Just days after announcing the merger of her firm RE/MAX Capital Realty with RE/MAX Alliance Group, Tampa-based broker and team leader Kendall Bonner said she is moving her 17-person team to eXp Realty.
“Something with COVID, I can’t say exactly what it was, but it just wore on me as a broker-owner and a leader,” Bonner said. “I felt frustrated that I couldn’t do more for both my agents and the community.”
After attending conferences in the early half of 2021, Bonner said she realized that there were two “marginalized groups” in the real estate industry: new agents and agents whose sphere of influence isn’t large enough.
Bonner said this realization inspired her to start her real estate team, the Kendall Bonner Team.
“I have a talent and an affinity for market, lead generation systems and technology tools, and that passion wasn’t being utilized in the brokerage model, so I started my team as an experiment to see if I could accomplish what I wanted as a non-producing agent,” she said. “After about a year and a half, I realized that this was my passion and the new direction I wanted to go in.”
Due to this realization, Bonner began looking for a new home for her RE/MAX affiliate, which is what prompted the RE/MAX Alliance Group merger.
“We are tremendously excited to work with the Lutz-based RE/MAX Capital Realty group that’s now a part of RE/MAX Alliance Group,” Peter Crowley, the broker and co-owner of RE/MAX Alliance Group, wrote in an email. “We strongly believe in the RE/MAX advantages, value proposition and overall strength of the brand and look forward to reaching new heights with the agents who have recently joined us. We wish Kendall the best on her endeavors.”
But when it came to finding a new home for herself and her team, Bonner said eXp was the clear choice.
“I wanted to work with leaders and other people of influence who were on a similar track as myself,” she said. “Owning a brokerage is a hyperlocal business, but I have had the benefit and the opportunity to expand the build connections outside my local territory. By joining a brokerage that is in alignment with that, it all just felt like a natural fit.”
In an emailed statement, Michael Valdes, the chief growth officer at eXp Realty, said of Bonner’s decision: “We are proud to welcome Kendall and her team to the eXp family. Kendall is a true icon who has received multiple industry awards for her work. She is not only a top broker/owner, but she is also an accomplished leader, entrepreneur and motivational speaker. A Florida-licensed attorney, she has been involved in the real estate industry for more than 10 years, opening her own brokerage firm in 2014. Kendall’s energy and excitement is truly contagious, and her influence reaches far and wide. We are thrilled that she’s chosen eXp as the place to grow her team and business, and we can’t wait to see what she’ll do!”
In addition to running her team at eXp, Bonner will also be working with Veronica Figueroa of the Figueroa Team to promote Realty.com, alongside Realty.com’s CEO Lance Custen and eXp CEO and founder Glenn Sanford, through the recently announced partnership between the firms.
“I have a love for lead generation and marketing, so when I got to know Lance and the Realty.com product a few years ago, I was very intrigued and really wanted to be part of that network, but it was an exclusive platform and they already had a partner in Tampa,” Bonner said. “Really, with this change in the market where consumers are more reserved and they have more need for assistance, it is more important now than ever that they be connected to a real estate professional that can help them.”
Looking ahead, Bonner is excited to utilize eXp’s technology to build and strengthen new and current relationships.
“Real Estate is about building relationships across borders, and technology allows us to do that,” she said. “I am super excited to connect with other team leaders and industry leaders all over the country who are part of this network and support one another.”
