An overview of how to prepare ahead for a smooth home sale experience.

Most Florida sales run on one of two standard forms written jointly by Florida Realtors and the Florida Bar — the FAR/BAR contracts. Which one you use changes your obligations dramatically.

The As-Is version releases you from any duty to make repairs. The buyer still gets to inspect, but the inspection informs their decision to move forward or walk — not a repair list. If they find something they don't like, they accept the house or cancel and get their earnest money back. The form generally gives you broader protection against later claims about condition.

The Standard contract carries a trap for sellers who don't read closely. Under it, the buyer's inspection sets off specific repair obligations, and the dangerous part lives in Section 9(a). That section has blanks where you negotiate how much you'll cover in each category — and if those blanks get left empty, the contract defaults to obligating you to spend a set percentage of the purchase price on general repairs, a separate amount on termite treatment, and another on closing out open or expired permits.

Those amounts add up fast — easily into five figures just to keep the contract alive. For nearly every seller, As-Is is the better choice: it clears away the automatic obligations and lets any repairs be handled through voluntary, balanced negotiation instead.

Selling As-Is does not let you off the hook. You're still legally required to tell buyers about any known material defects that hurt value and aren't something a buyer would readily notice. That includes lead-based paint in homes built before 1978, renovations done without permits, and the home's flood history — whether flooding damaged the property while you owned it, whether you've ever filed a flood insurance claim, and whether you've received federal flood assistance from an agency like FEMA. If the home sits seaward of the Coastal Construction Control Line, disclose erosion risk and the federal and local rules that limit future building there.

Buyers often go hunting for "No CDD" neighborhoods convinced they'll save a fortune, and your job as the seller is to reframe that before it becomes a discount they demand. A community without a CDD had to pay for all the same infrastructure — that cost is just buried in much higher HOA dues that keep climbing and don't carry the oversight that applies to municipal CDD bonds. Disclose the CDD assessment and explain it in that context, and you take away the buyer's ability to use it as a reason to hammer your price down.

If you're moving somewhere else in Florida, the Save Our Homes benefit can follow you. The cap limits how much the assessed value of your homesteaded property can rise each year, so over time a sizable gap builds up between what your home is worth and the lower value you've been taxed on. When you sell, you can port that accumulated benefit to your next primary residence, up to a state cap. File the portability transfer application with your new homestead exemption by the county's annual deadline, and use it within the limited number of tax years allowed. Knowing you're carrying forward a large block of sheltered value changes how you negotiate — a seller whose long-term tax position is that strong has room to accept a slightly lower price from a well-qualified buyer and still come out well ahead.

A high price stapled to shaky financing or a pile of contingencies is the kind of offer that falls apart halfway through escrow. Weigh the overall strength of the deal and how likely it is to actually close. A large down payment signals real financial footing, and a buyer with substantial equity can absorb a low appraisal without forcing you to drop the price. The earnest money deposit is just as telling — it's what the buyer forfeits if they walk without a valid reason. A high offer price with a thin earnest money deposit often points to a buyer planning to renegotiate hard during inspections while risking very little of their own cash.

A pre-qualification letter is close to meaningless — an estimate based on what the buyer told a loan officer without anything verified. A pre-approval is a real step up, because the loan officer has collected and checked actual documents. Be careful with demands for a full Desktop Underwriter approval: a full file exposes an enormous amount of the buyer's private financial information and a careless or unscrupulous loan officer can feed unverified figures in to force an approval. Favor a buyer pre-approved by a reputable local lender. An income figure rounded suspiciously to a clean round number is a sign the numbers behind it may not have been verified.

A low offer can feel like an insult, and the worst thing you can do is treat it like one. The fact that a buyer put an offer in writing means they want the house. Set the number aside and study the rest of the terms — all-cash, no appraisal contingency, a closing timeline that fits your move, openness to a leaseback. If the structural terms are strong, counter clinically: bring the price back toward fair market value while keeping the parts of their offer that help you, or drop your list price slightly while stripping out every concession they asked for. Either way you keep the buyer engaged.

