Jay Shetty Gives Keynote at the 8th Annual Summit in Orlando, Florida, Whose Theme Is ‘Built for the Future’
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Big news came out of Day 2 of the eXp Shareholder Summit when it was announced that eXp World Holdings has an agreement to acquire Zoocasa Realty Inc., an award-winning property technology company and brokerage based in Toronto, Canada. The Zoocasa deal is expected to close on July 1. (Read the press release here.)
“Online home search and lead generation portals are critical tools in residential real estate – both for customers looking to buy and sell homes, and our agents building their businesses,” said Glenn Sanford, Founder, Chairman and CEO of eXp World Holdings. “We’re excited about bringing Zoocasa into the eXp World Holdings family of companies. Their experienced leadership team, technology and well-known Canadian brand will position us to create a unique portal experience, with a goal of taking home search and lead generation to the next level across North America.”
Zoocasa Deal and Keynote By Motivational Speaker Jay Shetty Are Crowd-pleasers
The potential Zoocasa deal and an inspirational keynote by purpose coach Jay Shetty dominated the buzz at the 8th annual eXp Shareholder Summit, a three-day event in which shareholders, investors, agents and staff gather for three days of business, news and updates about eXp World Holdings’ financials and future outlook.
The theme of the event is “Built for the Future” – a nod to eXp Realty’s founding in 2009 as a virtual brokerage. Yes – eXp was operating in the metaverse before the metaverse became a buzzword. Last year, the event was held virtually due to COVID-19, but this year, more than 3,300 are in attendance at the event being held at Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, Florida.
Emcee Kirtus Dixon Kicks It Off With Top eXp Leadership
Senior Vice President of Agent Development, Kirtus Dixon, who is an energizing leader at eXp, emceed the event introducing Glenn Sanford, eXp Realty CEO Jason Gesing and Vice President, Agent Experience Parker Dunahay.
Sanford recounted how eXp came out of a collapse in the housing market in 2008.
“We brought a bunch of folks together to figure out the future of real estate and asked ourselves, ‘What does the future of a real estate brokerage look like?’ We figured out a value proposition for agents – like me – to get excited: An attractive compensation plan and we also wanted everyone to be equity owners. Now, we have a market cap better than any of our competitors. And, while most of the industry is shrinking, we are expanding exponentially.”
Gesing agreed and said, “If you don’t have agents driving the brokerage, you don’t have a business.”
“The best is yet to come,” said Dunahay. “We get to show the industry we are built for anything. We are flexible and adaptable. We are eXp.”
Jeff Whiteside and Courtney Chakarun Talk About ‘Sharing Success’
Next up, CFO Jeff Whiteside and CMO Courtney Chakarun shared numerous slides across the business lines, showcasing agent success. Whiteside displayed slides about eXp’s flexible operating model and strong financial core, which will position eXp for uncertain markets.
“A big part of what makes us different is that we collaborate,” said Whiteside. “I’ve never seen a place in my life where so many people wanted to help others.”
Jim Bramble Leads Discussion With Board Members
Jim Bramble, Chief Counsel at eXp World Holdings, moderated a discussion among board members, including Sanford, Gesing, Randall Miles and pending board member, Monica Weakley. “Having the voice of the agent on the board of directors is extremely important,” said Bramble.
“Getting to know different people in different leadership roles – either from the board or their roles – is important for us to keep finding ideas,” said Sanford. “We’re absorbing information from everyone. It’s key to our ability to lead.”
Weakley said, “I think of eXp as one – we are one. We all are all eXp. We have incredible momentum.”
But Gesing received the biggest reaction from the crowd by saying, “The biggest challenge is to stay true to your values. As you get bigger, it gets harder. But that means you need to double down and really work hard to stay true to your values.”
Sanford summarized by saying, “Since Day 1 we have been designed for agents, by agents. What’s in the best interest of our agents is our goal. We continue to make agent-first decisions. We always go back and iterate around agent value prop, not shareholder value prop.”
