Transaction coordination in Florida.

Florida real estate is overseen by the Florida Real Estate Commission (FREC), housed inside the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Florida Statute Chapter 475 governs licensure and broker conduct, with § 475.42 handling unlicensed-practice penalties. FREC enforces against unlicensed-activity violations actively, so broker supervision and clean broker-file documentation both matter on every file.

Florida's standard is the FAR/BAR Residential Contract for Sale and Purchase, jointly maintained by Florida Realtors and The Florida Bar. Version 7 took effect December 31, 2024 with enhanced condominium compliance (HB 221), refined earnest-money dispute addenda, and clarified closing services definitions. Version 6 (August 2024) handled the NAR-settlement compensation rewrite. Quill runs the current version's specific language, not what the contract said a year ago.

Key FAR/BAR deadlines Quill tracks on every Florida file:

• Earnest money delivery (3 calendar days post-effective date)
• Loan approval contingency (standard 21 days)
• Inspection contingency and repair negotiation window
• Condominium document delivery and rescission period (5 days delivery, 15 days rescission, extendable to 30)
• Title commitment delivery and review
• FEMA flood insurance deadline (often 30 to 45 days)
• HOA resale certificate delivery where applicable

Florida earnest money is held in a title company escrow account for residential transactions, with attorney escrow as the alternative for commercial or complex deals. Broker trust account custody is rare and discouraged. Standard deposits run 1% to 3% of purchase price, delivered within 3 calendar days of the contract's effective date. Quill confirms receipt and tracks the deposit from escrow through final closing statement.

Florida is a title-company closing state. There is no statutory attorney requirement. Licensed Florida title companies hold earnest money, conduct final walkthrough coordination, disburse funds, and issue title insurance. In South Florida markets (Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach), closing attorneys are more common by local custom, but that's convention rather than law. Most Florida closings run title-first.

Quill runs the file end-to-end with the title company as the closing hub. FIRPTA verification, condominium disclosure timelines, flood insurance coordination, and HOA documents all sit in the pre-closing workflow. We confirm the closing disclosure against commission demand before signing, and assemble the broker file to FREC's audit standard.

A handful of Florida specifics catch out-of-state operators and newer agents more than anything else. These are the ones Quill watches for on every file:

• FIRPTA not verified on intake. Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act withholding (up to 15%) applies when the seller is a foreign person. Florida's international buyer and seller base makes FIRPTA routine. Finding out at closing prep that the seller is foreign, when the withholding forms haven't been prepared, delays funding and exposes the buyer to withholding liability.
• Condo document timeline misses under HB 221. Version 7 of FAR/BAR tightened condominium disclosure requirements: milestone inspection status, turnover inspection acknowledgments, structural integrity reserve study disclosure. The buyer's 15-day rescission window runs from delivery. Missing delivery by a day opens the right to rescind.
• Flood zone verification missed. Florida properties are broadly subject to flood disclosure. Lenders require FEMA flood insurance verification on a hard deadline (often 30 to 45 days). A missed flood verification is a funding condition that gets discovered at underwriting, not at contract.
• Loan approval contingency math. The standard 21-calendar-day loan contingency runs from the effective date, not the acceptance date. The difference usually moves the deadline a day or two, which is enough to make the buyer's protection disappear if the file treats the dates as interchangeable.

From executed FAR/BAR to closing package assembled in your broker file, we run the deal end-to-end. For the full Florida compliance deep-dive, see our Florida transaction coordinator guide.

• FAR/BAR Version 7 timeline built and shared with you, cooperating agent, lender, title, and inspectors
• Earnest money delivery verified with the title company within the 3-day window
• FIRPTA seller status verified on intake; withholding coordination arranged with title when applicable
• Condominium document delivery and rescission window tracked per HB 221
• Flood zone verification and FEMA insurance deadline coordinated with lender and title
• Inspection coordination and repair negotiation tracked through the contract's specific windows
• Loan approval contingency monitored against the effective-date-based deadline
• Title commitment reviewed for exceptions that need cure or waiver
• Closing disclosure reviewed against commission demand; broker file assembled to FREC audit standard

Florida runs more than 500,000 existing home sales a year across 50-plus local Realtor boards. Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale, and the Palm Beaches each operate as distinct submarkets. Condo inventory dominates coastal metros; HOA-governed single-family dominates inland new construction; rural panhandle and Keys markets run smaller volume with longer timelines. International buyers and sellers appear on a meaningful share of transactions, which is why FIRPTA sits in the Quill intake checklist rather than as an exception.

For more detail on how real estate transactions work here, see our in-depth guides: Florida Seller Disclosure Requirements.