What a Florida licensee can do for a Central Falls move

Starting with what I cannot do

Real estate licensing is state by state. My licence, 3623732, is issued by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation and authorises me to work under The Keyes Company on Florida property. It does not authorise me to advise on, list, show, or negotiate a home in Rhode Island. Plenty of agents blur that line. I would rather say it first and then do the useful thing.

The process, in three steps

Where I stop, on purpose

I will not take a payment from you, and could not lawfully do so if I wanted to. A Florida sales associate may be compensated only through his registered broker, so any fee here is paid by the receiving brokerage to The Keyes Company out of a commission earned only if a transaction closes. There is no invoice at the end of this and no version of it in which you are billed for an introduction.

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 Rhode Island, and a Rhode Island licence carries none in Florida — which is why an introduction, rather than representation, is the only honest offer on this page.
• Rhode Island 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.
• Expect an attorney at the closing table in Rhode Island. Florida closings typically run through a title company instead, so the cast of characters, the fee structure and the sequence of the last two weeks will all look unfamiliar.
• Rhode Island 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.
• Neither the homestead exemption nor the Save Our Homes cap travels with you out of Florida. Rhode Island 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.

If there is a Florida property on the other side

There is a version of this where I am not a referral at all. If the property you are leaving is in Florida, I can list and sell it as your agent under The Keyes Company — that half is squarely my licence — while the Central Falls side goes to the licensee I introduce you to. Say so early, because the two timelines have to be planned against each other.

What to ask before you sign anything

• 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.
• When an inspection turns something up, what is the local practice — a price reduction, a credit at closing, or the seller arranging the work — and who conducts that negotiation on my behalf?
• Which documents will you ask me to sign at the very start, what does each one commit me to, and how long does it run? Ask for them by email so you can read them somewhere other than at a kitchen table.
• How is a shortfall on the appraisal usually handled in Rhode Island, and what do buyers here commonly write into the contract to deal with it before it happens?

Other cities in Rhode Island

• Providence
• Woonsocket
• Bristol
• East Providence
• South Kings Town
• Pawtucket
• North Kings Town
• Cranston
• All of Rhode Island