One of the most important questions you can and should ask before joining any brokerage is what kind of support you’ll get at the brokerage. The same holds true at eXp Realty: in fact, even more so given that the brokerage is virtual.
Because eXp Realty is a completely virtual brokerage, some agents assume they just won’t find any support when joining. This couldn’t be farther from the truth, though! As an agent-centric brokerage, eXp prides itself on offering top-notch support to all agents.
In fact, eXp Realty has the most robust support system of ANY brokerage. No matter how caring your brokerage is or how close you are to them, eXp Realty has a better and closer support structure, no question.
And you may be thinking now…wow, that’s pretty offensive, you don’t know my broker. But guess what, I do know your broker. The general broker has to be the broker in charge, the compliance officer, the tech person, the accounting person, the mediator, the therapist, and more.
The thing is, eXp Realty offers over 1,000 staff members to support you as an agent in any area you need help, including:
- Technology
- Compliance
- Contracts
- Accounting
- And much more!
So at eXp, the support you receive is from a specialist as opposed to a generalist.
But allow me to be more specific by walking you through a real life scenario that any agent can find themselves in.
Seven Steps to Finding Support at eXp Realty
So let’s set the scene. Let’s say it’s 8:00 p.m. on a Saturday. That last showing at 6:00 p.m. was the one…your client falls in love with the home and they need to submit an offer immediately because the highest and best is due Sunday morning!
But what if you’re a new agent and don’t know what you’re doing? Yes, you went through real estate school, you went through eXp University, you went through a few CE classes here and there on contracts. However, it didn’t occur to you to actually practice doing this as opposed to just watching someone do it for you.
In a normal case with the traditional broker–the same broker that you love and believe will be available 24/7 for you–you’ll likely give them a call only to find that they aren’t really around at 8:00 p.m. on a Saturday evening. They might be sick, asleep, on vacation, out on a date, or unavailable. Maybe their phone is dead or they are ignoring it because it’s the weekend. What do you do now?
At eXp Realty, here’s exactly what you can do.
1. Reach Out to Your Mentor
First, try to reach your mentor. If you’re a new agent with fewer than three transactions in the last year, eXp will require you to have a mentor who can help you get used to real estate and be that guide. Most mentors are still practicing real estate, so chances are they will be available at normal times. But this particular day, maybe they are not reachable. Again, remember you have to submit an offer for your clients by morning.
2. Log In to the Broker Room
You can head to eXp World next and log in to the broker room. There’s always an off chance that a broker is hanging out there for one reason or another. That’s highly unlikely, but who knows…maybe they forgot to log off from eXp World for whatever reason.
However, keep in mind the power of this step in normal circumstances is during business hours. At the end of the day, brokers and staff are people too. In this respect, it’s no different than a brick and mortar, and you wouldn’t expect your broker to be at the office during these hours.
This room will also grant you access to transaction specialists, accounting teams, and many other administrative staff members who might be able to help you. It’s a HUGE benefit for the right moments when any one of those staffers could help you. But again, not quite at 8 p.m. on a Saturday.
3. Search for Your State Brokers
As a new agent, you probably don’t even remember the name of your state broker. Therefore, you’re going to need to find them some other way. Simply head over to eXp Workplace and search for your state broker group.
Say, for example, you’re in Texas. You search for Texas and you’ll come up with a page with the names and contact information of all state brokers and transaction specialists. Now, you can:
- Call each one. If no one answers,
- Email each one. If there is no reply,
- Text each one. If they still don’t get back to you,
- DM each one through Workplace, the app that all agents can access.
If you still can’t get through on this busy Saturday night, it’s time to try the next step.
4. Search Workplace
On Workplace, you have access to THOUSANDS of agents around the world. Drop your question on your state workplace group or use the search bar to see if you can find more information on your specific question. Keep in mind, with 89,000+ agents, it’ll be hard to ask a question that has never been asked.
With this option, you’re tapping into the knowledge of thousands of agents who may be online on a quiet Saturday evening and have their notifications on. But if you still can’t reach anyone….
5. Tap Into Your Revenue Share Group
If you joined eXp Realty with a good sponsor, you will likely be part of a larger group within the company. This group will be made up of the agents who are FULLY vested in your success. You might be able to find help from your revenue share community.
For example, I’m the leader of Agent First Group and have sponsored over 100 agents personally (more than 99.999% of all other eXp agents). My team can access our private community groups and contact each other at any point in time. We blanket the United States and several countries, so we have local knowledge to share and help agents.
Assuming you as an eXp agent have access to a community like mine (or if you don’t and would like to join mine, check us out) you go ahead and drop a question to your group. One of them just might be doing some last-minute work like you and can help you answer your question or walk you through the transaction.
6. Connect with Your Sponsor
If you can’t reach anyone in your revenue share group, you could reach out to your sponsor directly. Try calling or texting them to see if they’re available. Then, they can either help you or connect you with a resource or agent from their network who can.
Remember, your sponsor wins when YOU win. They more than anyone would love for you to get an offer accepted because that means there’s revenue to be shared. Also, when you make your first transaction at eXp Realty, your sponsor gets a $400 stock award. So there’s a big motivation for your sponsor to take out that laptop and help you through the transaction.
7. Use Your Resources
Upon joining eXp Realty, you received an onboarding packet full of resources, guides, and references. You can search through all these resources to find an answer to your question if NO ONE at eXp is available to help you.
Note, this is step SEVEN. I got to 7 levels of support. Now compare this to your one broker that you absolutely love that did not pick up the phone that Saturday night at 8 p.m. Could you see why I’m so bullish on our support?
Finding Help with Other Support Options
Support at eXp Realty really is comprehensive. With seven levels of support, you should be able to find help no matter what issue you’re facing, regardless if you need login help, negotiation help, or help on how to write a complete offer. However, let’s also take a look at more options for finding support that you can follow up with independent of eXp Realty.
1. Tap Into Your Network
You’re sure to know other real estate agents out there, whether you went to school with them or simply knew someone before from buying a house yourself or networking with friends. Reach out to any real estate agent you know to see if they can help.
You want to know how I learned how to write a contract (mind you I wasn’t with eXp when I started in real estate)? I looked at the offers my real estate agent Bob wrote for me when I was purchasing my own home. There you go…it’s that simple.
2. Google or YouTube
Quite honestly, if you’ve got a question, it’s likely that someone out there has already answered it in a blog post or YouTube video. Take to Google and see what you can find out.
For example, I’ve personally uploaded over 1,000 videos to YouTube to help agents like you navigate real estate questions. And there are THOUSANDS of other agents and videos out there you can use for support.
I’ve used this resource before too–when I first started, I supplemented amendments and addendums Bob never used on my personal purchase by watching YouTube videos. This is one of the quickest and simplest support options out there!
3. Know Your Business
Now here’s the thing–I have to be a bit of a hard butt right now. I’ll remind you that it’s important you know your business before you start helping clients. Seek out training and practice so you aren’t at a loss when these situations hit you.
Keep in mind, you as an AVERAGE real estate agent have the potential to earn more than a practicing physician with ten years of education! And all you needed was 6 weeks to get your license at a $1,500 investment.
I’m not trying to demean the profession–this profession retired me for the second time after the healthcare industry retired me for the first time. I’m trying to highlight that you’re a professional who gets the opportunity to help buyers and sellers with their largest financial asset. If you take time to learn and prepare, you’ll be able to answer your questions without help and without seeking support and you’ll be a better agent for it. Take your profession seriously and it will take you seriously.
If you need support from a sponsor and agent team who can help you get the most out of your eXp Realty experience, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. My group also has an internal staff independent of eXp Realty that can help you directly.