Stock opportunities at eXp may in fact be the biggest difference maker at eXp Realty vs every other brokerage – even the other publicly traded companies. Let me tell a quick story of what finally got me to really look at eXp. When I was at Keller Williams, a friend of mine had already been at eXp for a couple years. He was an ICON agent both years and had been participating in the Agent Equity Program (see the video for full explanation on those), and in doing so had built up a stock portfolio worth around $60,000. Well that was in 2020, when he was buying most of those shares for around $5 per share. Then the stock made it’s first big jump in the fall of 2020 and it was suddenly trading close to $30 and my friend’s portfolio value jumped from $60,000 to over $300,000. He called me one morning and says, “Hey Dave, I just want you to know I cashed out a bunch of my eXp stock and my wife and I are buying a lakehouse with cash”. My jaw dropped I let out a big sigh, that may have been one long expletive, and said, “ok I’m driving to see you tomorrow. Let’s meet”. Little did he know that stock value would go up over $100 per share before splitting in early 2021. Hindsight and all, right? But still, I knew this was the opportunity I wasn’t getting at Keller Williams, and as much as I loved KW, I saw that I could build something for my future – my family’s future – at eXp.
For me, at my production level, knowing that I’ll ICON most years and by participating in the Agent Equity Program, I should be able to earn enough stock to pay for a year of college for my daughter every year I’m with eXp. She was just about to turn 3 when I joined, so by the time she’s 7, I should have undergrad paid for, and that’s if it just holds steady. With the rate the company is growing and expanding beyond just real estate sales, I really believe the sky’s the limit and I’ll be the benefactor of at least a few more big jumps in the stock price over the next 5-10 years. Even if you’re not an ICON agent and you just participate in the Agent Equity Program, buying stock at a 10% discount with 5% of your monthly GCI, you can create a fund that can help pay for your retirement, pay for your kid’s college, buy you a second home (and a third!), travel the world, whatever your heart desires. I even spoke to an agent with eXp out of Atlanta who had been with the company a while and he was able to buy a second home on the beach in South Carolina for $600,000 all with eXp stock. And then he bought an apartment in Paris with eXp stock! That’s crazy, but it’s completely true. So now he spends his time between Atlanta, South Carolina, and Paris. Now that’s a life worth living.
With most brokerages, when you eventually walk away from the business, you walk away with nothing. The sales stop, the money stops. I recently saw an agent at REMAX post a picture of a certificate they gave her for being with the company for 30 years. She joked, “shouldn’t I get a watch or something?” I felt sad know that even if she had just spent the last few years of her career at eXp, she’d be walking away with a whole lot more than a certificate, or even a watch. She’d have tens of thousands in stock to help her through retirement! Trust me, you don’t want to have to sell houses in your 70s and 80s in order to get by. You’ll want to spend that time with family, traveling, and enjoying life. eXp gives us that opportunity. No other company is putting the long term interests of the agents at the forefront of their company model like eXp is doing. I’m very excited to have this opportunity to build and grow my career for right now and to secure my financial future with the help of eXp stock.