Choosing an agent for a Miami home above $1 million is a hiring decision with a public record behind it. Third-party rankings and directories sort agents by volume or by reviews. Neither tells you whether an agent has closed sales at your price in the place you are buying, what legal duties that agent will owe you under Florida law, or how they handle homes marketed without a public listing. Each of those can be checked before you sign anything.

We are The Audrey Ross Team at Compass Florida, and our office sits at 4699 Ponce de Leon Boulevard in Coral Gables. Audrey Ross opened her own firm in 1984, and the team has worked this market for more than 40 years. This guide sets out the test we would want any Miami agent held to, each step backed by a Florida statute, public record or published policy, and then our own record.

Who Is the Best Luxury Real Estate Agent in Miami?

The right agent depends on the home, so the useful question is which agent passes four checks for yours.

• Recorded sales in your price band and your area, which you can match on the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser’s Property Search.
• An active license with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, and a plain answer on whether the person is a broker or a sales associate working under one.
• A brokerage relationship, in writing, that fits what you need. Florida presumes every licensee is a transaction broker unless another relationship is set in writing.
• A working plan for homes that never reach public websites.

Place matters as much as the agent. Our guides to choosing an agent in Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Pinecrest and Palmetto Bay cover each place’s permit, zoning and flood questions, and our guide to waterfront and guard-gated homes covers seawalls, docks and gate approvals.

How Do You Check a Miami Agent’s Luxury Sales Record Yourself?

Ask for a list of closed sales, then match it to the public record. In Miami-Dade the Clerk of the Court and Comptroller records deeds, and the Property Appraiser’s Property Search shows ownership and sales information for each property, so a claimed sale can be tied to a real transaction.

Match the list to the Property Appraiser’s site

Property Search lets anyone search by address, owner name, folio number or subdivision name. A folio is the 13-digit parcel number Miami-Dade uses, and its first nine digits identify the subdivision. The Property Appraiser’s Comparable Sales application lists nearby sales by month and amount, with a qualification description for each. Read that column before treating any price as a comparable.

Read the record for your band and side

An agent with many sales may have few at your price. Pull the sales in your subdivision on Property Search with the first nine digits of any folio there, then count how many of the agent’s listed sales fall in that subdivision and your price band in the last two or three years. The side, listing or buyer, comes from the agent’s list, not the county record. On a team, ask whose sales the list shows.

Confirm the license

The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s Verify a Licensee search shows each license’s type, such as broker or sales associate, its status and its expiration date, and opening the name shows further detail, including any complaints or discipline. Under section 475.42, Florida Statutes, operating as a broker or sales associate without a valid and current active license is a third-degree felony.

What Will a Miami Agent Legally Owe You Under Florida Law?

That depends on the brokerage relationship. Florida allows two brokerage relationships, transaction broker and single agent, or no brokerage relationship at all. Under section 475.278, Florida Statutes, every licensee is presumed to be a transaction broker unless a single agent relationship or no brokerage relationship is established in writing.

Relationship	What the licensee owes you	When it must be disclosed
Transaction broker	Honesty, accounting for funds, skill and care, disclosure of material facts, all offers, limited confidentiality	Presumed by law; no notice required
Single agent	All of the above, plus loyalty, confidentiality, obedience and full disclosure	In writing, at or before the agreement, or before the first showing
No brokerage relationship	Honesty, disclosure of material facts, accounting for funds	In writing, before the first showing

Source: Section 475.278, Florida Statutes (2026), duties and disclosures for residential sales of four units or fewer. Retrieved November 2026.

Why the choice matters at this price

A transaction broker gives limited representation to a buyer, a seller or both, without acting as a fiduciary for either. Its limited confidentiality still covers the numbers that matter most: the statute bars disclosure that a seller will accept less than the asking price, that a buyer will pay more than the written offer, or why either party is buying or selling. A single agent, under section 475.01, represents either the buyer or the seller but not both in the same transaction.

When one firm is on both sides

Florida does not allow a licensee to act as a dual agent. If the firm you hired as a single agent also represents the other party, the relationship can change to transaction brokerage only with your prior written consent, on the statutory Consent to Transition to Transaction Broker notice, which states that the parties give up their right to the licensee’s undivided loyalty. Florida’s designated sales associate option, which assigns separate single agents to each side when buyer and seller each have assets of $1 million or more, applies under section 475.2755 only to transactions other than residential sales. A home of four units or fewer is a residential sale at any price.

