Referral, Not Representation

Moving to Cedar Park, Texas?

If there is a Florida property attached to this move, say so — that half is mine.

Referral only

Where my licence stops

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 Texas. Plenty of agents blur that line. I would rather say it first and then do the useful thing.

What works differently in Texas

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.
Texas 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.
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 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.
Like Florida, Texas has coastal exposure and a named-storm deductible regime in its property insurance market. The mechanism will feel familiar; the numbers will not necessarily.
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.

The limits, stated outright

I will not read your Texas 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 actually happens next

Step 1

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.

Step 2

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.

Step 3

You meet them uncommitted

The first conversation with the Cedar Park 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.

Questions worth asking on that first call

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 is your compensation structured, and what is negotiable about it? Broker compensation is not set by law in any state.
What is on the survey or title work here that a Florida buyer would not think to look for?
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?

Where I stop being a referral and start being your agent

Sometimes the Florida property is not the one you live in. A second home, an inherited house, a unit that has been let for years — each of those sells differently and each carries paperwork that has to be in order before it can go on the market at all. If one of them is attached to your move to Cedar Park, that part sits squarely inside my licence, and it is worth starting early, because the documents take longer than the marketing does.

Other cities in Texas

Questions people actually ask

Do you know the Cedar Park market?

Not the way someone working it every day does, and I am not going to claim otherwise. That is the entire reason this page offers a referral rather than advice.

What if the agent you introduce me to turns out to be no good?

Tell me, and tell me early. I will go back and look again, and I will say so to the brokerage that put them forward. What I cannot do is repair the transaction from Florida: I do not supervise them and I am not a party to your agreement with them. Your remedies are the ones written into that agreement, their own broker, and the body that licenses agents in Texas.

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.

Do you get paid if I never buy anything?

No. A referral fee only arises if a referred transaction actually closes. If nothing closes, nothing is paid by anyone.

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.

Tell me the city and the timeline

Send me the details and I will start looking. If your move is into Florida rather than out of it, skip the referral — that one is mine.

Tell me about the move 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

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.

In practice: The Keyes Company places the referral, and I go looking for a licensee whose recent work resembles what you are about to do. A first-time purchase, a downsize and an investment buy need genuinely different people, and that difference is invisible from a profile page.

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.