In short
Payotte ranks companies, never individuals: real estate agent, appraiser (perito valuador), mortgage lender. One firm will be selected per trade and per area, on a 100-point grid based only on public data: Google reviews (35), age of the company (30), declared and checkable licence or register (15), local anchoring (15), bonus (5). It is the grid used in France, Belgium and Canada. The ranking is never paid.
Google reviews: 35 points
Rating and number of reviews on the establishment's Google listing, recorded with their date. Formula: 11.229 + 3.696 × ln(1 + number of reviews) + 6.075 × (rating − 4.8), capped between 0 and 35. The record is attached to the establishment only if the area and the name match and the establishment is not closed.
Review floor. The 85/100 tier and above requires a rating of at least 4.0 out of 5 and at least 10 reviews. Below that, the total is capped at 84.
| Rating | Reviews | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 4.5 | 10 | 18 |
| 4.8 | 10 | 20 |
| 4.8 | 50 | 26 |
| 4.9 | 100 | 29 |
| 5 | 300 | 34 |
Age of the company: 30 points
The age of the company, counted in full years from the date the business was registered, read listing by listing in a public source cited in the listing, by RFC (Registro Federal de Contribuyentes). It is not the experience of an individual. Without a readable date, the criterion is worth 0 rather than an estimate.
| Age of the company (years) | Points |
|---|---|
| 3 | 9 |
| 7 | 15 |
| 12 | 21 |
| 17 | 25 |
| 22 | 28 |
| 27 | 30 |
Checkable licence or register: 15 points
15 points if the firm displays on its own website its licensing body or register, and an identifier (licence, registration or membership number) you can check yourself with that body; 12 points if the licensing body or register is displayed without an identifier; 0 if none is displayed. The listing reads "declared, checkable with" the body, with a link to its search page. Payotte does not verify on your behalf: it copies no register.
| Trade | Where you check it yourself |
|---|---|
| Real estate agent | The licence or registration as a real estate agent where the state requires one (for example Quintana Roo, Sinaloa, Chihuahua), on that state authority's own register; rules differ from state to state |
| Appraiser (perito valuador) | The registration of the appraisal unit in the register of the Sociedad Hipotecaria Federal (SHF), for appraisals used in mortgage lending (gob.mx/shf) |
| Mortgage lender | The entity in the register of supervised entities of the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) or in the CONDUSEF register of financial institutions (SIPRES) |
When the number displayed is that of an individual (an agent or an appraiser of the firm, for example), the listing does not copy it: it states only that the licensing body or register is declared and where to check it.
Local anchoring: 15 points
Establishment unit in the area (8), pages devoted to the area (3), activity figures published by the firm itself (2), languages or specialisation useful to the area (2).
Bonus: 5 points at most
Media (2), awards (1), video (1), publications (1), professional association (1).
No notaries or lawyers in Mexico
Payotte does not list, rank or select any notary (notario público) or lawyer in Mexico. Several state notary laws regulate how notaries may advertise (for example Mexico City, article 35, and Jalisco, article 44), and the advertising of lawyers is bound by the ethics rules of their bar association (Ley Reglamentaria del artículo 5 constitucional, article 42). Their guide pages exist to explain the profession and the register to check, with no call to firms.
Selection rules
- Companies only. A sole trader has no listing: the business is indistinguishable from the individual.
- A name that is not that of an individual. A firm whose name contains a first name or a surname is not selected, unless it itself displays a neutral trading name.
- At most 3 listings per RFC, including for large networks. Elsewhere, the place goes to the next candidate if it reaches the threshold; otherwise it stays vacant.
- Address checked against the actual municipio, not the postal code: one postal code can cover two areas.
What a firm's listing will publish
The company name, its legal form and its RFC, the address of the establishment, the trade and the area, the declared licence or register and where to check it, the score out of 100 and its breakdown, the Google rating and number of reviews recorded (with their date), the age of the company, the firm's website and telephone. No individual is named: neither manager, nor agent, nor appraiser; no personal email or telephone, no review text, no photo.
The ranking is never paid
No firm can buy its place or its recommendation. A firm can correct, complete or have its listing removed, free of charge; a correction changes the score only if the grid above provides for it.
Thresholds
85 points and above: top tier, subject to the review floor. 70 points and above: listing selected. From 50 to 69: published with the mention "partial". Below 50: not published, the place stays vacant.