Pareja joined eXp Realty in 2022 and previously served as its chief strategy officer. Founder Glenn Sanford will remain with the company as CEO of parent company eXp World Holdings.
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Nearly two years after hiring former Remine co-founder Leo Pareja, eXp Realty announced Friday that it has promoted the executive to CEO.
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EXp first hired Pareja as president of affiliated services in June 2022 and promoted him to chief strategy officer six months later. He was recently promoted to CEO and will succeed company founder Glenn Sanford. According to a statement, Sanford “will now fully commit to his role as founder, chairman and chief executive officer of eXp World Holdings, the parent company of eXp Realty.”
Sanford praised Pareja in a statement, saying his “innovation and proven industry leadership have enhanced our agency value proposition by reinventing referrals and lead generation.”
“His deep industry experience and impact on our community are far-reaching, and I am confident that under his guidance, eXp Realty will further solidify its competitive advantage, provide unparalleled value to our agents, and further solidify our position as a breakthrough player in the real estate industry.” Sexual leadership. The real estate industry,” Sanford continued.
Glenn Sanford
The statement added that Pareja has “more than two decades of real estate experience.” According to his Linkedin page, he started working as an agent for Keller Williams in 2002.
EXp’s statement praised Pareja’s recent track record at the virtual brokerage. Friday’s statement noted that Pareja “played an important role in solidifying eXp Realty’s position in the highly competitive real estate market,” adding that his leadership “significantly enriched the company’s value proposition for its agents.” ”.
Pareja takes over as CEO at a time of significant change in the real estate industry. Most notably, a series of lawsuits over commissions threatens to upend how agents are compensated. The lawsuits, which named a number of major industry players as defendants, including eXp in some cases, led to a settlement last month between the plaintiffs and the National Association of Realtors, though that settlement only amplified speculation that big changes were coming. . to the industry.
Meanwhile, high mortgage rates over the past two years have slowed transactions and ultimately lowered realtor rankings. Perhaps not coincidentally, eXp’s once-rapid seat count growth has also slowed, actually shrinking in the most recent quarter, although the company remains bullish on long-term growth.
The unrest served as the backdrop for several other high-profile leadership shakeups. In February, RE/MAX CEO Nick Bailey left the company as revenue continued to decline. Less than a month later, Keller Williams President Mark King also resigned. The two departures come about 14 months after Coldwell Banker Chief Executive M. Ryan Gorman also resigned. The departures add to recent disruption in the real estate industry and highlight its costs.
While commission lawsuits, resignations and market downturns are broad industry trends, eXp is also currently embroiled in an ongoing legal battle stemming from alleged sexual assaults by two former eXp agents.
Prior to joining eXp, Pareja was recognized in the industry as co-founder and former CEO of Remine, which provides public data, search tools and transaction management to multiple listing services and realtor associations. The company went through a rough patch in the early 2020s, with financial challenges, attrition, and an allegedly toxic work environment all making headlines. In 2021, a group of MLSs banded together to acquire the company, prompting a lawsuit from investors. Pareja left Remine in May 2022.
This week, he expressed optimism about the future, saying in a statement that he was “honored to lead a company that has always put innovation and agency success at the forefront of its mission.”
“Together, we will not only continue to redefine the real estate landscape through technology and unparalleled agent support, but we will also help every member of our community realize their full potential,” he concluded.
Email Jim Dalrymple II
