Question 1

Does Fort Lauderdale charge the same transfer tax as Miami-Dade?

Accepted Answer

No. Broward pays the standard statewide documentary stamp rate, not the Miami-Dade surtax structure. A Broward deed carries 70 cents per $100 of consideration and the note and mortgage carry 35 cents per $100, the rate used in every Florida county except Miami-Dade. Miami-Dade alone runs a different structure, a 60 cent base plus a 45 cent discretionary surtax that is not due on a document transferring only a single-family dwelling. Do not budget a Fort Lauderdale purchase or a double close as if it were a Miami-Dade one. See transactional funding for how doc stamps run on both legs of a double close.

Question 2

Why does insurance cost so much on a Fort Lauderdale property?

Accepted Answer

Broward and Miami-Dade are the only two counties in Florida's High Velocity Hurricane Zone, the strictest wind-design and product-approval code in the state, and it shows up on the premium. Every window, door, shutter, and roofing line item on a Broward rehab has to meet HVHZ product approval. As of March 2026 the average Broward homeowners premium including wind ran $6,136, against $4,063 in coastal Pinellas and $2,650 in inland Lake County, and South Florida property claims are litigated at 27.27% versus 8.16% in the rest of the state. Build that line into the deal before you underwrite the rent. See the DSCR program.

Question 3

Is my Fort Lauderdale condo automatically on a 25-year milestone inspection clock because it's near the coast?

Accepted Answer

No, that three-mile coastal rule was in the original 2022 law and has since been repealed. Current Florida law sets a single statewide trigger at 30 years of age for condominium and cooperative buildings three habitable stories or higher, with recurrence every 10 years. A local enforcement agency may require an earlier inspection at 25 years where salt-water proximity warrants it, but that is a local option, not an automatic coastal mandate. Talk to your attorney or the association before assuming either clock on a specific building.

Question 4

Is Fort Lauderdale still a booming Sun Belt rental market?

Accepted Answer

Not on the current data. Broward's population and job base are shrinking, not booming. The county lost 372 residents net in the year to July 2025, with 29,517 more people leaving for elsewhere in the U.S. than arrived, nearly offset by 24,944 international arrivals. Total nonfarm employment fell to 909,100 in June 2026 from 914,100 a year earlier, and unemployment rose to 4.5% from 3.7%. The defensible rental thesis is that international arrivals are replacing the domestic outflow and renting before they buy, not that the metro is filling up.

Question 5

What property tax cap applies to my Fort Lauderdale rental?

Accepted Answer

The non-homestead 10% assessment cap, never the 3% homestead cap, and it resets to market value the first full tax year after you buy. 2025 millage across Broward's cities runs from 16.28 in Weston to 23.19 in Lauderdale Lakes, with the City of Fort Lauderdale itself at 18.4464, a spread of nearly 7 mills inside one county. A multi-property Broward portfolio can span several of those millage codes, so pull an address-level estimate from the county property appraiser rather than a single county rate, and talk to your CPA on the specifics. See portfolio loans.

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