Residential real estate brokerage eXp continues to be profitable, and company CEO Glenn Sanford became a fan of Glenn Stearns through reality television.
Those were two takeaways from the company’s second quarter earnings call on Wednesday, in which Sanford and other company executives wrestled with how to diversify a company that has been a somewhat unlikely darling of Wall Street.
The Bellingham, Washington-based company reported $37.0 million in net income for the months of April through June, with $20.6 million of that figure coming from a one-time income tax benefit. The tax benefit primarily comes from a release of a valuation allowance, according to a footnote in eXp’s Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
But while eXp has proven consistent profitability and rapidly grown its brokerage, its business has insignificantly diversified beyond collecting a sliver of agent commission splits and assorted agent fees.
One attempt to change that is a partnership with Kind Lending – the new mortgage company from Stearns Lending founder Glenn Stearns – to originate mortgages. The joint venture announced this July is called Success Lending, and it is slated to get off the ground in October.
During the earnings call, Sanford said of Stearns, “He was on the first season of Undercover Billionaire, which is how I sort of learned about him.”
A show on the Discovery Channel, Undercover Billionaire follows Stearns trying to build a “thriving million-dollar business for a small town in the U.S.”
“How he did things really matched up well with how we did business,” Sanford said. “This is a team that wants to roll-up its sleeves. It’s not like announcing a deal with Guaranteed Rate. Everyone has a deal with Guaranteed Rate.”
Sanford was alluding to rival brokerage Compass….. [article continues on HousingWire.com]
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