Before you choose an agent in Denton, read this

Three steps, and what each one commits you to

The honest position, stated up front

A referral fee is not a finder’s fee and it is not something you pay. It is a share of the commission the Texas brokerage earns on a transaction it closes, paid across to The Keyes Company under an agreement signed between the two firms before you are ever introduced. Nothing is added to your closing statement, and nothing arises at all unless a transaction completes. I set this out early because the word “referral” has been used to describe several quite different arrangements, and you are entitled to know which one you are being offered.

The mechanics change at the state line

• 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.
• Sale prices in Texas are not a matter of public record — it is one of a minority of non-disclosure states. Coming from Florida, where documentary stamps on the deed make the number effectively public, expect to lean far harder on your agent for comparables than you are used to.
• 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 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.
• 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.
• Neither the homestead exemption nor the Save Our Homes cap travels with you out of Florida. Texas 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.

The first conversation, made useful

• If my timeline slips by six weeks, what happens to the agreement I am about to sign with you, and what happens to any money already committed?
• What is the local practice on possession — do I get the keys at closing, or do sellers here commonly stay on for a period afterwards, and how is that documented?
• Have you worked with buyers who were selling in another state at the same time? Ask for the mechanics of how they handled it rather than for a reassurance that they have.
• How many transactions have you closed in Denton in the last twelve months, and how many were on the side of the table I am on?

The limits, stated outright

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.

The Florida side of a two-state move

Most moves out of Florida have a Florida transaction attached to them. If you are selling a Florida home and buying in Denton, that is the strongest version of this: I represent you on the Florida sale as your agent, and I refer you for the Texas purchase. One relationship, two licensed professionals, and nobody pretending to be qualified where they are not.

Other cities in Texas

• New Braunfels
• Round Rock
• Lubbock
• Conroe
• Wichita Falls
• Plano
• Laredo
• Mcallen
• All of Texas