The quick read: Compare Florida hard money lenders for a fix and flip on the full cost of the loan, not the rate: points and what they are charged on, how much of the purchase and the rehab each lender advances, how fast draws clear, and what an extension costs. Then add the Florida lines no term sheet prints — note documentary stamp tax, intangible tax, wind and flood insurance, and, on condos, the building's inspection status.
Two quotes on the same house can carry the same rate and still differ materially in cash to close, because a lender can move cost between points, leverage, draw terms and extension fees. For who lends on Florida flips and what their underwriting box looks like, see fix and flip loans in Florida; this page is about comparing the quotes once you have them.
What should you compare on every Florida hard money quote?
Compare every Florida hard money quote on the same seven terms — origination points and their base, the note rate and how interest accrues, the advance against purchase, the advance against rehab, the after-repair-value cap, draw terms, and extension pricing — because a lender can trade cost between those lines and a rate-only comparison can hide it.
Table 1: the Florida fix-and-flip scorecard (fill in one column per lender)
| Term | How it can differ between quotes | The question to ask in writing |
|---|---|---|
| Term Origination points | How it can differ between quotes Charged on the full loan, or on the initial funded amount only | The question to ask in writing "Are points charged on the total commitment, including the rehab holdback?" |
| Term Note rate and accrual | How it can differ between quotes Interest on funds drawn, or on the full note from day one | The question to ask in writing "Does interest accrue on undrawn rehab funds?" |
| Term Advance against purchase | How it can differ between quotes A percentage of price or of as-is value, whichever is lower | The question to ask in writing "Is the advance measured on price or on the as-is appraisal?" |
| Term Advance against rehab | How it can differ between quotes A share of the approved budget, released in draws | The question to ask in writing "What share of the rehab budget do you fund, and what do I fund first?" |
| Term After-repair-value cap | How it can differ between quotes A ceiling on the total loan as a share of projected value | The question to ask in writing "Which cap binds on my numbers — cost, as-is value or after-repair value?" |
| Term Draw terms | How it can differ between quotes Inspection timing, fees per draw, reimbursement versus advance | The question to ask in writing "How many business days from draw request to wire, and what does each inspection cost?" |
| Term Extension pricing | How it can differ between quotes A stated fee per extension, or at the lender's discretion | The question to ask in writing "What does a three-month extension cost, and what conditions gate it?" |
Score the total, not the line: add the points, the interest you will actually pay over your planned hold, the draw fees, and one extension, then divide by the loan amount. That single percentage is the number that compares lenders honestly.
The line a rate comparison misses: whether interest accrues on the undrawn rehab money. It never appears in a rate comparison and it shows up every month of the hold.
Which lender types make fix-and-flip loans in Florida, and how do they differ?
Florida fix-and-flip loans can come from four lender types — private individual lenders, private lending companies that specialize in hard money and fix-and-flip programs, community and regional banks, and a brokerage that routes one file across the others — and each publishes, or declines to publish, very different leverage and speed terms.
NerdWallet's March 10, 2026 guide to hard money business loans says hard money loans "are usually offered by private investors or lenders, as opposed to banks or credit unions," and puts typical hard money loan-to-value at 50% to 75%, against 80% to 90% for traditional lenders. Its February 11, 2026 fix-and-flip guide says maximum loan-to-value "is usually up to 90%," that some lenders offer up to 90% loan-to-cost or higher, and that repayment terms typically run six to 24 months. Those are national figures, not Florida-specific ones.
