This $610 million real estate company doesn't have an office for its 8,000 employees — instead, everybody works from this completely virtual island (EXPI)

eXp speedboat (end)

If you've ever wondered what the next phase of working remotely could be like, look no further than eXp Realty.

In most respects, eXp is your typical real estate brokerage company. It employs thousands of licensed agents to help clients buy and sell their homes. And business seems to be good: eXp's stock price has almost quadrupled since this time last year, giving it a market cap of over $610 million.

What sets it apart is that, rather than having agents stop by a physical office for meetings, presentations, or technical assistance, the company's 8,000 employees go to work on a virtual island. A small office in Bellingham, WA serves as its headquarters because of "a legal requirement," the company says, but the real work gets done in the digital realm.

The company says that maintaining a virtual office gives it some advantages.

"We found that we have an ability that's hard to find in the physical world," said CTO Scott Petronis, referring to the ease of internal communication.

Not only can employees report to work regardless of the weather, but there are no restrictions on how many employees the offices can support, no campus maintenance fees, and no geographical limits on recruiting talent.

"It's a great feeling to know that we can hire great talent regardless of where they are in the world," said Petronis.

I got to go on a tour of eXp's virtual offices, alongside Petronis and VP of Marketing Mitch Robinson. I sat at an introductory meeting, toured shared spaces, went to a beach, rode a speedboat, and got to meet some of eXp's employees, all without leaving my seat.

Here's what it's like to work out of a virtual campus:

When I first signed on, I saw this man staring back at me. It took me a minute to realize that I was supposed to customize this guy to look like me.

I used the app from my desktop PC, but there's a mobile app, too. The app comes with some limitations: You can only hear audio, not see the virtual world. It's really meant for taking conference calls in a pinch.

There aren't too many options to play with, but I was able to adjust my hair color, skin color, and face type. There were actually more options for clothes than personal appearance.

A company Representative says that eXp is always trying to add new options, including religious head wear and seasonal clothing. We're also told that some employees change their avatar's clothing every day, just like in the real world.

Once I was ready, I found myself in an outdoor area of some sort, and I located my tour guides: eXp CTO Scott Petronis and VP of Marketing Mitch Robinson.

The controls were easy to get used to — you can either click around to move, or else guide yourself with the arrow keys. When someone was talking, their speech bubble turned light blue to let you know it's them.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider