Thad Escalante-Brown and his newly formed team, The Charles Elliott Group, recently joined eXp Realty. Led by Thad and his husband, Jason Escalante-Brown, the group’s moniker is a combination of their middle names.
Their team already boasts five agents, with several more expected to join soon. Each has a primary focus in a different part of the Dallas area including Oak Cliff, Oak Lawn/West Highland Park, North Dallas, Prosper, and Sachse.
“We’re to Trying to strategically position the agents in each area, provide leads, and help them establish a niche close to their home,” Thad says.
He felt compelled to do something to help up-and-coming agents because he credits much of his success to past mentors. Thad began his career as an assistant for his sister-in-law at eXp. He then went to another firm where he worked as an assistant for a top producer. Colleagues there encouraged him to go into sales, telling him he did not belong behind a desk all day.
“Once they pushed me into sales I was like, ‘Okay, I kind of like this.’ I really did love it,” he recalls. “After working with them, I wanted to give back the same kind of training and support that they gave me and basically set me up for success.”
It didn’t take long for Thad to become a top producing agent. Then came last year, and a series of unexpected challenges. The first was a serious car wreck. Another driver ran a red light, causing Thad’s car to T-bone them. While nobody was critically injured, he suffered a concussion that kept him from working for nearly two months. He endured painful headaches and had the sensation of being underwater all the time.
After going through vestibular therapy, he was able to get his equilibrium back and return to work. Not long afterward, Jason’s aunt in California informed them that she needed a new liver. Both Jason and Thad went through the process of determining if they were a donor match. Jason ended up donating his kidney. After all the pre-doner testing, surgery, and recovery, another two months had passed.
Later in the year, the two returned to California yet again when Jason’s stepfather died. Almost fittingly, 2021 ended with Thad having surgery on his jaw. Now he hopes that this year is less eventful so they can return to some sense of normalcy.
“The way that I look at it is God has a plan for all of us and these things happen for reasons — reasons that we will never know,” he says. “I feel like these are things that were just meant to be a part of my life.”
So far things are looking up. Thad says that he chose to go to eXp because he liked many things they had to offer, including education equity programs, revenue sharing, and an overall agent-centric business model.
“Ultimately, I decided that this was the best route for me at this time,” he said. “We have basically hit the ground running ever since.”
