Dream homes and distressed sales helped propel Minnesota's busiest real estate agents to the top of their class last year, according to an annual survey by Real Trends, a Denver-based real estate research company, and Trulia.com. That survey is completely voluntary, but is vetted to make sure that agents aren't over-reporting sales. Here's a link to the complete list of top agents/teams in Minnesota, but here are top three in each category.

Top agents by volume

  1. George Stickney, a Coldwell Banker Burnet agent who specializes in luxury listings in the western suburbs and Lake Minnetonka, sold $74 million.
  2. Chad Schwendeman, an EXIT Lakes Realty Premier agent who sells in the Baxter, MN area, sold $49 million - a good share of that was lakeshore.
  3. Bruce Birkeland, a Coldwell Banker Burnet agent who specializes in upper-bracket houses in the Minneapolis lakes neighborhoods, sold $43 million.

Top agents by transactions

  1. Jeremy Peterson of ReMax Results specializes in the south metro and had 256 sides.
  2. Jeremy Chubb, a 25-year old who sells for Epic Real Estate Services in Anoka, had 211 sides.
  3. Chad Schwendeman of EXIT Lakes Realty Premier had 210 sides.

Top teams by volume

  1. The Minnesota Real Estate Team, which has more than 50 agents working with Re/Max Advantage Plus, sold $250 million.
  2. John Schuster Team of Coldwell Banker Burnet, which has about a half-dozen agents who specialize in foreclosures, sold $93 million
  3. Brace Helgeson Team, which has about a dozen agents who specialize in the southwest suburbs for Coldwell Banker Burnet, sold $85 million

Top teams by transactions

  1. The Minnesota Real Estate Team of Re/Max Advantage Plus had 1,278 sides.
  2. John Schuster Team, which includes about a half-dozen agents with Coldwell Banker Burnet, had 490 sides.
  3. The Bruce McAlpin team, which includes two agents who specialize in Sherburne, Wright and Stearns counties for Edina Realty, had 455.5 sides.