Cornelius · Choosing an agent
Who are the top real estate agents in Cornelius, NC?
No body publishes a ranking of Cornelius agents by sales. What exists is a market ranking on a year's production, a directory ordered by its own reviews, rankings agents submit their figures to, and Canopy MLS's own market share report. Where Sunny Yates stands in each one that names her is below, with whose it is and the date.
Sunny Yates by the numbers
502
homes sold since 2002
$268,577,718
in closed sales volume
23
years selling real estate on Lake Norman
134
of them in Cornelius, $95,788,379
364
of them in the seven Lake Norman towns, $214,703,735
52
sales at a million dollars and over, $107,887,433
168
sold as the listing agent, $102,791,933
$535,430
average sale price, against $344,404 across the whole MLS
both over her report's window, to 13 September 2026
5.0
from 60 Google reviews
4.9
from 63 Zillow reviews
4.9
from 26 Google (Yates Realty) reviews
Top 0.6%
ranked 102nd of roughly 18,000 Realtors in the Charlotte market for 2025, Charlotte Real Producers Top 250
North Carolina Real Estate Commission broker license 202205. Broker / Owner, Yates Realty. 19900 W Catawba Ave Ste 205, Cornelius, NC 28031. 704-737-1732
Sales figures from her Canopy MLS Agent Production and Inventory Report, pulled 13 September 2026, plus 1 closing since, from Canopy MLS as distributed by MLS GRID, as of 15 October 2026. Her average sale price and the MLS average are the report's own, to 13 September 2026. Based on information from Canopy MLS for the period September 13, 2000 through October 15, 2026 (34 towns and cities in the Canopy MLS region). Rating and review count from Google, 4 October 2026. Rating and review count from Zillow, 4 October 2026. Rating and review count from Google (Yates Realty), 4 October 2026. Ranking from Charlotte Real Producers, Class of 2026, for 2025 production.
How are Cornelius agents ranked, and by whom?
Five kinds of ranking get quoted about agents who work in Cornelius, and they measure different things, so judge each one by what it is based on.
- A body that ranks a named population for a stated year.Charlotte Real Producers ranks Realtors in the Charlotte market on a year's production, and says which year. Cornelius sits inside that market, so a place in it is a Charlotte figure and not a Cornelius one.
- A directory ordered by its own reviews. HomeLight's town pages list agents in the order of the reviews written on HomeLight, most first. That order describes that site on the day it is read; it does not rank agents by sales.
- A ranking on figures agents submit. RealTrends Verified ranks agents city by city on the previous calendar year's volume, from data the agents send in. Its cities include Charlotte.
- Editorial lists. A magazine's or a website's list of agents with no stated data behind it is an opinion, however it is titled.
- Canopy MLS's own market share report. A member pulls it for a stated period and a stated area. It is the one source that can rank agents by their sales in Cornelius alone, and Canopy's rules require the period and the area wherever its figures are used.
So ask of any ranking who made it, what it counted, for which place and for which year. Be wary of a ranking that cannot answer all four.
Where does Sunny Yates stand in those rankings?
- Charlotte Real Producers Top 250, Class of 2026: ranked 102nd of roughly 18,000 Realtors in the Charlotte market for 2025 production, the top 0.6%. Source: Charlotte Real Producers, email to Sunny Yates, forwarded 27 September 2026.
- HomeLight listed Sunisay Yates 6th of 40 on its Cornelius top real estate agents page, which HomeLight orders by the count of reviews on its own site, read 1 October 2026. Source: HomeLight, Top Real Estate Agents in Cornelius, NC.
HomeLight prints her licensed first name, Sunisay. It is the same broker and the same license, North Carolina number 202205.
No body publishes a ranking of Cornelius agents by sales. The one way to state one is Canopy MLS's own market share report, pulled by a member for a stated period and area, and this site prints no such figure until one has been pulled.
What has Sunny Yates sold in Cornelius?
Sunny Yates has closed 134 sales in Cornelius for $95,788,379, from her first in 2003 to her latest in 2026. She was the listing agent on 62 of them.
Her highest Cornelius sale is 18408 Harbor Light, $4,590,000, July 2026, as the buyer's agent. Her highest Cornelius sale as the listing agent is 17429 Staysail, $3,350,000, June 2026.
