Florida is not like anywhere else
National property guides are not wrong here so much as beside the point. They under-weight wind and flood, say nothing about Citizens, and have no view on the 4-point inspection that decides whether a Florida home can be insured at all. Three examples of what that costs you:
- Documenting how your home resists wind can cut 20–30% of the total premium† off your premium — most owners never do it.
- The homestead exemption is $51,411† for 2026, and it is re-indexed to inflation every year, so last year’s figure is already wrong.
- Title insurance rates are set by the state — every Florida agency charges $5.75 per $1,000† on the first $100,000. Shopping for a cheaper title premium is wasted effort, and almost nobody explains that.
Where do you want to start?
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All seven sections are open: Own, Buy, Rent, Sell, Build and Short-Term and Guides.
Buying, selling and renting
- Buying in Florida — why insurability comes before affordability
- Closing costs — and why shopping for title insurance is wasted effort
- What a seller must disclose — “as is” does not remove the duty
- Security deposits — the deadline that forfeits a landlord’s claim
- Section 8 and vouchers — Florida landlords may legally refuse one
Insurance
- Florida homeowners insurance — what actually drives a premium here
- Wind mitigation inspection — the cost, the saving, and when the state pays
- 4-point inspection — what fails it, and when not to volunteer
- Roof age and non-renewal — what an insurer may and may not do
- Citizens Property Insurance — the 20% rule, and being moved without applying
- Flood insurance — the gap in every Florida policy
- Storm claims — the deadlines most guides still get wrong
Property tax
- How the bill is calculated — three different values, one of them yours
- Appeal your assessment — 25 days, what wins, and when you have no case
- Move your Save Our Homes cap — worth more than the exemption
Building and short-term letting
- Building and renovating — licences, permits, and checking both
- Construction liens — how you can pay twice for the same work
- Vacation rentals — licensing, local bans, and all three taxes
Defects that decide insurability
- Federal Pacific panel — never recalled, and still uninsurable
- Cast iron pipes — why they fail decades early in Florida
How this is written
Every figure on this site is imported from a single sourced data file rather than typed into the page, and each one renders with a link to where it came from — the Department of Revenue, the Office of Insurance Regulation, the statute itself. Several of these numbers are re-indexed annually. Typed into an article, they are silently wrong within a year.
Where the honest answer is that you do not need something, the page says so. Where sources disagree and we have not resolved it, the figure is withheld rather than guessed.
Merica Estate Hunter publishes Florida property information with its statutory source cited. We are not a law firm, and nothing here is legal advice.