Leaving Florida for Huntington Beach, CA

The honest position, stated up front

Buying at a distance is a different job from buying at home, and the licensee who suits it is not necessarily the one with the largest sign presence. Somebody has to walk the property with a phone in their hand, describe what is behind the fence rather than what is in the photographs, and be willing to say the thing that costs them the sale. That is what I am screening for when I make these calls. I cannot do it for you in California, and I would not trust a page that told you otherwise.

Where I stop, on purpose

I will not take a payment from you, and could not lawfully do so if I wanted to. A Florida sales associate may be compensated only through his registered broker, so any fee here is paid by the receiving brokerage to The Keyes Company out of a commission earned only if a transaction closes. There is no invoice at the end of this and no version of it in which you are billed for an introduction.

The mechanics, without the gloss

Things that surprise people moving out of Florida

• 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.

The questions that tell you who you are dealing with

• Who actually answers the phone — you, or someone on your team? Ask early; the answer changes the whole relationship.
• Which documents will you ask me to sign at the very start, what does each one commit me to, and how long does it run? Ask for them by email so you can read them somewhere other than at a kitchen table.
• What is the insurance picture on the kind of property I am looking at, and who should I be calling for a real quote?
• What does your written agreement say about the length of the term and how I end it if this is not working?

The half of this I can actually do

Not everyone sells. If you are keeping the Florida property and letting it out, that is a different conversation with different consequences: the homestead position changes once it stops being your primary residence, and the insurance and association questions change alongside it. I am not your tax adviser and the county property appraiser is the authority on the exemption itself, but I can tell you what the Florida side of that decision looks like in practice before you commit to it.

Other cities in California

• Palo Alto
• Carson
• Folsom
• Laguna Niguel
• San Rafael
• Pittsburg
• Thornton
• Newport Beach
• All of California