What Will You Actually Bring to Closing?
Down payment is only the start. Florida charges taxes on your loan itself, title has a county custom on who pays, and escrow prepaids surprise every first-timer. Build your real cash-to-close number.
Your purchase
Your estimate
The Florida-only line items
Two taxes surprise every buyer moving from out of state: documentary stamps on the note at 35 cents per 100 dollars borrowed, and the nonrecurring intangible tax at 0.2% of the loan. Together they add roughly 0.55% of your loan amount, in cash, at the table. Title has its own Florida quirk: who pays for the owner’s policy is county custom, with buyers customarily paying in Miami-Dade, Broward, Sarasota, and Collier, and sellers in most of the rest of the state. This calculator applies your county’s custom automatically.
Common questions
How much are closing costs for a buyer in Florida?
Typically 2 to 5% of the purchase price for a financed purchase: loan fees, Florida's documentary stamp tax on the note (35 cents per 100 dollars borrowed), the intangible tax (2 dollars per 1,000 dollars borrowed), title insurance and settlement fees, plus prepaid taxes and insurance for escrow. Cash buyers skip the loan-related pieces and often land under 1.5%.
What are Florida's doc stamps and intangible tax?
Two state taxes most other states do not have. Documentary stamps on the promissory note run 0.35 dollars per 100 dollars of the loan, and the nonrecurring intangible tax is 0.2% of the loan amount. On a 400,000-dollar loan that is 1,400 dollars plus 800 dollars, due at closing.
Who pays for title insurance in Florida?
Local custom, and it flips by county: the seller customarily pays for the owner's policy in most of Florida, while the buyer customarily pays in Miami-Dade, Broward, Sarasota, and Collier. The buyer's lender will also require a lender's policy, which the buyer pays either way; issued simultaneously it costs only a small add-on.
What are prepaids and escrows?
Money collected at closing that is not a fee: usually the first year of homeowners insurance, several months of property taxes seeded into escrow, and prepaid interest from closing day to month end. They are part of cash to close even though they are paying your own future bills.
Can the seller or builder pay my closing costs?
Yes, seller concessions are common in today's market and builders routinely offer closing credits, especially through their preferred lender. Loan programs cap contributions, commonly 3 to 6% on conventional loans depending on down payment.
Are closing costs cheaper for cash buyers?
Substantially. No loan means no note doc stamps, no intangible tax, no lender fees, no lender title policy, and no escrow prepaids beyond insurance you choose to buy. That saving is part of why cash offers close cheaper and faster.
Complete the picture: value a builder’s closing-credit offer properly, see what your property taxes become after the purchase, and check the full monthly cost of owning. Selling at the same time? Your net proceeds by county.
Estimates only. Doc stamps (F.S. 201.08) and intangible tax (F.S. 199.133) computed exactly on your loan amount; title at Florida promulgated rates with a simultaneous-issue lender policy; settlement, recording, and inspection figures are typical ranges; escrow prepaids use your county’s typical millage and average Citizens premium and vary with your closing date and lender. Your loan estimate and closing disclosure control. Not financial advice. Equal Housing Opportunity.