Referrals Outside Florida
An introduction to an agent licensed in Georgia
I will not pretend to work Sandy Springs. I will find you someone who does.
Referral onlyThe part most sites leave out
People sometimes ask me what they should offer in Sandy Springs, and I will not answer. Not because the question is difficult, but because answering it is the advisory half of brokerage, and doing that where I hold no licence is the precise thing this page says I do not do. It is also a protection for you. A number from someone who has not stood in the property and does not work the area is worth nothing, however confidently it is delivered.
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 Georgia, and a Georgia licence carries none in Florida — which is why an introduction, rather than representation, is the only honest offer on this page.
- Georgia 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 Georgia 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.
- Georgia shares Florida's coastal exposure and, with it, a named-storm deductible regime in its property insurance market. The mechanism will be familiar. Do not assume the premium will be.
- Florida’s homestead exemption and its Save Our Homes assessment cap do not follow you. Georgia 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 I do once you call
What kind of transaction
A first purchase, a downsize, an investment, a relocation with a company behind it — these need genuinely different agents, and the difference is not obvious from a profile page.
A shortlist, not a name
Where Sandy Springs supports it I would rather hand you two options than one. A referral that gives you no choice is just a redirect.
Nothing is owed either way
If you take a name and never call it, that is a fine outcome. No fee arises unless a transaction actually closes, so nothing about this obliges you.
Where I stop, on purpose
I will not tell you where to live. Not which part of Sandy Springs, not which street, not which side of a road. Some of that is because I do not know. The rest is because steering people towards or away from particular areas is exactly what fair housing law exists to prevent, and an agent who does it casually is not doing you a favour. You set the criteria. Your agent shows you what meets them.
Selling here, buying there
Most moves out of Florida have a Florida transaction attached to them. If you are selling a Florida home and buying in Sandy Springs, that is the strongest version of this: I represent you on the Florida sale as your agent, and I refer you for the Georgia purchase. One relationship, two licensed professionals, and nobody pretending to be qualified where they are not.
The first conversation, made useful
- If I need to back out, what actually happens to my deposit under a standard Georgia contract?
- How do you prefer to communicate, how quickly do you normally reply, and who covers your clients when you are away? Settle that in the first week and most of the friction in a long-distance transaction disappears.
- 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.
- How are deposits handled in Georgia — 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 Georgia
Questions people actually ask
Can you represent me in Sandy Springs?
No. My licence is issued by Florida and is valid in Florida only. Representing you in a Georgia transaction would be unlicensed activity there. What I can do is refer you to a licensee in Georgia through The Keyes Company.
Does a VA loan change how the referral works?
Not on my side of it. Loan eligibility is a matter between you and a lender, not something an agent controls, and nothing on this page is a referral to any lender. What it may change is who you want at the other end: ask the licensee I introduce you to how often they work with buyers using that financing and what local practice is on the paperwork. It is a fair question and the answer is usually revealing.
How do I time a Florida sale against a purchase in Sandy Springs?
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 Georgia 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.
What is a referral agreement?
A document between two brokerages, signed before you are introduced. It records that the introduction came through The Keyes Company and what fee becomes payable if a transaction closes. You are not a party to it, you do not sign it, and it imposes no obligation on you whatsoever. Ask to be told its terms if you want them — there is nothing in it that needs keeping from you.
Do I need a Georgia licence to be referred?
No — that requirement falls on the agent, not on you. The licensee I introduce you to will hold a current Georgia licence and will represent you under Georgia law.
Before you fill in anyone else’s form
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.
Where the referral goes
Most referral pages open with a wall of logos. Mine does not, because a logo tells you a marketing agreement exists and tells you nothing about whether the person you end up with is any good.
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.