You generally have three responses. You can make the repairs yourself — hire licensed contractors, fix the issues before closing, show the buyer proof of the work. You can reduce the purchase price by roughly what the repairs would cost. Or you can give the buyer a credit at closing, moving that money from your side of the settlement to theirs.

A repair credit is the cleanest of the three. Agreeing to do repairs yourself means lining up contractors, absorbing scheduling delays, and spending cash out of pocket in the very weeks you're trying to pack and move. Even when the work is done well, the buyer might dislike the finish or the materials you chose, which turns into a fresh argument right before closing. A credit hands all of that off — the buyer gets the money at the closing table and takes care of the repairs on their own schedule.

The largest single cost is almost always the real estate commission, a negotiated percentage of the sale price split between the listing and buying sides per your listing agreement. The state also charges a documentary stamp tax on the deed, calculated as a set rate on the sale price. On top of that you'll cover the payoff on your existing mortgage, small recording fees, and property taxes prorated for the part of the year you owned the home.

The most misunderstood closing cost. The owner's title policy protects the buyer's new ownership against problems that predate their purchase — forgery, clerical errors, undisclosed liens. In Florida the state sets the premium rates, so the core cost isn't shoppable; only the smaller settlement and escrow fees the title agency charges are negotiable.

If you're selling in Jacksonville or St. Augustine, custom puts the owner's title policy on you. Because it's only custom and not law, it's fully negotiable — in a seller's market or with competing offers, you can push for the buyer to cover the policy and add a meaningful amount back to your bottom line.

To buy your next place without a sale contingency hanging over it, many sellers tap the equity in their current home ahead of time — through a short-term bridge loan or a home equity line of credit. A bridge loan pulls cash out of the equity that's otherwise locked in your unsold house, giving you liquid funds for an unconditional offer. That flexibility costs money: meaningfully higher interest than a standard mortgage, origination fees up front, and a real monthly carrying cost while you hold it. Plenty of sellers decide that's a fair trade to skip the sale contingency and avoid moving twice.

A post-closing occupancy agreement (seller leaseback) lets you close on the home, collect your proceeds, and stay on as a temporary tenant for a negotiated stretch — usually a month or two — paying the buyer a prorated daily rent. It's convenient, but it puts the buyer in a real bind if anything goes sideways: if a seller won't leave when the term is up, the buyer can't just change the locks; they have to go through a slow, expensive eviction. Federal consumer-protection rules scrutinize these arrangements to head off predatory situations, so the buyer and title company will almost always require an escrow holdback released only once you've moved out on the agreed date and left the home in the condition the agreement spelled out.

The leaking isn't really the issue — insurability is. If the buyer's lender can't confirm the home can be insured, they won't fund the loan and the deal collapses, even on a roof that's never given anyone a problem. The smartest move is to order a roof inspection before you list, because handing buyers a clean, certified report removes the fear and stops them from using the roof's age as a reason to lowball you.

For almost every sale, As-Is is the safer choice. People sometimes assume "As-Is" signals a run-down house, when really it's just a standard legal form that protects you. The buyer can inspect everything and cancel without penalty if they don't like what they find, but you're under no obligation to fix anything or hand over credits. The Standard contract contains repair limits that, if not carefully negotiated and struck, default to making you cover a set percentage of the price on general repairs, plus separate amounts on termite treatment and closing out old permits.

Never ignore a written offer, however far off the number feels. A low offer still proves a specific buyer wants your home enough to put it in writing. Set the price aside for a moment and look hard at the rest of the terms — cash down payment, waived appraisal, closing date that fits your relocation. Counter right away, either bringing the price back to a number you can live with while agreeing to their timeline, or dropping your price a little while stripping out the concessions they asked for. Countering keeps the buyer in the conversation.

Yes, through a post-closing occupancy agreement (the seller leaseback). In a competitive market, eager buyers will often agree to let you stay a month or two after closing to make their offer more appealing — letting you collect proceeds and buy your next home unconditionally without the strain of a double move. The buyer and title company will want a formal addendum, you'll usually pay a prorated daily rent based on the buyer's carrying costs, and the title company will hold a portion of your proceeds in escrow until you've moved out on the agreed date.