I am newly licensed in CT and looking to buy a home for myself in FL. An agent I contacted in FL said they cannot pay me a referral fee for referring myself because I am not licensed in FL.

Is this correct?

No. Go to the Relocations forum, post what and where you are looking to buy and I bet there is a member here who will help you.

There are no restrictions on paying referral fees to agents regardless of which state they are in. The only requirement is, that it is paid from broker to broker, who in turn pays their agent.

This also seems incorrect to me.

We refer out buyers and sellers to REMAX agents in other states often. And we are able to receive referral fees when those clients do purchase real estate.

Obviously the money needs to be paid to your broker.

I hope this helps!

Wow...great agent knowledge right there. I'm actually going to be doing some international marketing in an attempt to do more referrals.

Just to be clear...I am essentially referring myself as a buyer in a state that I'm not licensed and thus I am entitled to receive a referral fee as long as it goes from broker to broker?

Your original post made it clear. There still should be no reason why you would not recieve a referral. Id find another agent. What part of FLA, there are several FLA Member Agents.

LOL, sorry, but it seems the realtor you contacted either: 1- didnt understand the circumstances or 2- just plain doesnt know... And it sounds like it's the latter case, so I would look for another more knowledgeable realtor to assist with the relocation. Good luck with the move.

or 3 - Doesn't want to pay a referral fee and hopes you are very gullible.

Thanks, that's what I thought. They only offered to pay a $295.00 fee that is typically passed on to the buyer.

[quote=REODayton]...What part of FLA, there are several FLA Member Agents.[/quote] I'm looking in 2 areas. The Fort Lauderdale area from Hollywood to Deerfield Beach as well as the Port St. Lucie area.

Buggs,

this might come across as harsh, but i have to ask. i do not mean to offend, but i dont know how to ask any other way than directly

you are newly licensed. you know nothing about the business. you don't even know how referral fees work.
what i see is someone who just got a liscense looking to get a discount on commission because they passed a state exam.
you dont even know if this agent is right or wrong in what they tell you about referral fees.

imho, you dont rate to get a discounted commission on a property that you are going to be purchasing.

my advice is to find an ***experienced*** agent and forget about the referral fee. get the real estate results taht you are looking for. the small discount you are looking to get in commission will be more than made back in the solid negotiating skills and the (probably>>)shorter time to get you into a home. i know that as my experience grows the time it takes me to deliver for a client gets shorter. i do get paid for those results.

if i were to go into a market that i did not know and found a great agent, i would not even think about asking them to discount or pay a referral of 25%!

I would think you could find an agent who will give you great service and a referral fee. Why not? There are many agents who will happily pay a referral fee and work hard for the client.

Dan,

Not stating that there are not agents who will not pay a referral fee and give great service. i'm not the most clear and concise when conveying a message through type. i do most of my business on the phone.

there was something in the original post that kind of got under my skin. i should have been more specific from the start.

let me clarify.

the op seems to be worried about getting 25% in commission more than he seems to be looking for a competent agent to handle the transaction.
to me that is like a seller looking for a discounted commission and a list price 50k over what hte comps state(easy for any seller to do)..it is a recipe to get bad results and ultimately the client makes the uninformed decision that agents are moroms based on someone that is an agnet that they worked with who has no experience.

[quote=estatereal]
Buggs,

this might come across as harsh, but i have to ask. i do not mean to offend, but i dont know how to ask any other way than directly

you are newly licensed. you know nothing about the business. you don't even know how referral fees work.
what i see is someone who just got a liscense looking to get a discount on commission because they passed a state exam.
you dont even know if this agent is right or wrong in what they tell you about referral fees.

imho, you dont rate to get a discounted commission on a property that you are going to be purchasing.

my advice is to find an ***experienced*** agent and forget about the referral fee. get the real estate results taht you are looking for. the small discount you are looking to get in commission will be more than made back in the solid negotiating skills and the (probably>>)shorter time to get you into a home. i know that as my experience grows the time it takes me to deliver for a client gets shorter. i do get paid for those results.

if i were to go into a market that i did not know and found a great agent, i would not even think about asking them to discount or pay a referral of 25%!
[/quote]
IMHO, you don't rate to be giving advice...So, what was your question? LOL Thanks for your 2 cents ;)

sometimes i have conversations with a seller.
sometimes i have to deliver news taht they dont want to hear, but need to hear.
i told you what i thought would help get POSITIVE results in a real estate transaction over and above a discount of 25%

yeah, you got me. i gave advice instead of asked a question. i should have worded it differently.

i did tell you from the beginning....."this might come across as harsh, but i have to ask. i do not mean to offend, but i dont know how to ask any other way than directly".

i also wrote in another post just above "i'm not the most clear and concise when conveying a message through type. i do most of my business on the phone."

my words might have been harsh, but my intention was to help.


i would beg to differ with you on your reply. op..."you don't rate to be giving advice"

i have a track record of giving solid advice. if you can find posts where i give bad advice that will hurt people instead of help people let me know. i have gotten a lot out of the forum here and met some great people that i keep in touch with and through that i feel that we have the opportunity to better our business and in turn better our lives. because of that i give advice that will help people when i have the opportunity.

you asked a question on a public forum. my professional opinion was given. i have been liscenced. tested through the times of a "tough market" and passed.

once again, here is my advice>>> this is the same advice i would give my own mother!>>>

the small discount you are looking to get in commission will be more than made back in the solid negotiating skills and the (probably>>)shorter time to get you into a home


i sent you a pm