How Elizabeth Riley of Luxe Property Group Built a 100% Referral-Based Business

Most agents are told the same thing when business slows down: spend more on signs, buy another lead source, and chase the next shiny marketing tool. I used to believe that too, until I sat down with someone who’s proven the opposite works better.

I had the pleasure of talking with Elizabeth Riley of Luxe Property Group on my podcast, Real Estate Success DFW, and what she shared completely reframes how I think about growing a business without ever picking up a cold-call list. It helps agents who feel stuck chasing leads understand there’s a slower, steadier way to build something that actually lasts.

Here’s a preview of that episode:

Why I Had This Conversation

I’ve known Elizabeth before I ever made the move to eXp Realty. She was actually one of the people I interviewed when I was deciding whether to join, and she’s the reason I felt confident making the leap.

What stood out to me going into this conversation wasn’t just her production. It was that she’s the first and only agent in eXp’s history to earn the eXp ICON Award ten times, and she’s done it without ever cold calling, door knocking, or hosting a single open house.

Before real estate, Elizabeth spent years running corporate events for a professional tennis player, a kind work that took her everywhere from the Olympics to the Australian Open. She only got her license because her CPA told her the family needed it for their investment properties, and she nearly talked herself out of the whole industry before she ever wrote an offer.

That background matters here because it explains why she never leaned on cold outreach in the first place. She was already comfortable building relationships in high-pressure, high-touch environments long before she ever held an open house, so referrals felt like the natural extension of how she already operated.

I wanted my audience, agents who are still building their own systems, to hear directly from someone who built an entire career on relationships instead of transactions.

Watch the full episode here:

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The Pre-Listing Packet That Saves Hours at the Table

One of the first things Elizabeth walked me through was her pre-listing packet. Instead of showing up to a listing appointment cold, she sends sellers a packet in advance, along with a handwritten note, which is delivered by courier the same day the appointment is set.

That packet does two jobs at once. It gathers information about the seller’s concerns and priorities before she ever sits down with them, and it tells her a lot about their personality just by how the packet comes back to her.

By the time she’s actually sitting across from a seller, most of the guesswork is gone. That’s the kind of preparation that shortens the home-selling process and builds trust before the first real conversation even starts.

The same principle applies well beyond a listing appointment. Elizabeth treats every client conversation the same way, gathering information first so she’s spending her time on what actually matters to that specific seller instead of running through a generic script.

A 100% Referral-Based Business, By Design

Elizabeth told me flat out: she’s never cold called, never knocked on a door, and never hosted an open house. Her entire business is built on relationships, and today it’s split roughly 75% agent-to-agent referrals and 25% sphere-based referrals.

“I always wanted people to say, ‘Oh, this is my friend Elizabeth, she’s really great in real estate,’ instead of, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s Elizabeth, she’s going to talk about real estate.’”

That distinction matters. She’s not chasing a transaction but protecting a friendship, and the business follows naturally from that. It’s a 100% referral-based business model that took years to build, but it’s also one any agent can start moving toward today.

Why the Cloud-Based Model Doesn’t Mean Less Community

A lot of agents assume a cloud-based brokerage model means less support and less connection. Elizabeth pushed back on that hard. She told me she has more community now than she ever had in a traditional brick-and-mortar office.

She also pointed out something a lot of agents don’t think about until they need it: at her old brokerage, it took three days for a broker to call her back. At eXp, her team has fifteen brokers who actually know the business because they were agents themselves.

She’s also leaning into tools, like AI, to support that same relationship-first approach rather than replace it. She uses it to sharpen her writing and speed up her communication, but she’s careful not to let automation take over the parts of her business that depend on being genuinely present with people.

Don’t Chase the Shiny Object

“Don’t spend money till you’re making money. Whatever you’re doing, it needs to be consistent. Consistency is the main key.”

Elizabeth’s biggest warning to newer agents is simple. Skip the signs, the subscriptions, and the lead-gen tools until there’s an actual listing to justify the spend. She’s currently unwinding a stack of small subscriptions an old assistant signed her up for, proof that even top producers fall into this trap.

Elizabeth’s advice here isn’t just for brand-new agents either. Even highly established producers fall into the trap of paying for tools they don’t use, which is exactly why she’s in the process of auditing her own subscriptions right now.

Her fix instead is unglamorous but effective: handwritten notes. She writes five a day, often to people outside her database entirely, just to stay in front of them without ever asking for business.

What Changed for Me After This Conversation

“There’s a difference between being busy and being productive, and you have to figure out where your time is well spent.”

Talking with Elizabeth reminded me why I built my own community in the first place. It’s easy to get caught up in tactics and forget that consistency and relationships are still what move the needle.

What struck me most was how she reframed community. In her view, showing up for weekly masterminds, staying reachable to newer agents, and sharing what’s working openly does more for retention than any bonus structure could.

It also reinforced why I keep pushing agents toward spaces where they can actually learn from each other instead of guessing alone. That’s part of why I built a community that helps agents grow here in DFW, so we can share what’s working instead of everyone starting from zero.

None of that requires a bigger marketing budget or a new certification. It just requires showing up consistently for the people already in your circle, which is the part most agents skip when they’re chasing the next lead source instead.

Elizabeth Riley of Luxe Property Group didn’t just give me tactics I can pass along. She gave me a reminder that the slow way is often the durable way.

Want to hear my full conversation with Elizabeth on how she built a 100% referral-based business?

Frequently Asked Questions

How did Elizabeth Riley build a 100% referral-based business?

She built it over years by focusing entirely on relationships instead of lead generation, relying on sphere-of-influence connections and, more recently, agent-to-agent referrals rather than cold outreach.

What is Elizabeth Riley’s pre-listing packet?

It’s a packet sent to sellers before the listing appointment that gathers information about their priorities and concerns, so the in-person meeting can be focused and efficient.

Why does Elizabeth Riley still stay active in production?

She stays in production because it keeps her credible and current with the agents she supports, and because it continues to create attraction opportunities within her organization.

Apply as a Guest on the Real Estate Success DFW Podcast

Real estate is evolving faster than most agents can keep up with. Referrals are shifting, brokerage models are shifting, and the agents who are willing to talk openly about what’s actually working are the ones moving the industry forward.

If you’re actively working in this business, whether in production, brokerage, or team leadership, and you’ve got real lessons to share, I’d love to have you on!

Real Estate Success DFW is produced by Icons of Real Estate, the #1 Real Estate Podcast Network. If you are a real estate professional, apply to be a guest speaker across the network!