Florida Buyer Closing Cost Calculator

Purchase price

Loan amount

Are you buying a house or condo?

Buyer pays title insurance

Buyer pays title and lien search fees

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Estimated closing costs

Title insurance
Title and lien search fees
Settlement or closing fee
HoA or building fees
Survey fee
Home inspection fee
County recording fees
Florida Documentary Stamp Tax
Florida Nonrecurring Intangible Tax
Bank processing fee
Appraisal fee
Credit report fee
Florida Form 9 endorsement
Home insurance premium
Total
% of purchase price

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Overview of closing costs for a buyer in Florida. Average cost as well as price ranges for each closing cost item home buyers can expect.
What Are Closing Costs for a Buyer in Florida?
New Yorkers buying a home in Florida will be pleasantly surprised to find that closing costs down here are substantially lower than the closing costs they're used to up north. With the exception of broker commissions, paid by the seller, [...]
A step-by-step overview of the process of buying a condo in Miami in 2023 and how the Florida buying process differs from buying in New York.
The Complete Guide to Buying a Condo in Miami (2023)
Buying a condo in Miami is an exciting event, but it can catch many first time buyers or out-of-towners by surprise because of how different the process is. For example, many New Yorkers used to submitting multiple, completely non-binding offers [...]
What are the pros and cons of living in Miami vs NY, San Francisco or the Bay Area? Consider costs, quality of life, traffic, people & more.
Pros and Cons of Living in Miami (2024)
People considering leaving New York or San Francisco for Miami almost always search the internet for reasons why people hate to live in Miami, or why Florida is so terrible. After all, Florida Man is a national phenomenon, and the [...]
What a Florida warranty deed is, how buyers are protected, what obligations sellers have as well as a sample warranty deed to review.
What is a Florida Warranty Deed?
The Warranty Deed is used for most transactions involving an arms length buyer and seller, i.e. when the counter-parties are strangers. With a Warranty Deed, the grantor, or seller, is giving the grantee, or buyer, a guarantee of warranty that [...]
Documentary Stamp Tax, title & lien search fees, HoA estoppel letter fees, prorated property taxes, mortgage payoff, Realtor fees & more.
What Are Florida Seller Closing Costs?
Florida seller closing costs are lower compared to New York, and will run on average between 7% to 8% of the sale price, assuming a typical 6% Realtor commission and the seller pays for title insurance and related search fees. [...]
The purpose of a seller's affidavit, typically signed on closing day for a home, what the seller attests to and a sample affidavit to review.
What Is the Seller’s Affidavit for Closing?
A seller's affidavit, otherwise known as a seller's closing affidavit, is a typical document signed by the seller on closing day, along with the warranty deed, bill of sale, assignment of parking space and power of attorney, if applicable. The [...]
Pros & cons of the various more popular neighborhoods that New Yorkers and other transplants might consider in this Miami neighborhood guide.
Miami Neighborhood Guide
Miami is blessed with a variety of different, appealing neighborhoods to choose from, unlike New York City where everyone wants to live in a few neighborhoods like the West Village, Meatpacking District or the Lower East Side. In this Miami [...]
A Florida Bill of Sale is a closing document signed by the seller on closing day to account for any personal property related to the sale.
Why do you need a Florida Bill of Sale for a home sale?
A Florida Bill of Sale is one of the typical closing documents a home seller will sign in addition to the Florida Warranty Deed. A Bill of Sale is necessary because the sale of a typical home invariably will come [...]
Unlike New York, Florida requires sellers to fill out a property condition disclosure form and disclose all known, latent material defects.
What is the Seller Disclosure Form in Florida?
The seller disclosure form in Florida is required by law1 to be filled out by sellers and presented to buyers after a purchase contract has been signed, and is an important part of the process of buying a condo in [...]
Sample title commitment letters for all cash and financed condo purchases in Miami. Exceptions, requirements & more explained.
Sample Title Commitment for a Florida Home Purchase
We've included sample title commitment letters below for a hypothetical all cash condo purchase as well as a financed condo purchase in Miami, Florida. Notice how the title insurance commitment specifies exactly who and what is being insured, and how [...]
What is an ALTA 9 endorsement? Why and when do you need one? Check out a sample South Florida ALTA 9 endorsement policy & more.
Sample Florida ALTA 9 endorsement
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A small real estate investor shares and compares her experiences with owning and managing residential rental properties in NYC and South Florida.
Real Estate Investing in NYC vs. South Florida
I am a very small real estate investor in New York City and South Florida, and wanted to point out a few similarities and differences in being a landlord in each state. My primary residence is in New York, where [...]

