Sellers · Jacksonville · St. Johns County · the Beaches
Selling a home in Jacksonville and Northeast Florida
A real price built from real comparable sales, an honest account of what selling costs here, and no pressure to list before you have the numbers in front of you.
Pricing
What your home is worth, and what a website thinks it is worth
An online estimate is a statistical guess built from public records. It has never been inside your house. It does not know about the new roof, the drainage on your lot, the difference between your kitchen and the identical floor plan two streets over, or that the comparable it used backs onto a road.
A comparative market analysis is different work. It starts from closed sales of genuinely similar homes nearby, adjusts for the differences that a buyer would actually pay for, and shows you the comparables so you can follow the reasoning rather than take a number on faith. Omer prepares it by hand. It is free, and it does not commit you to listing.
Pricing correctly at the start matters more here than most sellers expect. A home priced above what the evidence supports collects showings without offers, then sits, and the eventual sale price is frequently lower than a realistic asking price would have produced. There is also the appraisal to consider: if a buyer needs a mortgage, the lender's appraiser has to support the contract price.
No fee, no obligation, and no listing presentation you did not ask for. Request a comparative market analysis.
The process
How a sale actually goes
A walk through the house
What you have, what condition it is in, and what you are trying to achieve — including your timing, which changes the strategy more than anything else.
The comparative market analysis
Recent closed sales nearby, adjusted, with the comparables shown. You see the evidence, not just the conclusion.
Deciding the price together
It is your decision. Omer’s job is to make sure it is an informed one, and to say so plainly if the number you want is not supported by the sales.
Preparation and photography
What genuinely earns its cost back, and what does not. Photographs are the first showing for almost every buyer.
On realMLS
Listed on the Northeast Florida MLS, from which it syndicates to the public portals buyers actually use.
Showings and feedback
Scheduled around you, and reported back honestly — including when the feedback is about the price.
Offers
Reviewed on more than the headline number: financing type, deposit, inspection and financing periods, closing date, and what the buyer is asking you to contribute.
Inspection and appraisal
The two points where a contract most often wobbles. What is worth conceding, what is not, and what your alternatives are.
Closing
Title work, payoff, prorations and the estoppel from the association. You sign, the deed records, funds are disbursed.
Costs
What selling actually costs in Florida
Real estate compensation
Negotiable, and agreed in writing before the home is listed. Since August 2024 compensation is no longer advertised in the MLS, so what — if anything — you contribute toward a buyer’s agent is a decision you make deliberately, in the listing agreement and again when you review each offer. No figure is published here because there is no standard one.
Documentary stamp tax on the deed
The Florida Department of Revenue sets this at $0.70 per $100 of consideration everywhere except Miami-Dade. The department notes the tax is “payable by any of the parties to a taxable transaction”; in most of Florida the seller customarily pays it, but it is negotiable and is settled in the contract.
Title and closing charges
Title search, the owner’s title insurance policy, closing fees and recording. Which side customarily pays for the owner’s policy varies by county in Florida and is negotiable in the contract, so it is one of the first things to establish rather than assume.
Prorations, HOA and repairs
Property taxes are prorated to the closing date. If there is an association, it charges for an estoppel certificate — Florida law caps what it may charge. Then there is whatever you agree to after the buyer’s inspection, in repairs or a credit. That last one is the least predictable item on the list and the reason condition is worth discussing before listing.
Disclosure
What you have to tell a buyer
Florida requires a seller to disclose known facts that materially affect the value of the property and are not readily observable by a buyer. This is not a formality, and it is not something to be clever about.
In practice it covers the things a buyer cannot see on a walkthrough: past leaks and the repairs that followed, roof or structural work, drainage or flooding history, sinkhole activity, and any work done without a permit. If you are unsure whether something rises to that level, the safe answer is almost always to disclose it.
Disclosing early is also cheaper. A known issue on the table before an offer is a negotiation. The same issue discovered by the buyer’s inspector is a renegotiation from a weaker position, and one that surfaces after closing can be considerably worse than either. Omer is a real estate agent, not an attorney — where a disclosure question is genuinely a legal one, he will say so and you should ask a Florida real estate attorney.
Selling from a distance
If you no longer live in the house
Inherited property, a former home you rented out, a move that already happened — plenty of sellers in this market are not in Florida. Documents can generally be signed electronically or by mail-away closing, and a power of attorney is possible where the title company and lender accept one.
Two things to raise early rather than late. If the property is tenant-occupied, the lease travels with the sale and shapes both the showing schedule and the pool of buyers. And if the seller is a foreign person for US tax purposes, federal FIRPTA rules require the buyer to withhold on the transaction unless an exception applies — a question for your tax adviser and the closing agent, raised weeks before closing, not at it.
All of this can be handled in Ukrainian or Russian if that is easier. See the Russian and Ukrainian page.
Selling in Northeast Florida — common questions
What is my house worth right now?
Nobody can answer that from the address alone, and any agent who does is guessing. The honest answer comes from a comparative market analysis: recent closed sales of genuinely similar homes nearby, adjusted for the differences, with the comparables shown to you so you can see the reasoning. Omer prepares it by hand and it costs nothing.
Why is the online estimate different from your number?
Automated estimates are built from public records and past patterns. They cannot see that your roof was replaced last year, that the house backs onto a retention pond, or that the identical floor plan two streets over sold with a fully finished lanai. They are a starting point for curiosity, not a basis for pricing a sale.
What does it cost to sell a house in Florida?
The main items are the agreed real estate compensation, documentary stamp tax on the deed, title and closing charges, prorated property taxes, any HOA or condo estoppel fee, and whatever you agree to after the buyer's inspection. Compensation is negotiable and set in writing. Who pays which closing item is customary and negotiable too, so it is agreed in the contract rather than assumed.
What do I legally have to tell a buyer?
Florida requires a seller to disclose known facts that materially affect the value of the property and are not readily observable by the buyer. In practice that means past leaks, roof or structural repairs, drainage or flooding history, sinkhole activity, and work done without permits. Disclosing is protective: undisclosed problems that surface later are far more expensive than ones handled up front. Omer is not an attorney and will tell you when a question belongs with one.
Should I make repairs before listing?
Some, not all. Cleaning, decluttering, paint and anything that shows up in photographs generally earn their cost back. Large discretionary projects usually do not. What matters most in this market is the condition of the roof and the age of the systems, because they affect whether a buyer can insure the house at a normal premium. That gets discussed before the sign goes up.
Can I sell if I no longer live in Florida?
Yes. Documents can generally be signed electronically or by mail-away closing, and a power of attorney is possible where the title company and lender accept one. If the seller is a foreign person for US tax purposes, federal FIRPTA rules require the buyer to withhold on the sale unless an exception applies — that is a question for your tax adviser and the closing agent, and it should be raised early rather than at the closing table.