We buy houses in Bay County, FL.

Florida delinquency runs on its own calendar. Real estate taxes become delinquent April 1, a three percent charge is added, the delinquent list is advertised, and the Tax Collector holds a tax certificate sale online on or before June 1. The county publishes the last day to pay ahead of that sale each spring. The Bay County Tax Collector quotes the payoff on your parcel, and that call costs nothing. None of this resembles Mississippi's August sale.

Bidding starts at a statutory eighteen percent maximum and is bid down, with the lowest rate taking the certificate. A certificate is a lien against the parcel, not a sale of it. Two years after April 1 of the year the certificate was issued, the holder may apply for a tax deed, and the Clerk of the Circuit Court sells the property at public auction. That auction, not the certificate sale, is the point where ownership can actually move.

Florida mortgage foreclosure is judicial. The lender files suit, you are served, and a judgment comes before any sale, so there is a court file with a number on it. Under Florida Statute 45.0315 the right of redemption ends when the clerk files the certificate of sale, or at the time the judgment sets. There is no post-sale redemption period in Florida. Alabama's one year rule belongs to Alabama and does not apply to a Bay County house.

There is one Florida rule this county needs more than any other. Under Florida Statute 193.155(4), work replacing homestead property damaged or destroyed by misfortune or calamity does not increase the homestead's assessed value where the rebuilt square footage stays within 130 percent of what was there before, or 2,000 square feet, whichever is greater,, or where the total stays under 1,500 square feet. Anything beyond that is added at just value, and the provision covers work commenced within five years after the January 1 following the damage.

An open claim, a contractor's lien, or permits pulled and never closed will surface in the title work whether or not anyone mentions them, so it is better to say them out loud at the start. Florida closings go through a Florida title company or closing attorney, not our Mississippi attorney. The closing agent orders the payoffs, settles recorded liens from the proceeds, and clears title before you are paid. We do not give legal or tax advice on any of it, in any state.