Sturgis, South Dakota — an introduction, not a pitch

Starting with what I cannot do

After the introduction I am not in your transaction. I do not supervise the agent, I do not see your contract, and I have no authority to intervene when something goes wrong — that authority belongs to their broker and to the body that licenses agents in South Dakota. What I do keep is the telephone. If something reads badly three weeks in, tell me. I would far rather make an awkward call to another brokerage than find out at closing that the introduction was the wrong one.

Things I am going to refuse

I will not read your South Dakota contract and tell you it looks fine. I do not know that state’s standard form, its local addenda, or what its courts have made of the wording, and a Florida licensee’s reassurance about a contract in another state is worth precisely nothing. Put it to the agent, and where the sums are significant, put it to an attorney licensed where the property is.

What I do once you call

What works differently in South Dakota

• Licensing in this industry is granted state by state, not federally. A Florida licence carries no authority in South Dakota, and a South Dakota licence carries none in Florida — which is why an introduction, rather than representation, is the only honest offer on this page.
• South Dakota joins Florida in having no broad-based tax on wage income, so that particular line in the relocation spreadsheet does not move. Most of the other lines will.
• Closings in South Dakota 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. South Dakota 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 I would put to them myself

• 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 South Dakota, 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?
• What disclosures is a seller in South Dakota required to make, and what are they entitled to stay silent about?

Where I stop being a referral and start being your agent

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 Sturgis than after.

Other cities in South Dakota

• Pierre
• Spearfish
• Box Elder
• Mobridge
• Sioux Falls
• Rapid City
• Aberdeen
• Brookings
• All of South Dakota