How to transfer your Florida real estate license — 2026 guide
Switching brokerages doesn't have to mean a two-week dead zone. Here's the FREC paperwork, the timeline, and how to keep your active deals moving through the move.
Most Florida agents lose seven to fourteen days of production every time they switch brokerages. Half of that is the FREC paperwork; the other half is the chaos of moving active listings and pending contracts mid-transfer. With the right sequence, you can compress the whole thing to under five business days — and lose zero deals.
The actual paperwork
Florida real estate license transfers go through DBPR (Department of Business and Professional Regulation), not FREC directly. The form you need is DBPR RE-11 — Request for Change of Status. It's a single-page form that asks for your license number, your current broker's signature releasing you, and your new broker's signature accepting you.
Submit it online through DBPR's online services portal or by mail. Online processing usually clears in 1–3 business days; mail can take 2–3 weeks. Use online.
Sequence your move in this order
- Apply to your new brokerage. Get the offer in writing.
- Decide on your transfer date. Pick a day where you have no closings.
- Talk to your current broker. Florida is at-will — they can't hold your license — but a clean professional exit matters for referrals.
- Both brokers sign the RE-11. You submit it online same-day.
- Update your MLS profile, lockbox keypad, and signage immediately on the effective date.
- Notify clients on active and pending deals personally. Most stay with you.
What happens to your active listings
This is the part most agents worry about, and it's also the part that's mostly mythology. Your active and pending listings are technically the property of your current brokerage, not you. But in practice, listing agreements include a clause that lets the seller follow the agent to a new brokerage if both sides agree. Have the conversation early and have your sellers sign the cancellation + re-listing paperwork on transfer day.
What happens to pending deals
Pending contracts (under contract, not yet closed) get more nuanced. Most brokerages let pending deals close at the old brokerage to avoid disrupting buyers and lenders mid-escrow. You and your old broker split per the existing agreement; your new brokerage doesn't take a cut on those. Get this in writing before you transfer.
The five-day timeline that actually works
- Day 1 (Monday) — Sign with new brokerage. Submit RE-11 online.
- Day 2 — Notify active listing clients. Have re-listing paperwork ready.
- Day 3 — DBPR processes the change. License status updates.
- Day 4 — Update MLS, lockbox, signage. New CRM access turns on.
- Day 5 (Friday) — First lead through ELLA. You're live.
Where Casa Simple makes the move easier
Most brokerages give you a CRM login on day 1 and call it onboarding. We give you ELLA wired to your active pipeline on day 1 — every lead that comes in, every showing you schedule, every contract you sign goes through her. The transfer becomes a forcing function for getting your operational stack actually working, instead of a productivity hit you absorb.