PCS Seller Checklist

A house key changing hands

 Orders and dates

The report date drives the sale. Everything else is a date you choose or a date the transportation office gives you. Write them down before the house is photographed. A checklist without dates is a poster.

If a date moves, the rest of the list moves with it. Tell the office the same day. The number is (904) 309-0609. Do not wait for the weekly update if the carrier just changed the pack-out.

• Report date, written where you will see it.
• Target closing week, with a buffer before you must leave.
• Pack-out window from the transportation office, including the spread if they gave you one.
• Travel days when you cannot sign or take a call.
• The name of the person who can open the house after you leave.
• Photo day, while the house still looks like a home if you can manage it.

 The loan and the payoff letter

The payoff letter is a dated number, not the balance in your banking app. It includes per diem interest and it expires. Order it against the closing week you actually expect, and refresh it if closing slips.

Liens hide. A HELOC you barely use, a solar contract, or a CDD on the tax bill all show up at title. Better to list them now than to meet them on a settlement statement the night before you report.

• Lender name, loan number, and phone number for payoffs.
• A payoff letter good through the target closing, plus the per diem.
• Any second mortgage, HELOC, or solar lien.
• Whether the loan is VA. Assumption is a different conversation than a payoff, and the lender has to say which path your entitlement is on.
• HOA or condo contact for the estoppel.
• The tax bill, including any non-ad valorem CDD line. That line is not the HOA dues.

 A lease, if one exists

If a tenant is in the house, the listing has to tell the truth. Some buyers want the tenant. Some contracts require vacant possession. You do not get to decide that in the driveway on closing day. The lease, the deposit, and the end date go in the file before the house is marketed.

A military tenant may have a legal right to end a lease with orders. Do not advertise a "guaranteed" remaining term you have not read. If you are not sure the lease allows a sale to an owner-occupant, stop and read it, then call (904) 309-0609 before photos.

• Lease end date and any renewal clause.
• Where the security deposit sits, and the amount you actually hold.
• Notice rules, including a military clause if the tenant has one.
• Whether the buyer will keep the tenant or you must deliver the house vacant.
• A tenant estoppel if the contract asks for one.
• Written notice to the tenant before showings, on the schedule the lease and Florida law require.

 Pets, people, and showings

Showings fail for boring reasons: a loose dog, a yard that was not walked, an alarm nobody can silence. Fix those before the first request. If you will be gone, the pet plan is part of the listing, not a family matter you figure out later.

People who still have a key need to be on a list. That includes a parent, a neighbor, and a former roommate. One forgotten key is how a house gets opened off the schedule.

• Pets out, or crated, for every showing and for photos if you can.
• Yard cleaned up the morning of photo day and kept that way.
• A note to showing agents if an animal will be on site.
• Boarding or a sitter once you leave, through the day after closing.
• Names of everyone who currently holds a key or a code.

 Utilities, mail, and homestead

Turn nothing off early. Inspectors, appraisers, and buyers need lights, water, and air. Schedule the shutoff or the transfer for the day after closing. A dark house in August in Jacksonville is not a neutral showing.

Homestead is a tax status, not a forwarding order. One permanent residence. If this house stops being your home, tell the property appraiser. Do not file a new Florida homestead unless you own and occupy the new house on January 1. As of fall 2026, the 2026 filing window is closed. The next occupancy date is January 1, 2027, file by March 1, 2027. A wrongful claim can become a lien with a 50 percent penalty and 15 percent interest under section 196.161.

• Electric, water, sewer, trash, gas, and internet stay on through the walkthrough.
• Transfer or final bill dated the day after closing.
• USPS mail forward. The command's change of address is a separate form.
• Duval questions: Joyce Morgan, homestead.coj.net, (904) 255-5900, 231 E. Forsyth Street, Suite 260.
• If you are buying again in Florida, portability is Form DR-501T with the new county. Do not invent the dollar that will port.

 Keys, codes, and remotes

Buyers remember the missing garage remote more clearly than the new roof. Count the handoff like you count the proceeds. What you cannot find, say so before closing, not during the walkthrough.

Smart locks and alarms have an admin account. Leaving yourself as admin after the deed transfers is a mess for the buyer and a liability for you. Transfer or delete access at the table.

• Every house key and deadbolt spare.
• Garage remotes and the keypad code.
• Gate clickers, pool keys, mailbox keys, and cluster-box keys.
• HOA fobs and amenity cards.
• Alarm codes and the monitoring account.
• Smart-lock admin, handed over or wiped.
• A written list of who gave a spare back.

 Household goods and the buyer's walkthrough

The walkthrough is the buyer's last look at the house they contracted to buy. Your household goods should already be gone, unless the contract says an item stays. A late truck is a phone call to us, not a surprise for the buyer in the foyer.

Photograph the empty rooms if you will not be here. Compare those photos to what you promised. Broom-clean, fixtures that convey, and holes you opened in the walls are all visible on that day. If the spread from the carrier collides with closing, call (904) 309-0609 the hour you learn it.

• Photos before pack-out, and photos after the house is empty.
• Carrier date and the real spread, shared with the listing side.
• What conveys: appliances and anything else the contract names.
• What must leave: trash, paint, fuel, wall anchors you ripped out, and personal papers.
• Walkthrough time on the calendar.
• A local person at that walkthrough if you will not be in Jacksonville.
• A haul-away booked if the truck will not take everything.

 Keep going

• Selling during a PCS

Call (904) 309-0609.