Every one of her sales is on Previously sold, each with the side she was on, and what is for sale in Cornelius today, whichever firm has it listed, is on the Cornelius page. Based on information from Canopy MLS for the period September 13, 2000 through October 15, 2026 (34 towns and cities in the Canopy MLS region).
How do you check any Cornelius agent?
The same four checks work on anybody you are thinking of hiring in Cornelius, and none of them needs the agent’s help.
- The license, on the Commission’s own search. The North Carolina Real Estate Commission’s licensee search is open to anybody. Search by name or by number and the record shows whether the license is active, the date it was issued and the firm the broker practices under. A firm name on the record that does not match the one on the sign is a question worth asking before anything else.
- A record with its period and its source. A count of sales means something only with the period it covers and the report it came from beside it. Canopy MLS requires exactly that of anything built on its information, in a notice that begins “Based on information from Canopy MLS for the period”. A number with neither cannot be checked.
- Which side the agent was on. Under the National Association of REALTORS’ Standard of Practice 12-7 only the listing broker or the cooperating broker, the one who brought the buyer, may say they sold a property. Ask which sales were the agent’s own listings and which were homes they found for a buyer. Both are real work; they are different work, and a seller choosing a listing agent should know the split.
- Reviews, read where they were written. A score is evidence when its source and the day it was read are beside it and a link goes to the place the reviews were posted, where you can read them under the names of the people who wrote them.
If the home is on the water, the questions the lake raises, from the full pond line to the dock permit, are on how to choose a Lake Norman waterfront Realtor, with who answers each one.
Cornelius questions for a buyer or a seller
What are property taxes in Cornelius, NC?
For the 2026-27 fiscal year a home inside the Town of Cornelius pays Mecklenburg County's 49.27 cents and the town's 19.31 cents per $100 of assessed value, 68.58 cents in all. On a home assessed at $1,000,000 that is $6,858 a year. The rates are from Mecklenburg County's own 2026-27 chart; the bill itself is the county's to calculate.
What does it cost to sell a house in Cornelius, NC?
The three certain costs are the commission you agree in writing, the state excise tax on the deed, and your share of the attorney and recording fees. North Carolina excise tax is set by statute at one dollar per five hundred dollars of value, so a five hundred thousand dollar sale carries a thousand dollars of it. Repairs negotiated in due diligence are the variable nobody budgets for.
What was Sunny Yates's record Lake Norman lot sale?
In February 2022 I sold 16403 Pinwhenny in Cornelius, a vacant waterfront lot, for $2,500,000; it went under contract five days after it came on the market. The Salisbury Post reported on 6 March 2022 that it was a sales price record for a residential waterfront on Lake Norman.
What is The Peninsula Club?
The club in The Peninsula in Cornelius, at 19101 Peninsula Club Drive, on what the club describes as eleven miles of Lake Norman shoreline, with a golf course designed by Beau Welling. Membership is the club's business rather than the neighborhood's, so I send buyers to the club itself for its categories and its fees.
Is Lake Norman safe to swim in?
People swim in it every summer, but Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services issues no-swim advisories for parts of the lake when something goes wrong: a sewage spill in a cove in July 2023, harmful algae blooms in the lower lake in October 2024. Text MECKNOSWIM to 888-777 to get their advisories, and ask about a cove's history before you buy on it.
Sources for this guide
- Charlotte Real Producers, Charlotte page (the Top 250 rank itself is in their letter to Sunny Yates, forwarded 27 September 2026), read 1 October 2026
- HomeLight, Top Real Estate Agents in Cornelius, NC, read 1 October 2026
- RealTrends Verified, 2026 Best Real Estate Agents in Charlotte, North Carolina, read 1 October 2026
- Canopy MLS Agent Production and Inventory Report, Sunisay Yates, published as her sold record, read 13 September 2026
- North Carolina Real Estate Commission, licensee record 202205, read 30 September 2026
- North Carolina Real Estate Commission, licensee search, read 30 September 2026
- Canopy MLS Rules and Regulations, Section 12, read 30 September 2026
- National Association of REALTORS, 2026 Code of Ethics, Standard of Practice 12-7, read 30 September 2026
