2026 RealTrends Verified: Joe McNally Team scores top-30 small teams ranking

When Joe McNally earned his real estate license at age 18, he became the youngest licensed agent in Maine.

That distinction was notable — but early success proved elusive.

“My mother got her real estate license, and I got mine a year later,” McNally told HousingWire. “I was so young, and I never closed a deal. It was hard to earn trust from homeowners, buyers, that sort of thing. I was there more to help my mother close deals.”

Two years later, he moved with his wife to her home state of Michigan, where McNally closed 55 deals in his first year.

Now a 20-year industry veteran, McNally has built one of the nation’s most productive small real estate operations.

The Joe McNally Team — part of REMAX Together in Big Rapids, Michigan — earned the No. 28 national ranking among small teams for transaction sides on RealTrends Verified’s 2026 The Thousand rankings after closing 203 transaction sides last year.

McNally attributes much of his long-term success to a business model centered on referrals and repeat clients.

“I have been extremely intentional about building a relationship-based business,” he said. “It’s everyone’s dream. It’s what everyone obsesses about — every conference, every book, all of it, right? And there’s a good reason for that.

“I’ve been quietly building that foundation for 14 or 15 years. And I’m so blessed. I don’t advertise much for myself at all. I actually don’t advertise myself at all.”

A top 30 ranking during a ‘down year’

Despite national recognition, McNally said 2025 was not one of the team’s strongest years.

“It was a down year,” he said. “I’ve closed over 240 or 250— me and my two buyers agents — every year for the past five or six years. In the past, I want to say that we’ve ranked in the top 10 nationwide a couple times. It’s just me and two agents, and one of them went back to school for her master’s and worked part time through the year, that impacted us.”

Another personnel change added to the challenge.

“My other buyer’s agent actually quit halfway through the year, had to replace her,” McNally said. “So yeah, little speed bump there.”

He continued to carry a significant share of the production himself.

“I personally closed around 138 last year, which was down from 172 the year before,” McNally said. “I just basically remarket to my past clients, I’m coming up on 2,000 personal career transactions under my belt, and it’s served me well. I think last year, 110 of my closings were direct referral, just word of mouth referral, which is a lot.”

Growing through REMAX

McNally has been affiliated with REMAX for 11 years.

“I actually started a REMAX franchise in Big Rapids, Michigan,” he said. “There wasn’t one there. I continued to maintain my personal business, and then I was at a point — I actually came to this point too late, but better late than never — where I knew I needed to find a way to better serve my sellers and the buyers. I wanted a little more of a traditional team structure.

“I say team very loosely, because they’re on my team, but they do their own volume and their volume goes under their name. They close, they list and they buy, but they’re there to help me serve the sellers and the buyers that come along for my listings.”

Looking ahead, McNally believes the team is positioned to return to the production levels it achieved in previous years.

“I think getting my two agents recentered around priorities [will help business],” he said. “One of them graduated school about two months ago, so she’s back rip-roaring. My other girl, she’s back in the saddle full time, so I think we’re looking good.

“I think we’re re-centering around that. I love what I do so much and I’ve got incredible systems in place.”

As for the secret behind his production, McNally insists there isn’t one.

“I’ve been number one agent in in west Michigan market for a very long time, and everyone thinks there’s some big mystery,” he said. “It’s pretty boring. It’s just really about being committed and consistent every single day of the year, and I’ve always been good at that.

“I’m good at being consistent and good at communicating with clients and putting them first. I do it every day, every time, no matter what.”

For McNally, the principle that carried him from a teenager struggling to earn trust to a nationally ranked team leader remains unchanged.

“Never, never put yourself over a client,” he said. “Always making sure they feel like they are number one in every way.”