Sell Your Florida Insurance Agency: A Direct Buyer for Books Under $1M

Atesa Risk Advisors buys Florida insurance agencies and books of business under $1 million in annual revenue — directly, confidentially, and with no broker fee. Small Florida books typically trade between 1.5x and 2.25x annual commission revenue in 2026, and where yours lands depends mostly on retention, line mix, and whether your carrier appointments transfer. A first conversation takes fifteen minutes.

Retiring or ready to move on? We buy Florida agencies and books under $1M revenue — direct, confidential, no broker fee. See an honest valuation range.

The market nobody serves is the one most owners are in

I'll tell you what the M&A market won't: if your agency does more than $1 million in revenue, you don't need this page. Aggregators will compete for you, a broker's auction will earn its fee, and you'll do fine. Below that line, the phone goes quiet. Listings sit. The buyers with capital don't call back — not because your book is bad, but because their model needs scale on every close. I built this page for the owners in that silence. A direct sale replaces the auction with one confidential conversation: no listing, no 8–12% fee, and your clients keep a Jacksonville agency that answers its own phone instead of a national call center.

Our buy-box, published

Nobody in this market publishes what they buy, which tells you something about how they negotiate. Here is exactly what I'm looking for — if your agency fits, a first call is worth fifteen minutes of your life. If it doesn't, this table just saved you the call.

What we look at	What fits
Size	Agencies and books of business under $1M in annual commission revenue — the segment the aggregators pass over
Lines	Personal lines and small-commercial P&C, Florida clients
Geography	Anywhere in Florida — strongest fit in Northeast Florida: Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and the First Coast
Deal structure	Under $500,000 in revenue: a fixed price, paid at close — no earn-out. $500,000 to $1M: cash at close, with a retention earn-out, seller financing, or SBA 7(a) financing where it fits
Your staff	Service staff often stay — a book runs on the people who know it
Timeline	60–90 days from first call to close is typical for a clean book

Over $1M in revenue? Then the aggregator and broker market genuinely serves you well, and that's where you should sell — I'll tell you the same thing on the phone. This page is for everyone they don't call back.

One number, paid at close.

On any book under $500,000 in revenue, that is the whole deal. No earn-out, no retention true-up, no three-year tail — the diligence sets the price once, and you leave closing with a number that does not move.

A fixed price: Set from three years of carrier production reports and the retention math, inside the published band. It does not change after closing.
Paid at close: The full price on the day. If you want installments for tax reasons, a fixed-schedule seller note does that — nothing is tied to retention.
Sixty to ninety days, first call to close: A fifteen-minute call, an NDA, three numbers, a written range within a week, and a close in sixty to ninety days when the records are clean.
A ninety-day handoff, then you're out: A joint client letter, introductions on your top accounts, the agent-of-record transfers — and after that, a phone number that works for a year. No producer contract, no consulting tail.

Books between $500,000 and $1 million can add a retention earn-out, seller financing, or SBA 7(a) financing where the fit is right; SBA rules make those deals fixed-price by law.

Running something else now? Sell just the insurance side.

Most of the owners who call us are not retiring. They hold a 2-20, moved their working life into tax preparation, real estate, mortgage lending, or another business, and the P&C book they still service on the side has become a chore. That is a clean sale, not a compromise: the book of business is an asset you can sell on its own, your license stays yours, the non-solicit covers the insurance accounts and nothing else, and the price is fixed and paid at close. The whole thing takes sixty to ninety days, and your clients land with a local independent instead of a national service center.

