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The Content

In Florida, a transaction broker provides limited, non-fiduciary representation to the buyer, the seller, or both, and it is the default brokerage relationship in a residential transaction. The duties include dealing honestly and fairly, accounting for all funds, using skill, care, and diligence, presenting all offers and counteroffers in a timely manner, limited confidentiality, and disclosing known facts that materially affect the value of residential real property and are not readily observable.

Full disclosure is different. It is a single-agent fiduciary duty: the agent must tell the client everything material, even facts or rumors that may not help that client’s bargaining position. A transaction broker does not owe full disclosure.

The Content

A transaction broker does not owe the fiduciary duties of a single agent. Loyalty and obedience belong to single agency, not to a transaction broker relationship. The disclosure duty is also narrower: a transaction broker must disclose known facts that materially affect value and are not readily observable — not “all material facts.”

What a transaction broker does owe is limited confidentiality. Unless the party agrees otherwise in writing, the broker may not disclose that the seller will accept a lower price, that the buyer will pay a higher price, or either party’s motivating circumstances.

The Content

A Florida real estate broker may fill out a purchase contract and get it signed, and may sell a business opportunity as part of authorized brokerage. When the broker is providing property management services, the broker may also keep up to $5,000 of personal or brokerage funds in a property management escrow account.

What a broker may not do is act as a dual agent. Dual agency means representing both the buyer and the seller as a single agent in the same transaction. Dual agency is illegal in Florida under Chapter 475 and can lead to discipline by the FREC.

The Content

For depreciation under the IRS code, the established useful (asset) life of an income-producing building depends on the type of property, not simply on the fact that it is being rented. An income-producing residential building is depreciated over 27.5 years.

An income-producing commercial (nonresidential) building is depreciated over 39 years. If the question asks for the commercial figure, the answer is 39 years — not 27.5.

The Content

For Florida brokerage-relationship purposes, a residential sale is the sale of improved residential property of four units or fewer, the sale of unimproved residential property intended for four units or fewer, or the sale of agricultural property of 10 acres or fewer.

One to four residential units, and vacant lots zoned or intended for one to four residential units, are residential under that definition. Agricultural property of 10 acres is also residential. Agricultural property of 14 acres is over the 10-acre limit, so it is not residential real estate.

The Content

Florida authorizes three brokerage relationships: transaction broker, single agent, and no brokerage relationship. Dual agency is not an authorized relationship; it is illegal.

A transaction broker owes only limited confidentiality — covering price, terms, and motives. A no-brokerage relationship does not include a confidentiality duty. A single agent is a fiduciary and owes full confidentiality, along with loyalty, obedience to lawful instructions, and full disclosure. Full confidentiality is required in single agency.

The Content

For depreciation under the IRS code, the established useful (asset) life of an income-producing building depends on the type of property. If a residential building is used as a rental, its useful life is 27.5 years.

If a commercial (nonresidential) building is used as a rental, its useful life is 39 years. When the question asks for the residential figure, the answer is 27.5 years — not 39.

The Content

If a seller lists a property at $55,000 and then tells the listing broker they will accept $50,000, that is information about price. In a transaction broker relationship — Florida’s default — and in a single-agent relationship, the broker owes confidentiality as to price, terms, and motives unless the seller authorizes disclosure in writing.

That means the listing broker must not tell buyers to offer $50,000, must not relist the property at $50,000, and is not required to cancel the listing because of that number. The confidentiality duty would not apply in a no-brokerage relationship, but for a listing broker the correct handling is to keep the information confidential.

The Content

Federal fair housing law and Florida law prohibit a broker from refusing to show a property, or from steering buyers, because of race, religion, or national origin. A single agent owes the seller obedience, but only as to lawful instructions.

A request to limit showings by race, religion, or national origin is not lawful. The broker must not comply, must not steer buyers away, and must not send a special notice to carry out that request. If the seller persists, the broker must cancel the listing.

The Content

A single agent represents one party in a fiduciary capacity. If the broker already has a single-agency listing, and a buyer wants that same broker to represent the buyer in buying that listed property, the broker would be a single agent for both the seller and the buyer in the same transaction.

That is dual agency. Dual agency is illegal in Florida under Chapter 475. Disclosure alone does not make it legal, and it is not “two single agents, which is legal.” A no-brokerage relationship with the buyer would be a different arrangement, and it is not what this question describes.