Florida Licensee · Texas Referral
Leaving Florida for Texas
My licence stops at the Florida line. My usefulness does not have to.
What actually happens next
A short call, no form
Ten minutes, usually. Where you are going, roughly when, buying or selling, and anything that has already gone wrong. You are not being qualified on that call and there is nothing on this page for you to fill in.
A referral in writing
The introduction is papered between the two brokerages before you are put in touch, so the terms are settled in advance rather than negotiated around you afterwards. You are not a party to that document and you sign nothing.
You meet them uncommitted
The first conversation with the licensee commits you to nothing whatever. Anything you sign later you sign with them, after reading it, and preferably not on the day you first speak to them.
Where the line actually falls
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.
Before you go: the structural differences
- Real estate licensing is state by state. An agent licensed in Florida cannot represent you in Texas, and a Texas licensee cannot represent you in Florida.
- Texas is a non-disclosure state: sale prices are not public record. Researching value works differently there than in Florida, where documentary stamps on the deed make the price effectively public. Your Texas agent will explain what that changes.
- Like Florida, Texas has no broad-based tax on wage income. That removes one of the variables people most often assume they are trading away when they leave Florida.
- Texas is a community property state. How a married couple may take title, and what happens to cost basis on the first death, follow different rules than in Florida. Raise it with your attorney before closing, not after.
- Closings in Texas 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.
- Texas 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. Texas 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.
Cities in Texas
- Houston
- San Antonio
- Dallas
- Austin
- Fort Worth
- El Paso
- Arlington
- Corpus Christi
- Plano
- Lubbock
- Irving
- Garland
- Frisco
- Mckinney
- Amarillo
- Grand Prairie
- Brownsville
- Killeen
- Denton
- Mesquite
- Midland
- Waco
- Pas
- Pearland
- Carrollton
- Mcallen
- Wichita Falls
- Round Rock
- Richardson
- League City
- Sugar Land
- Longview
- Beaumont
- Odessa
- Abilene
- Port Arthur
- Edinburg
- College Station
- San Angelo
- Harlingen
- Victoria
- Tyler
- Laredo
- Conroe
- New Braunfels
- Cedar Park
- Georgetown
- Pflugerville
- Mansfield
- Rowlett
- Burleson
Questions people actually ask
How do I time a Florida sale against a purchase in ?
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 Texas 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.
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.
Can you represent me in ?
No. My licence is issued by Florida and is valid in Florida only. Representing you in a Texas transaction would be unlicensed activity there. What I can do is refer you to a licensee in Texas through The Keyes Company.
Am I obliged to use the agent you introduce?
No. A referral is an introduction. You can interview them, interview others, and decline. If they are not right, tell me and I will look again.
Ready when you are
A referral costs you nothing and commits you to nothing. The worst outcome is that you meet an agent you decide not to hire.
Start the introduction 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.
The brokerage on the other end
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.
It runs through The Keyes Company, which is what makes the arrangement lawful and what makes any fee traceable. Within that, the choice of who is a judgement about fit, made once I know what your transaction actually is.
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.