Table 2: lender types compared on published sources (sources and dates in each cell)
| Lender type | Published leverage reference | Published term and speed reference | What to verify on a Florida quote |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lender type Private individual lender | Published leverage reference No published source reference; ask for a written term sheet | Published term and speed reference No published source reference | What to verify on a Florida quote Who services the loan, who inspects draws, and whether the lender has capital committed for every draw, not just the closing |
| Lender type Private lending company (hard money / fix-and-flip programs) | Published leverage reference Up to 90% LTV; some lenders up to 90% LTC or higher (NerdWallet, Feb. 11, 2026); hard money LTV 50%–75% (NerdWallet, Mar. 10, 2026) | Published term and speed reference Six to 24 months (NerdWallet, Feb. 11, 2026); some approve within 24 hours and fund in one to two business days (NerdWallet, Mar. 10, 2026) | What to verify on a Florida quote Which of the three leverage caps binds on your numbers, and the draw and extension terms in Table 1 |
| Lender type Community or regional bank | Published leverage reference Supervisory limit of 85% loan-to-value for 1- to 4-family residential construction (12 CFR part 34, subpart D, appendix A, 2024 edition) | Published term and speed reference Bank prime rate 7.00% as of 2026-09-21 (FRED, DPRIME) — a base rate banks use to price short-term business loans | What to verify on a Florida quote Whether the bank will lend on a non-owner-occupied rehab at all, and whether it requires deposits, guarantees or a completed-rehab appraisal |
| Lender type Brokerage (YieldStack, publisher of this page) | Published leverage reference YieldStack is a commercial mortgage brokerage; one file is matched against 20,000+ loan programs | Published term and speed reference 5-minute submit; median offer in under an hour, from an institutional lender | What to verify on a Florida quote Zero upfront; YieldStack's broker fee is 0.50–1.00% of the loan amount and is paid only at closing |
Read Table 2 as a routing exercise. The published figures describe a ceiling, not an offer; your leverage comes from the property, the budget, your track record and the exit, and the only way to know which lender type prices your file best is to put the same file in front of several of them. For how a marketplace request compares with calling a single lender directly in Florida, see Florida fix and flip: marketplace vs direct lender.
What Florida taxes change the cost of a hard money loan?
Florida adds two loan-sized taxes to every recorded fix-and-flip mortgage — documentary stamp tax on the recorded mortgage at 35 cents per $100 of the debt, and a nonrecurring intangible tax of 2 mills — so a higher loan amount, or points rolled into the note, raises closing costs in Florida in a way a rate quote never shows.
The rates come from the 2025 Florida Statutes and do not change by lender type; the loan amount they apply to does.
Documentary stamp tax on the mortgage: section 201.08(1)(b) taxes mortgages and other evidences of indebtedness filed or recorded in Florida at "35 cents on each $100 or fraction thereof" of the indebtedness.
Nonrecurring intangible tax: section 199.133 imposes "a one-time nonrecurring tax of 2 mills" on each dollar of notes and obligations secured by a mortgage on Florida real property — $2 per $1,000 of loan.
Documentary stamp tax on the deed: section 201.02 sets the deed tax at 70 cents on each $100 of consideration. A flip records a deed twice — once when you buy and once when you sell — so the contract language on who pays it matters on both ends.
The arithmetic that matters when comparing lenders: at the statutory rates, every $100,000 of loan carries $350 of mortgage documentary stamp tax and $200 of intangible tax. A lender that finances its points or a larger rehab holdback into the note raises both lines along with the loan.
What to ask: whether the lender's closing cost estimate includes these taxes, and whether any fee is being added to the principal rather than paid at closing.
How do insurance and flood exposure change a Florida flip loan?
Flood and wind coverage belong in a Florida loan comparison as closing-table and carry costs, because each lender’s insurance requirements decide what you must bind before funding, and FEMA's April 2025 Florida profile counts 5.9 million Florida properties with no National Flood Insurance Program policy, so a seller's lack of one tells you nothing.
FEMA's Florida Risk Rating 2.0 state profile, dated April 2025, counts 1,727,900 NFIP policies in force in Florida against 5.9 million Florida properties not covered by an NFIP policy. The same profile puts the average NFIP claim payout in Florida over the past 10 years at $28,100.
Premiums still moving: the profile says premium increases are "subject to the 18% per year cap set by Congress for most policies," and that annual increases stop only once the full-risk rate is reached. On a property still climbing toward its full-risk rate, today's premium is not the final premium.
What to ask each lender: which policies must be bound before funding, whether premiums are escrowed or paid at closing, what deductible the lender will accept, and whether the lender requires builder's-risk coverage during the rehab.
How do Florida condo inspection rules affect a condo flip?
A Florida condo flip is underwritten on the building as well as the unit, because state law requires milestone structural inspections on condominium buildings three habitable stories or taller, and Fannie Mae will not buy loans in projects that failed a mandatory inspection or face large unfunded repairs — which can shrink your resale buyer pool.