What Changed for Miami Buyers and Sellers After the NAR Settlement?

Two things, both in effect since August 17, 2024: buyers sign a written agreement with their agent before touring a home, and offers of compensation to buyer agents can no longer appear on the MLS. Compensation remains fully negotiable and is not set by law, according to the NAR Settlement FAQs.

For buyers

The written buyer agreement must state the amount or rate the agent will receive in objective terms, such as a flat fee or a percentage, never an open-ended formula. It must bar the agent from receiving more than that from any source, and it must say conspicuously that fees are fully negotiable and not set by law. It covers live virtual tours as well as in-person ones, but not speaking with an agent at an open house. NAR states that the requirement applies to transaction brokers too, which matters in Florida, where transaction brokerage is the default. NAR’s consumer guide adds that the services, the length of the agreement and the compensation are all negotiable.

For sellers

A seller can still offer compensation to a buyer’s agent, off the MLS, after the listing agent discloses the amount or rate to the seller in writing and obtains the seller’s approval. Seller concessions, such as a credit toward a buyer’s closing costs, can still appear on the MLS. Our guide to choosing an agent to sell a Miami home covers the listing agreement itself.

How Do Private and Off-Market Listings Work in Miami?

Private marketing is allowed within limits set by NAR’s MLS policies. Under the Clear Cooperation Policy, adopted in November 2019, a listing broker must submit a listing to the MLS within one business day of marketing it to the public, and public marketing includes yard signs, public websites, email blasts and multi-brokerage listing sharing networks.

The two exempt listings

NAR’s Multiple Listing Options for Sellers policy, effective March 25, 2025, recognizes an office exclusive, filed with the MLS but not shared with other MLS participants or publicly marketed, and a delayed marketing listing, visible to MLS participants while its public marketing waits for a period the local MLS sets. Both need a signed seller certification. One-to-one, broker-to-broker conversations about a listing do not trigger the Clear Cooperation Policy. Our seller’s guide to selling a luxury home in Miami covers these choices from the seller’s side.

Compass Private Exclusives

Compass, our brokerage, describes Compass Private Exclusives as properties accessible to agents across its network of brokerages and their buyers, with photos and floor plans shared only within that network and no public days on market. It is the first of three phases, followed by Compass Coming Soon and then public websites, used at the direction of the seller.

What this means for a buyer

A buyer working with an agent outside the listing brokerage may never see an office exclusive, and a delayed marketing listing reaches MLS participants before it reaches public websites. The brokerage your agent works under, and how that agent hears about homes from other brokers, decides how much of the market you see.

How Much of a Miami Luxury Purchase Stays Private?

Less than many buyers expect. In Florida the deed is a public record, the price can be read from the tax paid on it, and the Property Appraiser lists the owner and sales information for each property. What a buyer can choose is the name on the title.

What the public record shows

The Miami-Dade Clerk of the Court and Comptroller is the official recorder of instruments affecting real property in the county, and its requirements for recording a deed include the addresses of the grantor and the grantee. Documentary stamp tax is collected at recording at 60 cents for each $100 of consideration, plus a 45-cent county surtax on transfers other than a single-family residence, so the tax on the deed reflects the price.

Holding title in an LLC or a trust

Buying through a limited liability company or a trust is legal in Florida. It changes the name on the deed, not the price. A Florida LLC’s annual report must give the name, title and address of at least one person with authority to manage it, under section 605.0212, Florida Statutes. Section 689.073 vests the powers a recorded deed confers in the trustee it names, and people dealing with that trustee need not inquire into the beneficiaries. For the homestead exemption, the Property Appraiser asks for a copy of the trust document. Federal reporting for entity and trust purchases is covered in our guide to buying Miami real estate as a foreign buyer. Settle the structure with your attorney and tax advisor before the contract.

Taxes reset at the sale

The Property Appraiser’s Tax Estimator warns that property taxes may increase significantly following a sale, because the previous owner’s homestead exemption and Save Our Homes limitation generally do not transfer, and the assessed value may reset to market value the following tax year. Section 689.261, Florida Statutes, requires that a buyer of residential property receive a disclosure, at or before signing the contract, saying not to rely on the seller’s current property taxes.

