Thoughts on Exp Realty?
To my sisters and brothers in the real estate biz - I'm considering joining Exp Realty and curious to hear your thoughts - positive and negative - on this company/their approach. On the one hand, the stock options, agent referrals, etc, make it feel like a no-brainer. On the other hand, if it was truly a no-brainer, wouldn't everyone be doing it?? Thanks!
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@Ben Toth I was pitched by them - HARD. The entire experienced reeked of Amway or any other MLM scheme you've ever been pitched on.
I was sent the Powerpoint of their pitch - still have it somewhere. Nearly the entire focus was on recruiting and getting rich from your "downline".
Every person I've talked with who signed on takes on the aire of a cult promoter. In fact the guy who pitched me sent me a polite kiss-off letter, saying he was sorry that I couldn't see the obvious value that he had placed in my lap.
They may have the best systems in the world, but their pitch was a VERY effective turn off for me.
I joined eXp about 10 months ago and I love the model and all the offerings. In my short time with the company I have close to 700 shares of eXp some given to me on capping and other things, I also take 5% out of every deal I do and purchase stock . As a full time commercial realtor I have been able to partner with a bunch of eXp residential agents and at this time I have already closed 3 million in referral business and I pay a 25% referral fee (win win). We are all working together to better the company and the bottom line is we have to do deals. So the recruiting piece it's another tool in the tool chest but if you don't see it as a really strong potential to grow your business your missing this unbelievable opportunity. I have been swamped but I'm going to start building my team/brokerage without the headache of being a broker. We are not an MLM we are a commercial brokerage that is giving back to the agents. So yes we might have some agents that might be a little pushy but I urge you to take a look at the company. No other brokerage comes close to what eXp offers in my view
David Aronson Commercial Realtor
I've been with eXp for a year now. Couldn't be happier. The education and Nationwide collaboration has made me a better agent. My confidence and income has grown by leaps and bounds. And sellers love that I'm offering something different. In the area I focus in, we have 300+ agents spread amongst 4 brokerages. I'm able to stand out because I'm NOT with the same company everyone else is. Getting in front of people is as easy as saying "have you talked to an eXp agent yet?"
That’s awesome @Angela Short! I’ve found the same to be true-
Great perspectives. I'm an eXp new agent mentor now- and I know that at eXp or at any brokerage, having a go to agent to talk to and learn from is crucial. I look back and am not sure how I really got started on my own ...it was a lot of trial and error. I think I took a lot longer to get out of the ground because of it. Most brokerages won't have minimums, but good idea create your own mental minimum to meet your financial goals. :)
Hi, as a new agent how are new agents guided at eXp? Thanks!
Training, you’ll be assigned a Mentor for your 1st three transactions and Broker review/oversight-
I joined exp October 2018 as a new agent. I sold 9 million in my first year this year (2019). Best thing I ever did was join exp!
@Charlie MacPherson So... I have to ask... after all your negative posts about eXp Realty.... why and when did you join?! :-)
Would love to hear why you changed your tune... and decided to give us a try! :-)
Holly Brink
Charlie explained why he ended up choosing to join exp about ten posts ago.
The agent makes it happen, not the brokerage. Good agents thrive under any brokerage. Bad ones either fade away or focus too much on the 'education' the brokerage offers to avoid what they are afraid of. It's like real estate investors that go to networking events and never do a deal. They have fears and actionable items they need to face. They are getting exactly what they set out to do even if they don't know it.
- Ian Walsh
Hey Charlie, thats funny I was reading through this thread and read your first post in the beginning and read through several pages then I fast forwarded and found your second post. Interesting evolution and parallels what I was going to do.
When I read your first post on EXP and I had the same experience and feeling - too Amwayie and just not my cup of tea. I have been approached several times to join EXp and like some components but dislike others. One red flag I have is I had an online real estate coach this last year and they have been pushing it really hard, he went from being against it to trying to recruit every one that signs up with them. THey are old school and I do like that but to the point where I think they are missing the boat. Now all they talk about is joining EXP. They have an online, conference call and email but no real hands on unless you pay 10x more. They never called me in a year. But the second my membership expired and I stopped payment, they were calling me 3-4 times per day. Hmm thanks.
The industry is changing and brokers run offices haphazardly and have slim margins and outdated strategies.
[ I spent long time with C21, then my own brokerage]
Most brokerages I have a hard time aligning my concepts and strategies with so I stay independent. But being independent in my market is like slow suicide, its becoming just too hard to go it alone. So I have been looking around.
