buying a house in florida

[Tractorat]

Has anyone had this experience in florida or any other state ? A friend of my daughters (kind of a ding bat) is trying to buy a house in florida. For what she was telling me, I suggested she get a different real estate agent to help her find a house. Well, she tells me that in florida, you have to sign an exclusive contract with a real estate agent just to look at houses. That cant be right, can it ?

 

[mwilson]

I will ask today. Many at work own homes in Florida. It does not sound quite right to me but they do have some strange laws down there.

 

[fest3er]

I've heard of it in one place or another. Especially in places where the local real estate boards are more interested in protecting their turf than they are selling homes or helping people find the right homes.

 

[Alan Reagan]

I worked in Melbourne for a while and looked at houses with multiple real estate agents. I was looking for property on the west side of I-95 and would spend weekends scoping out property out in the ranch and farm area. If I found something I wanted to look at, I would call the listing agency and never had a problem looking with multiple agents.

If I remember correctly, the agreements in Florida are a little funny if you do sign an exclusive, single agent agreement. There is a clause in that agreement that states that the agent can transition to a transaction agent at any time and then they represent the seller. The agent, at that point, does not have to disclose anything to the buyer because they now represent the seller.