REMOTE & MILITARY SELLERS
Selling From Where You Are
You do not need to set foot in Florida for any part of this.
The short version
You do not need to set foot in Florida for any part of this. I hold the Military Relocation Professional designation, and our REMAX Collective office at 11200 Seminole Blvd puts me minutes from most of the homes I list on this side of the bay.
Below is exactly how the things remote sellers always ask about actually work, including the one detail about remote notarization that catches people who are genuinely overseas.
1. Signing from overseas
There are two routes. Which one fits depends on where you are and what your connectivity looks like.
Special Power of Attorney, the reliable route
A base legal assistance office can usually draft one at no cost. It should be specific to this sale and name someone stateside you trust.
The execution requirements are statutory, not optional. Under Fla. Stat. 709.2105, a power of attorney must be signed by the principal and by two subscribing witnesses, and acknowledged by the principal before a notary public. The agent you name has to be a natural person at least 18 years old, or a financial institution with trust powers and a place of business in Florida. Your witnesses cannot be the agent.
Two more things that matter in practice. A power of attorney relied on to affect title to real property generally needs to be recorded, so the title company will want the original or a certified copy, not a scan. And a military power of attorney executed under 10 U.S.C. 1044b is exempt from state form requirements and has the same effect as one prepared under Florida law, which is why the legal assistance route works even when you are nowhere near a Florida notary.
Remote online notarization, the convenient route
Florida permits signing by live two-way audio-video under Fla. Stat. 117.209 and 117.265. The notary records the session. It is genuinely easier when it works.
Here is the detail that catches deployed sellers. You, the signer, can be overseas. But under Fla. Stat. 117.285, a remote witness must verbally confirm that he or she is a resident of and physically located within the United States or a United States territory at the time of witnessing. So your witnesses have to be stateside, even though you do not. If you were planning to have two people in your unit witness by video from overseas, that does not work. Line up US-based witnesses in advance, or use the power of attorney route.
Remote notarization can also fail for people who have been overseas a while, because the identity check pulls from US credit and public records, and some platforms block foreign IP addresses outright. I would rather have a power of attorney in hand as the backup than discover that three days before closing.
Handle it in one visit
If you go to legal assistance, get everything notarized at the same appointment: the power of attorney, and a short name affidavit. If the county still shows title under a former name, your title company will likely want that affidavit. One trip instead of three scrambles across a time difference.
The listing agreement and the purchase contract are both e-signed. Nothing gets printed, mailed, or scanned.
2. The clean-out, repairs, and vendors
This starts the day the tenants hand over the keys, and it runs on a simple rule: I get quotes, you approve by email, you see photos before and after. You never wonder what is happening inside that house.
- 1
Documented walkthrough
I walk the property and photograph and video everything before anything is touched or thrown away.
- 2
Secure the property
Locks changed, keys accounted for, lockbox installed. Utilities stay on, because there are no photos, inspections, or appraisal without power and water.
- 3
Written quote before any spending
Clean-out, haul-off, and repairs quoted in writing with photos of what the quote covers. You approve it before a dollar is spent.
- 4
Anything you want kept
Tell me what matters and I will set it aside, photograph it, and arrange shipping or storage rather than guessing.
- 5
Make-ready and photography
Work completed, after photos sent, then professional listing photos once it shows well.
I schedule and supervise the vendors. If something goes sideways, that is my problem to solve, not a phone call you have to make from another time zone.
3. Communication
Email is primary
Whoever you want copied is copied on everything, every time.
A written update every Friday
Whether or not anything dramatic happened, plus anything urgent immediately.
Video calls whenever your schedule allows
Tell me your window and I work around it. Odd hours are fine.
Every document lives in one place
So you are never hunting through an inbox for the version we are actually working from.
Slow replies are expected
You are deployed, or you are three time zones away. I will never read a delay as a lack of interest, and I will keep moving on the things that do not need you.
Sell with the tenant in place, or wait until it is vacant?
