The eXp Realty referral form is an outgoing referral agreement you complete through eXp’s online referral platform at agents.exprealty.com. The system prompts you through the sending agent’s details, the receiving agent’s details, your client’s information, and the referral fee, then routes the agreement for electronic signatures. The client’s contact information stays hidden from the receiving agent until every required signer has signed.
What to Gather Before You Log In
Pull your information together first. The form asks for specifics that are easy to leave blank and tedious to track down later.
About yourself as the referring agent, have your full legal name and mailing address, your office phone, cell, fax, and email, your tax ID (SSN or EIN depending on how you file), and your broker’s license number.
About the receiving agent, you’ll need their company name, agent name, address, and contact information. If the receiving agent is inside eXp, the platform’s live agent directory auto-populates most of this when you search their name. If the referral goes outside eXp, you enter their details manually, including their brokerage’s tax ID for payment processing.
About the client, gather name, address, and phone number. You also need to know whether they’re buying, selling, or leasing, because the form asks you to check the transaction type.
If the receiving agent works outside the eXp network, request a completed IRS Form W-9 from their brokerage. The W-9 provides the taxpayer identification number the paying brokerage needs to issue a Form 1099-NEC after closing.1Internal Revenue Service. About Form W-9, Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification Without it, expect delays getting the fee disbursed.
Walking Through the Form
Log in to the eXp referral platform using your Okta credentials. From the home page, click “New” in the top right to start a fresh referral.
The form opens with fields for the sending agent: your name, contact details, tax ID, and license number. Below that are the receiving agent fields. If the receiving agent is at eXp, click “Select Agent” to search the live directory and let the system fill in their details automatically.2eXp Realty. Using eXp’s New Tool to Make Real Estate Referrals Easier than Ever
Next is the client section: name, address, and contact numbers. Check the box for whether the client is buying or selling. A “Misc. Information” field below gives you space to add context about the client’s situation, such as price range, preferred neighborhoods, or timeline. The more useful detail you include, the better the receiving agent can serve the lead and the more likely it converts.
The final substantive field is the referral fee. Enter the percentage of the gross commission you’ll receive at closing, or a flat dollar amount if that’s what you’ve negotiated. A separate notes area lets you add terms like an expiration date or conditions under which the referral lapses.
Setting the Referral Fee
Referral fees are fully negotiable, and eXp doesn’t mandate a rate. The standard industry range sits between 20 and 35 percent of the receiving agent’s gross commission.3eXp Realty. Real Estate Referral Fees: Your Guide to Growing Your Business Twenty-five percent is the most common rate for a straightforward residential referral where you introduce a ready client and step away.
A few things push the fee higher. If you’ve done significant qualifying work, like pre-approving the buyer, identifying target properties, or negotiating initial terms, you have leverage to ask for 30 to 35 percent. Luxury transactions or deals in high-demand markets sometimes command higher rates because the resulting commission is larger. A cold lead with no guarantee of closing might warrant a lower percentage to make it attractive enough for someone to accept.
Whatever number you settle on, enter it clearly. Ambiguity creates disputes that can take months to resolve through brokerage arbitration. Include an expiration date in the notes field as well. Six months to a year is typical, so you aren’t left wondering whether a referral from two years ago still entitles you to a check.
Mark the transaction type accurately. The referral agreement only covers the type you specified, so if your buyer-client ends up also needing to list a home, that second side isn’t automatically covered. Negotiate and document both upfront if you expect the client might need help on both sides.
Submitting and Signatures
Once every field is filled, submit the form. The platform identifies any managing brokers who need to sign and auto-populates their contact information. It generates an electronic signature document and emails it to you, the receiving agent, and the relevant managing brokers.2eXp Realty. Using eXp’s New Tool to Make Real Estate Referrals Easier than Ever The agreement is not binding until every required party has signed electronically.