Kirtus Dixon Joined On Stage By eXp Realty Agents Rosie Rodriguez and Veronica Figueroa
Dixon was joined on stage by two influential eXp Realty agents, Veronica Figueroa and Rosie Rodriguez.
“What most impresses me about eXp is that I came to eXp four years ago and thought, ‘this company is different – they’re a bunch of rule-breakers.’ But, here, you have a seat at the table. You have the opportunity to create a path you want to create and have a voice and be part of a women’s movement and an international community.”
Dave Conord Presented ‘Built for Future, Built for You’
Dave Conord, eXp Realty North America President, gave an inspirational presentation about how eXp Realty is “Built for the Future, built for you, built for community.” With the market shifting and the mood unknown, Concord said, “When you are choosing eXp, you are choosing hope for your future.
“We’ve been blessed to have an explosive time in the market in the last 10 years, but right now there is uncertainty. But don’t be afraid. Don’t get nervous. We were built for the future – there is no better platform. You are not in it alone. We are in it together. We don’t lead with fear. We lead with hope because hope leads to action.“
Concord explained the graphics on the screen (chart below). “The first graph on the left is revenue growth. Again, eXp is No. 1 by far. The second graph is debt. We have no debt. What does that mean for you? We were built for the future. This model is built for agents.”
eXp Partners Explained With Gracie Martinez and Leo Pareja
Gracie Martinez, Director of Affiliated Services for eXp Realty and Leo Pareja, President of Affiliated Services, explained eXp Partners, which offers eXp agents and their clients an end-to-end marketplace solution for all of their homebuying, selling and commercial real estate needs.
Martinez said, “Our eXp Partners program has been around for three years now, and we’re up to over 25 partners now. What’s really great about our program now is we have added in additional income opportunities, additional RESPA-compliant opportunities for you, as well. We have also added in SUCCESS Lending and more opportunities for agents for your attraction as well. With that, we’ve also added additional integrations.”
Leo Pareja recently joined eXp and explained his desire to grow the Partners program and shared an anecdote about ExpressOffers. “I had a meeting about two hours ago with an iBuyer who is going to onboard about 3,000 seller leads a month, so please go get certified so you guys can qualify for some of those!”
eXp Global’s Michael Valdes: Growing Internationally Without Ever Stepping Foot on a Plane
Michael Valdes is the President of eXp Global and has grown the company to 21 countries internationally – 17 since he joined the company in May 2020.
‘We continue to touch peoples’ lives across the globe and change their lives.”
Valdes explained that eXp Global is now referred to regionally due to its rapid growth. There is the CALA region (Central America and Latin America), made up of Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Panama; the EMEIA region (Europe, Middle East, India and Africa) which includes France, the UK, India, Spain, Israel, Portugal, Italy, Germany, South Africa and Greece; and the APAC region (Asia-Pacific), which includes Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.)
“We opened 17 countries in 18 months in the middle of a pandemic without ever getting on a plane. This would be impossible to do anywhere else.”
One big outcome of a year-long fundraising effort was hitting the goal of raising $600,000 from eXp’s agents and staff to fund the building of 100 homes in a Mexico community hit hard by an earthquake in 2017.
“We exceeded our goal and we built more than 100 homes and it was an incredible experience meeting these folks. I asked the members of the community what they looked forward to the most and a woman said, ‘Walls.’ She was looking forward to walls! Talk about changing lives! Our agents and staff were so impactful. On behalf of those families, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
James Huang and Stephanie Gilezan Explain the Fast Growth of eXp Commercial
President of eXp Commercial James Huang and Director of Growth Stephanie Gilezan took the stage and shared news of the division’s explosive growth since it was established in 2020, clocking in an incredible increase of 409% of advisors who have joined eXp Commercial in the past year.
Huang said, “Everyone asks us why – why have we grown so fast? And I would just say we have the best platform, the best people and the best culture. And, we have the best value prop.”
> See 15 Reasons to Join eXp Commercial
Gilezan said, “What we have done – just like eXp Realty did for all of us – is we have introduced freedom to the commercial real estate brokerage. We have shown them that it is okay to get out of your silos, get into the metaverse and build and collaborate.