Ideally if EXP was a traditional office it might be more enticing. I think despite the frantic, online, virtual environment I think buyers and sellers and agents would do better by having a physical location. A center point, grounded and more real. I think there might be a backlash as we go forward with ever increasing competition and the soon to be lunch eaters iBuyers. I think the real physical brick and mortar has a place and should not be counted out. Call me old fashioned but my accountant and attorney have real offices and if we are going to be continually trying to elevate our image and level of professionalism we need a physical location. The more virtual everything comes the more things become or perception becomes cheap, race to the bottom - Uberized and Amazonized.
High tech, high touch, low cost model that benefits the agents and the clients long term. How can we add value and solve problems for people, thats the only way we are going to stay relevant in this business. Thats what I am looking for. Call me old fashioned.
@Rob Massopust I didn't know "Amwayie" was a word, but I completely understand. The first two times I was pitched I felt like I needed a shower afterward. It just reeked of pyramid schemes.
My goal with exp is to help clients to buy and sell real estate. I spend virtually zero time recruiting as it's not my focus, and to be honest, at 64 years old, I don't think I have 20 years left to build a meaningful down line. Not to mention that I really don't have any interest in recruiting. That's one of the things I was very happy leave behind when I fired myself from my own brokerage.
As to your online coach hard-selling exp, I'd say it's time to find a new coach!
My decision to finally join exp was simply a result of interviewing with a bunch of different brokerages and finding that I would make significantly more money with exp. That and the outstanding tech sealed the deal for me.
Rob, Regarding your post, not sure about you but if I was invested in Amazon or had anything to do with it, I would be a happy camper. As to needing a brick and mortar, ask Blockbuster how well that worked out for them! Most agents I know never or rarely go into the office and most admit they go to print crap out or use as storage space. I cant remember the last time I met an agent at his or her office to buy or sell a deal. Times change and I think eXp is a forward thinking company, i.e. Glenn Sanford.
That said, many of the eXp agents, especially the new ones, get in and recruit, recruit, recruit. We see it all over BP and it gets quite old quite fast. That is honestly the ONLY thing that turns me off from eXp (and we moved my wif'es license over to eXp 18 months ago!).
I agree going about it on your own with a small brokerage is likely not going to end well but would also contend that needing office space (dependent on your exact business model) is rarely applicable these days. With technology, apps, cell phones more powerful than any computers from the 90's, electronic signature abilities and so on, one can sell real estate more effectively "In the field" than in an office. Just my opinion though.
@Ben Toth I switched to eXp about a year ago. I am a fan. I’m sure it is not for everyone. I enjoy the constant support and education as well as the tools and resources that are growing and improving almost daily. Some agents are overbearing and annoying and yes, even unethical, in their pitch to join. That has not EVER been the direction or instruction given to agents by the company and the leadership is trying to get rid of that element. It is a moving target with so many people coming aboard in such a short time.
My business focuses on selling real estate, not selling eXp to other agents. That said, I think that eXp sells itself with its many advantages over most traditional brokerages. I couldn’t unsee it.
To me it's just a big MLS. It seems the agents focus more time on trying to recruit people to join than actually doing business. That is why you see so many EXP agents trying to recruit recruit. I personally think we need to focus our efforts on selling houses and not recruiting.
Thanks all! I JOINED!
@Charlie MacPherson, I'm a little late to this thread but you initially had a negative review to EXP. I see now that you are affiliated with them. I am a new agent and I am thinking of affiliating with Exp realty. What has changed your mind in the last year that made you join EXP? What is your advise?
@Kimberly Gonzalez I had been pitched twice on eXp before I eventually joined - both were really ham-handed and focused almost completely on the "recruit your way to wealth" approach, which goes to the point that @Monica Breckenridge was making.
They struck me like every bad MLM pitch I've ever heard. They even used cringey MLM lingo like "downlines" and it was a complete turn off. It was like listening to an Amway True Believer™.
The reason of course, is that if someone names you as the person who most influenced their decision to join eXp, you make a small % of their earnings. You can theoretically recruit your way to wealth, but in reality, you'll just turn into the person that everybody hates to see walking toward them.
When I relocated to Maine last year, I signed on with Keller Williams. The experience there was HORRENDOUS, which caused me to go out and interview with several other brokerages. I wasn't even going to consider eXp, but in the end, I put my negative feelings aside and talked with the managing broker.
I found her to be smart, personable and very helpful - to the point that she walked me through the process of writing the offer on my new home in Maine. (Maine terminology, forms and procedures are VERY different than they were in my home state of Massachusetts, so I really needed some guidance on my first offer, especially as KW ghosted me).
I then did an analysis of expenses, commission splits, caps and tools/tech provided. eXp clearly came out on top. I simply make more money with eXp and the tech is every bit as good as KW. We have an online transaction management system to keep us on track. eXp provides kvCORE - a superb CRM / website / leadgen system. There's a marketing center where you can customize fliers, mailers - almost anything you can think of.