The client’s personal information stays locked until the receiving agent and all brokers have signed. This prevents the receiving agent from contacting the client and sidestepping the agreement. Once signatures are complete, the platform unlocks the client details and the receiving agent can begin working the lead.2eXp Realty. Using eXp’s New Tool to Make Real Estate Referrals Easier than Ever
Tracking the Referral After Submission
eXp’s platform lets you monitor the status of each referral in real time, including whether signatures are pending and whether the transaction has progressed.4eXp Realty. Definitive Guide to Referrals for Real Estate Agents If someone hasn’t signed within a few days, follow up directly. The automated email may have landed in spam, or the managing broker may not have realized it needed their attention.
If eXp’s referrals department flags an issue with your submission, such as a missing license number or a fee percentage that doesn’t match what was communicated, you’ll be notified through the platform. Address it quickly. Files that sit unresolved tend to get buried, and a stale referral agreement is harder to enforce if the transaction closes months later.
Once the agreement is fully executed, it ties to the transaction in eXp’s financial system. The fee is tracked automatically from that point, so you don’t need to chase the receiving agent’s brokerage at closing to remind them you exist.4eXp Realty. Definitive Guide to Referrals for Real Estate Agents
How and When You Get Paid
The referral fee is paid after the transaction closes. The receiving agent’s brokerage deducts your fee from the gross commission at disbursement, and the payment goes to your brokerage, not directly to you as an individual. Your brokerage then pays you according to your commission split.
After the deal closes, the receiving agent or their brokerage should submit a referral fee invoice listing the closed transaction, the agreed percentage, and the resulting dollar amount.3eXp Realty. Real Estate Referral Fees: Your Guide to Growing Your Business Confirm receipt promptly. If weeks pass without a check, contact the receiving agent’s brokerage directly. Closings occasionally get delayed, but silence usually means someone dropped the paperwork rather than an intentional holdup.
RESPA and Licensing Rails
Federal law prohibits paying or receiving kickbacks in connection with real estate settlement services, but the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act carves out an explicit exemption for cooperative brokerage and referral arrangements between real estate agents and brokers.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 2607 – Prohibition Against Kickbacks and Unearned Fees The implementing regulation restates this: fee divisions within real estate brokerage arrangements are permitted as long as all parties are acting in a brokerage capacity.6Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1024.14 – Prohibition Against Kickbacks and Unearned Fees
The fee has to flow between licensed brokerages, not directly between individual agents. Your brokerage pays the other brokerage, or vice versa, and each brokerage then compensates its own agent. Paying another agent directly from your personal account violates most states’ licensing laws and can trigger RESPA scrutiny if a federally related mortgage loan is involved.
You also need an active real estate license to collect a referral fee. Most states require the referring agent to hold a current, active license at the time of the referral and at closing. Some states allow agents on inactive status to collect referral fees under limited circumstances, but this varies enough that you should check your state’s rules before counting on income from a referral you made while inactive.
Tax Reporting for the Fee You Receive
Referral fees are taxable income. The paying brokerage must report the fee on IRS Form 1099-NEC if the total reaches $600 or more in a calendar year. The IRS instructions specifically list “fee-splitting or referral fees” as nonemployee compensation reportable in Box 1 of the 1099-NEC.7Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC
You’ll receive the 1099-NEC early the following year and report the income on your return, typically on Schedule C if you’re a sole proprietor. If you operate as an S-corp or LLC taxed as a corporation, the income flows through your business entity. Either way, set aside a portion for self-employment tax. Referral income isn’t exempt from it just because you didn’t actively work the deal.
Cross-Border Referrals Through eXp
eXp operates in over 20 countries, and its platform handles cross-border referrals within the network.8eXp World Holdings. eXp Realty Enhances International Connections with Global Agent Referral Platform The form itself works the same way, but the tax documentation changes once money crosses borders.
When a U.S.-based agent pays a referral fee to a foreign agent, the foreign agent must provide IRS Form W-8BEN instead of a W-9. The W-8BEN establishes that the recipient is not a U.S. person and determines whether a tax treaty reduces the default 30 percent withholding rate on U.S.-source income.9Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form W-8BEN Without a valid W-8BEN on file, the paying brokerage must withhold 30 percent of the fee and remit it to the IRS. Make sure the foreign agent submits the form before closing so the withholding doesn’t surprise either party.