Mary Pimienta

What they have written

• Becoming a realtor The Florida real estate licence: what the law actually requires Age, high school, the 63-hour course and the 24 months a broker licence takes, with the statute beside every requirement. And what the law leaves to DBPR.
• Becoming a realtor What realtors actually earn in Florida: the 2026 numbers Median gross income in Florida was $41,500 in 2025, against $59,100 nationally. Where that gap comes from, what business expenses take out of it, and the arithmetic you can run on your own numbers.
• Becoming a realtor Choosing a brokerage in Florida: the law and the arithmetic Before it is a commercial decision it is a legal one: in Florida only the broker registered as your employer can pay you. What that binds, what happens to your license, and what to get in writing.
• Becoming a realtor Split, cap or 100%: commission models with the math done Four ways to divide a commission, the arithmetic of each one on the same amount, and the exact production figure where the better percentage stops being the better deal.
• Becoming a realtor The "independent" realtor in Florida: what it actually means The phrase "independent contractor" appears in chapter 475 for one purpose: to say it relieves you of nothing. Where it does carry weight is in three other laws, and all three look at how you get paid.
• Becoming a realtor What Florida law requires in your advertising Every real estate advertisement has to carry your brokerage’s licensed name, and online it has to sit right next to your phone number. The rule that says so was written in 2007 and still governs.
• Tools and software How to migrate your leads to another CRM without losing anything Export, clean, import and verify: the practical guide to a CRM migration, with the columns that matter, the duplicates that ruin a database, and the following seven days, which is where it is won or lost.
• MLS and data MLS access without REALTOR membership: Florida settled it in 1991 NAR repealed the policy tying MLS access to membership in November 2025. In Florida that had been settled thirty four years earlier, by a federal appeals court.
• Running your brokerage What the Florida commission actually disciplines We pulled the 281 final orders FREC issued across 2025 and its first two 2026 meetings, and counted them. What shows up most is not what people fear.
• Running your brokerage Why your agents leave, and what the numbers actually say The hundred largest brands in the country recruited 1.9 agents for every one they lost in 2025 and barely moved their production. One figure explains why.
• Running your brokerage Who runs the closing in Florida: title company or attorney In Florida a closing is handled by a title company or an attorney, and no law requires one over the other. What each does, who designates them, who pays for what, and where it actually jams.
• Running your brokerage Bilingual farming: the market half your competition cannot serve In Miami-Dade, three out of four people speak another language at home. How to pick a farm with Census data, a ninety-day calendar, and the difference between translating your mailers and writing them in Spanish.
• Running your brokerage The open house that produces: the whole system The week before, the day itself, and the twenty-four hours after. How to turn an afternoon of open doors into actual clients, with the three questions worth asking and the follow-up almost nobody does.
• Buying in Florida Contract to close in Florida: the forty days, day by day You signed. Now what, in what order, and who does each part? The full timeline built on the deadlines already printed in the Florida Realtors and Florida Bar contract, and the exact points where it derails.
• Buying in Florida The buyer agreement in Florida, two years after the change If you are a buyer: Florida law does not require you to sign anything to see a house, but MLS rules do require it of the agent. If you are an agent: what the agreement has to say, how the compensation conversation works now, and five sentences that land.
• Buying in Florida Florida condos: inspections, reserves, and eight questions to ask before you offer After Surfside, the rules for thirty-year-old buildings changed, and with them the dues, the assessments and the resale price. What the statutes say today, verified, and what to request from the association before writing an offer.
• Buying in Florida Florida homeowners insurance: why it costs what it costs, and what you can do It is the variable that kills the most closings in Florida and the one explained worst. What a carrier actually looks at, why the roof decides the price, and when to quote it (spoiler: much earlier than you think).
• Buying in Florida Flood zones: read the map before the bank does What zones X, AE and VE actually mean, why two neighboring houses pay different premiums under Risk Rating 2.0, and what Florida sellers have been required to disclose since October 2024.
• Buying in Florida Foreign buyers and FIRPTA: who withholds, how much, and when The most expensive misunderstanding in Florida’s international market: FIRPTA charges the foreign buyer nothing. It is withholding on the foreign seller, executed by the buyer, with the rates, forms and deadlines checked against the IRS.
• Buying in Florida How to talk about mortgage rates without stepping into the lender's lane Where the line sits between giving context and giving financial advice, with the sentences you can say, the ones you cannot, and the exact moment to bring the lender in.
• Selling in Florida Estoppel, HOAs and the paperwork that stalls your closing What an estoppel is, who requests it, what the association may charge and how many days it has to deliver, with the statutory caps verified. Including the rule almost nobody uses: miss the deadline, charge nothing.