If you are a real estate agent in Philadelphia weighing your next brokerage move, the comparison between eXp Realty and RE/MAX probably comes up early. Both carry name recognition. Both have national reach. But they operate on fundamentally different models, and the difference in what you keep — and what support you actually receive — is significant. This article breaks down how the two brokerages stack up on compensation, fees, technology, culture, and long-term wealth building, so you can make an informed decision about where your license belongs.
The Core Difference in Model
RE/MAX built its reputation on the desk-fee model. Agents at many RE/MAX offices pay a flat monthly fee — sometimes called a desk fee or office fee — in exchange for keeping a higher split on their commissions. The exact fee structure varies by franchise owner, which means your experience at one RE/MAX office in Philadelphia could look completely different from another RE/MAX office across town. Some offices charge $1,000 or more per month regardless of whether you close a deal. For a new or mid-volume agent, that overhead adds up fast.
eXp Realty operates as a cloud-based, agent-owned brokerage with no physical office requirement and no desk fees. Agents start on an 80/20 split with eXp keeping 20 percent, and there is an annual cap of $16,000. Once you hit that cap in a calendar year, you keep 100 percent of your commission for the remainder of the year. After capping, subsequent years have a reduced $5,000 cap for agents who capped the prior year. There is also a small transaction fee after capping, but the overall math consistently favors agents who close volume — and even agents at moderate production levels often come out ahead compared to paying desk fees at a traditional franchise.
Monthly and Annual Fees
At eXp, agents pay $85 per month for access to the full tech stack, E&O insurance coverage, and the cloud brokerage platform. That is the primary recurring cost outside of your split. There are no franchise fees, no royalty fees taken from your commission, and no office overhead passed down to you.
RE/MAX agents, depending on the franchise, may pay a monthly desk fee, a transaction fee, and in some cases a royalty fee that comes off the top of each commission before the split is calculated. The total cost of operating under some RE/MAX franchise agreements can rival or exceed what you would pay at eXp even when the RE/MAX split looks higher on paper. Always ask for a full fee disclosure — desk fee, royalty fee, E&O, and technology fees — before comparing splits side by side.
Technology and Infrastructure
eXp Realty provides agents with access to kvCORE, a full CRM and lead-generation platform, at no additional charge. Agents also get Skyslope for transaction management, access to the eXp World virtual campus, and a library of training through eXp University. For Philadelphia agents who want to run a lean operation without paying separately for a CRM, a transaction coordinator platform, and training tools, the all-in monthly fee is difficult to beat.
RE/MAX has made technology investments at the brand level, but individual offices vary in what they actually provide. Some RE/MAX franchises supplement national tools with local resources. Others do not. If you are evaluating a specific RE/MAX office in Philadelphia, ask exactly which technology tools are included in your fees and which ones you would need to purchase separately.
Revenue Share and Long-Term Wealth
This is where eXp Realty creates a financial opportunity that RE/MAX simply does not offer in the same way. At eXp, when you attract other productive agents to the company, you earn a percentage of the company dollar on their transactions — revenue share. This is not a referral bonus. It is a residual income stream that, if built intentionally, can continue paying you even in months when your personal production slows down.
RE/MAX does have a program that allows agents to earn income from recruiting, but it is structured differently and has historically been more limited in scope compared to eXp's revenue share model. For Philadelphia agents who have a network of other agents, or who plan to grow one, eXp's revenue share is a meaningful long-term wealth-building tool.
eXp also offers agents the opportunity to receive stock awards — earning shares of eXp World Holdings when you cap, when you attract an agent who caps, and through other production milestones. Over time, agents who stay with eXp and grow become partial owners of the company.
Culture and Community
RE/MAX offices are independently owned franchises, so culture is almost entirely determined by the franchise owner. A well-run RE/MAX office can have strong mentorship, great culture, and real community. A poorly run one can feel like a rent-a-desk situation where you are largely on your own. You are evaluating the owner as much as you are evaluating the brand.
eXp's culture is built around collaboration at scale. Because there are no territorial boundaries, an eXp agent in Philadelphia can learn from top-producing agents in Chicago, Dallas, or Miami through the same virtual platform. The company runs thousands of hours of live training per year, and agents within specific sponsorship groups often build tight-knit communities of their own.