Your 2-20 stays yours — selling the book does not surrender an individual license
Your other business is untouched — the non-solicit is scoped to the insurance accounts you sell
Ninety days of handoffs, then a phone number; no producer or consulting contract
A fixed price, paid at close — the rule on every book under $500,000

What actually moves a small book's multiple

Published 2026 benchmarks put Florida agency sales between roughly 1.2x and 2.5x annual revenue, with the state's median asking multiple near 1.56x. Where your book lands inside that band comes down to five things — the same five I check before I ever say a number out loud:

Client retention: The largest driver by far. A book holding 95%+ earns a premium; one below 85% prices at a discount because the buyer is purchasing a leak.
Line mix: Commercial books price above personal-lines books — higher revenue per account and stickier renewals.
Carrier appointments: What actually transfers in a sale. A book concentrated in 1–3 carriers carries transfer risk; a broad, transferable panel protects value.
Citizens share: Florida-specific: a Citizens-heavy book faces depopulation takeout churn on someone else's schedule, and buyers price that in.
Revenue quality: Recurring commission on renewals is worth more than new-business commission that has to be re-earned every year.

One tier sits below all of this: books under $100,000 in annual revenue price as micro-books, at 0.8x to 1.2x revenue regardless of line mix. At that size the fixed costs of a deal — legal, diligence, transition — and the owner-dependence of the relationships dominate everything else. The deal still works, and we still do them; the multiple just has to carry the overhead.

Home territory: North Florida, county by county

We buy anywhere in Florida, but the First Coast is home — I already hold appointments with the carriers these books are written with, and I look at them for a living. The books differ more by county than most sellers realize, and an out-of-market buyer prices those differences wrong in both directions:

Duval County — Jacksonville: The region's commercial weight: contractors, trucking, hospitality, and habitational books blended with a personal-lines base. A knowledgeable buyer prices commercial retention and account concentration.
St. Johns County — St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra, Nocatee: Growth-market personal lines with newer construction and cleaner wind profiles. A renewal base that compounds with the county is worth more than the same revenue in a flat market.
Clay County — Orange Park, Middleburg, Keystone Heights: Suburban-to-rural personal lines with a heavier Citizens footprint. Takeout history and documentation decide whether the Citizens share prices as manageable churn or worst-case risk.
Nassau County — Fernandina Beach, Yulee, Wildlight: Coastal legacy books plus a fast-growing new-construction corridor. Flood-heavy composition is an asset to a buyer with flood markets — and a discount from one without.

How a direct sale actually works

A confidential fifteen-minute call. No listing, no paperwork, no obligation. You describe the agency in broad strokes; I'll tell you honestly whether it fits the buy-box — and if it doesn't, where I'd sell it if I were you.
NDA, then three numbers. We sign a mutual NDA before you share anything sensitive. Then we need just three things to talk value: annual commission revenue, retention rate, and your carrier list.
A valuation range and structure options. Within a week you get an honest range. Under $500,000 in revenue it comes with one number — a fixed price, paid at close. Above that, two or three structures — cash with a retention earn-out, seller financing, or an SBA-financed purchase — with the trade-offs of each spelled out.
Letter of intent and diligence. If the range works, we sign an LOI and verify the book: carrier production reports, loss ratios, and retention data. Diligence on a clean small book takes weeks, not months.
Close and transition on your timeline. Purchase agreement, carrier appointment transfers and agent-of-record letters, and a client communication plan we write together — including how your role winds down, on the schedule you choose.

Not selling yet? Most owners aren't.

The best exits start two or three renewal cycles before the sale — retention and documentation take time to move, and they're most of the price. So here's a standing offer with no clock on it: join the quiet list. You'll get our annual Florida Small Agency Market Report the day it publishes, one short check-in a year, and nothing else — no calls, no pressure, no listing anyone. When your moment comes, you'll already know the buyer.

The Florida Small Agency Market Report — 2026 Edition — Our annual report on the market for Florida agencies and books under $1M in revenue — agency counts by county from Census data, the Citizens factor, the 2026 rate environment, national deal-flow data, and the valuation framework we buy against. Every figure from government, carrier, or named-industry sources, cited.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is my Florida insurance agency or book of business worth in 2026?

As a planning range, small Florida books trade between roughly 1.2x and 2.5x annual commission revenue, and the state's median asking multiple sits near 1.56x. Personal-lines books cluster around 1.5x–2.0x and commercial books higher, with retention the biggest single driver, followed by line mix, carrier transferability, and Citizens exposure. Books under $100,000 in revenue price as micro-books at 0.8x–1.2x, because fixed deal costs and owner-dependence dominate at that size. Our valuation tool on this page turns those factors into an honest range — a starting point for a conversation, not an offer or an appraisal.

