Relocating to Renton? Here is how a referral works.

How the introduction gets made

One licence, one state

A referral fee is not a finder’s fee and it is not something you pay. It is a share of the commission the Washington 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.

Things I am going to refuse

I will not treat the introduction as the end of my involvement when that suits me and the beginning of it when that suits me better. What I owe you afterwards is honesty and a returned telephone call. What I cannot offer is supervision of another brokerage’s agent, because I have no authority over them at all. I would rather draw that line now than have you rely on something I am unable to deliver.

What changes when you leave Florida

• Licensing in this industry is granted state by state, not federally. A Florida licence carries no authority in Washington, and a Washington licence carries none in Florida — which is why an introduction, rather than representation, is the only honest offer on this page.
• Washington 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.
• Title works differently for married couples in Washington, 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 Washington, and it is better had before closing than after.
• Closings in Washington 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.
• Neither the homestead exemption nor the Save Our Homes cap travels with you out of Florida. Washington 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

• If I need to back out, what actually happens to my deposit under a standard Washington contract?
• What is the local convention on inspection and financing contingency periods, and how tight are people making them right now?
• 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?
• How do you prefer to communicate, how quickly do you normally reply, and who covers your clients when you are away? Settle that in the first week and most of the friction in a long-distance transaction disappears.

What I can do directly, without an introduction

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 Renton than after.

Other cities in Washington

• Tacoma
• Spokane
• Seattle
• Shoreline
• Sammamish
• Redmond
• Marysville
• Kennewick
• All of Washington