We Buy Houses in Florida

Where we buy in Florida

Our Florida coverage runs from Duval County in the northeast through the I-4 corridor and Tampa Bay, down the Gulf Coast through Sarasota, Manatee, and Lee, and across South Florida in Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade. Each county has its own page, and the larger cities inside it do too, because a 1960s block home in Deltona and a beachfront condo in Sunny Isles present completely different questions.

Choose your county below to see how we look at property there: the age and construction of the housing stock, what insurance and storm history mean for a sale, the local court and records offices, and the situations owners in that area most often bring to us.

What makes a Florida sale different

• Foreclosure is judicial. A lender has to file suit in circuit court, so there is usually a meaningful window between the first filing and a sale date.
• Insurance, not price, often decides whether a financed sale closes. Roof age, wind mitigation, and a four-point inspection can end a buyer's financing after the contract is signed.
• Condo buildings face milestone inspections and structural integrity reserve studies, which have produced special assessments in older coastal buildings.
• Flood history follows the property. Since October 1, 2024, sellers must give buyers a separate flood disclosure, expanded again on October 1, 2025.
• Homestead and Save Our Homes cap annual assessment increases on a homesteaded property, so a long-time owner's tax bill can be far below a new buyer's.
• Documentary stamp tax on the deed runs $0.70 per $100 of the price in most counties, with a different structure in Miami-Dade.

Probate and inherited property in Florida

Most inherited Florida houses pass through one of two paths. Summary administration is the shorter one, available when the probate estate's value, excluding exempt property, is $75,000 or less, or when the owner died two or more years ago. Formal administration, with an appointed personal representative, covers everything else and is the more common route for a house with a mortgage and creditors.

A sale can often be negotiated while probate is open, with the contract allowing time for the court's authority to come through. If the property was held in a trust, or titled with a surviving joint owner or a life estate, probate may not be needed at all. Send us the case number if one exists, and we will work with your attorney and the title company on timing.

Storms, insurance, and repairs

Hurricane damage is the single most common reason a Florida house becomes hard to sell conventionally. Ian, Idalia, Helene, and Milton all left homes with partly finished repairs, work done without permits, unresolved claims, or moisture problems behind new drywall. Financed buyers and their lenders tend to avoid those properties.

In a flood zone, the substantial improvement rule matters: when repair or improvement costs reach half of the structure's market value, the building generally has to be brought up to current floodplain requirements, which can mean elevating it. We buy homes at every stage of that process, including ones where the repairs were never started.

Taxes, liens, and closing in Florida

Property taxes are assessed by each county's property appraiser and collected by the tax collector. When taxes go unpaid, the collector sells a tax certificate, and a certificate holder can apply for a tax deed after two years. Delinquent taxes, code liens, association balances, and old mortgages are identified in the title and lien search and are normally paid out of the closing proceeds rather than out of your pocket.

A Florida title company or real estate attorney handles the search, the association estoppel if one applies, the payoffs, and the closing. Who pays which cost is set by the contract, and in Miami-Dade and Broward it is customary for the buyer to pay for the owner's title policy, unlike most of the state.

Frequently asked questions