Why sell directly instead of listing with a business broker?

A broker process earns its 8–12% success fee when it creates competition — which happens for agencies large enough to draw multiple bidders. Under $1M in revenue, listings often sit for months, the fee comes out of a price that was already modest, and every additional buyer who sees your financials is a confidentiality risk in a small market. A direct sale is one conversation under NDA with no fee taken out. The honest caveat: if your book is large or unusual enough to attract an auction, a broker may net you more even after the fee.

Why not sell to a national aggregator?

If you're over $1M in revenue, you genuinely should talk to them — private-equity aggregators pay competitive multiples for scale. Below that line they rarely return calls, and when they do, your clients typically move to a regional service center and your brand disappears. Selling to a local independent keeps the book in Florida, keeps service local, and usually keeps your staff.

How do you keep the sale confidential?

Nothing is listed anywhere, and we sign a mutual NDA before you share a single number. Your staff, carriers, and clients learn about the sale when you decide they should — usually at close, with a joint communication plan. In a market where everyone knows everyone, no-listing confidentiality is a real reason sellers choose a direct buyer.

What happens to my clients and my staff?

Your clients move to a Jacksonville-based independent agency with 40+ A-rated carrier markets — they keep local service and gain a deeper market panel at renewal. Service staff often stay on: a book runs on the people who know it, and continuity is worth money to the buyer too. Producer roles are case-by-case, including sellers who want to keep producing part-time through transition.

My book is heavy in Citizens policies — can I still sell it?

Yes, with honest pricing. A Citizens-heavy book carries Florida-specific risk the buyer has to absorb: depopulation takeouts move policies off the book on someone else's schedule, and eligibility rules limit who can be re-marketed where. Expect the multiple to reflect that. What helps: documentation of which policies have takeout offers pending, your historical takeout retention, and the private-market alternatives your area supports.

Do you use earn-outs or seller financing?

Not on small books. Under $500,000 in commission revenue we pay a fixed price at close — no earn-out, no retention true-up — because tracking retention for two or three years costs a small deal more than it protects; diligence on your production reports does that job once, up front. Between $500,000 and $1 million, part of the price can be paid over two to three years tied to how much of the book renews, or through seller financing with fixed payments, and for the right agency we arrange SBA 7(a) financing, which pays the seller at close.

How long does a sale take, and what do you need from me to start?

Sixty to ninety days from first call to close is typical for a clean book — diligence on a small agency is weeks, not the year-long process big deals go through. To start, we need a fifteen-minute conversation and, after an NDA, three numbers: annual commission revenue, retention rate, and your carrier list. From there you get a range within a week.

Can I sell my insurance book of business and keep my 2-20 license?

Yes. A book of business is an asset — the client accounts, the right to renew their policies, and the right to be agent of record — and selling it does not surrender an individual Florida 2-20 license. The license stays yours as long as you keep it in force; a Florida agency license, if you hold one, can be closed or kept open as a separate decision after the sale. What you sign is a non-solicit covering the accounts you sold, which is exactly how a seller who has moved into tax work or real estate keeps that other business untouched.

I run another business now. Can I sell only the insurance side?

Yes, and it is the most common sale we see. An owner who moved into tax preparation, real estate, mortgage lending, or another business can sell the P&C book on its own: we buy the accounts and the right to renew them, the clients transfer to a local independent carrier by carrier, and your other business is not part of the deal. The non-solicit is scoped to the insurance accounts you sold. On a book under $500,000 the price is fixed and paid at close, with a ninety-day handoff and no producer or consulting contract afterward.

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Atesa Risk Advisors · 3119 Spring Glen Rd Suite 101, Jacksonville, FL 32207 · (904) 900-5063

Get a free quote or call (904) 900-5063 — Atesa Risk Advisors, independent Florida insurance brokerage.