Time to eat some crow - eXp Realty

[Charlie MacPherson]

Some time ago, there was a post asking for opinions on eXp Realty.  I shared in not-so-gentle terms how I had been pitched HARD by one of their agents. 

That pitch was completely focused on how I could make future income by recruiting others into my "downline".  It was like every Amway or other MLM pitch I've ever heard, and it was obnoxious.

Fast forward.

My wife and I are relocating to Maine, so I got my real estate license there (like Mass, an incredibly easy exam), and signed on with Keller Williams in April 2019.  That's where it got interesting.

I was assigned a mentor/guide of sorts.  Nice guy, but he's a young kid who just got his real estate license a few months ago. Now I'm not the world's foremost expert, but I've been in sales and sales management for decades.  I've built and lead sales teams across North America and I've been full time in real estate for over 5 years now.

He's very good at posting on Facebook to promote KW, but failed at virtually every commitment he made to me.  Missed meetings, missed conference calls, unanswered emails - and if I wanted to talk with him, I had to schedule an appointment online. 

It finally came to a head yesterday as I was writing an offer for our new home in Maine.

I asked for somewhat urgent support as the offer forms, terms and procedures in Maine are somewhat different than in Mass.  I was writing an offer in a competitive situation and needed help immediately.  I was promised a phone call at 3:10 PM, which, unsurprisingly, never came.

I saw this coming and had decided to start interviewing other brokerages a few weeks ago.  I evaluated five, comparing fees, commission splits, caps, expenses, tools offered and who would be available for support.

On a sample sale with a $2000 gross commission, here's what I found as the net commission to me:

Better Homes & Gardens - $1130
KW - $1316
Bean Group - $1351
VHB (small regional) - $1400
eXp - $1510

So it's time to eat some crow. 

As much as I was put off by the initial pitch and had a seriously bad taste left in my mouth, I had a couple of long conversations with the Designated Broker and signed on with eXp yesterday.

It's simply a better financial decision for me - and it turns out that crow doesn't taste all that bad when chased with a nice single-malt Islay scotch!