Florida · state portion

Florida real estate law vocabulary

17 terms, defined plainly. Where a term is commonly confused with another, the definition says so — that confusion is usually the wrong answer.

Sales associate (Florida)

Florida's ENTRY-LEVEL real estate licence — not 'salesperson' or 'sales agent'. A sales associate works under a broker or owner-employer; broker is a separate, higher licence.

FREC

The Florida Real Estate Commission: SEVEN members appointed by the Governor — four licensed brokers, one broker or sales associate, and two consumer members who have never held a real estate licence. It adopts rules (61J2), sets education standards, and disciplines licensees.

DBPR

The Department of Business and Professional Regulation — the umbrella agency that receives applications, investigates complaints, and houses the Division of Real Estate. FREC regulates; the DBPR administers.

Transaction broker

Florida's PRESUMED (default) brokerage relationship — limited representation without fiduciary duties to either party, owing 8 statutory duties. Unless a single-agent or no-brokerage notice says otherwise, a Florida licensee is a transaction broker.

Single agent

The Florida relationship with FULL fiduciary duties (9 of them), created only with the written Single Agent Notice. Moving from single agent to transaction broker requires the principal's written Consent to Transition.

No brokerage relationship

Florida's third authorized status: the licensee represents nobody, owing only honesty and fair dealing, disclosure of known material defects, and accounting for funds.

Designated sales associates

Florida's mechanism where two sales associates in the SAME brokerage each represent one party as single agents — allowed ONLY in commercial transactions meeting statutory thresholds. Not the same as other states' designated agency.

Escrow deposit deadlines

A sales associate delivers a deposit to the broker by the end of the NEXT business day; the broker deposits it by the end of the THIRD business day after the brokerage receives it. The exam tests both clocks.

Escrow Disbursement Order (EDO)

One of Florida's four escrow-dispute settlement procedures (mediation, arbitration, litigation, EDO): FREC itself orders how disputed escrow funds are paid out. A broker who follows an EDO and later loses in court is reimbursed by the Recovery Fund WITHOUT licence discipline.

Real Estate Recovery Fund (s.475.482)

Florida's fund reimbursing consumers with unsatisfied judgments against licensees for acts in a real estate transaction. Florida HAS one — don't import another state's 'no recovery fund' rule.

Florida homestead

Constitutional protection from forced sale by most creditors, a tax exemption, the Save Our Homes 3% assessment cap, and restrictions on devise when there is a spouse or minor child. Heavily tested from several angles.

Documentary stamp & intangible taxes

Florida's transfer taxes: doc stamps on the DEED (on price) and on the NOTE (on amount financed), plus intangible tax on the MORTGAGE. No state income tax — these are the exam's Florida tax staples.

Tenancy by the entirety

Florida RECOGNISES tenancy by the entirety for married couples (with survivorship), and is NOT a community-property state — the reverse of Washington and Nevada.

Licence statuses

Active, voluntarily inactive, involuntarily inactive (e.g. failed to renew — two years to cure), and null and void. Skipping the 45-hour post-licensing course before first renewal makes the licence NULL AND VOID, not merely inactive.

63 / 45 / 14 hours

Florida's education ladder: 63-hour FREC Course I to qualify, 45 hours of post-licensing before the FIRST renewal, then 14 hours of continuing education per 2-year cycle. Three different numbers the exam loves to swap.

Mutual recognition

Florida's agreements with certain states letting their licensees skip Course I and take a 40-question Florida-law exam instead. Not reciprocity — Florida residents can't use it, and not every state qualifies.

Single combined exam

Florida's sales associate exam is ONE 100-question test at Pearson VUE — 3.5 hours, pass at 75, national and Florida law mixed together. There is no separately-scored state portion, unlike every other state we serve.