Citing commission model, top NJ agent team ditches Keller Williams for eXp

Hoboken-based David Devoe said compensation structure is better at virtual brokerage

David Devoe and eXp realty's avatar platform
David Devoe and eXp realty's avatar platform

A top agent team on New Jersey’s Gold Coast has left Keller Williams for eXp Realty’s virtual brokerage, to escape what the brokers call a restrictive compensation model.

David DeVoe, the head of his eponymous team based in Hoboken, which counts 32 agents and 10 staffers, said he had decided to move because of the commission structure at Keller Williams, according to Inman. He predicts that a “wave” of brokers will continue to leave Keller Williams.

“Because they’re set up so heavily with brick and mortar and tons of salaries, expenses, dinners and lunches, what’s going to happen is their profit is going to get squashed and their profit share is going to be nothing,” DeVoe told the outlet. “That will crumble the culture they’ve built around that and people will need an answer.”

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Devoe told the outlet that at Keller Williams, his agents paid a $22,500 cap to the Keller Williams International Realty and its local market center, prior to accessing 100 percent of their commission.

EXp Realty’s CEO Glenn Sanford founded the firm in 2009, which is effectively a platform that provides a virtual world where avatars of brokers can network and attend classes. Agents earn stock in the company when they close deals or recruit new agents. The company said last year it expected to have an agent headcount of up to 20,000 by the end of 2018.

Its sales have been strong, and in the second quarter of last year, revenue for eXp World Holdings, the parent company of eXp Realty, reached $130.5 million — above the $39 million a year earlier. Net loss was $1.9 million. [Inman] — David Jeans