Glossary

Title insurance

Title insurance protects the buyer of a home from defects in the title not caught by the title and municipal lien search, subject of course to certain exceptions to coverage. Title insurance is required by lenders if the buyer finances his or her home purchase. A title commitment will be issued after the required searches are done, and before a minimum number of days, as specified by the contract, prior to closing.

Settlement or closing fee

The settlement or closing fee is paid typically by the buyer to the Florida closing attorney for his or her services on closing day. The flat fee ranges from $300 to $600 in lower cost counties to $600-$900 in higher cost counties. This cost is offset by buyers and sellers not being required to hire their own, separate attorneys in Florida.

HoA or building fees

Only applicable for condo buyers where the the managing agent (i.e. the building management company) or the homeowner’s association (HoA) will charge one or more fees to set the buyer up, even if the building doesn’t have a formal application process.

Survey fee

Surveys are not typically done when buying a condo because the condo declaration will already include a survey of the property and unit from the time of construction and a review is typically sufficient. If you’re buying a house, a survey is critically important to ensure there are no encroachments associated with fences or easements, which would be treated as a defect in the title by most real estate contracts.

Home inspection fee

A home inspection is critical if you’re buying a free-standing property like a single-family house, but is still customary to do in Florida even for condos where you’re only responsible for the interior of the apartment. Typically costing a few hundred dollars and paid for by the buyer, the inspection is conducted during the inspection period after contract signing.

County recording fees

Official documents such as deeds and mortgages need to be original or court certified as well as signed and notarized to be accepted as an official, public record. The fees you’ll pay will vary by county, but you can generally expect to pay under $50 all in.

Florida Documentary Stamp Tax

Buyers will customarily pay the tax on the loan amount if they are purchasing with a mortgage, whereas sellers will customarily pay the tax, at a different rate and on the contract price, for the deed transfer. Similar to the Mortgage Recording Tax seen in NYC, the Florida Documentary Stamp Tax rate is 0.35% of the loan amount.

Florida Nonrecurring Intangible Tax

Florida imposes an additional, one-time tax on indebtedness of Florida real property called Nonrecurring Intangible Tax. This is also similar to NYC’s Mortgage Recording Tax, and amounts to 0.2% of the loan amount to be paid by the buyer if he or she intends to finance the purchase.

Bank processing fee

$1,000 to $1,500 on average. Often referred to as a “bank fee” or “application fee” and used to cover the bank’s administrative costs of processing your mortgage application.

Appraisal fee

$400 to $500 on average and typically paid by the buyer by credit card before closing. Though not technically a closing cost that’s paid on closing day, an appraisal is required by lenders to assess the value of the collateral.

Credit report fee

Typically $20 to $30. Lenders will often bill the borrower for running a hard credit check on their file.

Home insurance premium

Home insurance is required by lenders, but optional if you are purchasing all cash. With that said, home insurance is extremely important in natural disaster prone Florida, especially if you are buying a free-standing structure like a single or multi-family house. While rates for H06 insurance (i.e. interior only insurance for condos) are low and similar to what you’d see in New York, all-in home insurance rates are significantly higher for houses due to the need to also purchase flood insurance.

Florida Form 9 endorsement

Because title insurance policies typically don’t insure against defects found via the survey, many lenders will require borrowers to get an additional layer of protection to safeguard against loss or damage from violations of deed restrictions, encroachments, and building setback requirements. The cost of this endorsement is 10% of the cost of the title insurance premium.

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