Transaction coordinator in Florida: AS IS contract deadlines, FREC rules and costs

What does a transaction coordinator do on a Florida deal?

On a Florida resale, the coordinator's work starts with the contract most agents reach for: the AS IS Residential Contract for Sale and Purchase, published jointly by Florida Realtors and The Florida Bar as form ASIS-7x and revised in 2026. Every clock in that form runs from the Effective Date, so the first job is to pin that date down and build the file's calendar from it.

From there a Florida TC chases the escrow deposit, tracks the buyer's loan application and approval, follows the title commitment, books inspections inside the Inspection Period and collects condominium or HOA documents where they apply. They keep the closing agent, the lender and the other side moving toward the Closing Date. The broker gets a complete file at the end. The judgement calls stay with the licensed agent, and Florida's rules on that point are older and more specific than many agents realize.

Does a transaction coordinator need a license in Florida?

Florida has no transaction coordinator license. The line that matters is the one between brokerage work and support work. Section 475.42(1)(a) of the Florida Statutes says a person "may not operate as a broker or sales associate without being the holder of a valid and current active license", and it makes a violation a third-degree felony.

The Florida Real Estate Commission's list of permissible activities of an unlicensed assistant, revised and approved by FREC on September 15, 2009, is the closest thing the state has to a TC job description. It lets unlicensed support staff follow up on loan commitments after a contract has been negotiated, assemble documents for closing, and receive, record and deposit earnest money. They may order surveys, termite and home inspections with the licensed employer's approval. On contracts the wording is narrow: an unlicensed assistant may "only type the contract forms for approval by licensee and supervising broker."

Read together, those two sources give a Florida agent a workable rule. An unlicensed TC can run the logistics of a file, but drafting terms, negotiating repairs and explaining the contract to a buyer or seller belong to a licensee. If your TC holds an active Florida license under a broker, more of the file can move to them. Ask which it is before the first contract changes hands.

Which Florida contract deadlines does a TC calendar?

The ASIS-7x form fills blank deadlines with defaults. Under Standard F the contract counts calendar days based on where the property is located. A period that ends on a Saturday, Sunday or national legal public holiday rolls to the next day that is none of those. These are the defaults a coordinator sees most.

The financing paragraph is the one to watch. If the buyer sends neither a loan approval notice nor a termination before the Loan Approval Period ends, ¶8(b)(v) says the buyer proceeds "as though Paragraph 8(a), above, had been checked". That is the cash box. The seller then has 3 days to terminate and refund the deposit. A TC who logs the approval letter the day it arrives keeps both sides out of that trap.

Title runs on its own clock. Standard A gives the buyer 5 days after receiving the Title Commitment to object in writing, and the seller then has a 30-day Cure Period. Our contract deadline calculator handles the weekend roll in Standard F, and the guide to counting contract days by form explains why Florida's rule differs from other states.

What should a Florida TC do in the first five days?

Several of the AS IS contract's short clocks run out within the first working week, before anyone has thought about closing. A coordinator who opens the file on the day of acceptance can clear them in order:

• Confirm the initial deposit reached the Escrow Agent. If the offer didn't include it, the default is 3 days after the Effective Date.
• Ask the seller for any existing owner's title policy. Under ¶9(c) the seller furnishes a copy to the buyer and the Closing Agent within 5 days.
• Ask for any existing survey as well. Under ¶9(d) the seller sends that to the buyer and the Closing Agent within the same 5 days.
• Get confirmation that the buyer has applied for the loan, which the form requires within 5 days unless the parties wrote in another number.
• Book the inspections so the reports arrive well before day 15.

None of those steps needs a judgement call, so all of them sit comfortably with an unlicensed TC. The first decision that does need the agent usually comes with the inspection report, when the buyer has to choose whether to cancel before the Inspection Period ends. The buyer's own survey has a later deadline: under ¶9(d) it must be done at least 5 days before the Closing Date.

Who closes a home sale in Florida, and who pays the doc stamps?

Florida closings are run by a closing agent, and both title companies and attorneys do the job. The ASIS-7x contract defines "Closing Services" by reference to section 627.7711(1)(a) of the Florida Statutes, which describes services performed by "a licensed title insurer, title insurance agent or agency, or attorney agent". That covers preparing closing documents, conducting the closing and disbursing funds. Under ¶9(c) the parties check a box to decide who designates the closing agent. Option (iii) is a regional provision for Miami-Dade and Broward. There the buyer designates the agent, and the seller pays for the title search, up to $200 if the blank is left empty, plus the tax and municipal lien searches.

The contract puts "documentary stamp taxes and surtax on deed, if any" on the seller. The Florida Department of Revenue sets the deed rate at 70 cents per $100 of consideration in every county except Miami-Dade. Miami-Dade charges 60 cents per $100 plus a 45-cent surtax, and that surtax is not due on a deed that transfers only a single-family dwelling. The buyer's side has its own tax: notes are taxed at 35 cents per $100, capped at $2,450, and recorded mortgages at 35 cents per $100 with no cap. The department also notes that every party to a document is liable for the tax, whoever agreed to pay it.

