What a Florida licensee can do for a Brea move

What actually happens next

Structural differences worth knowing before you go

• Licensing in this industry is granted state by state, not federally. A Florida licence carries no authority in California, and a California licence carries none in Florida — which is why an introduction, rather than representation, is the only honest offer on this page.
• Leaving Florida means picking up a state income tax in California. 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.
• California is a community property state. How a married couple may take title, and what happens to cost basis on the first death, follow different rules than in Florida. Raise it with your attorney before closing, not after.
• Closings in California 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.
• Neither the homestead exemption nor the Save Our Homes cap travels with you out of Florida. California sets its own assessment rules, its own exemptions and its own limit on how fast a bill can rise — confirm the specifics with the local taxing authority rather than assuming a Florida analogue exists.

Starting with what I cannot do

You may already have filled in a form somewhere and had four calls inside ten minutes. That is a different product from this one, and the difference is not politeness — it is how many people received your details and what they paid to receive them. Here your details go to one named brokerage, with a written referral behind them, after I have spoken to the person at the other end and asked the questions you would not think to ask a stranger. That is slower. It is meant to be.

The limits, stated outright

I will not send your details to several agents at once to see which one bites. One introduction, to one named brokerage, after a conversation with the person at the other end. If it turns out to be the wrong fit I would rather go back and make a second introduction than have set four strangers racing each other with your telephone number.

The half of this I can actually do

A tenanted Florida property does not empty because you have decided to move. The lease runs with the property, the tenant holds rights until it ends, and both of those facts sit in the middle of your closing date whether or not they are convenient. That is Florida work and it is mine to do, but it wants a start measured in months rather than weeks, so raise it on the first call rather than the fourth.

What to ask before you sign anything

• Do you work alone or as part of a team? If it is a team, ask who writes the offer, who attends the inspection, and who I will actually be speaking to at nine o’clock on a Tuesday morning.
• Who handles the closing here — an attorney, a title company, an escrow agent — and when do they get involved?
• If my timeline slips by six weeks, what happens to the agreement I am about to sign with you, and what happens to any money already committed?
• How are deposits handled in California — who holds the money, what amount is customary, and at what point does it stop being refundable? Get that answer before you write the cheque rather than after.

Other cities in California

• Redwood City
• Mountain View
• Aliso Viejo
• Turlock
• Bellflower
• Pleasanton
• Union City
• Milpitas
• All of California