Question 1

Do you lend in Tampa Bay?

Accepted Answer

Yes, across the Tampa Bay metro. We are a Texas-based direct lender headquartered in Bee Cave, and we fund deals in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, and Hernando counties, including Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Brandon, Riverview, Wesley Chapel, Plant City, and Largo. Every loan is business-purpose only, on investment property, and terms are subject to underwriting. See loan programs or talk to us.

Question 2

How fast can you close, and how fast does distressed inventory move in Florida?

Accepted Answer

Same-day term sheet, and funding in as few as 5 to 7 days once title and insurance come together. The distressed pipeline behind those deals, though, runs on a much slower clock than Texas. Florida is a judicial foreclosure state, so every file goes through the circuit court. There is no published Florida-specific average we will quote, but the scale of the gap is clear from the national numbers: the average U.S. foreclosure took 563 days to complete in the second quarter of 2026, while Texas, which forecloses non-judicially, was the fastest in the country at 165 days. That cuts both ways for you. Supply is real, because Florida had the worst foreclosure rate in the nation in the first half of 2026 at 0.27% of housing units, 27,494 filings, up 32.65% year over year. It just arrives on a court docket over many months rather than at a fixed monthly auction, so the buying opportunity is in the pre-sale and REO windows, and a lender who can fund in a week is what lets you take them. Apply now. Subject to underwriting.

Question 3

How much does insurance really change the math on a Tampa Bay deal?

Accepted Answer

Enough to decide the deal, and the number depends on which side of the bay you buy. On the state regulator's own county table, average homeowners premiums including wind as of March 2026 were $4,063 in Pinellas, $3,525 in Hillsborough, and $2,756 in Pasco. That roughly $1,300 gap between Pinellas and Pasco on an otherwise similar house is more than half a month's rent on a $2,000 rental, and it is why a DSCR deal in Clearwater and the same-priced deal in Wesley Chapel do not underwrite the same. The honest 2026 story is not a crisis, though. Florida premiums are the highest in the country and they are finally coming down: the average homeowners premium including wind fell in 51 of 67 counties between the regulator's January and July 2026 reports, 21 new companies have been approved to write residential property since the 2022-23 reforms, Florida domestic property insurers ran an 83% combined ratio in 2025, and Citizens is down to 293,465 policies in force as of June 5, 2026, the lowest in 25 years, with approved 2026 cuts of 8.8% on homeowners multiperil and 5.5% on wind-only effective July 1, 2026. Budget flood separately. It is a different policy from wind, and much of coastal Pinellas sits in a Special Flood Hazard Area where a lender will require it. Get a real quote on the specific parcel before you sign a contract.

Question 4

Can I count on short-term rental income in Tampa Bay?

Accepted Answer

Only parcel by parcel, and the whole question turns on a 2011 date. Florida Statutes section 509.032(7)(b) preempts local rules: a city cannot prohibit vacation rentals or regulate the duration or frequency of rental. But that preemption does not reach any ordinance adopted on or before June 1, 2011, so a grandfathered rule is fully enforceable. That is why the same metro gives you three different answers. St. Petersburg leans on a grandfathered ordinance that allows rentals of less than 30 days no more than three times in any consecutive 365-day period unless the property sits in a district that permits hotel or motel use, plus a city permit and a business tax receipt. The City of Tampa has no citywide minimum stay and no zoning-based cap, so a local business tax receipt at the parcel level and nuisance enforcement are the practical constraints. Clearwater and Clearwater Beach are the tightest, with city registration, a 7-night minimum in certain residential zones, annual inspections, and the Beach by Design overlay. Statewide, every short-term rental needs a DBPR vacation rental license under Chapter 509, with penalties up to $1,000 per day for operating without one, and tourist development tax runs 6% in both Hillsborough and Pinellas on top of sales tax. We can underwrite a long-term lease number without any of this. If your model depends on nightly rates, confirm the current city code for that exact address, and talk to your attorney. See the DSCR program.

Question 5

What Florida closing and tax costs do out-of-state investors miss?

Accepted Answer

Documentary stamps and the tax reset on transfer. Florida charges documentary stamp tax of 70 cents per $100 of consideration on the deed in every county except Miami-Dade, and consideration expressly includes any mortgage or other encumbrance whether or not the debt is assumed, plus 35 cents per $100 on the note and mortgage. The statute puts the deed tax on the purchaser, though in most Florida counties the seller pays it by contract, so read the allocation in your contract rather than assuming. In an A-to-B-to-C double close, deed stamps are owed on both deeds and note stamps on each financed leg, which makes the structure a quantifiable line item here in a way it is not in a state with no transfer tax. On the hold side, investment property gets a 10% annual assessment cap rather than the 3% homestead cap, and that cap resets on change of ownership, so the seller's tax bill systematically understates yours. Underwrite to a market-value assessment for the first full year after purchase, and talk to your CPA or attorney about your own position.

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