Florida Home Loans

Florida has two financing problems that barely exist anywhere else, and both of them get discovered too late.

Insurance costs are among the highest in the country, and insurance is part of the payment underwriters use to qualify you — so a Florida buyer qualifies for meaningfully less house than the same income supports elsewhere.

Condos may not be financeable at all. Since the Surfside collapse, Florida law and the agencies that buy conventional loans have both tightened around building inspections and reserves. Plenty of Florida condo projects are currently ineligible for conventional financing regardless of how strong the buyer is.

Neither is a reason not to buy in Florida. Both are reasons to get specific answers before you write an offer instead of after.

Insurance is part of your qualifying payment

Most buyers think of homeowners insurance as a bill that arrives later. Underwriters do not. Your monthly housing payment — the number your debt-to-income ratio is measured against — includes principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and any HOA or condo dues.

In a state where premiums run several times the national average, that line does real damage to purchasing power. A Florida buyer and a Georgia buyer with identical income and identical credit will qualify for different loan amounts, and the difference is mostly insurance.

Three practical consequences:

Get a real insurance quote before you make an offer, not during underwriting. A quote that comes in high in week three can break the deal or force a renegotiation. On any coastal or older property, price it first.

Wind mitigation matters. Roof age, shape, attachment method, and opening protection drive Florida premiums heavily. A wind mitigation inspection can reduce a premium substantially, and a roof near the end of its life can make a property difficult to insure at any price — which makes it difficult to finance.

Flood insurance is separate, and the zone determines whether it is required. If the property sits in a Special Flood Hazard Area, your lender will require it. Check the flood zone early; it is another line in the same payment.

The condo question

This is where Florida transactions fail most often, and the reasons are structural rather than about the buyer.

Following Surfside, Florida imposed milestone structural inspections and structural integrity reserve studies on condo buildings, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac added project eligibility requirements addressing deferred maintenance, special assessments, and reserve funding. Projects that do not meet them cannot be financed with a conventional loan, and the agencies maintain lists of projects deemed ineligible.

What that means for a buyer:

The building is underwritten, not just you. A borrower with an 800 score and 30% down cannot buy into an ineligible project with a conventional loan. Your qualifications are irrelevant to the project's eligibility.

A project's status can change. A condo that financed cleanly last year may not this year, if an inspection produced findings or a reserve study revealed underfunding.

Special assessments are both a cost and an eligibility issue. A large assessment affects whether you can afford the unit and whether the project qualifies at all.

The practical step is simple and skipped constantly: have the project reviewed before you write an offer. We can check project eligibility up front. Finding out in week four that the building is ineligible costs you the deal, the deposit timeline, and often the property.

If a project is not conventionally financeable, options still exist — FHA and VA maintain their own approved condo lists with different criteria, and portfolio lenders underwrite some non-warrantable projects directly. Those are real paths, and they are a different conversation than a standard condo purchase.

Confirm current agency condo eligibility thresholds against your lender's published guidelines before quoting specifics. These requirements have been revised repeatedly since 2021 and continue to change.

Loan limits and programs

Most Florida counties sit at or near the $832,750 baseline for a one-unit property in 2026, with some South Florida counties higher. Verify your county before assuming a jumbo is necessary.

All our programs are available in Florida — conventional, FHA, VA, USDA (more of Florida is eligible than people expect, particularly inland), jumbo, and refinance.

Florida also has a large veteran population, and VA loans carry no monthly mortgage insurance — which matters more here than elsewhere, because it leaves room in the payment for the insurance premium.

Get the two answers first

Before you fall in love with a property: what will insurance actually cost, and if it is a condo, is the project financeable. We can get both answered in a day.

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FAQ

Why does Florida homeowners insurance affect my mortgage approval? Because insurance is part of the monthly housing payment used to calculate your debt-to-income ratio. Higher premiums mean a smaller loan amount for the same income. In Florida that effect is large enough to change what you can buy.

Can I get a mortgage on any Florida condo? No. Conventional financing requires the project itself to meet agency eligibility requirements covering inspections, reserves, and deferred maintenance. Some Florida projects do not qualify regardless of the buyer's strength. Have the project reviewed before making an offer.

What is a non-warrantable condo? A project that does not meet Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac eligibility standards. It can still sometimes be financed through FHA or VA approval, or through a portfolio lender that keeps the loan, but the terms differ.

Does a wind mitigation inspection actually lower my premium? Often substantially. Roof age, shape, attachment, and opening protection are major Florida rating factors, and documenting them can reduce the premium meaningfully.

Do I need flood insurance in Florida? If the property is in a Special Flood Hazard Area, your lender will require it. Outside those zones it is optional but often worth carrying. Check the flood zone before you offer — it is another line in the qualifying payment.