Every time I tried to explain eXp Realty stock share programs to a real estate agent in the past, agents either didn’t care, didn’t understand, or were very sceptical about the opportunity. Everyone keeps asking about the commission split, but nobody asks about the benefits of stock ownership. Who cares about stock, right? Tell me how much the split is. WRONG!
If you are an eXp agent or looking into joining eXp Realty, never forget: “Commission will pay the bills, rev-share will make you look rich, but it’s the stock that will make you wealthy.” I know some of you who are reading this blog want to be wealthy. So, keep reading.
Let’s look at the eXp Realty stock program and see how you could come up with a plan to acquire stocks and build wealth for you and your family by doing the same thing you love to do: selling houses!
But before we dive in…
Why Give Real Estate Agents Stock Ownership?
As real estate professionals, we often preach about the importance of ownership. We ask our clients to invest in real estate. The irony is that 80% of real estate agents do not invest. They spend away their commission and can never get off the commission treadmill. This is a fact.
YOU worked so hard for your clients, and after five years have passed by; you are the same as when you started the business: Looking for the next deal to pay the bills.
How Does eXp Realty Stock Share Solve This?
Glenn Sanford, the founder of eXp Realty, saw this problem and created a way for real estate agents to invest in their future automatically. By creating a program that hands out stock ownership in the brokerage via various acquisition programs, real estate agents can continue selling houses and get rewarded for their productivity by commissions and ownership in the company.
The more homes you sell, the more stock you get. The more stock you get, the more equity you own in the company. When you own something, you will take better care of it.
eXp Stock History & The Stock Split
If I could go back in time, I would probably slap myself. I doubted the stock program at the beginning of 2017 when it was still trading on the penny stock exchange. I didn’t buy any eXp stock until a couple of months later, which is a big mistake
The company stock symbol is EXPI. eXp Realty began trading in 2013, and the stock was trading on the penny stock exchange. It was not until 2018 that the company got up-listed on the NASDAQ. Our company founder, together with other leaders, gathered in New York to ring the closing bell for the first time at this historical moment.
Fast forward to 2022, EXPI is now the symbol of eXp World Holdings, a publicly traded company under the NASDAQ US stock exchange. eXp World Holding also purchased Virbela, one of the real estate tech solutions that powers eXp world. Additionally, eXp World Holding went on to acquire Success Enterprises, a leader in the personal development space. EXPI is also home to eXp Commercial (the first ever cloud commercial brokerage), Success Lending enterprise, and many other professional services companies.
What Does Stock Share Mean For You As An eXp Agent?
When any of these companies have revenue growth, your rev-share check will also grow! We will cover rev-share in a different article.
Due to the company’s impressive financial performance, the stock continued the bullish run into 2021 when eXp realty announced a two-for-one stock split. You heard it right! If you own any EXPI before January 2021, your number of shares just doubled.
“This stock split represents another positive milestone in eXp’s growth trajectory,” said Glenn Sanford.
Within the first quarter of 2022, right after the stock split, the company also announced a stock dividend. Not only did the stock split, but it also started paying dividends. EXPI is currently producing a 1.43% dividend at the time of writing.
I know a 1.43% dividend doesn’t sound like a lot, but take a minute to think about it. This is a way for eXp to tell the world they have positive cash flow! The only company with actual cash flow can afford to pay dividends to its shareholders.
Anyone can pull up their cell phone and buy EXPI since this is a publicly-traded company. But it’s much easier to access eXp stock share for agents working under the eXp banner. Let’s go over that.
The Automatic Millionaires: Agent Equity Program
The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach is probably one of the oldest investing books around. However, the principle in this book holds true today. Essentially it bids good luck to those trying to time the market by buying low and selling high. Instead, it suggests you could have a plan that invests a percentage of your income into something that grows over time and yields dividends. You will automatically become a millionaire sooner or later.
I know agents too well. If you give them $50, they will spend $50. If they have $1,000 in the bank they will spend that money. You get the idea.
You can spend as much as you want at eXp Realty because 5% of your commission – before it hits your bank account – can be used to purchase the common stock at a 10% discount from the market value, regardless of the market conditions. By leveraging various stock programs such as the Agent Equity Program, agents can continue to sell houses and spend as much as they want since the plan is already in place to build wealth.
The program is optional. I can not make any forward-looking statement or income claim, but based on the overall company growth, I can not see why anyone would opt out of this program. It is one of the best value propositions in the real estate industry.
The commercial brokerage model of eXp Realty also utilizes the same plan to build wealth for any commercial real estate brokers looking to join exp realty.
Sustainable Equity Plan
On top of the optional Agent Equity Program, every exp agent is automatically enrolled in the Sustainable Equity Plan. It allows hardworking agents to be compensated for their efforts at the eXp stock awards. Here’s how it works:
- You earn equity awards when you close your first transaction of the year ($200)
- You earn equity awards when the agent you sponsored closed their first transaction, and also when you cap ($400)
The key word here is automatic. You don’t need to do anything else to get the stock. Every year you close your first deal, you get stock. Every time you cap, you get stock.
The award amount is small, but you will be surprised how much can compound if you just sell houses and forget about it. I know agents flipped out of their chairs when they find out how much stock they own after just a few short years with the company. Some even cried because they just could not believe it.
The ICON Award Program
The best of it all is the ICON Award Program. If an agent achieves ICON status, they are gifted up to $16,000 in form of the common stock at the ICON Agent stock award ceremony. It is really hard for me to answer what the split is at eXp Realty because if you achieve ICON status, you essentially pay no cap into the company.
There are two ways an agent can achieve ICON status in the United States.
- Paid Company Dollar Cap of $16,000 and Capped Status Transaction Fees of $5,000, which is essentially translated to closing 20 more deals after you cap (the transaction fee is $250 after you capped)
- Have a gross commission income of $500,000 and ten deals
I am not telling you this is easy. In fact, only 5% of agents within eXp are ICON agents. For example, I have been with the company for almost six years now. The first year was nothing but survival and making sure my mortgage got paid. I barely caped within my second year and almost gave up. Why pay eXp $16,000 right? I thought about moving back to the discount brokerage.
NOPE! I dug in, stayed on the course, and purposely spend time hanging out with and learning from other ICON Agents. Fast forward to 2022, this is my fourth time receiving the ICON award in the company, and I am proud of it!
How Can I Sell eXp Stock?
At the time of this writing, most of the company-awarded stock is held in Sharework by Morgan Stanley. The company is transitioning to E*Trade which will make it even easier for the agent to sell the stock, with just a couple of clicks on the mouse.
Please note that as a general rule of thumb, any stock that gets awarded to you will have a three-year vesting period. Any stock that you using your own money to buy, for example through the 5% program, can be sold the moment the stock is posted on your account
eXp Global Stock Program
Exp Realty is a global brokerage with operations in more than 21+ countries. The eXp Realty stock share for agents in each country is not covered under the scope of this article. Please contact us if you are interested in your country’s stock program.
