Question 1

Does the Miami-Dade documentary stamp surtax apply to a West Palm Beach double close?

Accepted Answer

No, and this is the mistake to catch before you price a deal. Palm Beach County pays the plain statewide documentary stamp rate: 70 cents per $100 of consideration on the deed and 35 cents per $100 on the note and mortgage. The 60-cent-plus-45-cent surtax structure applies only in Miami-Dade County, where the extra 45 cents per $100 is a discretionary county surtax that "is not due on a document that transfers only a single-family dwelling." A wholesaler working South Florida deals across county lines will hear Miami-Dade numbers quoted as if they applied here. On a $300,000 A-to-B leg, Palm Beach deed stamps run $2,100 at that statewide 70-cent rate. In an A-to-B-to-C double close the tax hits both deeds, and note stamps hit both legs if both are financed, so price the full stamp stack on the Palm Beach rate before you sign.

Question 2

Who actually pays the deed stamps at a Palm Beach County closing?

Accepted Answer

The contract decides, even though the statute names the purchaser. Florida Statutes 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: you are the buyer on the A-to-B leg and the seller on the B-to-C leg, 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.

Question 3

Why do assignment spreads vary so much across Palm Beach County?

Accepted Answer

Because the county is not one market. As of June 2026, the town of Palm Beach carries a $2,145,595 home value index, more than 10 times Pahokee's $210,145, in the same county on the same tax roll. Working investor submarkets run from $402,831 in Boynton Beach and $403,887 in West Palm Beach up to $575,479 in Boca Raton and $702,538 in Jupiter, while the Glades communities of Belle Glade, Pahokee and South Bay sit at $210,000 to $290,000 in an agricultural economy. A spread that works in West Palm Beach or Boynton Beach does not translate to Jupiter or Boca Raton, and neither translates to the Glades. Price each deal off its own submarket comp, not a county median.

Question 4

Do I need a Florida real estate license to wholesale in Palm Beach County?

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. Have a Florida real estate attorney review your contract and your marketing language before you run the play.

Question 5

How does Florida's judicial foreclosure affect deal flow in Palm Beach County?

Accepted Answer

Distressed supply moves through the 15th Judicial Circuit, not a courthouse auction on short notice. Every Florida foreclosure runs through the circuit court, and the national average time to complete a foreclosure was 563 days in the second quarter of 2026, with Florida leading the nation in foreclosure rate in the first half of that year. A Palm Beach County or 15th Judicial Circuit-specific completion timeline was not available at a citable source, so we will not put a number on it. 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 6

What should I check before I commit to a Palm Beach County resale date?

Accepted Answer

Inventory is tight and getting tighter, which cuts both ways. As of July 2026, active listings in Palm Beach County were down 20.4 percent year over year to 10,613, the sharpest inventory contraction of any Florida metro in our research, with median days on market improved to 80 and the share of listings with a price cut down from 19.1 to 15.9 percent. That favors a correctly priced end sale, but it is not a market where your B-to-C buyer closes in two weeks flat. No current Palm Beach County flip-rate or ROI figure exists in our research; the metro does not appear in ATTOM's published Q1 2026 flip lists, so we will not cite one. Our transactional funding is repaid from the simultaneous resale, so get your end buyer's proof of funds and lender timeline before you set a closing date.

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