If the house is rented, this is the first real decision, and it is usually driven by your lease end date rather than by preference.
| Tenant in place | Vacant | |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer pool | Mostly investors. Owner-occupant buyers generally cannot wait out a lease | Full market, which is where your price comes from |
| Showings | Require tenant cooperation and notice. A tenant with no reason to help is a real constraint | Lockbox and open access |
| Condition and photos | You market the house as the tenant keeps it | Make-ready and professional photography are possible |
| Carrying cost | Rent keeps coming in while it is listed | You carry the payment, utilities and lawn |
| Insurance | Normal landlord policy | Most policies restrict coverage once a home has been vacant 30 to 60 days. You need a vacancy endorsement |
| Lease transfers | The lease survives the sale. The buyer takes the tenant and the deposit obligation | Nothing transfers |
My take: if the lease ends within about 90 days of when you want to list, wait for vacant and market to the full buyer pool. If it runs longer than that, selling with the tenant in place to an investor is usually the better trade than breaking a lease or paying a tenant to leave.
One thing I will not do is pressure a tenant. A tenant who feels steamrolled becomes a showing problem, and that costs you more than the schedule ever would.
The security deposit deadline
15 days if you claim nothing, 30 days if you do
Under Fla. Stat. 83.49, if you do not intend to impose a claim on the deposit, you must return it, with interest where required, within 15 days after the rental agreement terminates. If you do intend to claim part of it, you must give written notice within 30 days, sent by certified mail to the tenant's last known mailing address or by email. The notice has to state the amount claimed, the reason, and that the tenant has 15 days to object in writing.
Miss the 30-day notice and the consequence is specific: you forfeit the right to impose a claim on the deposit and may not seek a setoff against it. You can still sue for damages, but only after returning the deposit. That is a bad trade.
If you are mid-rotation when the keys come back, this is the one date I will chase you about. For how to document a claim so it actually holds up, including the difference between normal wear and real damage, see can a Florida landlord keep a security deposit for smoke damage on ViVi Property Management.
What you have to do, and what I handle
The short answer is that you make decisions and sign things. Everything else is mine.
Only you can do these
- Sign the listing agreement and the contract, or execute the power of attorney
- Approve the price and any price change
- Approve repair spending before it happens
- Decide what personal property you want kept and shipped
- Make the deposit claim decision inside the statutory window
- Provide payoff and HOA account information
- Sign closing documents, or your attorney-in-fact does
I handle these
- Pricing analysis and the comparable sales behind it
- Coordinating the power of attorney with the title company early
- Access, lockbox, key control and re-keying
- Scheduling and supervising every vendor, with photos
- Tenant communication and showing coordination
- Utilities staying on through inspections and appraisal
- Inspection and appraisal attendance
- Negotiation, deadlines and the written Friday update
Sources
Every number and rule on this page traces to one of the following, checked October 2026. Statutes and lender guidelines change, so verify against the current version before you rely on it.
Fla. Stat. 709.2105, Qualifications of agent; execution of power of attorney
The requirement that a power of attorney be signed by the principal and two subscribing witnesses and acknowledged before a notary, and who may serve as agent.
Fla. Stat. 117.209, 117.265 and 117.285, Remote online notarization
Appearance by two-way audio-video, the recording requirement, and the rule that a remote witness must be physically located within the United States or a US territory at the time of witnessing.
10 U.S.C. 1044b, Military powers of attorney
That a military power of attorney is exempt from state form requirements and has the same effect as one prepared under state law.
Fla. Stat. 83.49, Deposit money or advance rent; duty of landlord and tenant
The 15-day return deadline with no claim, the 30-day written notice deadline with a claim, the certified mail or email delivery method, the tenant's 15-day objection window, and forfeiture of the right to claim if notice is late.
Selling from a distance?
Tell me where you are and what the timeline looks like. I will tell you exactly what you would need to sign and when.
Or call (813) 733-7907. See also my seller process and relocation guide.