A major Keller Williams team in Salt Lake City, Utah, announced this week that it is decamping for eXp Realty, citing the latter company’s digital orientation and diverse revenue options as major selling points.
Michael Perry, co-founder of the 53-person Perry Group, told Inman he and his team shopped around for brokerages for years. Though he praised Keller Williams and described working at the company as “an incredible opportunity,” he and the team were also looking for new ways to expand quickly and nimbly. After eXp approached the team, it became clear the company was the right fit.
“The eXp platform really allows us to go do things in a more mobile and quick fashion,” Perry said.
Though the team will maintain its office in Salt Lake City’s popular Sugar House neighborhood, Perry explained that the goal is to expand into neighboring communities such as Park City and Utah County this year, with a target of hitting 100 agents before 2022. In 2022 and 2023, the team hopes to expand into neighboring states as well and, Perry said, being with eXp means not having to physical open offices in those further-flung communities.
Michael Perry
“You don’t have to have brick-and-mortar,” Perry said, pointing to eXp’s virtual environment that takes the place of physical offices.
Perry also said he was drawn to eXp’s various revenue options — the company provides stock to agents, for example — that help agents make money beyond their commissions.
The Perry Group was founded three years ago and claims to have done $134 million in 2020. In an email to Inman, co-founder Jack Perry described the group as the top Keller Williams team in Utah.
The Perry Group’s move comes during a renaissance of sorts for teams in real estate. That, in turn, has also meant a steady stream of headlines about one team after another jumping ship for new brokerages. The Perry Group’s jump to eXp, specifically, also is just one of many examples of teams throwing in with the upstart virtual brokerage.
Perry himself praised eXp. He explained that his team leans heavily into technology, particularly harnessing Zillow, and that he wanted to join a company that “matched our progression.”
“I don’t think there’s another company in real estate,” he concluded, “that can benefit the agent as much as eXp does.”