The ongoing support has been superb. Better than I ever had at C21, Weichert and by far better than KW. I can reach her reliably through Workplace any time I need an answer.
Training is also superb. We work in a virtual "world" where we can walk our avatar around to conference rooms and auditoriums to sit in on sessions. Many are recorded so we can watch later. There's lots of help available through Workplace (a Facebook app). We even have a daily regional round table for those who choose to attend. The floor is wide open for questions, discussion, etc.
For the first time since I've been licensed, I don't feel like I'm out on my own. I have a solid company and broker there for me.
I pretty much ignore the recruiting parts. If someone is interested, fine. But my focus is helping clients buy and sell properties. I took a 3-year run at getting my own brokerage up and running. I've burned up enough time recruiting that I don't ever want to do it again. Maybe another 5 years at eXp and I'll hang up my license.
I also ignore the stocks. I get shares with every sale, but I have never even looked at the share price. I just don't care. Want to buy or sell a property? We can talk all day. I have no interest in stocks. Just not my thing.
So I hope that answers your question. Good luck with whatever decision you make!
@Charlie MacPherson nailed it! I couldn't agree more. EXP has two kinds of agents, those who are there just for the MLM/stock aspect, and those who ACTUALLY want to sell real estate...
I am the type of person who doesn't like getting a hard pitch from people so I never engaged with my EXP friends on the topic of joining. One way to avoid to avoid the hard sell is to reach out proactively to EXP'ers, rather than just getting a hard sell from an agent friend. You can find people in your area on the EXP website and just search by your city. You could also do your own research and look at reviews online, so you are not locked into multiple conversations if things turn south.
There isn't anything inherently wrong with EXP (I think I read that they are the biggest brokerage in the US now?). It's really just the aggressive recruiting that rubs people the wrong way. Ultimately, I decided it was not a good fit for my career goals (the virtual thing seemed like too much of a barrier for a newbie), but got to avoid getting the hard sell from agents who are more about recruiting than actual real estate.
KW and EXP are very similar in their business model and I think work best for a people with a business owner mindset. Technically you can also consider RE/MAX, but then you are own your own.
What I have learned is who you work with (people) matters a lot. I have been with KW for 4 years - I started out with an amazing leadership team, then had a year of really bad which made me almost start looking for options and the last two years have been fantastic again.
I know a few good agents who have switched from KW to EXP and have good things to say. I think EXP is a bit cheaper and that is a good reason; however I leverage KW ressources a lot and so it's well worth it to me. I cap usually within 3 months. I could not see myself work with a traditional brokerage and split every commission check.
@Ben Toth welcome!
@Mike R. In my limited experience as an investor and part time agent who also attracts part time, I think there are really 4 types of agents that come to eXp:
- Big producers - that find they'll net more annually after the switch.
- Part time agents - this is why I joined; all I knew was I needed the virtual flexibility to train outside of work yet still have a local mentor for support.
- Investor agents - 100% commission on a few personal transactions a year is nice.
- Passive income focused agents - The right way to approach attraction is to add value and foster personal relationships. Unfortunately it doesn't always happen this way, which is silly because it works great for the agents do it right.
For me, a virtual model makes the most sense. Absolutely not the case for everyone. This is especially true for newer agents that want to become top produces. Those agents would be best served by joining a local team, which could be eXp or somewhere else, depending on the area.
- Charlie Cameron
I joined eXp in 2014 as agent #300. My husband and I have both worked on the corporate side and as brokers. eXp is a tremendous company, I thoroughly enjoyed my time there helping to grow the company from 300 to 30,000 agents across the US and Canada.
We left eXp in June of 2020 for a new opportunity with Real Brokerage. As eXp was the next evolution of Keller Williams, Real is now the next evolution of the eXp model. We've just gone public and will be announcing our programs designed to reward agents with equity for hitting production benchmarks. We will be controlling the recruiting aspect to protect the brand and keep it classy. Happy to chat about details if you are in search for a new real estate brokerage.
As of June 2020, we are open in 21 US States and actively searching to add top talent.
This is a lot of information on eXp. I am sitting my RE exam in August and researching what brokerage to join. So far KW and eXp are coming out on top.
I am tech savvy and am looking for more information on the ease of technology the two brokerages use. Is it easy to use the tech to get leads etc? I want to hear more about the online marketing that is done to get leads.
I would love to chat with any realtors based in Los Angeles (North Hollywood, Burbank, Glendale, Studio city areas) and get your perspective as well.
Thanks
V