eXp CEO on what’s ahead for the brokerage

Today’s HousingWire Daily features a crossover episode with RealTrending, a podcast that focuses on interviewing the brightest minds in real estate. In this episode, Tracey Velt, managing editor at RealTrends, a HousingWire sister company, interviews Glenn Sanford, CEO and founder of eXp World Holdings. 

During this episode, Sanford addresses critics of his agent referral program, discusses where he is taking the company next and growth limiters for the brokerage. 

Here is a small preview of the interview, which has been lightly edited for length and clarity:

Tracey Velt: Your business model has been called a “multi-level marketing scheme” by critics, because eXp has been built on agents recruiting other agents and getting paid handsomely for doing so. So obviously, it’s a creative revenue-sharing model, that’s a unique twist on the Keller model. They also say that if agents all they do is spend time recruiting other agents, they don’t spend time selling real estate. Clearly, that’s not the case, but what do you say to your critics about that?

Glenn Sanford: Innovation usually is criticized by the incumbent. The concept of franchising was criticized back in the day when the first franchises showed up. It was considered unethical for companies to bring in a proven business model and sell it to somebody to compete with the local mom-and-pop businesses.

If you look at what are called direct sales or multi-level marketing systems as a business concept, it’s brought lots of products and services to market, and you still have lots of companies that are doing extremely well using that type of model. What it does is allows somebody who would like to be a business person to get the benefits of a business without what I call the brain damage of actually building the business.

HousingWire Daily examines the most compelling articles reported across HW Media. Each afternoon, we provide our listeners with a deeper look into the stories coming across our newsroom that are helping Move Markets Forward. Hosted by the HW team and produced by Alcynna Lloyd and Victoria Wickham.