Central Florida runs on hospitality income that rarely fits a W-2 box.
Short-term rental legality changes at the city line here. Insurance costs less inland than on the Florida coasts. We fund across Orange, Osceola, Seminole, and Lake counties. Business-purpose loans only, and every structure is set in underwriting.
Your term sheet comes back the same day, decided in house.
The STR map is jurisdictional, not geographic
Whole-home short-term rental is illegal in the City of Orlando and prohibited in unincorporated Orange County's residential zones, but licensed and normal in Osceola County's overlay corridors and Kissimmee's STR zoning, often a few miles apart. We underwrite the parcel's jurisdiction, not a metro-wide assumption.
Inland insurance is the quiet advantage
Average homeowners premiums including wind ran $2,650 to $3,610 across the four Orlando counties as of March 2026, well below coastal Pinellas at $4,063 and far below South Florida. For a DSCR deal, that is the carry line where Central Florida beats the coasts.
Rents at a record high while prices soften
Single-family rents hit an all-time high of $2,491 a month in June 2026, up 2.0% year over year, while the metro's mid-tier home value fell 2.7% over the same period. That combination is widening the yield on a buy-and-hold deal priced today.
Loan programs in Orlando
Acquisition through exit, all funded or arranged by one lender.
Do you lend in Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Lake, and the Polk County side of Davenport?
Yes, across Orange, Osceola, Seminole, and Lake counties. We are a Direct lender headquartered in Bee Cave, and we fund deals in Orlando, Kissimmee, Sanford, Winter Park, Apopka, Clermont, Winter Garden, and the Davenport corridor (Davenport sits in Polk County but functions as the southwest end of the Disney short-term-rental market). Every loan is business-purpose only, on investment property, and terms are subject to underwriting. See how we lend across Florida or talk to us.
Can I count on short-term rental income anywhere in the Orlando area?
Only if you check the parcel's jurisdiction first, because the same house plan can be legal five miles from Disney and illegal inside Orlando city limits. The City of Orlando does not let an individual homeowner rent an entire home for 1 to 29 days: the two paths are owner-occupied home sharing, where the host lives on site and rents up to half the bedrooms with city registration, or a Commercial Dwelling Unit, a business use renting an entire unit for 7 to 29 days with a Business Tax Receipt and zoning that allows it. Anything shorter than 7 days whole-unit is hotel territory. Unincorporated Orange County prohibits short-term rentals in single-family residential zoning outside a handful of vacation-home pockets near Disney. Osceola County is the permissive side of the map: rentals are allowed inside designated short-term-rental overlay districts and its dedicated STRPD zoning, concentrated along the W US 192 corridor, plus a county license and the state DBPR vacation rental license on top. Kissimmee allows STRs in specific zoning districts with a Business Tax Receipt. We can underwrite a long-term lease number without any of this; if your model depends on nightly rate income, confirm the current zoning for that exact parcel and talk to your attorney. See the DSCR program.
How does insurance and the tax bill actually run for an investor in Orlando?
It costs less than the coasts on insurance, but the tax bill can carry three layers you need to add up before you underwrite the deal. As of March 2026, average homeowners premiums including wind ran $2,650 in Lake County, $2,940 in Osceola, and $3,610 in Orange, the highest-cost of the four, all below coastal Pinellas at $4,063 and well below Broward or Miami-Dade. On property tax, the county property appraisers' 2025 final millage sheets put a non-homestead investor at roughly 18 to 19 mills in the City of Orlando, 17.41 in Kissimmee, and 13.85 in unincorporated Osceola, the lowest-cost base rate in the metro. That last number is the trap: master-planned and resort communities across Osceola, Lake, and the Davenport corridor commonly carry a Community Development District assessment collected on the same county tax bill on top of the millage, and Florida's 10% non-homestead assessment cap resets when the property changes hands, so the first full year after you buy is typically assessed at market value with no carryover from the seller's capped basis. Pull an address-level estimate from the county property appraiser rather than using a metro-wide rate, and talk to your CPA on the specifics.
