The Keyes Company Referral Network

What a Florida licensee can do for a Austin move

The offer on this page is an introduction through The Keyes Company, and nothing beyond it.

Referral only

Where my licence stops

If you searched for an agent in Austin and landed on the site of a Florida licensee, one of two things is true: either the site is overreaching, or it is offering something other than representation. This one is the second. The offer here is an introduction through The Keyes Company, and the rest of this page explains exactly what that is and is not.

Things that surprise people moving out of Florida

  • Licensing in this industry is granted state by state, not federally. A Florida licence carries no authority in Texas, and a Texas licence carries none in Florida — which is why an introduction, rather than representation, is the only honest offer on this page.
  • 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.
  • Title works differently for married couples in Texas, which is a community property state. It affects how you may hold the property and what happens to cost basis on a first death. That is a conversation for an attorney in Texas, and it is better had before closing than after.
  • Closings in Texas are generally handled through a title or escrow company rather than by an attorney as a matter of course, which is closer to the Florida pattern 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.

From this page to a licensed agent

Step 1

You give me the shape of it

Price range, constraints you already know about, and whether you are on a deadline. I am not qualifying you — I am briefing whoever I call.

Step 2

I make the call myself

The referral goes out through The Keyes Company. I would rather spend a week finding the right Texas licensee than send your details into a lead pool the same afternoon.

Step 3

It stays your decision

Interview them. Interview two others if you want. Nothing about a referral obliges you to use anyone, and I have no way to make you.

Things I am going to refuse

I will not send your details to several agents at once to see which one bites. One introduction, to one named brokerage, after a conversation with the person at the other end. If it turns out to be the wrong fit I would rather go back and make a second introduction than have set four strangers racing each other with your telephone number.

If there is a Florida property on the other side

The referral is what I can do for Austin. The Florida sale is what I can do for you. When a move involves both, treat them as one project — the closing dates have to talk to each other, and the cost of them not talking is usually a rent-back or a bridge loan nobody budgeted for.

The questions that tell you who you are dealing with

  • 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 Texas, and what do buyers here commonly write into the contract to deal with it before it happens?
  • If the property is listed by your own brokerage, what happens to my representation, what does Texas law permit in that situation, and what exactly would you be asking me to sign?
  • How do closing costs divide by local custom, which of those items are genuinely negotiable, and which are simply the way it is done here?

Other cities in Texas

Questions people actually ask

What do you actually tell the agent about me?

The shape of the transaction. The city, roughly when, buying or selling, and anything you have told me matters to you in how you are dealt with. Not your finances, and nothing you have asked me to keep to myself. If you would rather I said less than that, say so — it is your information, and a shorter briefing costs nothing.

How is this different from the sites that match me with an agent?

Put the same two questions to any of them and compare the answers: how many people receive my details, and who pays you. Here the answers are one named brokerage, and the receiving brokerage pays The Keyes Company a share of its own commission if a transaction closes. Neither arrangement is illegitimate. They are simply not the same thing, and you are entitled to know which one you are in.

Can you represent me in Austin?

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.

What does a referral cost me?

Nothing. You are not charged for a referral. If a referred transaction closes, a referral fee may be paid between the two brokerages out of the commission on that transaction. It does not increase what you pay.

Who actually pays you?

Only my broker can. Under Section 475.42(1)(d), Florida Statutes, a sales associate may be compensated only by the registered broker. Any referral fee is paid to The Keyes Company, and The Keyes Company may in turn compensate me. There is no direct payment from you or from the Texas agent to me.

Before you fill in anyone else’s form

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

Ask about Austin 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 you will actually be working with

I do not keep a list of preferred companies to hand you, and I would be sceptical of an agent who did. A name that is always the answer is a name that is paying for the position, not one that was chosen for your situation.

The Keyes Company handles the placement. I handle the question of whether the person on the other end is right for you, which means asking them about their last few transactions rather than reading their bio.

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.