The Ten: How eXp’s Leo Pareja has taken the reins
During a year of turmoil in the industry, Pareja — who just moved into the CEO role in April — has repeatedly jumped into the fray to tackle issues head-on.
Editor's note: In this year of evolution — much of it mandated by legal challenges — a handful of people and themes have emerged as defining forces. Real Estate News has selected the top newsmakers of 2024, based on their industry impact and influence. They are The Ten.
In 2024, brokerage leaders faced a dizzying whirlwind of changes in real estate practices, while also being confronted with a series of emerging threats and industry in-fighting over what is best for consumers.
As these conflicts and events arose, one leader — eXp Realty CEO Leo Pareja — was quick to publicly respond, rally his troops, announce a game plan and then attack the issue head-on.
NAR settlement action plan
In March, Pareja — who was eXp's chief strategy officer at the time — hosted a live webstream in the immediate aftermath of the NAR settlement announcement where nearly 50,000 concurrent viewers tuned in. The company was one of the first — if not the first — big brokerage to get ahead of the news and share their thoughts and strategy with not only their own agents, but the broader industry at large.
Pareja, along with Holly Mabery, eXp's SVP of brokerage operations, said they had worked through the weekend talking with numerous agents and gathering feedback for their Monday morning presentation. The effort seemed to pay off, as Pareja was promoted to CEO just a few weeks later. At only 41 years old, Pareja became one of the most powerful millennial leaders in the real estate business.
A model buyer agreement
eXp and Pareja also played an important role in this year's debate on buyer agency agreements. While some associations and brokerages produced lengthy in-house agreements filled with legalese, eXp's short and simple buyer agreement earned the brokerage praise from independent consumer watchdog groups and legal experts. Going even further, Pareja and Mabery invited the rest of the industry to use eXp's agreement as-is or as a model for their own.
In discussing the decision to create a bespoke buyer agreement, Pareja said the goal was to remove friction from the transaction, something he understood well from his many years working as an agent. And making it publicly available simply aligned with his view of the industry: "Our position was, look, this is a cooperative industry, and I'm not talking about compensation, but just working with each other," he told the hosts of the Real Estate Insiders Unfiltered podcast.
Taking a stand on Clear Cooperation
Toward the end of the summer, concerns over forms and new industry practices were starting to ease, but another debate was heating up. Pareja was one of the first prominent industry leaders to jump into the discussion about NAR's Clear Cooperation Policy — a rule that regulates listing practices and limits private networks.
While leaders of luxury-focused brokerages like Compass and The Agency coordinated a full-scale attack on Clear Cooperation, Pareja came out in support of keeping the rule in place, arguing that it helped maintain a fair and transparent marketplace and is ultimately in the best interest of consumers.
Getting eXp's house in order
While Pareja has been quick to confront external issues head-on through 2024, he's had to juggle a number of internal issues as well. The company has been retooling its revenue share model and other perks in order to stem the loss of agents following four consecutive quarters of declines in agent count. Additionally, a series of sexual misconduct cases that mired top company execs and recruiters continued to simmer in the background for much of the year. And eXp also saw at least two key figures — including former Chief Growth Officer Michael Valdes — move to emerging competitor LPT Realty.
Though Glenn Sanford may be the visionary and leader who built eXp up from a small player to one of the top global brokerages, Pareja believes he brings a "very fresh perspective" to the company. Alongside Mabery, Sanford and other eXp leaders, Pareja's role will be to maintain — and grow — the brokerage's place near the top while also fending off external threats.