“eXp Commercial provides agents technology at $250/month. When I owned my own independent brokerage, this would cost over $3,000 a month per agent for me to provide. But when you happen to be owned by a publicly-traded multibillion-dollar company that we’re all shareholders of, guess what? These technology platforms want to do business with us.”
Orlando Agent Renee Funk Moderated an ICON Agent Panel
Top-producing agent Renee Funk moderated a panel of ICON Agents, including Keith Duble from Austin, Texas; Shannon Milligan from Richmond, Virginia and Beth Silverman from the St. Petersburg/Tampa region. Funk asked where they get their inspiration from.
Milligan said with the coming headwinds, that she focuses on budgeting and education. “Time and resources fix a lot of things. It’s never too late or early. And a lot of people will have a lot of questions for you and they will come to you for comfort, so help them. And both of these things are free.”
In order to get an edge in the business, Silverman said, “I believe in mindshare instead of market share. I made a commitment to be the first person that comes to mind when needed.”
Ruble said, “If you are generous enough and solve enough problems, people come. Solve their problems.”
eXp General Counsel Jim Bramble Conducts Shareholder Business
Jim Bramble, General Counsel, eXp World Holdings, oversaw the Shareholder session in which several items were voted on, including:
- Election of seven directors for a one-year term
- Ratification of independent auditors
- Approval of 2022 named executive officer compensation
All items were approved.
Jeff Whiteside Focuses on Building Market Share & Profitable Growth
CFO of eXp World Holdings Jeff Whiteside returned to the stage to discuss the financial results from 2021, which were deeply impressive, including:
- Revenue increased 110% to $3.8 billion in 2021.
- Gross profit increased 85% to $296.0 million in 2021.
- Net income increased 162% to $81.2 million in 2021.
- Agents and brokers on the eXp Realty platform increased 72% in 2021, ending with 71,137 agents.
- Real estate transactions closed increased 86% to 444,367 in 2021.
- Real estate transaction volume increased 116% to $156.1 billion in 2021.
- Year-end NPS of 71
- Added nine countries in 2021
‘We’re putting an agent value prop together and we’re working hard to make a bigger, better company,” said Whiteside. “The model is to grow our business and grow market share and then put the money back in the bank to invest in the company.
“This is an extraordinary company and the results are fantastic. I am blown away. Collaboration is the reason we’ve been able to do what we’ve done.”
Whiteside said eXp will continue to invest in expanding globally, continue to reinvent the commercial model, invest in technology (Frame), and develop the SUCCESS Enterprises legacy company under the leadership of Jairek Robbins.
eXp World Holdings to Acquire Canada Company Zoocasa
The big news of the day was the announcement of the Zoocasa acquisition in which eXp’s Glenn Sanford, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development Kyle Kittleson, and Zoocasa’s CEO Lauren Haw and COO Carrie Lysenko took the stage to explain the deal.
Sanford explained that eXp is always looking at business opportunities that align with eXp’s businesses and growth strategies and that in early March/April of 2022, Kittleson looked at – and rejected – a bunch of opportunities, but one struck him as being interesting – Zoocasa.
“The idea here is by owning our own portal that we will compete with Zillow, Realtor.com, Redfin,” said Sanford. “It’s a high accountability lead generation program. We have the opportunity to build out the largest portal in Canada and something that will compete in North America and compete alongside the biggest portals here.”
Haw said Zoocasa had over 11 million visitors last year and she has an in-house team that scrubs the lead and qualifies it across Canada. “It’s a modern, intelligent online experience for agents and clients,” said Haw. “We also offer deep market insights and data trends.”
Justin Nelson, Founder of Sphere Rocket, Introduces Jay Shetty
In one of the afternoon’s most inspiring keynotes, Jay Shetty was introduced by eXp Realty Agent Justin Nelson, who is also the founder of Sphere Rocket. Shetty’s background is fascinating and he wasted no time in showing why he is one of the world’s most celebrated motivational speakers and purpose coaches.
> Read the keynote by Jay Shetty
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