What do condo milestone inspections and SIRS mean for a Florida closing?

Condo files take longer in Florida, and the reason is the 2021 Surfside collapse. The state condominium division's FAQ on condo safety laws records that Champlain Towers partially collapsed on June 24, 2021, taking 98 lives. The Legislature followed with SB 4-D in 2022, SB 154 in 2023, HB 1021 in 2024 and HB 913 in 2025.

Two reports came out of those laws. A Structural Integrity Reserve Study, or SIRS, is required for buildings three stories or higher, at least every 10 years. Associations controlled by unit owners that existed on or before July 1, 2022 had until December 31, 2025 to complete one. Milestone inspections apply to condo and co-op buildings of a certain age, depending on their distance from the coastline. The division says both reports must be provided to potential purchasers.

The resale statute makes this a deadline item. Section 718.503(2) of the Florida Statutes entitles a buyer, at the seller's expense, to the inspector-prepared summary of the milestone report and the most recent SIRS, or a statement that the association has not completed one. The same section requires every resale contract to carry one of two clauses in conspicuous type. The first is the buyer's acknowledgement of receiving the association documents. The second makes the contract voidable by the buyer within 7 days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, after the buyer signs and receives the declaration, bylaws, rules, and the latest financial statement and budget. A TC should request the condo package on day one and log the date the buyer receives it.

Which association and MLS will a Florida TC work with?

Florida Realtors is the state association, and together with The Florida Bar it publishes the residential contracts. Its MLS landscape is regional:

• Stellar MLS covers Central and Southwest Florida and Puerto Rico. In a July 2026 release it described itself as serving nearly 80,000 customers across 20 REALTOR associations.
• In Southeast Florida, the MIAMI Association of Realtors publishes its figures with the MIAMI Southeast Florida MLS and lists support lines for both MIAMI MLS and BeachesMLS.
• Other regions have their own systems. Confirm which one a listing sits in before you promise a status update.

How busy is the Florida market a TC works in?

Florida Realtors counted 255,012 closed single-family sales in 2025, up 0.9%, at a median of $413,990, according to its 2025 year-end report. The median home went under contract in 55 days and closed in 94. Condos and townhouses added 88,793 sales at a $305,000 median, down 5.9% in volume. The metro summary shows where the files are.

How does TC work differ across Miami, Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville?

Miami. Southeast Florida is a condo market. The Miami metro closed almost as many condos and townhouses as single-family homes in 2025, so the 718.503 documents sit on a large share of files there. In Miami-Dade, half of condo and townhouse sales were paid in cash, and MIAMI REALTORS reports that only 21 of 2,397 condo buildings in the three South Florida counties are approved for FHA loans.

Tampa Bay. Of the four metros in the table, Tampa closed the most single-family homes in 2025. Pinellas County has its own flood disclosure program run with local Realtors, so flood paperwork deserves an early slot on the checklist there. The county also applies a 49% test to repairs and improvements, which matters to buyers planning work on an older home.

Orlando. The Orlando and Osceola boards are both Stellar MLS shareholders. The Orlando Regional REALTOR Association recorded a $399,610 median for September 2026. In Osceola County, a short-term rental needs a zoning check, a state vacation rental license and a county business tax receipt.

Jacksonville. Jacksonville closed 21,571 single-family homes in 2025 at a $395,000 median, the lowest median of these four metros. We cover it here rather than on a separate page.

What does a transaction coordinator cost in Florida?

Independent Florida TCs mostly charge a flat fee per file. One Florida-based TC company publishes $375 per transaction regardless of sides, paid only at closing. Another publishes $400 to $500 for one side and $500 to $650 for a dual-sided file. Our own tally of 20 public price cards, read on October 19, 2026, put the median one-side fee at $400. An in-house coordinator is a salary instead, and the TC fee per file calculator shows where the break-even sits for your volume.

How do you hire a transaction coordinator in Florida?

Start with the license question and FREC's list. Decide which tasks you will hand over, then check each one against what an unlicensed assistant may do. If the TC is licensed, ask which broker holds the license.

Then test their Florida knowledge. A capable Florida coordinator knows the Inspection Period defaults to 15 days, what happens when the Loan Approval Period expires in silence, and that a Miami-Dade deed carries a different doc stamp rate. They should ask for the condo documents before you mention them. Ask how they report status, which MLS they work in and whether they charge for a file that falls apart. Our TC checklist template is a good yardstick for their process.

Freelance TC, TC company or DeedSpring: which fits a Florida agent?

The table sets the usual options side by side. A good freelance TC is worth every dollar on a messy file. What most agents are really paying for, though, is someone who never misses a date and always chases the lender. Software does that on every file at once.

To see what the gap means across a year of files, put your numbers into the TC fee per file calculator.

Compare plans on the DeedSpring pricing page.