Referrals Outside Florida
Seaford is outside my licence — here is the useful part
I can still help — by introducing you to someone licensed where you are actually buying.
Referral onlyHow the introduction gets made
Tell me what you are leaving
If the property in Seaford is yours to sell, lead with that. A listing is a different search from a purchase: I am looking for someone whose recent work is on the seller side, who can describe how a property like yours is normally brought to market there, and who does not have to be chased for an answer.
I look for a listing agent
I speak to them before you do, and I put the awkward questions to them rather than to you — how long their agreements run, who covers when they are away, what actually happens in the first fortnight, and what they are willing to admit they do not handle.
You sign with them, not me
The agreement is between you and their brokerage. I am not a party to it, I do not see its terms unless you show them to me, and I have no ability to alter them. Read it before you sign it, and ask what it costs you to end it early.
What this page is, and what it is not
A referral fee is not a finder’s fee and it is not something you pay. It is a share of the commission the Delaware brokerage earns on a transaction it closes, paid across to The Keyes Company under an agreement signed between the two firms before you are ever introduced. Nothing is added to your closing statement, and nothing arises at all unless a transaction completes. I set this out early because the word “referral” has been used to describe several quite different arrangements, and you are entitled to know which one you are being offered.
The limits, stated outright
I will not promise you an outcome. Not a price, not a timeline, not a standard of service from somebody else’s employee. What I can give you is what I asked the agent, what they said, and anything in the conversation that gave me pause. Anyone offering more certainty than that about a transaction in a state they are not licensed in is describing a wish rather than a service.
Things that surprise people moving out of Florida
- Real estate licensing is state by state. An agent licensed in Florida cannot represent you in Delaware, and a Delaware licensee cannot represent you in Florida.
- Delaware 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.
- Residential closings in Delaware customarily involve an attorney, rather than being handled by a title company as they typically are in Florida. Budget for it and expect the timeline to be structured differently.
- Like Florida, Delaware 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. Delaware 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.
The questions that tell you who you are dealing with
- If I am buying before my Florida property sells, what do sellers here accept as proof of funds?
- What goes into an offer here besides the price, and what do sellers in Delaware expect to see attached to it? Local custom on this varies more than people moving between states tend to assume.
- What is the local practice on possession — do I get the keys at closing, or do sellers here commonly stay on for a period afterwards, and how is that documented?
- What disclosures is a seller in Delaware required to make, and what are they entitled to stay silent about?
The Florida side of a two-state move
If you already have a Florida agent you trust, keep them. The referral stands on its own and does not require you to move your Florida business to me. Tell me on the first call and I will make the introduction and step back out of it. That is a shorter conversation than the other one, and it costs you exactly the same, which is nothing.
Other cities in Delaware
Questions people actually ask
Can you guarantee I will be happy with the agent?
No, and be sceptical of anyone who says otherwise. I can introduce you to a licensed professional and give you my honest read. I do not supervise or control the agent or brokerage you choose, and I cannot promise an outcome, a price, or a timeline.
How do I time a Florida sale against a purchase in Seaford?
Deliberately, and from the start. The two closings are separate contracts and nobody controls both, so the work is in keeping each side informed of the other’s dates. If I am handling the Florida sale, I will speak to your Delaware agent about the calendar directly. Where the dates cannot be made to meet, the usual instruments are a rent-back or interim financing, and both are cheaper to plan than to arrange in a hurry.
Am I obliged to use the agent you introduce?
No. A referral is an introduction. You can interview them, interview others, and decline. If they are not right, tell me and I will look again.
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.
Do you get paid if I use an agent you did not refer me to?
No. A fee arises only where the introduction came through The Keyes Company and a transaction closes with that agent. If you find someone yourself, or use somebody you already know, nothing is payable to anyone — and that is a perfectly good outcome. I would rather you had the right agent than that I had a fee.
Ready when you are
There is no form on this page and no follow-up sequence behind it. The links go to The Keyes Company, which handles enquiries under its own privacy policy.
Ask about Seaford 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 actually ends up representing you
I do not keep a list of preferred companies to hand you, and I would be sceptical of an agent who did. A name that is always the answer is a name that is paying for the position, not one that was chosen for your situation.
The path is The Keyes Company to a licensed brokerage in your state. What I add is the filter in between — and a phone number you can still call if the introduction turns out to have been a bad read.
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.