The Florida inspection clock: section 553.899 of the 2025 Florida Statutes requires a milestone inspection for a building three habitable stories or more in height under the condominium or cooperative form of ownership by December 31 of the year it reaches 30 years of age, and every 10 years after. The local enforcement agency may move that to 25 years where local circumstances, including proximity to salt water, warrant it.
The resale buyer's lender: Fannie Mae's Selling Guide, section B4-2.1-03 (dated August 5, 2026), treats as ineligible any project that "failed to pass state, county, or other jurisdictional mandatory inspections" specific to structural safety, and any project with unfunded repairs costing more than $10,000 per unit that should be undertaken within the next 12 months.
Why your hard money lender cares: your exit is a sale, and if the next buyer cannot get conventional financing on the unit, your sale price and timeline both move. Ask the lender whether it lends on condo units at all, what building documents it wants, and whether its after-repair value assumes a financeable resale.
How do draws and the notice of commencement work in Florida?
In Florida, draw timing on a permitted rehab starts with a recorded notice of commencement, because section 713.13 of the 2025 Florida Statutes requires an owner to record one before improving real property and requires a lender to record it before disbursing construction funds to the contractor — so the recording belongs on your closing checklist, not after it.
The exemption: section 713.02(5) exempts improvements with a direct contract price of $2,500 or less from most of the construction lien part, which is why a cosmetic flip and a full gut can follow different paperwork paths.
Reimbursement versus advance: ask whether each draw reimburses work already done and inspected, or advances money for the next stage. A reimbursement structure means you carry each stage with your own cash first, so budget working capital for at least one full stage.
Inspection speed: ask who inspects, how the inspection is ordered, and the number of business days from request to wire. A subcontractor waiting on a draw is a schedule cost you pay whether or not it appears on the term sheet.
The final holdback: ask what "complete" means for the last draw, and whether closed-out permits are required before it releases.
What do extension fees and the exit timeline really cost?
An extension fee is a fix-and-flip cost you may never plan to use, yet it is charged when you have the least negotiating room — at maturity, with the project unfinished or unsold — so price it in writing before closing, not when the maturity notice arrives.
NerdWallet's February 11, 2026 fix-and-flip guide puts typical repayment terms at six to 24 months. Where your project sits in that range, and how many extensions a lender will grant, decides whether a slow permit or a slow sale is a nuisance or a crisis.
What to get in writing: the fee per extension and what it is charged on, the length of each extension, how many are available, and the conditions — such as a current draw schedule or an updated valuation — that gate them.
For how the same scorecard reads in specific Florida metros, see the city guides for Tampa and Orlando; for other states, compare the Texas and Georgia versions. Broader market context sits on the Florida market page.
How do you get lenders competing for a Florida fix-and-flip loan?
You get lenders competing for a Florida fix-and-flip loan by sending one complete file — purchase contract, rehab budget, after-repair value support, insurance quotes and, for a condo, the building's inspection status — to a brokerage that puts it in front of several lender types at once, so every quote arrives on the same scorecard.
YieldStack is a commercial mortgage brokerage. Every credit decision is made by the lender; YieldStack arranges the introductions and negotiates on the borrower's side, and no loan, rate, or closing is guaranteed. The intake is a 5-minute submit, matched against 20,000+ loan programs, with a median offer in under an hour, from an institutional lender. It costs Zero upfront to submit a deal and review offers; YieldStack's broker fee is 0.50–1.00% of the loan amount and is paid only at closing. Submit your Florida flip for lender quotes.
The bottom line
Compare Florida hard money lenders on the full cost of the loan, not the rate. Score every quote on points and their base, interest accrual on undrawn funds, the advance against purchase and rehab, the after-repair-value cap, draw terms and extension pricing. Then add the Florida lines: 35 cents per $100 of mortgage documentary stamp tax and 2 mills of intangible tax on the loan, wind and flood insurance bound before funding, a recorded notice of commencement before the first draw, and, on condos, the building's milestone inspection status. The lowest rate on a quote does not, by itself, tell you which lender is cheapest.