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Two Tampa-based agent teams have moved to eXp Realty just days after the Kendall Bonner Team transitioned to the brokerage from RE/MAX, company representatives informed Inman.
The Tampa Bay Team, led by Elizabeth Colón, previously at LPT Realty; and the Tampa Bay Home Team, led by Joseph and Christina Kipping, previously at Keller Williams; have both signed onto eXp with the sponsorship of Veronica Figueroa, of the Figueroa Team.
“With these moves, eXp Realty is creating a formidable force in the Tampa Bay corridor,” Michael Valdes, chief growth officer at eXp Realty, said in a statement emailed to Inman. “Our strong value proposition, leadership and agent-centric model continues to resonate with prominent, top-producing agents and teams in the industry.
“We are so proud to welcome The Kendall Bonner Team, The Tampa Bay Home Team and The Tampa Bay Team to the eXp family — they are all leaders in the industry and the Tampa Bay area. At the center of this strong movement is Veronica Figueroa, who is a major influence in eXp Realty’s growth.”
The roughly 60-person Tampa Bay Team closed $110 million in sales volume across 111 units in 2022 and earned a top 5 percent production award at LPT. Colón herself has also been nominated for a Tampa Bay Top Producer — Rising Star Award. Colón’s team also includes her business partners, Yae Colón, Michael Gutierrez and Justin Johnson.
Tampa Bay Team business partners Justin Johnson, Elizabeth Colón, Yae Colón and Michael Gutierrez
The Tampa Bay Home Team, which encompasses roughly 22 teammates, closed $86 million in sales volume across 228 units in 2022. The team earned the KW Double Platinum Award in both 2022 and 2021.
With their moves to eXp, the two teams will merge under the Tampa Bay Home Team banner and will also strategically collaborate with Kendall Bonner and her team across the greater Tampa market.
Tampa Bay Home Team leaders Christina and Joseph Kipping
The team leaders pointed to eXp’s service, tools and connection to other leaders in the industry as incentives for moving over to the brokerage.
“We had been with Keller Williams for nine years, and there are just more things that our agents will be able to do, more opportunities and that was a big thing for us,” Joseph Kipping told Inman in a phone conversation. “Also, getting into business with a lot of amazing business leaders who have left their brokerages and gone to eXp — that was a big deciding factor for us.”
In terms of the sweep of teams in Tampa moving to eXp, the Kippings said they were excited about the prospect of creating a community of teams in Tampa.
“It was a goal of ours to create a community of like-minded agents in the Tampa Bay area that we think was missing,” Joseph Kipping said.
“EXp is such a virtual company and a lot of agents are scared of that because they don’t have the brick and mortar,” Christina Kipping added. “But when you have [teams] like ours come over, we now have a place where agents can come in and work independently — they don’t have to join the team. And yet, they’re still being surrounded by agents and they’re growing and they’re learning.”
Prior to joining LPT in August of 2022, Colón’s team had been affiliated with eXp Realty since December 2020 when Colón launched her real estate career full-time. After just a few months of being with LPT, the team realized it wasn’t a good fit and that they had made a mistake.
“We felt like we were missing the right community of leaders that could guide us and [teach] us how to implement certain things and mentor us to be better team leaders,” Colón told Inman. “And we knew in our hearts that we should have never left eXp and we needed to partner back with the right people.”
By fostering a relationship with Figueroa and Bonner and teaming up with the Tampa Bay Home Team, Colón said she felt like her team could get the leadership and nurturing it was lacking at LPT.
“The community of leaders that we have access to has really brought so much happiness to us because that’s really what we wanted,” she continued. “We just wanted to have that support so that we can grow a solid team and be mentored by the right people.”
