eXp Realty

Including rising inflation, boosting mortgage rates, putting pressure on the housing market.

And we're going to speak with the CEO of eXp Realty next about the real estate realities that are facing home buyers and sellers.

Plus, with new questions about AI development, capacity constraints, safety concerns.

What does it mean for the millions of retirement savers? With huge exposure to the AI trade, we have answers.

Fewer families can afford to both produce a down payment and qualify for a mortgage.

When families are paying more to pump and more for electricity, their willingness to make the largest financial commitment of their lives moderates, even when their underlying desire to own has not changed at all.

Well, joining me now with more frontline insights is Leo Pereja, CEO at eXp Realty.

Leo, it's great to have you back on the show.

My guest today built her entire business from zero, completely solo, and did it her own way.

Tracy Taylor is a Northeast Ohio agent who earned icon status, top 1% in eXp Realty company-wide, in her first full year as an independent agent.

She's the voice behind Real Talk Real Estate, known for saying the things most agents won't, and she's built a niche serving empty nesters and downsizers with a level of honesty that's earned her millions of views.

Today, we're talking about why going solo isn't a limitation, It's her entire competitive advantage, plus a real world story about what happens when a critical piece of your business, your Google business profile, gets shut down overnight and how she got it back.

And I did.

For

those of you listening, that would be Leo Perea, the CEO of eXp Realty.

Yes.

But I realize I've been at eXp over two years, you know, mid-May was two years, and I've never really told you why I'm here, like, what made it make sense for me.

And so we're diving into something today, again, that full breakdown of not only the Icon Award, but eXp Realty, why the model works, why I think it's the best model in real estate, and why personally, I believe the old brokerage model is broken.

So let's start again with the basics.

The Icon Award is one of the most prestigious achievements in real estate and at eXp Realty, a reward system that recognize agents who are not just selling real estate at a high level, but doing it with consistency, culture, contribution, and it rewards top producing agents who give back to the company with an amazing award.

And again, it's not just a plaque or a pat on the back like all these other brokerages give.

They give you your entire $16,000 cap back in company stock.

It really is.

I've been at, uh, different brokerages, and eXp is revolutionizing the game.

I called it now properties, you know, like, why not now? Let's do this now, you know, the whole thing.

But now I've aligned myself with, you know, of course, one of the biggest brokerages in the world, EXP Realty.

And then also now within about a 90 person team called the Apollo Group.

And I'm a team leader on there.

actually this happened yesterday.

As of April 15th, 2026, breaking news, eXp Realty has now changed coming soon.

Does not apply to Zillow though, because I don't know, I don't think that Zillow and eXp are buddy-buddy like that, but I think they're working on it.

So eXp overall has been making a lot of changes with trying to become a lot more transparent to the public and the consumer.

All right, this one shouldn't have shocked me, but it did.

Can you believe that it has been a year since the NARS settlement went into effect? Now, I had hosted eXp Realty's big agent meeting last week.

You did hear it streaming right here on KGCI Real Estate on air on Friday, just ahead of the Friday Focus.

And one of their brokerage leaders, Holly Mayberry, gave a great synopsis of what's happened since and looking ahead to where things are going.

You can watch the full show, Commission Clarity, VA Dominance, and Branding Power on eXp Realty's YouTube channel.

I've got that linked up in the show notes as well.

But I had five takeaways from what she had to say, and I thought that right here would probably be a good place to share those because it's all about what agents still need to be doing and why the NARS settlement matters now more than ever.

The state of Virginia, the Commonwealth of Virginia, excuse me, now requires fee-for-service agreements for all licensees, including commercial.