Transaction coordinator in Kentucky: licensing, disclosure deadlines and closings

What does a transaction coordinator do on a Kentucky deal?

The Kentucky coordinator's job looks like it does elsewhere: open the file when the contract is signed, build the timeline, chase the lender, the title company and the other agent, and keep the broker's records complete. What differs is how much of the groundwork is public. Kentucky REALTORS keeps its residential sales contract behind a member login, and its public legal resources page offers only video overviews of the form. The Kentucky Real Estate Commission publishes disclosure forms, numbered 400 to 404, but no purchase contract.

Because we could not read the current contract, this page does not quote its paragraph numbers or default periods. A coordinator working Kentucky files should take those from the contract version their brokerage uses. What we can set out is the law around the contract: who may do the work, what must be disclosed and when, who may close, and who pays the deed tax.

Does a transaction coordinator need a license in Kentucky?

We found no Kentucky statute or Commission regulation written for transaction coordinators. Two rules decide how an unlicensed TC fits into a brokerage. The first is in KRS 324.020. Subsection (2) bars anyone from practising real estate brokerage in Kentucky without a license. Since a 2023 amendment, KRS 324.010 defines real estate brokerage to include negotiating the purchase, sale or exchange of real estate for others for a fee. Subsection (4) of 324.020 says no broker "shall split fees with or compensate any person who is not licensed to perform any of the acts regulated by this chapter", apart from a few listed exceptions.

The second is 201 KAR 11:121, the Commission's regulation on office policies. Section 9 makes the principal broker responsible for any employee or unlicensed personal assistant, "salaried or independently contracted", who works under the broker or an affiliated licensee. The wording covers independently contracted assistants, not only staff on the payroll. The broker's policies must also:

• prohibit the disclosure of confidential information by licensees, employees, office personnel and clerical staff
• prohibit an employee from assisting more than one designated agent in the same transaction when those agents represent different clients.

The second rule bites in firms where the listing agent and the buyer's agent are designated agents of the same brokerage. Under the policy the regulation requires, one employee may not assist both of them when they represent different clients. A team that handles in-house deals should decide in advance who covers the second side.

Which Kentucky deadlines come from statute rather than the contract?

Kentucky statute sets a clock that lands in the first days of the file. KRS 324.360 requires the seller to complete the disclosure form when signing the listing agreement. The listing agent must deliver a copy to the prospective buyer within 72 hours of receiving a written, signed offer. The Commission's version is KREC Form 402, the Seller's Disclosure of Property Condition.

The 72-hour clock runs from the listing agent's receipt of the offer, not from acceptance. A listing-side coordinator should send the disclosure with the first response to an offer, and a buyer-side coordinator should log when it arrived. The signed copy belongs in the principal broker's file. For the contract's own dates, our contract deadline tool takes the periods you enter.

Who can close a Kentucky home sale?

A layperson can. In Countrywide Home Loans v. Kentucky Bar Association (2003), the Kentucky Supreme Court vacated a Bar advisory opinion that had called lay closings the unauthorized practice of law. The Kentucky Association of Realtors and the Kentucky Land Title Association were among the parties that asked for the review. The Court held that a layperson may conduct a real estate closing for another party.

The ruling drew two lines that matter to anyone coordinating a closing. The Court said the title commitment letter and the preparation of deeds and mortgages are the practice of law. It also said lay closers "may not answer legal questions that arise at the closing or offer any legal advice to the parties". A coordinator at a closing table should pass legal questions to an attorney.

Who pays the deed tax in Kentucky?

The seller, as grantor. KRS 142.050 imposes the tax on the grantor at 50 cents for each $500 of value or fraction of $500, using the value declared in the deed. The county clerk computes and collects it before accepting the deed for recording. The Magoffin County Clerk's deed guidance, citing KRS 382.135, adds that both grantor and grantee must sign the consideration statement and have their signatures notarized. The buyer's notarized signature belongs on the deed as well, so it needs a place in the closing plan.

How is the Kentucky housing market moving?

Kentucky REALTORS reported 4,010 homes sold statewide in August 2026, down 18.4% on a year earlier, at a median of $285,000. Days on market came to 18 by its measure, and supply stood at 5.19 months. That was the latest statewide month published when we checked. The two largest local associations had September figures.

How do Louisville and Lexington differ?

Louisville. The Greater Louisville Association of REALTORS and APEX MLS reported a $305,000 median in September, up 7%, on 1,334 sales. Pending sales tell a different story: they fell 30.4%, from 1,295 to 901. Cumulative days on market rose from 44 to 50, and months' supply grew from 2.8 to 3.7.

Lexington and central Kentucky. Bluegrass REALTORS, based in Lexington, covers 38 counties including Fayette. September sales rose 2% to 1,223, and the $290,000 median was the highest September figure on its records. Pending sales fell 4% to 1,097, inventory reached 4,773 homes, and average days on market rose to 47. For the year to date, the association counted 11,039 sales, up 5% on 2025.

Neither city has a page of its own. Both run on the same statutes and closing rules described above, and the contract details we could not verify are the same in each.

What does a transaction coordinator cost in Kentucky?

We did not find a Kentucky TC company that publishes its prices. The 21 price cards we checked nationally in October 2026 put one side of a deal at $300 to $550, and most of those companies charge nothing when the deal fails to close. Our TC cost calculator shows how those prices compare with a salaried assistant at your volume.

How do you choose a transaction coordinator in Kentucky?

Begin with your principal broker, who answers for the coordinator under 201 KAR 11:121. Agree how the coordinator is paid in light of KRS 324.020(4), and settle who covers the second side of an in-house deal. Then ask how they handle the 72-hour disclosure delivery and what they do when a party asks a legal question at closing. A good answer names the attorney or title contact they would call.

Freelance TC, TC company or DeedSpring: which fits a Kentucky 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.