Leo Pareja has a knack for turning moments of uncertainty into opportunities to uplift the industry.
In an exclusive RISMedia interview, the eXp Realty CEO reflected on the sweeping changes he implemented after the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) settlement, and compared his decisions then with his new initiative to open-source seller disclosures across the industry.
“So, during the NAR settlement, there was a bit of confusion in the marketplace as to best practices, and I actually made sweeping, kind of company-wide changes that were controversial, kind of like I just did again this week,” he says. “We rolled out new policies, and we actually wrote forms that we then open-sourced to the entire industry, on best practices.”
Earlier today, during a YouTube livestream, Pareja and eXp SVP of Brokerage Operations Holly Mabery announced the brokerage’s release of an open-sourced “Seller Advisory: Risks of Limited Market Exposure” form.
Pareja said in the livestream that eXp’s position has been met with cynicism as of late due to the brokerage’s size, but noted that “if we were acting purely as capitalists, we’d be on the other side of the argument,” and that his track record as a licensed broker and former president of a trade organization that staunchly advocates for homeowner rights speaks for itself.
“Meanwhile, the loudest voices behind the so-called seller choice movement come from a company born out of greedy venture capitalists, who has purchased all of its growth without a sustainable business model or a clear path to profitability,” he continued. “Now, in a rush to appease Wall Street investors, they’re pushing an agenda that runs clearly counter to consumers’ best interests.”
This news comes just a week after eXp and NextHome joined Zillow in a decision to exclude private listings on the platform. In a press release, eXp contrasted this exclusivity by “doubling down on openness.”
“Let’s be clear: Our agreement with Zillow is not exclusive,” Pareja wrote in a release. “We are offering the same opportunity to every major portal. This is not about favoring platforms—it’s about delivering consumer transparency at scale.”
Built by eXp, the advisory form will be available to every brokerage, portal and MLS in the country. Pareja says his ultimate goal is to help the consumer.
“It really explains to a consumer what it is they’re signing up for with these private exclusives,” he adds. “I’m a pure advocate for what’s best for the consumer, and that’s always transparency. We need to be as transparent as possible. We need them to know the truth of what this limiting exposure does, so they know what they’re signing up for.”
Building off of that, Pareja painted a picture of what a world looks like “where we all go to walled gardens at private exclusives with some nonsense marketing strategies.”
“We can no longer go on the market, because we’ve all chosen to go off the market. This is a Fair Housing disaster that hasn’t been seen since the ’60s,” he said. “If a company is hoarding inventory in any market, all the transparency goes away.”
Pareja stressed that eXp wants “consumers to have as much information as possible,” which Mabery agreed with.
“By educating our sellers as to what their access looks like in promoting their listing, they do get a choice,” she said. “It’s really important that we are not building market tactics that steer a seller in a certain direction because it benefits us personally. We want to make sure they have all the education and information up front to determine what’s best for their family.”
Mabery also noted the Fair Housing aspect of the argument, stating that eXp wants to “empower sellers and not restrict buyers.”
NAR announced modifications to the Clear Cooperation Policy (CCP) last month adding a new “delayed marketing exempt listings” category for which sellers must sign a disclosure.”Right in the language, NAR says, ‘Hey, I need you guys to actually create a disclosure,’ but they didn’t write it, so I did,” says Pareja.
The implementation deadline, on September 30, is put on local associations, says Pareja.
“If we rewind the movie to last summer, when they dropped all of the policy changes per the NAR settlement, it was the same thing,” he explains. “It was like, ‘Here’s some suggestions, but not a lot of clarity.’ So that’s when last summer I made a kind of sweeping company-wide change, and then rolled out forms and open-sourced it to the whole industry.”
The form is open-sourced and available now for agents, brokers and consumers at exptoolkit.com/seller.
“We believe that it’s really critical that as these things come forward, we share with the marketplace. So we are going to empower sellers and empower all of the agents out there,” Mabery said. “Whether you’re with eXp or another company, a small company or a franchise, you’ll have access to this form.”