Question 1

What does Florida charge in tax to record one blanket mortgage across my portfolio?

Accepted Answer

55 cents per $100 of the mortgage amount, and the mortgage leg of it is not capped. Two statewide taxes stack at recording. Documentary stamp tax runs 35 cents per $100 of the indebtedness. The familiar $2,450 ceiling sits in Florida Statutes section 201.08(1)(a) and applies to the promissory note; section 201.08(1)(b), which covers a mortgage recorded in Florida, carries the same 35 cent rate with no cap at all. On top of that, section 199.133 imposes a one-time nonrecurring intangible tax of 2 mills, 20 cents per $100, on the obligation secured by Florida real property. Combined, that is 55 cents per $100. On a $2,000,000 blanket mortgage: $7,000 in documentary stamps plus $4,000 in intangible tax, so $11,000 before recording fees and before title. On $500,000: $1,750 plus $1,000, so $2,750. These are Florida rates, the same in Sarasota County, Manatee County and every other county in the state. The number scales with the whole facility, which is what makes the consolidate-or-not question arithmetic rather than a matter of preference: a partial release as you sell a door is not a new obligation, while refinancing the whole facility is, and it runs that 55 cents again on the full amount. Confirm the treatment of your own structure with your closing agent and your CPA before you decide.

Question 2

My doors span the barrier islands and the mainland. Does concentrated wind insurance change how a blanket loan gets sized?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and it is the reason a lender looks at the whole pool, not just each address. As of March 2026 Sarasota County's average homeowners premium including wind ran $3,457, against $1,482 excluding wind, a wind load of about 57 percent of the premium, one of the widest wind-versus-no-wind spreads of any major Florida county. Put five or six doors on the same coastline and that wind load repeats across every policy in the portfolio, not just one. We underwrite the blanket facility on the actual insurance carry of the properties in your file, county by county, rather than a single metro average. See how we underwrite an individual rental's carry on the DSCR program page.

Question 3

A couple of my portfolio units are in an older Sarasota condo building. Does that add risk beyond the individual unit?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and it is a statutory obligation now, not a board's discretion. Florida law requires a milestone inspection for any condo or co-op building three or more habitable stories tall by the year it turns 30 (or 25 near salt water, at the enforcement agency's discretion), and requires a structural integrity reserve study covering roof, structure, plumbing, waterproofing and similar items. Since December 31, 2024, a unit-owner-controlled association required to have a SIRS can no longer vote to waive or underfund those reserves. Either one can trigger a special assessment that lands on your carry the same month it's voted. On a portfolio with more than one unit in an older coastal building, we look at the building's inspection and reserve status, not just your unit's rent roll.

Question 4

Sarasota and Manatee counties seem to have different short-term rental rules by city. Does that complicate holding a mixed portfolio?

Accepted Answer

It's exactly the case a blanket loan is built for. This metro runs at least four separate short-term-rental regimes: unincorporated Sarasota County generally bars leases under 30 days except for RMF-zoned buildings on the barrier islands, the City of Sarasota allows short-term rentals at a 7-night minimum under a registration certificate, unincorporated Manatee County has no ordinance at all as of mid-2026 (a proposed one was sent back to staff on June 16, 2026), and cities like Bradenton, Holmes Beach and Anna Maria register and cap occupancy. An operator who builds a portfolio here commonly ends up holding units across several of those jurisdictions rather than one. One blanket facility across that mix is simpler than a separate mortgage and a separate local license cycle on every door.

Question 5

If I sell one property out of the portfolio, do I still get the non-homestead assessment cap I've been carrying on it?

Accepted Answer

No. As an investor you never had a homestead cap on that property, and the cap resets for whoever buys it. Florida's non-homestead assessment cap limits annual increases to 10 percent a year, well above the homestead cap available only on an owner-occupied primary residence, and it resets to full market value at the next change of ownership. Sell one door out of your portfolio and the property releases from the blanket loan, but the buyer's tax bill starts fresh, not from wherever your capped assessment landed. Where you title the sale and how the assessment nets out is a question for your CPA; we size the remaining facility on the properties you keep.

Question 6

The tax bill on my Bradenton and Palmetto rentals looks a lot higher than on my Sarasota units. Is that normal for a mixed-county portfolio?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and it's one of the sharper spreads in the metro. 2025 investor millage runs 11.4737 in unincorporated Sarasota County and 13.3100 in unincorporated Manatee, but climbs to 18.4092 in the City of Bradenton and 19.1662 in Palmetto, the two highest municipal stacks in the metro. Bradenton and Palmetto are also among the metro's cheapest entry points on price, so the lower purchase price can hide a materially higher carry once you run the actual millage. On a mixed portfolio, we size debt service off each property's own tax district, not a blended metro estimate.

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