What a Florida licensee can do for a Bridgeport move

Florida to Connecticut: what is genuinely different

• Licensing in this industry is granted state by state, not federally. A Florida licence carries no authority in Connecticut, and a Connecticut licence carries none in Florida — which is why an introduction, rather than representation, is the only honest offer on this page.
• Connecticut levies a tax on income; Florida does not. It is a change worth modelling against the housing cost before you commit to a price range, and it is a question for your own tax adviser rather than for any real estate agent.
• Expect an attorney at the closing table in Connecticut. Florida closings typically run through a title company instead, so the cast of characters, the fee structure and the sequence of the last two weeks will all look unfamiliar.
• Like Florida, Connecticut has coastal exposure and a named-storm deductible regime in its property insurance market. The mechanism will feel familiar; the numbers will not necessarily.
• Neither the homestead exemption nor the Save Our Homes cap travels with you out of Florida. Connecticut 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.

Three steps, and what each one commits you to

Where my licence stops

When a website offers you an agent in any city you care to name, one of two structures usually sits behind it: a network of brokerages with a fee arrangement between them, or a marketplace that resells enquiries to whoever is paying for that area this month. Neither is disqualifying. What matters is that you know which you are in and who is paid by whom. This is the first kind, the arrangement runs through The Keyes Company, and it is written out in full further down rather than buried in a footer.

Use the first call properly

• How do you handle it when you represent both sides of a transaction, and what does Connecticut law allow there?
• If I am buying before I have seen the property in person, what will you do on my behalf and what will you refuse to do? A clear answer to the second half of that question is worth more than the first.
• Have you worked with buyers who were selling in another state at the same time? Ask for the mechanics of how they handled it rather than for a reassurance that they have.
• If I am buying before my Florida property sells, what do sellers here accept as proof of funds?

The limits, stated outright

I will not answer a legal, tax, insurance or appraisal question in any state, including my own. I am a sales associate, not an attorney, a CPA, a lender, an appraiser or an inspector, and an honest version of this job includes knowing where its edges are. What I can usually do is tell you which of those people you actually need, which is a cheaper question to get right early than late.

What I can do directly, without an introduction

There are two possible orders and they carry different risks. Sell first and you know your number but may need somewhere to live; buy first and you have somewhere to live but two sets of carrying costs until the Florida property closes. Which suits you is a conversation for you, your lender and me, and it is far better had before you are emotionally attached to a particular house in Bridgeport than after.

Other cities in Connecticut

• Stamford
• Waterbury
• Norwalk
• Danbury
• New Britain
• Meriden
• Bristol
• West Haven
• All of Connecticut