From Listings to Leadership: CEO Leo Pareja's Insights for Real Estate Growth

Kicking off week 2 of the 30-Day Listing Challenge (30DLC), we had an incredible session from titan Leo Pareja, CEO of eXp Realty. Leo's journey from a 19-year-old college student to industry leader is remarkable — starting his real estate career while in college, becoming the #1 Keller Williams agent worldwide by 28, and co-founding successful lending ventures all before joining eXp Realty's executive leadership.

Let's dive into the key lessons from Leo's extraordinary career and how you can apply these insights to your real estate business today.

Watch Leo Pareja's entire titan session here →

Creating a Hook: Finding Your Unique Value Proposition

As a sophomore in college with just one transaction under his belt, Leo created a compelling hook for his target market: College fraternity brothers and their parents. The hook was simple yet powerful — let me talk to your parents about covering your housing needs for next year.

Actionable Takeaway: Develop a clear, concise hook that speaks directly to what matters most to your potential clients. Leo's approach demonstrates that you don't need dozens of transactions to start building your business — you just need one success story and a compelling way to leverage it.

"I called every fraternity brother and said, 'Let me talk to your parents about covering your housing needs for next year.' Once I got the mom or dad on the phone, I'd say, 'How would you like for the budget of next year's room and board to cover their room and board for the rest of their time in college?'"

Understanding Your Value: The Hourly Rate Exercise

One of Leo's most practical insights is his method for evaluating time and determining what tasks to delegate. He suggests taking your previous year's 1099 income and dividing it by 2,080 (the number of hours in a standard work year) to calculate your effective hourly rate.

Actionable Takeaway: Calculate your hourly rate today. This simple exercise provides clarity on how you should prioritize your time and what tasks you can outsource. Track your activities in 10-minute increments for a week to identify time-wasters and opportunities for leverage.

"Take your 1099 from last year and divide it by 2,080, which is what the Labor Department calls full-time employment. That gives you an hourly rate — a really good decision tree for how you look to spend your time every single day."

 The Power of Leverage: Starting with Personal Tasks

Contrary to what many agents believe, Leo suggests that the first things you should outsource are personal tasks — not business ones. This strategic approach frees up your most productive hours for revenue-generating activities.

Actionable Takeaway: Identify personal tasks that consume your time but could be easily outsourced: Grocery shopping, house cleaning, lawn care, or dry cleaning. Reclaiming these hours allows you to focus on high-value prospecting activities during optimal productivity times.

Watch Leo Pareja's entire titan session here →

Weathering Market Cycles: Learning from Downturns

Leo candidly shared his experience losing everything during the 2008–2009 housing crisis, describing how he went from a net worth of $5 million to $1 million in just six months. Instead of giving up, he studied economic history and recognized the cyclical nature of markets.

Actionable Takeaway: Study past market cycles to prepare for future ones. Build your business model with resilience in mind by diversifying income streams and maintaining healthy cash reserves. Remember that real estate has consistent patterns of contraction and expansion—preparation is key to surviving downturns.

"I just started studying history as much as I could... I started calling older, wiser folks, and they said, 'hey, [an economic downturn] happens every 10 to 20 years, depending on whether it's a cycle or a super cycle.' Look at the past. We had one in '92, we had one in '86... and you just go back and you see that there's these ebbs and flows in the economy, contraction and expansion of debt."

"List to Last": Focusing on Listings for Scalability

Leo emphasized the efficiency of listing-focused businesses over buyer representation. According to past NAR data he cited, the average buyer representation takes about 87 hours of work, while the average listing takes only 30 hours (something that Fello CEO Ryan Young also focuses on: Listings are more efficient with a better ROI).

Actionable Takeaway: Shift your business toward listings for greater efficiency and scalability. Create systems specifically designed to generate and convert listing opportunities. Consider that each hour spent on listing activities delivers nearly three times the return of buyer activities.

"According to NAR, the average buyer representation takes about 87 hours, versus the average listing takes 30 hours. The second somebody explained that to me, I was like, I'm gonna go do a lot more of that."

Multi-Transaction Relationships: The Power of Institutional Clients

One of Leo's most successful strategies involved developing relationships with entities that could provide multiple transactions. Rather than pursuing individual homeowners one by one, he focused on investors, developers, banks, and institutions.

