Seller closing costs in Florida

How much is the documentary stamp tax on a Florida deed?

Seventy cents for every $100 of the price, counted in whole or partial hundreds. Section 201.02, Florida Statutes, sets that rate for deeds in every county except Miami-Dade, which uses 60 cents per $100 plus a surtax that does not apply to a single-family dwelling. Orange, Seminole, Osceola, and Volusia all charge the standard 70 cents.

The arithmetic is short. Divide the contract price by 100 and multiply by 0.70. A $600,000 contract has 6,000 units of $100, so the deed tax is $4,200.

The purchase contract decides which side of the statement carries it. The state does not: the Florida Department of Revenue treats every party to the document as liable for the tax whoever agreed to pay, and when one party is exempt, a party that is not exempt has to pay it.

Who pays for owner's title insurance in Florida?

Whoever the contract names. No Florida statute assigns the owner's policy to the buyer or the seller, and custom varies from county to county, so read the title section of your contract instead of relying on what a neighbor paid. The Florida Department of Financial Services notes that the party paying the title insurance premium gets the first choice of closing agent, subject to the lender's approval.

The state sets the rate itself, so it is the same at every title agent. Rule 69O-186.003 of the Florida Administrative Code promulgates the owner's rate at $5.75 per $1,000 of coverage up to $100,000, then $5.00 per $1,000 from $100,000 to $1 million, then $2.50 per $1,000 from $1 million to $5 million. A $600,000 policy works out to $575 plus $2,500, or $3,075.

If you bought the house less than 3 years ago, give the closing agent a copy of your own owner's policy. The same rule sets a reissue rate of $3.30 per $1,000 up to $100,000 and $3.00 per $1,000 above that to $1 million when a prior owner's policy on your title qualifies.

Settlement, title search, and similar related services are not part of the promulgated rate. They appear as separate lines on the Closing Disclosure, and each title agent sets its own.

How are property taxes prorated when you sell in Florida?

You pay for the days you owned the house, and the buyer pays for the rest. Florida bills a calendar year's taxes near the end of that year: section 197.333 makes them due November 1, or as soon after as the certified roll reaches the tax collector, and delinquent April 1 of the next year. A closing in June therefore lands before anyone has paid the current year, so the statement charges you for January 1 up to closing and credits that amount to the buyer, who pays the whole bill in November.

When the current year's bill has not been issued yet, the closing agent estimates it, usually from the prior year's figure, by the method your contract sets out. The estimate carries your homestead exemption and your Save Our Homes cap, because those stay on the bill for the year of the sale.

Closings between November and March fall inside the discount window in section 197.162: 4 percent off in November, 3 in December, 2 in January, 1 in February, and nothing in March. If the bill is out and unpaid when you close, ask the closing agent whether it will be paid from the table that month so the discount is not lost.

What does the mortgage payoff include?

More than the balance on your last statement. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau describes a payoff amount as the figure that includes interest due through the day you intend to pay, plus any fees you have been charged and not yet paid, and a prepayment penalty if your note carries one. Payoff letters are good through a stated date, so if funding slips by a few days, the closing agent adds the interest for those days.

Two deadlines work in your favor. Federal rules give a servicer no more than 7 business days to send an accurate payoff statement after a written request, and section 701.04 gives a Florida mortgagee 10 days to send its estoppel letter. After the loan is paid, the same section gives the lender 60 days to record a release in the county records and send you the recorded copy.

A home equity line or a second mortgage is a separate payoff with its own letter. List every lien you know about when the title agent asks, so the commitment does not surface one in week four.

What does an HOA estoppel certificate cost the seller?

The statute's base caps are $250 for the certificate, $100 more for delivery within 3 business days, and up to $150 more when the account is delinquent. Section 720.30851 also requires the Department of Business and Professional Regulation to adjust those caps every 5 years by the consumer price index, and the 2022 adjustment raised them to $299, $119, and $179. The next adjustment is due in 2027.

The fee is paid when the certificate is prepared, and the contract usually decides whose side of the statement it lands on. Whatever the certificate says you owe is paid from your proceeds at closing.

Why does the closing agent order a municipal lien search?

Because some charges against a house never reach the official records. A lien search asks the city and county for open code enforcement cases and liens, unpaid utility balances, and permit problems, and the title company prices it as a related service. Orange County runs an open code violation search for title companies to use before a sale, and the City of Orlando sends city lien questions to its own Code Enforcement Division.

An open code case matters more than its fine. Under section 162.06(5), if you transfer a property while a code enforcement proceeding is pending, you must disclose it to the buyer in writing, hand over copies of the notices, tell the buyer in writing that they become responsible for compliance, and file a notice with the code official within 5 days after the transfer. Skipping the disclosure creates a rebuttable presumption of fraud.

What other charges land on the seller's side?

Recording fees for anything needed to clear your title: a release of an old lien, a corrective instrument, an affidavit the title commitment asks for. The Orange County Comptroller charges $10 for the first page and $8.50 for each additional page, built from the components in section 28.24.

Brokerage compensation is whatever your listing agreement says, and any compensation you agree to pay toward the buyer's broker is written into the purchase contract. Neither is set by law. A Florida title agent or real estate attorney can run a seller estimate from your actual contract before you sign it, and that is the number to plan around.

What does the math look like on a $600,000 contract?

This is an illustration, not a quote. Assume a $600,000 contract closing July 1, 2026, a contract that puts the owner's policy on the seller, an estimated 2026 tax bill of $9,000, a mortgage payoff of $310,000 with interest to closing, a single-family association, and one two-page release to record.

Deed stamps: $600,000 / 100 x $0.70 = $4,200.00. Owner's title policy: $575 + $2,500 = $3,075.00. Tax proration for the 181 days from January 1 through June 30: $9,000 x 181 / 365 = $4,463.01. Estoppel at the current cap: $299.00. Recording the release: $10.00 + $8.50 = $18.50.

Those five lines total $12,055.51. Add the $310,000 payoff and the seller's column reaches $322,055.51, which leaves $277,944.49 before brokerage compensation and the title agent's own settlement and search fees. Run the same lines with your own numbers and the estimate will land close to the statement the closing agent prepares.