What is the Orlando market actually doing right now?
Cooled and flattened, not falling, with the softest pricing exactly where short-term rentals are legal. Median list price was $419,450 in July 2026, down 1.8% year over year and 9.8% off the June 2022 peak, on 74 median days on market and 13,771 active listings. Zillow's mid-tier home value index fell 2.7% year over year to $404,098 in June 2026, while single-family rents hit a series high of $2,491 a month, up 2.0%. That price-versus-rent split is not uniform across the metro: the Osceola and Polk short-term-rental corridor, Kissimmee, Davenport, and Poinciana, is down 4 to 5% year over year on value, while owner-heavy Winter Park and Apopka are nearly flat. Entry pricing is improving fastest in the same zip codes where the STR license actually applies.
Why does a direct lender fit an Orlando deal better than a bank?
Because a fifth of the metro works in an industry a bank underwriting model does not know how to read. Florida's court-based foreclosure process also rewards a lender who can move fast on the front end. Leisure and hospitality employed 305,500 people in metro Orlando in June 2026, up 3.7% year over year, roughly one job in five against a national share about half that, anchored by Walt Disney World and Universal's new Epic Universe park, which opened May 22, 2025. Tips, seasonal, and gig income from that workforce do not fit a W-2 box, which is exactly the bank-statement borrower pool we underwrite. On the other side of the deal, Florida forecloses through the circuit court, a materially longer process than a non-judicial state like our home state of Texas, which is one more reason funding speed on the way in matters more here, not less. We fund with our own capital and give a same-day term sheet. Subject to underwriting. Apply now.
Which Orlando loan programs have a credit floor, and which do not?
The asset-based ones have none, and the documented ones do. Fix and flip, ground up construction, and commercial bridge carry no minimum score: we pull credit, but on those loans it weighs far less than it would at a bank, and weaker credit is normally offset with lower leverage rather than a decline. DSCR and bank statement start at 640, conventional investment at 580, and transactional funding runs no credit check at all. There is no hard credit pull to start a conversation about an Orlando deal. Subject to underwriting.
With the metro median list price at $419,450, what do I put down in Orlando?
It depends on the program, and on a typical metro price it runs from about 10% to 25%. Median list price across the metro was $419,450 in July 2026. On a $400,000 deal, fix and flip funds up to 90% of the purchase, so $360,000 from us and $40,000 from you (400,000 x 90% = 360,000), with rehab drawn on schedule. DSCR, bank statement, and conventional all cap at up to 80% LTV, so $320,000 from us and $80,000 from you (400,000 x 80% = 320,000). Commercial bridge runs up to 75% LTV and ground up construction up to 70% LTV or 85% of cost. Add closing costs, the first-year tax reset, and a county-specific insurance premium on top. Subject to underwriting.
Is a low-basis Poinciana or Kissimmee buy too small to finance?
Rarely. $100,000 is the floor on most residential programs, and mid-tier values in the metro's softest submarket, Poinciana, still run $282,132. Fix and flip, DSCR, and bank statement all start at $100,000, which most Orlando-area purchases clear on the first door. The floors climb from there: $350,000 on SBA and $500,000 on a portfolio blanket loan, which also needs five or more properties. Ceilings run to $3M on DSCR and bank statement, $5M on fix and flip and construction, and $10M on commercial bridge. Subject to underwriting.
Local rules move. Every tax rate, fee, ordinance and market figure here comes from a primary source and carries the date we read it, and we correct them as the rules change. Where a number is mid-change or we could not verify it, we say so rather than guess. Before you commit a budget, confirm anything that drives it with the city or county, and talk to your attorney or CPA on questions of law or tax.
Published by USA Mortgage Funding, LLC, NMLS #152588. Researched from primary sources by our team, drafted with AI assistance, and every figure checked against its source before publishing. Where an answer rests on a public record, that record is linked under it. Figures read on 2026-08-12.
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