Referrals Outside Florida

Moving to Lakewood, Ohio?

Read the limitation first. The useful part sits directly underneath it.

Referral only

Why you are reading this

A licence is a jurisdiction, not a reputation. Mine covers Florida and stops there, which means that for a Lakewood transaction I am not the person who represents you — no matter how much I know about moving, financing, or the mechanics of a closing. What I am is someone with a brokerage behind him and a reason to introduce you to the right person rather than the nearest one.

The mechanics change at the state line

  • Licensing in this industry is granted state by state, not federally. A Florida licence carries no authority in Ohio, and a Ohio licence carries none in Florida — which is why an introduction, rather than representation, is the only honest offer on this page.
  • Ohio 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.
  • Closings in Ohio 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. Ohio 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.

How a referral works

Step 1

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.

Step 2

A shortlist, not a name

Where Lakewood supports it I would rather hand you two options than one. A referral that gives you no choice is just a redirect.

Step 3

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.

The limits, stated outright

I will not tell you what to offer or what to ask in Lakewood. Pricing is the advisory half of brokerage, it rests on evidence I have no proper access to, and giving it where I hold no licence would be the precise thing this page says I do not do. When you want that answer, take it from the licensee I introduce you to, in writing, with the comparable properties attached to it.

The Florida side of a two-state move

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 Lakewood than after.

Questions worth asking on that first call

  • How many transactions have you closed in Lakewood in the last twelve months, and how many were on the side of the table I am on?
  • 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.
  • What does your written agreement say about the length of the term and how I end it if this is not working?
  • What goes into an offer here besides the price, and what do sellers in Ohio expect to see attached to it? Local custom on this varies more than people moving between states tend to assume.

Other cities in Ohio

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.

I have a relocation package through work. Does that change anything?

It might, so check before I introduce anybody. Some employer programmes and benefit schemes require you to register with them before you speak to an agent, and will not pay the benefit if you have already committed to someone. That order of operations is theirs rather than mine. Read the terms, make that call first, and then come back — the referral will still be here.

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.

How do I time a Florida sale against a purchase in Lakewood?

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 Ohio 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.

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.

Say where you are going and when

Two things start this: the city, and the month it has to happen by. Everything else can be worked out on the call.

Send me the details 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

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.

Practically, The Keyes Company routes the referral and I do the vetting. That means a conversation with the receiving agent first — what they close, how they communicate, whether they will still be reachable in week six.

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.