Question 1

Do I need a Florida real estate license to wholesale in Orlando?

Accepted Answer

It turns on whether you are acting for yourself or for another. Florida Statutes section 475.01(1)(a) requires a license to sell, exchange, buy or rent real property "for another" for compensation, with no express exemption for a person selling their own equitable interest under contract. The customary reading is that assigning your own contract sits outside "for another," while marketing the underlying property on a seller's behalf does not. That is a legal characterization, not settled ground, and we are a lender, not your counsel. Assignments and double closes are both common across Florida, Orlando included. Have a Florida real estate attorney review your contract and your marketing language before you run the play.

Question 2

What do documentary stamps cost on an Orlando double close?

Accepted Answer

You pay them twice, because Florida taxes each instrument. Deed stamps run 70 cents per $100 of consideration in Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Lake counties (Miami-Dade is the only county with a different rate), and note and mortgage stamps run 35 cents per $100 of the obligation. In an A-to-B-to-C double close there are two deeds, and if both legs are financed, two notes, so the tax lands twice. On a $300,000 A-to-B leg and a $360,000 B-to-C leg, deed stamps alone run roughly $2,100 and $2,520. Consideration expressly includes the amount of any mortgage or other encumbrance, whether or not the underlying debt is assumed. Florida also imposes a nonrecurring intangible tax on mortgages, and we will not quote you a rate for it. Price the full stamp stack into your spread before you sign, and confirm the figures with your closing agent.

Question 3

Who actually pays the deed stamps at an Orlando closing?

Accepted Answer

The contract decides, even though the statute names the purchaser. Section 201.02 places payment of the deed tax on the purchaser, but in most Florida counties the seller customarily pays deed stamps by contract, and the allocation you negotiate is what controls at the closing table. On a double close that matters twice over: you are the buyer on one leg and the seller on the other, so a default clause you never read can move a few thousand dollars in either direction. Read the tax allocation language on both contracts before you sign, and make sure the two of them do not leave you paying on both sides by accident.

Question 4

How does Florida's judicial foreclosure affect Orlando deal flow?

Accepted Answer

Distressed supply arrives slower here, and it arrives through the court. Every Florida foreclosure runs through the circuit court, so there is no Texas-style courthouse auction on a short notice period. The national average time to complete a foreclosure was 563 days in the second quarter of 2026, and Florida led the nation in foreclosure rate in the first half of that year. An Orlando-specific completion timeline was not available at a citable source, so we will not put a number on it. What that means for a wholesaler: pre-foreclosure and lis pendens leads tend to have a longer runway than in a non-judicial state, and our own remedy on the A-to-B leg runs through the same court system, which is part of why Florida transactional terms price the way they do.

Question 5

How much end-buyer risk should I price into an Orlando wholesale deal?

Accepted Answer

Enough to survive a 74-day resale. As of July 2026 the Orlando MSA showed a median list price of $419,450, down 1.8% from a year earlier and 9.8% off the June 2022 peak, with 13,771 active listings, roughly 5,040 of them carrying a price cut, and a median 74 days on market. That is a market that cooled and flattened, not one in free fall, but it is also not a market where your end buyer closes in two weeks flat. No current Orlando flip-rate or ROI figure exists in our research (Orlando does not appear in ATTOM's published metro flip lists), so we will not cite one. Our transactional funding is repaid from the simultaneous resale, so the B-to-C buyer is the whole deal. Get their proof of funds and their lender timeline before you commit to a closing date.

Question 6

What kills an Orlando wholesale deal at the end buyer's underwriting?

Accepted Answer

Insurance and the tax stack, usually in that order, and the stack has an extra layer in the resort corridors. Florida's regulator puts the average homeowners premium including wind at $3,610 in Orange County and $3,545 in Seminole as of March 2026, against $2,940 in Osceola and $2,650 in Lake, a roughly $960 spread that changes the carry math by submarket. In Osceola, Lake and the Davenport corridor, a second layer stacks on the same tax bill: Community Development Districts can levy assessments servicing infrastructure bonds, in addition to county millage, and that debt does not disappear at closing even though a seller's marketing may not mention it. Your buyer also resets off the 10 percent non-homestead assessment cap on transfer, so the seller's tax bill understates what they will pay in year one. Pull a real insurance quote, check for a CDD on the parcel, and send your buyer to the county property appraiser rather than to last year's bill. Talk to your CPA on the tax side.

Transactional Funding in Orlando

How it works

Transactional Funding in Orlando: local questions

Guides for Transactional Funding

Other programs in Orlando

Funding Orlando deals fast.