Florida Sales Associate Pay Rules Surprise Most Candidates

Florida issues more new real estate licenses per year than almost any state in the country, and passing on the first attempt has never been more competitive.

The DBPR oversees real estate licensing in Florida; Pearson VUE administers the exam with 45 national questions and 55 state specific questions; you need 75% to pass. Florida defaults to transaction brokerage, prohibits sales associates from receiving direct compensation, and has specific escrow deadlines that differ from every other state. These three areas are where national prep consistently produces the wrong framework, and where candidates who studied generically lose the most points. My son Sam is 4 years old, and he already knows that in Florida you pay your sales associate through the broker, not directly. (He doesn't actually know that. But the point stands.)

Sales Associate Compensation

Florida's compensation rule is absolute: sales associates are paid by their broker, not by buyers, sellers, or cooperating agents. No exception exists for commission splits, referral fees paid directly, or commissions earned before a broker switch. Here's the thing most people miss: the word "only" in Florida's compensation rule is doing serious work. It means what it says.

Florida's rule that sales associates can only be paid by their broker (never directly by a buyer or seller) has parallels in neighboring states. Georgia imposes similar restrictions under BRRETA, and Mississippi has its own compensation rules, but Florida's specific statutory language is what this exam tests.

Florida prohibits sales associates from receiving compensation from anyone other than their registered employer (broker), students fail because they assume cooperating agents can pay each other directly or that a sales associate can collect a commission after switching brokerages.

The Pearson VUE exam will test this rule in scenarios involving brokerage switches, cooperative transactions, and referral fees. Every scenario has the same answer: the sales associate is paid only by their registered broker. Know the rule and its statutory basis. Florida tests the language, not just the concept.

Brokerage Relationship Act

Florida's Brokerage Relationship Act establishes transaction brokerage as the statutory default, which means every candidate who learned agency from a national course enters the exam with the wrong baseline assumption about what Florida brokers owe clients.

Florida recognizes single agent, transaction broker, and no brokerage relationship, with transaction broker as the default, students confuse single agent duties (full fiduciary) with transaction broker duties (limited representation) and miss the required disclosure timing.

Know the specific duties each relationship type carries, the disclosure form required for single agency, and when that form must be delivered. The DBPR exam will describe a relationship and ask which duties apply. The answer turns on which of Florida's three relationship types is in effect, not on general fiduciary principles.

Escrow Deposit Deadlines

Florida's escrow rules have three separate deadlines: the 3-business-day deposit window, the next-business-day delivery to broker, and the 15-business-day FREC notification period. The exam will test all three against each other in a single scenario.

Florida demands deposit within 3 business days, plus sales associates must deliver deposits to their broker by end of next business day, students confuse the 3 day deposit window, the 15-business-day FREC notification deadline for conflicting demands, and the 10 day verification requirement.

Treat these as three distinct obligations with three distinct clocks. Know which deadline applies to the buyer, which applies to the sales associate, and which applies to the broker when a dispute arises. The Pearson VUE exam builds scenario questions where each wrong answer corresponds to confusing one deadline for another. The exam doesn't reward overthinking, but three separate deadlines requires three separate mental files.