Should You Hire a Real Estate Team or a Single Agent in Miami?

Hire the structure that covers your timeline, and confirm who does the work. In Florida a team works under one brokerage: Florida Real Estate Commission Rule 61J2-10.026 requires a team to perform licensed activities under the supervision of the same broker or brokerage. Every sales associate works under a registered broker, money in a transaction is collected in that broker’s name, and every advertisement must carry the brokerage firm’s licensed name.

What Florida law says about teams

Section 475.42, Florida Statutes, bars a sales associate from working for anyone other than the broker registered as their employer, and from collecting money except in that employer’s name. Florida Real Estate Commission Rule 61J2-10.025 requires every real estate advertisement to include the licensed name of the brokerage firm. The statutory Single Agent Notice names the real estate entity and its associates as owing you the duties, so they are owed by the firm and its associates, not only by the person you met. What a team adds is more licensed people on one transaction, for showings, inspections and closing dates that overlap. Confirm who your daily contact will be, who negotiates, and who attends the inspection and the closing.

Who is on The Audrey Ross Team

The Audrey Ross Team is Audrey Ross, Founder, CEO and Lead Agent, and a Vice President at Compass, with ten Luxury Real Estate Advisors: Carolina Caraccia, Cristina Cipolletti, Janet Tralins, Jeanie Vidaurreta, John Hopkins, Laureen Wheeler, Lisa Sayfie, Rie Nakai, Sebastian M. Garcia and Will Powers. See the whole team on our Meet the Team page, or call the office at (305) 661-4003.

What Should You Ask a Miami Luxury Agent Before You Hire One?

Ask questions whose answers you can check. Each one below ties to a Florida rule or a public record.

What to ask	Why it matters in Miami	Where to check it
Which of your closed sales were at my price, in this area, and on which side?	A record in one band or area says little about another	Property Search for the sale; brokerage profile for the side
Are you a broker or a sales associate, and under which brokerage?	Associates work for a registered broker, who holds the money	DBPR Verify a Licensee
Which brokerage relationship are you offering me?	Florida presumes transaction brokerage unless another is set in writing	Section 475.278 notice
How will you handle a home your own firm lists?	Dual agency is barred; a change needs my written consent	Consent to Transition notice
What does your buyer agreement say about pay and term?	Required before touring since August 17, 2024	The agreement; NAR Settlement FAQs
How will I see homes before public launch?	Office exclusives can stay inside one brokerage	NAR MLS policy; brokerage disclosure form
What will my taxes be after closing?	Homestead and Save Our Homes generally do not transfer	Property Appraiser Tax Estimator
Who on your team will I deal with each week?	The duties run from the firm and its associates	Single Agent Notice; team roster

Source: Sections 475.01, 475.278 and 475.42, Florida Statutes (2026); NAR Settlement FAQs (updated September 5, 2024) and Multiple Listing Options for Sellers (effective March 25, 2025); Miami-Dade Property Appraiser. Retrieved November 2026.

What Is The Audrey Ross Team’s Record in Miami?

Since 2017, Audrey Ross has closed 330 sales at Compass, totaling about $690 million in sale prices. 157 of those sales were at $1 million or more, 60 at $3 million or more, 30 at $5 million or more and nine at $10 million or more, up to $33 million.

She was the listing agent on 192 of them and represented the buyer on 161. 103 of the 330 closed from January 2024 through October 2026.

Area, by property address	Closed sales since 2017
Coral Gables	88
Coconut Grove	26
Miami Beach	26
Brickell	24
Palmetto Bay	19
Pinecrest	10
Key Biscayne	4

Source: Compass, Audrey Ross agent profile, closed sales, March 2017 to October 2026. Retrieved November 2026.

Most of the rest are elsewhere in Miami-Dade and Broward. Since 2019 she has closed 18 sales in five guard-gated enclaves: seven in Cocoplum, five in Snapper Creek Lakes, four in Gables Estates, one in Journey’s End and one in Hughes Cove.

The team’s lifetime record since 1984 is $2.4 billion in closed sales. In April 2016, Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate presented Audrey Ross its Luxury Real Estate Lifetime Achievement Award, and she is a Founding Regent of Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate representing Greater Miami.

Frequently Asked Questions About Choosing a Luxury Real Estate Agent in Miami