Fix and Flip in Sarasota

No claim to make, and treat anyone who tells you otherwise with skepticism. Sarasota, North Port and Bradenton do not appear anywhere in ATTOM's Q1 2026 Home Flipping Report's metro lists for flip rate, profit margin or all-cash share, so there is no current metro flip rate, gross profit or ROI figure to cite. What is published is statewide, not local: Florida ran a 6.6% flip rate in Q1 2026, below the national 8.0%, with a $75,000 typical gross profit and 28.3% ROI, both above the national $66,000 and 25.4%. What you can underwrite to is the metro's own pricing: the median list price was $475,000 in July 2026, down 3.1 percent year over year and 20.8 percent off the May 2022 peak of $599,450, with 89 median days on market and active listings down 18.5 percent year over year. Sarasota-Manatee corrected harder than Tampa or Orlando, and that is where the entry-price room comes from. Underwrite your specific deal on its own comps, not a metro reputation, and run it through the fix and flip calculator before you go hard.

It applies countywide in Sarasota County, and on a coastal or barrier-island property it is the number that decides your deal. Sarasota County compares the cost of your proposed improvements or repairs against the depreciated market value of the building. Reach or exceed 50% and the entire structure must be elevated to the minimum flood elevation and brought into full compliance with the county's floodplain rules, not just the room you're rehabbing. The county's Property Appraiser sets that building value as the pre-damage tax-roll improvement value times 1.2, or a licensed appraiser's opinion. On a $400,000 renovation, that multiplier is the line between a permit and a teardown-and-elevate job, so get the tax-roll improvement value and run the math before you bid the scope.

Budget the statutory maximum, because neither county publishes a faster observed average. Florida Statutes section 553.792 gives Sarasota and Manatee counties up to 30 business days to approve, approve with conditions, or deny a complete single-family permit application under 7,500 square feet, and 60 business days for larger residential work, with a written deficiency notice due within 5 business days. Miss its own deadline and the permit fee drops 10% per business day late. We don't have verified observed review times for either county, so build the full statutory window into your 6-month term rather than assuming local offices move faster, and pair it with the metro's 89 median days on market, which is slower than Tampa's 72 and Orlando's 74, when you set your exit timeline.

Budget for wind and flood separately, because wind alone runs unusually high here. As of March 2026, Florida's insurance regulator reports Sarasota County's average homeowners premium including wind at $3,457 and Manatee's at $3,181, both below Pinellas ($4,063) and well below South Florida. The number worth knowing: Sarasota's average excluding wind is only $1,482, so wind coverage adds roughly $1,975, about 57% of the total premium, one of the largest wind-versus-no-wind spreads in the state's county table. That's before a separate flood policy, which is effectively mandatory on anything near the coast or a barrier island. Get a binder quote on the specific address, including wind and flood as separate lines, and build it into your carry cost alongside the loan.

It can, and it's worth checking before you bid the deal, not after you list it. Sarasota County's barrier islands and coastal submarkets, Siesta Key, Longboat Key and the stretch south to Manasota Key, took storm surge from Hurricane Milton (up to 10 ft near Manasota Key) and Hurricane Helene in back-to-back 2024 storms. A lender financing your buyer will look at flood-zone designation, elevation certificates, and whether your rehab crossed the substantial-improvement threshold above. If it did and the structure wasn't brought up to current flood code, that's a red flag a conventional lender's underwriting will catch. Confirm your flood zone and any elevation requirement with the county before you scope the rehab, and keep your paperwork ready to hand a buyer's lender at closing.

The non-homestead cap, and it varies a lot by jurisdiction. As an investment property you're subject to Florida's 10% annual non-homestead assessment cap, not the 3% homestead cap, and that cap resets to market value on your purchase, so the seller's old bill will understate what you pay. 2025 total millage runs from 11.4737 in unincorporated Sarasota County up to 19.1662 in the City of Palmetto and 18.4092 in Bradenton, two of the metro's lowest-cost entry points. If the deal sits in Lakewood Ranch, Wellen Park, or another CDD-backed community, that assessment rides on the same tax bill on top of the millage. Pull an address-level estimate from the county property appraiser and talk to your CPA about the reset.

About 10% of the purchase price, plus closing costs and carry. We fund up to 90% of the purchase price and up to 100% of the rehab budget, capped to ARV. On a purchase at the metro's $475,000 median list price, that is up to $427,500 from us and $47,500 from you (475,000 x 90% = 427,500), with rehab drawn against the schedule rather than paid up front. Sarasota sits at 89 median days on market, slower than Tampa's 72, so carry the term out to a realistic sale date and add the wind and flood premium on top. Subject to underwriting.

Yes. We write from $100,000 to $5M. That floor matters here because Bradenton and Palmetto are two of the metro's lowest-cost entry points, and a cheap Sarasota-Manatee acquisition can land under it on the purchase alone. Rehab funding counts toward the total, so a modest purchase with a real scope of work often clears the minimum even when the price does not. The ceiling is $5M, which covers the coastal end of this market. Subject to underwriting.

No. First-time flippers are welcome on this program. We do run credit, but on an asset-based loan it carries far less weight than it would at a bank, and there is no minimum score on fix and flip. Weaker credit is usually handled with lower leverage rather than a decline, and there is no hard credit pull to start. What we look at hardest on a first Sarasota deal is the scope: if the property is coastal, get the FEMA 50 percent math run before you bid, because that rule turns a remodel into an elevation job and it has ended plenty of first files. Subject to underwriting.