How to Choose an Apartment Broker in Florida: The Questions to Ask Before You Sign

Fair warning before we start: I sell apartment buildings in Florida for a living, so I am not a neutral party on this topic. Read this the way you would read a mechanic explaining how to pick a mechanic. But the questions below work no matter who you interview, including if you end up hiring someone other than me. If a broker can answer all of them cleanly, you are in good hands.

Choosing the broker is the biggest decision you make in a sale, bigger than the fee and usually bigger than the timing. The broker sets the price, and the price decides everything after it: how many buyers call, how long the building sits, and how much of your equity survives due diligence. So here is how I would interview one, question by question.

1. Do they actually sell apartment buildings?

Every licensed broker in Florida holds the same license. A broker who lists houses all week and a broker who sells 20-unit buildings all week passed the same exam. The license tells you they are allowed to sell your building. It does not tell you they know how.

Apartment buildings are their own business. They are priced on income, financed with commercial loans, bought by a different crowd than houses, and they fall apart in due diligence for different reasons. Ask how many apartment buildings, specifically, the broker has closed, and ask for addresses and years. Sales are recorded in the county records, so a real answer is checkable, and a vague answer is an answer too. "We do all kinds of commercial" is not the same as "I sold a 12-unit in your county last year."

2. How do they price: income, comps, or what you want to hear?

This is the question that matters most, so slow down on it. There are three ways a broker can arrive at a number, and only one of them is the way your buyer's lender will.

Income. Your building is worth its net operating income divided by a market cap rate. That means real collected rent, honest expenses (including a current insurance quote and the tax bill a buyer will inherit after the sale resets the assessment), and a cap rate backed by actual Florida sales. This is how I price, because it is how the buyer's bank prices. When I underwrite, insurance runs about $950 to $1,500 a door now, maintenance about $700 a unit, and management at the 7% market rate, even if you self-manage. Small Florida buildings trade around 7% to 8.5% caps. A broker who prices this way can show you every line.

Comps. Price per unit from recent sales is a useful sanity check and a poor starting point. The statewide median for a Florida apartment building with five or more units was $157,143 a unit in 2025, across 945 recorded sales, but that median mixes old and new, coast and inland, and buildings in great shape and bad shape. Your building's income is the thing that separates it from the median.

What you want to hear. This is the number designed to win the listing. It is usually the highest number you hear, and it usually comes without math. It feels good for about a month. Then the building sits, buyers learn to ignore it, and you end up cutting the price from a weaker position than if you had started honest.

Here is why this matters more than the fee. Picture a hypothetical 16-unit building at the 2025 statewide median: about $2,514,288. Pricing it 5% under the market gives away about $125,714. One point of commission on the same building is about $25,143. Pricing is worth several times the fee. I wrote a whole post on what commercial brokers charge in Florida if you want the fee side of that comparison.

3. Are the fee and the term in writing, in plain words?

Ask for three things on paper before you sign: the percentage, when it is paid, and how long the listing runs (plus what it costs to leave). Then ask whether there are any marketing fees, admin fees or cancellation fees. Those terms matter as much as the percentage.

Mine, since you are wondering: 4% paid only at closing, on a 90-day listing agreement that fits on one page. Nothing up front, nothing if the building does not sell. I publish that because an owner who knows the terms negotiates better with everyone, including me. Whatever a broker charges, they should be able to say it that plainly. A twelve-month exclusive with a cancellation fee protects the broker. Ninety days protects you, because the broker has to perform to keep the listing.

4. Who answers the phone and runs the deal?

At a lot of firms, the person who pitches you is not the person who works your deal. That is a staffing model, not a crime, but you should know who you are hiring. Ask directly: who will I talk to when a buyer's inspector finds something on a Friday afternoon? Who negotiates the repair credit? Who calls the buyer's lender when the appraisal comes in late? Get a name.

I answer my own phone at 321-275-KING, and I run my own deals. That is not the only way to do it well, but it is the question to ask.

5. Who are the buyers?

A broker is mostly selling access to buyers. For the size of building most private Florida owners hold, those buyers are a knowable group: local operators adding to what they own, out-of-state investors looking for Florida income, and 1031 exchangers working against a deadline. Ask the broker to describe who is likely to buy your building, at what size, and what those buyers care about. A specialist can do that before the building is ever marketed.

Ask too how they handle confidentiality. Some buildings sell best with wide public marketing. Others sell better quietly to a short list, so tenants and staff are not unsettled. The right answer depends on the building, not on the broker's habits. My step-by-step on selling an apartment building in Florida walks through that choice.

6. What do they do when a deal starts to die?

Apartment deals die in two places: inspection and financing. The buyer's inspector will find things. The buyer's lender will order a fresh insurance quote and an appraisal built on the income, and if your insurance or tax number was stale in the marketing, the math moves right when you have the least leverage.

So ask a broker what they do before the contract to prevent that. Good answers sound like: we get a current insurance quote up front, we show the tax bill the buyer will actually pay, we disclose the roof age and the open permits, we check the buyer's lender and proof of funds before we accept an offer. A broker who says deals rarely fall apart either has not sold many or is telling you what you want to hear. And if you want to see how a sloppy marketing package sets up a re-trade, read the red flags I look for in an offering memorandum. Your broker's package should survive the same test.

7. Check the license yourself

It takes two minutes. Go to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation's license search at myfloridalicense.com, search the broker's name, and confirm the license is active and is a broker license, not only a sales associate license working under someone else. You can also see the license history there. Mine is BK3282270.

The checklist, on one screen

Take this to every interview. Same seven questions, every broker.

One more thing: walk in with your own number

The single best defense against a flattering price is knowing your number before the first meeting. If you have a realistic value in hand, you can tell in five minutes whether the broker across the table is pricing your building or pricing your listing. Run your building through my model below. It uses the same income approach I would use if you hired me, and it will give you a number to test every broker against, including me.

Questions owners ask

What should I ask an apartment broker before signing a listing?

Ask how many apartment buildings they have closed and where, how they arrived at their price, what the fee and term are in writing, who will actually run your deal, who the likely buyers are, and what they do when inspection or financing goes sideways. Then check their license at myfloridalicense.com.

Should I pick the broker who quotes the highest price?

Only if they can show the math. A price meaningfully above everyone else's often wins the listing, and then the market corrects it at your expense. Ask each broker to walk you through the income, the expenses and the cap rate behind their number, and compare it with your own estimate.

Can a residential real estate agent sell my apartment building?

Legally, yes, because Florida uses one license for both. Practically, a building with five or more units is priced on income and financed with a commercial loan, and the buyer pool is investors, not households. Ask any agent how many apartment buildings they have closed before you hire them.

How long should an apartment listing agreement be?

I use 90 days on a one-page agreement, with a 4% fee paid only at closing. A short term keeps the broker working for the listing. If a broker wants twelve months, ask in writing what it costs to leave early before you sign.

How do I check a Florida real estate broker's license?

Use the license search at myfloridalicense.com, run by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Search the broker's name and confirm the license is active and is a broker license. It takes about two minutes.

If you want to interview me with this checklist, the page on how I work as an apartment building broker in Florida has my fee, my term and my license number, and I answer the phone myself.