Question 1

Do you lend across the whole Sarasota-Manatee metro?

Accepted Answer

Yes, across Sarasota and Manatee counties. We are a Texas-based direct lender headquartered in Bee Cave, and we fund deals in Sarasota, Bradenton, Venice, North Port, Palmetto, Lakewood Ranch, Parrish, and Englewood. Every loan is business-purpose only, on investment property, and terms are subject to underwriting. See loan programs or talk to us.

Question 2

Can I count on short-term rental income in Sarasota or Manatee County?

Accepted Answer

Only if you check the parcel's jurisdiction first, because the rules reset at nearly every city and county line. Unincorporated Sarasota County generally bars leases under 30 days, with an exception only for RMF-zoned multi-family property on the barrier islands. The City of Sarasota allows short-term rentals with a 7-night minimum stay and a registration certificate required since January 1, 2025. Unincorporated Manatee County has no vacation rental ordinance at all, and a proposed one was sent back to staff on June 16, 2026, so treat that as unsettled, not permissive. Anna Maria, Holmes Beach, Bradenton Beach, and Bradenton permit short-term rentals subject to registration, inspection, and occupancy caps. We can underwrite a long-term lease number without any of this; if your model depends on nightly rate income, confirm the current ordinance for that exact parcel and talk to your attorney. See the DSCR program.

Question 3

How does insurance and the tax bill run for an investor in Sarasota or Manatee County?

Accepted Answer

Insurance runs below South Florida but the wind load is the real number, and the tax stack can carry a CDD assessment on top of the millage. As of March 2026, average homeowners premiums including wind ran $3,457 in Sarasota County and $3,181 in Manatee, both below coastal Pinellas at $4,063. The number worth underwriting is the wind component alone: Sarasota's premium excluding wind is only $1,482, so wind adds roughly $1,975, about 57% of the total. On property tax, 2025 millage for a non-homestead investor runs from 11.4737 in unincorporated Sarasota County and 13.3100 in unincorporated Manatee up to 18.4092 in Bradenton and 19.1662 in Palmetto. In Lakewood Ranch, Wellen Park, and dozens of other planned communities, a Community Development District or Stewardship District assessment rides 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 your first full year 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 a metro-wide rate, and talk to your CPA on the specifics.

Question 4

What is the Sarasota-Manatee market actually doing right now?

Accepted Answer

A genuine correction, deeper than Tampa's or Orlando's, not a plateau. Median list price was $475,000 in July 2026, down 3.1% year over year and down 20.8% off the May 2022 peak of $599,450, roughly double Tampa's 10.7% drawdown and Orlando's 9.8%. Median days on market sits at 89, materially slower than Tampa's 72 and Orlando's 74. Zillow's mid-tier home value agrees, down 5.3% year over year and 16.1% off its August 2022 peak, and every named submarket from Anna Maria to North Port is down 3% to 8.5% year over year, coastal and inland alike. Active listings, though, are down 18.5% year over year, so entry pricing is improving faster than exit velocity. As of mid-2026.

Question 5

How do hurricanes and flood rules affect a rehab or rebuild here?

Accepted Answer

Two storms in two weeks reset the ground truth, and one county rule now decides whether a coastal rehab is a permit or a full elevation. Hurricane Milton made landfall on Siesta Key on October 9, 2024 as a category 3, with storm surge running 4 to 6 feet from Longboat Key to Venice and up to 10 feet near Manasota Key, where a new inlet was cut. Hurricane Helene, two weeks earlier, drove surge that destroyed at least 594 structures in mainland Manatee County, and the National Hurricane Center reports media accounts and emergency managers estimating that 90 to 95% of structures on Bradenton Beach were destroyed. Sarasota County applies FEMA's substantial improvement test: if the cost of repairs or improvements reaches 50% of the building's depreciated market value, the whole structure must be elevated and brought into full floodplain compliance. The county's own Property Appraiser sets that market value at the pre-damage tax-roll improvement value times 1.2, or a licensed appraiser's opinion. Run that math before you bid a coastal rehab. See the fix and flip program.

Sarasota Hard Money and Investor Loans

The short-term rental map resets at every line

Wind is the real number on the insurance line

Rents above Tampa and Orlando while prices correct hard

Loan programs in Sarasota

Sarasota lending questions

Funding Sarasota deals fast.