Fix and flip lending in Florida works the way it works everywhere — the loan sizes against after-repair value, rehab funds through inspected draws, and the exit is a sale. What differs is the carry: insuring a property mid-renovation costs more here, and a hurricane-season delay does not pause the interest clock.
This guide covers who lends, how the loan is sized, a fully worked deal, and the two Florida-specific costs that decide whether the margin survives.
Who lends on fix and flip projects in Florida?
Florida fix and flip loans come from private lenders, debt funds, and specialty hard-money shops rather than banks. They size against after-repair value — commonly up to 70% of ARV — or against total cost, typically 85% of purchase plus 100% of rehab, whichever produces the smaller loan. Terms run 6-18 months, interest-only, with 1-2 points in.
Banks largely do not play here, because the collateral is a construction site for most of the loan term and the exit is a sale rather than stabilized income. That is why pricing sits well above conventional: you are paying for speed, leverage against a value that does not yet exist, and a lender willing to fund a half-finished house.
What a Florida fix and flip lender examines: the ARV and the comparables supporting it, the scope of work and its budget, your track record of completed flips, liquidity for the equity and carry, and — increasingly — whether the property is insurable during construction at a price that does not eat the margin.
How is a Florida fix and flip loan sized?
On the lower of an ARV percentage and a cost percentage. A lender offering "70% ARV / 85% purchase plus 100% rehab" is offering both tests, and the binding one is whichever produces the smaller number.
A worked Florida deal, every line shown:
| Line | Amount | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase price | $340,000 | |
| Rehab budget | $85,000 | |
| Total cost | $425,000 | |
| After-repair value | $525,000 | supported by comps |
| Loan at 70% of ARV | $367,500 | binding test |
| Loan at 85% purchase + 100% rehab | $374,000 | not binding |
| Loan amount | $367,500 | |
| Sponsor equity | $57,500 | cost less loan |
Note which test bound. At 85% of purchase plus full rehab the lender would have gone to $374,000; the ARV test capped it $6,500 lower. When the ARV test is the binding one, a $1 change in the appraiser's number moves proceeds by $0.70 and your required equity by $0.30 — not dollar for dollar. Once the cost cap binds instead, ARV movement changes nothing at all.
What does a Florida flip actually cost to carry?
Interest, points, taxes, insurance and selling costs — and on a nine-month hold they total well over $60,000 on the deal above. The mistake that ends flips is modelling purchase and rehab, then treating everything else as rounding.
Carrying the same deal nine months, with the loan averaging roughly 75% drawn at 10.5%:
| Cost | Amount |
|---|---|
| Interest (avg 75% of $367,500, 10.5%, 9 months) | $21,705 |
| Points (2% of loan) | $7,350 |
| Property taxes (9 months) | $3,975 |
| Insurance — builder's risk (9 months) | $3,150 |
| Selling costs (6% of $525,000) | $31,500 |
| Total carry and transaction costs | $67,680 |
| Total cost including purchase and rehab | $492,680 |
| Profit at a $525,000 sale | $32,320 |
| Carry funded by the sponsor (interest, points, taxes, insurance) | $36,180 |
| Total cash invested | $93,680 |
| Return on invested cash, 9 months | 34.5% |
A 34.5% return on invested cash over nine months is a good outcome. Note the denominator: the $57,500 due at closing is not the whole cheque — the sponsor also funds nine months of interest, the points and the carry, so the money genuinely at risk is $93,680. Quoting a return on the closing equity alone overstates it by more than twenty points. and note how thin the cushion is: the entire profit is $32,320 against $67,680 of carry. A three-month delay adds roughly $7,200 of interest and $2,400 of taxes and insurance, taking about 30% of the profit with it.
What makes Florida different — insurance and hurricane season
Builder's risk insurance costs more here and is harder to place on a vacant property mid-renovation. A standard homeowner's policy generally will not cover a vacant house undergoing structural work; you need a builder's risk or vacant-property policy, and in coastal Florida that pricing reflects wind exposure. It is a carry cost, and on a nine-month hold it is real money.
Hurricane season runs June through November, and it moves draw schedules. Inspections get delayed, materials and trades get diverted after a storm, and a roof that cannot be dried in on schedule stops the next draw. The interest clock does not stop with it. If your project spans that window, build float into the schedule rather than the budget — an extra month of time costs less to plan for than to absorb.
Two smaller Florida items worth checking before you bid: permit timelines vary widely by county and can add weeks that never appear in a national rehab estimate, and older condo and multifamily stock now carries milestone-inspection and reserve obligations that change what a buyer inherits.
How do you get competing fix and flip quotes?
Fix and flip appetite moves quickly and is not published — a lender funding Florida rehabs last quarter may be full this quarter, or may have moved its minimum ARV. Matching a packaged deal against current program criteria surfaces that in one pass rather than one call at a time.
YieldStack is a commercial mortgage broker and financing marketplace — not a lender. One submission is pre-screened for bankability and matched at the program level against 5,000+ loan programs, including fix and flip, bridge and renovation structures. Competing terms come back side by side, the median time to a first lender offer is under an hour, and there is $0 upfront with a 0.50-1.00% success fee only when the loan closes. Every credit decision is made by the participating lender.
The bottom line
Florida fix and flip loans size on the lower of roughly 70% of ARV and 85% of purchase plus rehab, run 6-18 months interest-only, and cost 1-2 points in. Model builder's risk insurance and a hurricane-season delay as line items, not as optimism — on a $525,000 ARV deal, carry is $67,680 against $32,320 of profit.
Submit your Florida flip at YieldStack. $0 upfront — 0.50-1.00% at closing only.