The Pros and Cons of eXp Realty: Should You Join?

If you’ve been searching for a new brokerage, or if you’ve been in the real estate business for a while, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of eXp Realty. There’s good reason for it–eXp Realty offers tons of great benefits for their agents. But no brokerage is perfect, and there’s no doubt the eXp has lots of pros and cons like any other. 

Unfortunately, some agents get so excited by the eXp opportunities, they create a “meme vibe.” They descend upon searching agents with desperate promises and end up sounding like sales agents more than real estate agents. They’re not all wrong, but if you’re looking for a more nuanced approach, I suggest you keep reading. I’ll give you the rundown of the eXp Realty pros and the cons you need to know about so you can decide if it’s right for you. 

eXp Realty: The Basics

So, What Is eXp Realty?

Basically, eXp Realty is a cloud-based brokerage. In 2009, Glenn Sanford combined his love of internet-based startups and real estate into a single company. He founded eXp Realty, the first cloud-based brokerage in the United States (or elsewhere). Glenn believes that real estate agents and brokers deserve more for the hard work they do every day, so he created a company that would offer them more benefits for less.

Five years later, eXp had spread to Canada, and by 2017 it had 10,000 agents worldwide. In the last four years, eXp has seen exponential growth! It has now reached 40,000+ agents and opened operations in all 50 US States and 7 Canadian provinces. 

To this day, eXp is one of the top real estate brokerages with extensive 24/7 benefits for all its agents. Some of the top selling points and benefits of eXp Realty that agents bring up include:

• 80/20 commission split–agents take 80% of the commission and eXp gets the other 20%
• $16,000 cap–once you’ve paid $16,000 into the company, you get 100% of the commission moving forward
• Cloud-based brokerage–communication, training, management, and everything else you need is contained online
• Great programs–you have access to competitive health insurance programs, an iBuyer program, cutting edge technology and more
• Sponsorship program–agents can sponsor other agents and receive a revenue share (a revenue stream not available anywhere else)

eXp Realty Pros and Cons

Cons

1. “Salesy” agents. Since the revenue share program can be so lucrative, many real estate agents focus on ‘agent attraction’ to get more out of it. Unfortunately, not all agents understand how to communicate authentically and transparently and end up coming across as salesy. If agents jump into eXp and don’t have a solid strategy for creating sponsorship relationships, they can easily become over excited and create negative perceptions of eXp as a whole by their salesy attitude.
2. MLM perception. Agents are perceived as “recruiters,” part of some kind of MLM system designed to gain more agents without really selling homes. Thankfully, as eXp sales have skyrocketed in the last few years, this perception is steadily decreasing.
3. Cloud-based. There are no brick-and-mortar offices. Some agents need an office, whether that’s for accountability, a focused workspace, or just because they like it. 
4. Uncertainty. Some agents are nervous about the financial uncertainty of an online brokerage, especially with the new revenue-sharing model. Since the idea is still novel, there isn’t a lot of solid evidence for how things will turn out for this type of business. 
5. Overwhelming. With so many moving pieces, many agents can be initially overwhelmed. Starting from a cloud means figuring out the online components independently–from the CRM, the training, the transaction management, the operations, etc., to your personal website and the marketing materials. And you have to learn all this from a distance. This is why it’s important to have a good sponsor who can help you figure out the details and get your business started. 

Pros

1. Split and Cap. As mentioned above, Glenn Sanford’s vision was to provide a brokerage where agents got what they worked for. At eXp, you get 80% of your commission, and after eXp’s 20% from your sales reaches the cap amount of $16,000, you’ll get 100% of that commission. Plus, with the ICON program, all you have to do is sell a specified amount and your first $16,000 will be converted to stock just for you. This income more than makes up for the $85 a month fee.
2. Training. With the cloud-based system, you have access to hours of on-demand training from experts around the world. Whether you need training in marketing, sales, negotiation, or something else, you’ll find it all at the eXp.
3. Technology. Start out at your eXp Enterprise and you can easily connect to eXp World to engage with other agents, the kvCORE CRM to manage your customers and create landing pages or single property websites, and SkySlope to create your documents and take care of transaction information. Plus, eXp has partnered with Regus, a company that provides office spaces anywhere around the globe. If you just can’t handle an office at home, eXp has options. 
4. Sponsorship Revenues. If you attract an agent and they choose you as their sponsor, you earn a revenue share from the 20% that eXp gets from their commission. Using eXp means you can cut the costs of running your own business by simply attracting other agents and earning with them, if you so choose. 
5. Equity. You can earn equity in 5 different ways: when you make your first transaction, when one of your sponsored agent makes their first transaction, when you reach your cap, or when you become an ICON agent. You can also purchase discounted stock with your commission. 
6. iBuyer program. You can offer your client the option to get an instant cash offer online from one of the iBuyers competing for their property.
7. Healthcare. Due to the large size of eXp, they are easily able to provide access to healthcare services much cheaper than other available options. 

Is eXp For You?

I’ve done my best to give you a trustworthy rundown of the pros and cons of eXp Realty. It’s a powerful online brokerage with tons of options for revenue streams and cutting-edge technology. But it’s also a challenge to get started with the new technology, the online focus, and some annoyingly salesy agents. There’s no one perfect answer for which brokerage is perfect for you, but I hope this article has helped you decide what you think of eXp. 

To make the most of eXp, I do recommend you join with a sponsor. Agent First Group is one of the fastest-growing groups at eXp Realty and provides:

• Community – chances to meet and learn with likeminded agents
• Support – a full team of staff members to help you onboard and answer your questions
• Training – a catalogue of videos, written resources, and classes to help you grow
• Resources – scripts, videos, technology and other tools to keep you moving forward
• Services – support for your lead generation, video-creation, marketing, and more

If you have any questions or would like to hear more about joining eXp, go ahead and reach out to me and I will do my best to help you with anything you need.