Referral, Not Representation
What a Florida licensee can do for a Aurora move
The offer on this page is an introduction through The Keyes Company, and nothing beyond it.
Referral onlyThe mechanics, without the gloss
Tell me what you are leaving
If the property in Aurora 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.
The honest position, stated up front
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.
What works differently in Illinois
- Licensing in this industry is granted state by state, not federally. A Florida licence carries no authority in Illinois, and a Illinois 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 Illinois. 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.
- Closings in Illinois 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. Illinois 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.
Questions worth asking on that first call
- How is your compensation structured, and what is negotiable about it? Broker compensation is not set by law in any state.
- What is the local convention on inspection and financing contingency periods, and how tight are people making them right now?
- What does a normal contract-to-close timeline look like in Illinois, and what most often blows it up?
- Who handles the closing here — an attorney, a title company, an escrow agent — and when do they get involved?
Where I stop, on purpose
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 Florida side of a two-state move
Sometimes the Florida property is not the one you live in. A second home, an inherited house, a unit that has been let for years — each of those sells differently and each carries paperwork that has to be in order before it can go on the market at all. If one of them is attached to your move to Aurora, that part sits squarely inside my licence, and it is worth starting early, because the documents take longer than the marketing does.
Other cities in Illinois
Questions people actually ask
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.
Is this a referral to a lender or title company too?
No. This is a real estate brokerage referral only. It is not a referral to any lender, title company, insurer, or other settlement service provider, and it should not be read as one.
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.
How do you choose who to refer me to?
I look for someone whose recent, actual work resembles your transaction — price band, property type, and whether they handle relocations regularly. I speak to them before I pass on your name.
Why should I go through you instead of searching myself?
You may not need to. If you already know a good agent in Aurora, use them. The value here is that someone with a professional reason to care makes the call, checks the fit, and stays reachable if it goes sideways.
Start here
A referral costs you nothing and commits you to nothing. The worst outcome is that you meet an agent you decide not to hire.
Ask about Aurora 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
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.
In practice: The Keyes Company places the referral, and I go looking for a licensee whose recent work resembles what you are about to do. A first-time purchase, a downsize and an investment buy need genuinely different people, and that difference is invisible from a profile page.
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.