Florida Licensee · Delaware Referral
A Florida licence does not reach Wilmington. Here is what does.
One licence, one state, and an honest answer about Wilmington.
Referral onlyRead this part before the rest
Two closings in two states means two contracts, two sets of local custom and two lenders’ calendars, and no single person has authority over both. What can be arranged is that each side knows what the other is waiting on. If I am handling a Florida sale for you, I will tell your Delaware agent what my dates look like and I will ask for theirs. Where those calendars are never introduced to each other, the result is usually a rent-back nobody planned for or interim financing nobody budgeted for.
How a referral works
You give me the shape of it
Price range, constraints you already know about, and whether you are on a deadline. I am not qualifying you — I am briefing whoever I call.
I make the call myself
The referral goes out through The Keyes Company. I would rather spend a week finding the right Delaware licensee than send your details into a lead pool the same afternoon.
It stays your decision
Interview them. Interview two others if you want. Nothing about a referral obliges you to use anyone, and I have no way to make you.
What a Florida owner does not expect
- 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.
What this page is not offering
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.
The questions that tell you who you are dealing with
- If I need to back out, what actually happens to my deposit under a standard Delaware contract?
- 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.
- How do closing costs divide by local custom, which of those items are genuinely negotiable, and which are simply the way it is done here?
- How many transactions have you closed in Wilmington in the last twelve months, and how many were on the side of the table I am on?
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 Delaware
Questions people actually ask
Who holds my deposit?
It varies by state and sometimes by county: a title or escrow company, the listing brokerage, or an attorney. What matters more than who holds it is what the contract says about when it can be released and what it takes to get it back. Ask both questions before you part with the money, and ask for the answer in writing rather than on the telephone.
Are commissions set by law?
No. Broker compensation is not set by law and is fully negotiable between you and the brokerage that represents you, in Delaware as in Florida.
What does a referral cost me?
Nothing. You are not charged for a referral. If a referred transaction closes, a referral fee may be paid between the two brokerages out of the commission on that transaction. It does not increase what you pay.
Is dual agency allowed in Delaware?
That depends on the state, and it is a question for the licensee I introduce you to rather than for me. Some states permit one agent to work with both sides where everybody consents in writing; others restrict or prohibit it outright. Florida’s own vocabulary — transaction broker, single agent — does not map neatly onto other states, so do not assume your Florida experience transfers. Ask what it is called there and what you would be signing.
What if I am moving to Florida rather than away from it?
Then there is no referral to make — that is my licence and my market. Start on the About page instead.
Start here
Give me the city, the timeline and whether there is a Florida property involved. That is genuinely all I need to start making calls.
Request a referral 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 takes it from here
A referral is only worth anything if the choice is made for your transaction rather than made once and applied to everyone. So there is no default name here.
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.