Actionable Takeaway: Identify potential multi-transaction sources in your market: property investors, small developers, relocation companies, or financial institutions. Build relationships with these entities by demonstrating specific value tailored to their needs.

Watch Leo Pareja's entire titan session here →

Be a Consultant, Not a Salesperson

When meeting with potential sellers, Leo positions himself as a consultant by presenting multiple options rather than pushing a single approach. He provides three separate net sheets: a cash investor offer, an as-is listing, and a fully renovated listing.

Actionable Takeaway: Create presentation materials that show sellers all their available options with transparent numbers. This consultative approach builds trust and positions you as an advisor rather than a typical agent trying to "sell" your services.

"By showing up and showing them all the possible scenarios... you're actually becoming a consultant and saying, 'The property is worth what the property is worth.' If you remove yourself as a salesperson and become a consultant, it becomes a very different non-confrontational approach."

Building a Referral Pipeline: When to Ask

Leo identified three specific moments when clients are most likely to provide referrals: When signing the agency agreement, when the contract is ratified, and at the closing table.

Actionable Takeaway: Build referral requests into your transaction process at these three key moments. Create specific scripts for each occasion and make them a non-negotiable part of your business routine. Be specific in your ask — request referrals to people who might be selling, not just buying.

"When you ask is almost as important as just asking... People actually do exactly what you asked of them. So when you ask, 'Do you know anyone who wants to sell a home?' Remove the 'buy' out of your ask."

Watch Laurie Reader's 2024 30DLC session all about nailing the listing appointment →

Digital Brand Building: Becoming the Mayor of Your Market

For scaling your business in today's environment, Leo emphasizes the importance of building a digital presence. He notes how top-producing teams at eXp are leveraging digital platforms, particularly YouTube, to create content that works for them 24/7.

Actionable Takeaway: Commit to consistent content creation on at least one platform where your ideal clients spend time. Focus on providing genuine value through market updates, property showcases, or educational content. Remember that your digital presence serves as a 24/7 listing appointment while you sleep.

"The big aha I've had is how something like a YouTube strategy — in addition to everything as that local mayor — is monumental because [YouTube] is going on listing appointments all night while you sleep. And then you wake up to very high-intent leads."

Watch our session with CEO Robert Palmer to learn more about real estate marketing →

Finding Your Focus: Understanding Your Natural Talents

Leo emphasizes the importance of understanding your personality type and natural strengths. As a high D-I (Dominant-Influential) on the DiSC® profile (DiSC = Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Conscientiousness), he recognized that certain activities drained his energy while others energized him.

Actionable Takeaway: Take a DiSC® assessment or similar personality profile to understand your natural strengths and weaknesses. Structure your business to maximize activities aligned with your strengths while delegating or partnering to cover areas that don't come naturally to you.

"When you figure out what your God-given talents are — for example, the call nights. That gives me anxiety. I'd rather play in traffic than call a stranger... This is how I think about the DiSC profile and how personality affects everything. I am a high D-I, I have a low S-C. I can do just about any role that an S-C does, but by the end of the day, I'm more mentally drained. And so how you show up when you're doing something that you don't have a natural inclination to? One is you'll make more mistakes, right? Cause your brain's wired differently. And two, you'll be really tired by the end of the day. And that's a crappy way to be, 'cause you show up, not the way you want to show up to your loved ones."

The Asymmetrical Value Proposition

Perhaps Leo's most profound business philosophy is his commitment to delivering more value than the fee he charges. This approach creates raving fans who actively promote his services.

Actionable Takeaway: Audit your current service offering and identify ways to enhance the value you provide without increasing your costs significantly. The goal is for clients to feel they "got a deal" by working with you, even when they're paying full commission.

"My thesis in business has always been to deliver more value than the fee I'm charging for that value. As long as it feels asymmetrical... I want them to feel that they got a deal, like 'I got one over on Leo because it's such a good deal.'"

Conclusion: Consistency Trumps Perfection

The thread running through Leo's success story is consistent action—not waiting for perfect conditions or perfect strategies. Whether it's making daily calls, creating content, or pursuing institutional relationships, momentum comes from regular activity.

As you work through the 30-Day Listing Challenge, remember that the most successful agents aren't necessarily doing anything extraordinary — they're simply doing the ordinary things consistently and strategically. Apply these lessons from Leo's journey to your business today, and watch your listing inventory grow day by day.