrong, the email link on each page reaches Clayton directly and we correct it with a dated note.
Why are there no county-only closing counts yet?
RealTrends publishes regional figures, not county ones. County-only counts by team have to come from the CVR MLS, and we would rather publish a page that is right today than a table with guesses in it. When the MLS export is in hand, each page gets a county column and the Updated date at the top moves.
What if my county is not on the list yet?
Hanover, Goochland, Powhatan, New Kent, and the City of Richmond are next, in that order. Until then, the five questions above work in any county, and the Fan District version covers the city’s most-asked neighborhood.
Do I have to hire a team at all?
No. A team gives you coverage and systems; a solo agent gives you one relationship. Both can be excellent. The questions above tell you which one you are actually being offered, because some “teams” are one agent with an assistant and some “solo agents” hand you off after the listing appointment.
Does this apply if I am buying, not selling?
Mostly. The county pages are written for sellers because that is where the fee decision is largest, but the fit notes and the “who shows up” question matter just as much on the buy side. If you are buying new construction, read whether you need your own agent for that first.
How often are the county pages updated?
Production figures each June when RealTrends publishes; review counts monthly; county MLS data as soon as we have it. The date at the top of each page is the last change, and this post gets a new link each time a county goes live.
Our offer is simply this: interview us alongside the others.
Not instead of them. Pick a county page, book three listing appointments, ask all three the five questions above, and compare the answers side by side. If ours are not the clearest, hire whoever’s were.
Meet the people who would actually be on your file, read what our clients say happened, or start with a home valuation request and we will send the county numbers for your street with it.
