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Update: This story was updated on Feb. 28, 2023 with comment from RE/MAX Alliance Group Broker and co-owner Peter Crowley.
Kendall Bonner, leader of the Tampa-based Kendall Bonner Team and former broker/owner of RE/MAX Capital Realty, has joined eXp Realty with her 17-person team days after merging her previous company with another RE/MAX affiliate, she told Inman exclusively.
The news follows Bonner’s decision to merge the roughly 40-person RE/MAX Capital Realty with RE/MAX Alliance Group, which went live at the beginning of last week. With the merger, RE/MAX Capital Realty was to operate under the RE/MAX Alliance Group banner and the two companies’ combined forces amounted to about 400 agents and staff, making them a force in the Florida real estate market.
Michael Valdes | eXp Realty
“We are proud to welcome Kendall and her team to the eXp family,” Michael Valdes, chief growth officer at eXp Realty, said in a statement emailed to Inman. “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 … Kendall’s energy and excitement are truly contagious, and her influence reaches far and wide. We are thrilled that she has chosen eXp as the place to grow her team and business, and we can’t wait to see what she’ll do.”
Bonner obtained her real estate license in 2011 and opened her own brokerage in 2014. She’s a regular contributor to a number of media outlets, is a frequent speaker at industry events and was named an RISMedia Real Estate Newsmaker-The Crusader in 2022.
In a recent conversation with Inman, Bonner said she made these two significant business decisions in succession, “one step at a time,” after a period of intense reflection and discernment about what would be best for her and her team.
Kendall Bonner | Kendall Bonner Team
“After COVID happened, I felt like it did something to me and I was just feeling a little uninspired as a leader,” Bonner said. “Through that process, I was really just feeling like there was something more I could or should be doing.”
After considering her situation a bit more, Bonner formed a team in 2021 to serve other agents with the skills she had learned over the years. She also sought to specifically help what she saw as an “underserved” group of agents, mainly new agents and others who need a bit more targeted support.
“I tell people I was in the lab, learning what it takes to build a successful team and I just fell in love with that process and I spent all of 2022 growing, nurturing the team, my leadership, learning hard lessons, making investments, making mistakes,” Bonner said. “And I came out of 2022 with some real clarity, which was, running a brokerage was no longer my passion and no longer a vision that I had for myself.
“So that triggered the decision to look for an amazing RE/MAX company to transition my existing RE/MAX agents, and I feel that’s what I found with RE/MAX Alliance. They’re an amazing organization, they’ve got great leadership, they’re good humans and they have a really fantastic operation.”
Once Bonner felt like her brokerage’s agents were in good hands, she could pause to reflect on what she thought would be best for her team, roughly 17 agents and staff out of her larger 40-person brokerage, moving forward.
“In doing that, I decided to go in a direction that would excite me and inspire me and help me grow exponentially — I guess pun intended — to eXp Realty,” Bonner explained.
RE/MAX, LLC declined to comment on Bonner’s and her team’s move but passed along a request for comment to RE/MAX Alliance Group.
“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,” RE/MAX Alliance Group Broker and co-owner Peter Crowley said in a statement emailed to Inman. “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.”
Bonner went on to tell Inman that it was the people at eXp that drew her to the brokerage, having developed relationships with individuals at eXp over the years through industry events and real estate coaching and educational groups. In particular, she admired the mutual respect and support she had witnessed among colleagues at eXp, Bonner said.
“I will always love and admire the RE/MAX community, especially as brokers and agents,” Bonner added. “They’ve contributed to change in my life and my perspective and I’ll never ever take that for granted.”
Lance Custen | LinkedIn
With the move, Bonner also announced that she and Veronica Figueroa, of the Figueroa Team at eXp Realty, will play an instrumental role in working directly with Lance Custen, president and CEO of Realty.com, and eXp World Holdings founder, CEO and Chairman Glenn Sanford to promote Realty.com and eXp Realty’s recently announced partnership. Through the partnership, Realty.com will provide qualified buyer and seller leads to eXp brokers and agents across the U.S.
Bonner told Inman the partnership was just one more reason for her to choose eXp.
“Both Kendall and Veronica have a strong desire and proven track record for building relationships and communities where strategic alignment can truly help teams grow, scale and thrive in any market,” Custen said in a statement emailed to Inman. “Partnering with these two powerhouses was a no-brainer for me and eXp offers the perfect platform to make this a game-changer.”
“This is huge because more and more agents and teams continue to seek the value of partnership with proptech companies as expansion, collaboration and leadership drive the focus towards growth and profitability,” Bonner added.
