One Licence, Forty-Nine Referrals
Florida is my licence. Auburn is a referral.
I will not pretend to work Auburn. I will find you someone who does.
Referral onlyWhere the line actually falls
If you searched for an agent in Auburn and landed on the site of a Florida licensee, one of two things is true: either the site is overreaching, or it is offering something other than representation. This one is the second. The offer here is an introduction through The Keyes Company, and the rest of this page explains exactly what that is and is not.
What I will not do
I will not sit between you and your Alabama agent during a negotiation. Two voices on one side of a deal is how positions get muddled and how something ends up conceded twice. Once you are in a transaction they advise and you decide. If you want a second read from me on how something is worded, ask for it — but it will be a private conversation, not a message relayed to the other side of the table.
How a referral works
Ask me what I get out of it
A fair question, and the answer is on this page. If a referred transaction closes, the receiving brokerage may pay a fee to The Keyes Company, which may in turn compensate me. If nothing closes, nothing is paid. You pay nothing in either case, and there is no invoice at the end of this.
I call, you hear the reasoning
You are told why this person rather than another one: what their recent work looks like, how they answered the questions I put to them, and anything about the conversation that gave me pause. You can weigh that yourself.
Say no at any point
Before the introduction, after it, or three conversations in. There is no agreement between us, nothing to cancel, and no version of this in which declining costs you anything at all.
The mechanics change at the state line
- Real estate licensing is state by state. An agent licensed in Florida cannot represent you in Alabama, and a Alabama licensee cannot represent you in Florida.
- Leaving Florida means picking up a state income tax in Alabama. Model it against the housing number before you settle on a price range, and take the actual arithmetic to a tax adviser rather than to any real estate agent, including me.
- Closings in Alabama generally run through a title or escrow company rather than requiring an attorney as a matter of course — structurally closer to what you are used to in Florida than not.
- Like Florida, Alabama has coastal exposure and a named-storm deductible regime in its property insurance market. The mechanism will feel familiar; the numbers will not necessarily.
- Florida’s homestead exemption and its Save Our Homes assessment cap do not follow you. Alabama has its own property tax treatment, its own exemptions, and its own rules on how fast an assessment may rise. Confirm the specifics with the local taxing authority.
Use the first call properly
- What does your written agreement say about the length of the term and how I end it if this is not working?
- How is your compensation structured, and what is negotiable about it? Broker compensation is not set by law in any state.
- What is the local convention on inspection and financing contingency periods, and how tight are people making them right now?
- What does a normal contract-to-close timeline look like in Alabama, and what most often blows it up?
One move, two transactions
Most moves out of Florida have a Florida transaction attached to them. If you are selling a Florida home and buying in Auburn, that is the strongest version of this: I represent you on the Florida sale as your agent, and I refer you for the Alabama purchase. One relationship, two licensed professionals, and nobody pretending to be qualified where they are not.
Other cities in Alabama
Questions people actually ask
Do you get paid if I never buy anything?
No. A referral fee only arises if a referred transaction actually closes. If nothing closes, nothing is paid by anyone.
Will my information be sold or shared with a lead network?
No. A referral goes to a named brokerage through The Keyes Company, not into a lead marketplace. This page itself collects nothing — the links go to forms hosted by The Keyes Company, which processes them under its own privacy policy.
Do I need a Alabama licence to be referred?
No — that requirement falls on the agent, not on you. The licensee I introduce you to will hold a current Alabama licence and will represent you under Alabama law.
Why should I go through you instead of searching myself?
You may not need to. If you already know a good agent in Auburn, use them. The value here is that someone with a professional reason to care makes the call, checks the fit, and stays reachable if it goes sideways.
What if the agent you introduce me to turns out to be no good?
Tell me, and tell me early. I will go back and look again, and I will say so to the brokerage that put them forward. What I cannot do is repair the transaction from Florida: I do not supervise them and I am not a party to your agreement with them. Your remedies are the ones written into that agreement, their own broker, and the body that licenses agents in Alabama.
Tell me the city and the timeline
Two things start this: the city, and the month it has to happen by. Everything else can be worked out on the call.
Get connected in Auburn Moving to Florida instead?
Jacob Campbell · Florida Real Estate Sales Associate, license 3623732 · The Keyes Company · Licensed in Florida only — referrals outside Florida are made to independently licensed agents in your state.
Who I refer to
Most referral pages open with a wall of logos. Mine does not, because a logo tells you a marketing agreement exists and tells you nothing about whether the person you end up with is any good.
The referral is submitted through The Keyes Company, and a receiving brokerage licensed in your state is identified for your specific transaction. I look at what that brokerage and that agent actually work on — price band, property type, whether relocations are routine for them — and I speak to them before your name is passed along.
Three things stay true whoever it turns out to be:
- They will hold a current licence in the state where your transaction happens, and they will represent you under that state’s law — not under Florida’s, and not under mine.
- Any referral fee is paid brokerage to brokerage, out of the commission on a closed transaction. It costs you nothing and it does not increase what you pay. Under Section 475.42(1)(d), Florida Statutes, any share reaching me comes from my broker and from nowhere else.
- You are under no obligation to use them. Interview them, interview someone else, or decline entirely. If the fit is wrong, tell me and I will go back and look again.
As referral relationships are formalised, the brokerages involved will be named here, together with their licence number and the regulator that issued it, so you can verify them yourself rather than take my word for it.
Referral disclosure
- I am licensed in Florida only. I will not act as your real estate agent in any other state, and nothing on this page is an offer to represent you outside Florida. Your agent in your state will be licensed there and will represent you under that state’s law.
- A referral fee may be paid. If a referred transaction closes, the receiving brokerage may pay a referral fee to The Keyes Company, and The Keyes Company may in turn compensate me. Under Section 475.42(1)(d), Florida Statutes, a sales associate may be paid only by his registered broker, so any payment reaches me that way and no other.
- It costs you nothing. You are not charged for a referral. A referral fee is paid between brokerages out of the commission on the transaction and does not increase what you pay.
- Commissions are negotiable. Broker compensation is not set by law and is negotiable between you and the brokerage that represents you, in every state.
- No guarantee. I can introduce you to a licensed professional and give you my honest read. I cannot promise any outcome, price, timeline, or level of service, and I do not supervise or control the agent or brokerage you choose.
- Real estate brokerage referrals only. This page covers real estate brokerage referrals only. It is not a referral to any lender, title company, insurer, or other settlement service provider.
- Equal Housing Opportunity. Referrals are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, disability, or any other class protected by federal, state, or local fair housing law.