What You Gain Under Riley Hextell's Sponsorship
Choosing eXp means choosing a sponsor, and that choice matters more than most agents realize before they join. Your sponsor is your first point of contact for support, training accountability, and culture. Riley Hextell sponsors agents nationwide — including agents in Philadelphia — and provides a level of operational support that is rare at any brokerage.
Riley ranked number one at eXp Realty Illinois for total transactions in 2025 and ranks in the top 50 out of more than 80,000 agents companywide. He earned the 2024 Chicago Association of Realtors Rookie of the Year award after building a high-volume practice from scratch as a United States Navy veteran. You can read more about that journey and what drove his production early on in this breakdown of how he earned that rookie award.
Agents who join under Riley's sponsorship get access to weekly live training calls that cover lead generation, conversion, contract writing, and business systems. He runs structured accountability check-ins so that agents who want to grow have a framework to measure against — not just encouragement, but actual systems. His lead-generation approach draws on both digital strategy and database-driven methods that translate across markets. An agent in Philadelphia can plug into the same playbook Riley uses in Chicago and adapt it to the local market.
Revenue share is also a core part of the conversation. Riley teaches agents how to build their own sponsorship network from day one, which means the agents you attract to eXp under your name become part of your long-term income. If you are evaluating eXp versus RE/MAX in Philadelphia and you have ever thought about the idea of building passive income from your network, that conversation starts with understanding the sponsor you choose.
If you want to see how a similar comparison plays out in another major market, this side-by-side of eXp Realty and Keller Williams for Phoenix agents covers overlapping questions around fees, culture, and long-term opportunity.
To connect with Riley directly, reach him at 815-545-7476, [email protected], or rileyhextell.com. He works with agents in every state and is happy to walk through the numbers specific to where your business is today.
Making the Decision
Neither brokerage is a bad choice in the abstract. RE/MAX has a legacy brand with offices throughout the Philadelphia area and a model that can work well for high-volume independent agents who want to keep most of their commission and do not need much support. But if you are building a long-term business, want technology included rather than piecemeal, and want a sponsor who is actively producing at the top of a national company and sharing that knowledge every week, eXp under the right sponsor is a different conversation entirely.
The question is not just which brokerage has the better split on paper. It is which environment will help you close more transactions, build more income streams, and create a business that does not depend entirely on you grinding every single deal. That is what Riley Hextell's sponsorship is built to deliver.
Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ: Can Riley Hextell sponsor agents in Philadelphia even though he is based in Illinois?
Yes. eXp Realty is a cloud-based brokerage with no geographic restrictions on sponsorship. Riley sponsors agents in multiple states remotely and provides the same weekly training, accountability, and lead-generation support regardless of where the agent is licensed.
FAQ: How does eXp Realty's cap system compare to RE/MAX desk fees for a Philadelphia agent closing 20 transactions per year?
At eXp, you would hit your $16,000 annual cap once your commission payments to eXp reach that threshold, after which you keep 100 percent for the rest of the year. At many RE/MAX offices, you are paying a monthly desk fee regardless of production, plus any royalty fees on each transaction. An agent doing 20 transactions will frequently cap at eXp before the calendar year ends and finish strong without giving up another dollar of split. The exact comparison depends on your average commission size and the specific RE/MAX office terms.
FAQ: What does revenue share at eXp actually look like in practice?
When you attract another agent to eXp and list Riley — or yourself once you are part of the network — as their sponsor, eXp pays you a percentage of the company dollar from that agent's transactions. This is not taken from the agent's commission. It comes from eXp's portion. If you build a group of five to ten productive agents under you over a few years, that revenue share can become a meaningful monthly income stream that runs in the background while you run your own business.
FAQ: What is the main thing to evaluate when comparing a RE/MAX franchise to eXp in Philadelphia?
Ask the RE/MAX office for a full accounting of every fee — monthly desk fee, per-transaction royalty, E&O, and technology costs. Then compare the total annual cost of operating there against eXp's $85 per month plus your split to the cap. Factor in the technology tools included, training access, and whether the brokerage offers any form of residual income. Once you run the full numbers side by side, the comparison becomes much clearer.