A Look at Four of Dayton's Best Real Estate Agents

This week, we turn to the Dayton, Ohio, region in our top U.S. real estate agents search. We’ve profiled some of the industry's finest digital marketing and sales experts for the past few months. At the same time, we’ve been trying to work out a better method for buyers and sellers to choose between agents. 

So far, no single strategy has emerged to simplify what amounts to a fairly onerous process of elimination. We’re still using a process where open reviews lead us to investigate the scope of effort selected professionals exhibits more thoroughly. That said, here’s what we found in Dayton, a city of a little less than one million residents in its metro area. 

Tami Holmes is Dayton’s real estate superhero. 565 perfect reviews via Google, 478 almost perfect Zillow ratings, one of the most engaged Facebook efforts we’ve seen, and other indicators make this apparent. But get this, of all the agency websites I’ve ever sampled for SEO, Holmes’ 94/100 is the highest yet. What this means for me is that this professional has left nothing to chance. Even the design aesthetics leave the impression of warmth and trust. 

Holmes is also reaching out to local media, unlike 99% of her competitors. Traditional media for branding is something that is sorely overlooked all across America. And even her Twitter feed is active and engaged, something very few U.S. agents can boast of. As I said, she seems to have left nothing to chance. If there is one missing link in her marketing approach, it’s Youtube, which is not her best engagement tool so far. This is strange, given that she shines on camera. I guess even superheroes can run short of time. Anyway, this is who I’d choose first to sell my house in Dayton, bottom line. Oh, and another thing, Holmes also seems to exemplify the leader who appreciates the skills and efforts of her teammates. This is something that is impossible to teach. Leaders like this are born in my view.

If you want to learn about someone, try to find out what they are most proud of. Kunal Patel is very proud to have been named the “Best of Dayton” by DaytonDotCom. He also seems to be proud of his dog, which also says a lot about the Coldwell Banker agent. Over 100 perfect Google reviews, 354 on Zillow, an engaged Facebook community, and an Instagram that mirrors his other social outreach, codify Patel as a winner. 

Patel is also working in the ad and media space with features on his expanding business, etc. With a very respectable website SEO score of 80/100, he is also marking space as one of America's most digitally aware agents. At least in my book. I’ve discussed many times how agents need to use every channel available for their clientele, and professionals like Patel and Holmes amplify my statements. Their successes become evidence of a holistic approach to the real estate business. 

Oh, and on the doggo issue, I am happy to report that Patel is a big supporter of the local SICSA too. This guy is just all-around likable. If Tami Holmes’ phone is busy when I call, he’s the next person I’d call to help me with real estate.  

If you perform a Google search for the “top real estate agents in Dayton,” you won’t find too many with numerous five-star reviews. However, this fact makes Dave Campbell another local standout who shines like a new penny. His 244 perfect Zillow reviews make the Coldwell Banker professional stick out even more. Furthermore, if you drill down to discover more about him, you’ll run into his marketing leads funnel starting on his website (SEO score 72/100).

But, snagging email addresses and installing all the right social media buttons is where Campbell’s digital prowess ends. Placeholders, that’s what you’ll end up with at the end of scrutinizing this leading agent. His 131 Instagram followers are not gleaning his listings any hot leads, that’s for sure. Likewise, hitting the Google News tab using Campbell’s name won’t bring up a USA Today feature about his expertise. Branding-wise, the agent seems to have done little or nothing. At least he went so far as to pay to be listed as a Zillow Preferred Agent.   

Finally, I wrestled with whether or not Don & Cindy Shurts equal two local agents or one agency. Well, the fact that there are not too many Dayton professionals with our selected criteria - made my job easier. So, listing them here seems fair. Their agency has 152 five-star reviews on Google, which helped me focus on them. On Zillow, the team is respectable but with not quite as profound an appearance as some others. The Keller Williams advisors maintain an effective, if not stunning social media effort.

What really sold me on featuring these professionals in this week's list is their ultimately personable appearance. And the fact their website also has an above 90% SEO score. What this means, at least digitally, is that somebody is trying hard to put resources into a foundation (Keller Williams?). The lagging social effort is probably a time issue for this team. Many times, however, the best agents out there are simply pounding the pavement too hard to always be on top of marketing efforts. This is a residual thing from brick-and-mortar operations attempting to migrate to the online space. I could be wrong, but these nice folks seem to fit into that genre.