The Florida records that decide what a home really costs and what the seller has to tell you: disclosure law, property-tax reset, the official registry, and the FEMA flood map — sourced, with the county offices that hold the files.
Check the records behind the address before you offer.
Check any address — free previewThe legal standard: Seller must disclose facts known to the seller that materially affect the property's value, are not readily observable, and are not known to the buyer; since October 1, 2024, section 689.302 also requires a written flood disclosure at or before the sales contract is executed.
There is no state-mandated general disclosure form, and the REALTORS form in circulation is voluntary, so press for answers about known hidden defects. You must, however, receive a separate statutory flood disclosure at or before signing the contract, covering flood damage during the seller's ownership, flood insurance claims and flood assistance received.
Sources: empowertransactions.com · infinityrealtygroup.com · recordinglaw.com · offender.fdle.state.fl.us
A sale resets the assessment to full market value, so your bill will usually be far higher than a long-term seller's Save Our Homes-capped bill. After you file homestead, your own assessed value is capped at 3 percent or the change in CPI, whichever is lower, each year.
Homestead: A permanent primary residence may claim a homestead exemption of $25,000 of assessed value for all levies plus an additional exemption (up to $25,000, inflation-adjusted, $26,411 for 2026) on value above $50,000 for non-school levies, filed by March 1; homestead status also activates the Save Our Homes cap.
Florida Sexual Offender and Predator Search is run by Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). Search it by the home's address before you offer — and search again before closing, because registry data changes as people move.
Open the official Florida registry
You can also search every state at once through the federal National Sex Offender Public Website (NSOPW). A CurbFacts report shows the registry count for the home's ZIP — the same public data, organized for the decision.
The only flood map that decides a lender's insurance requirement is FEMA's — the National Flood Hazard Layer behind the official FEMA flood map viewer. Listing sites license private models that can and do disagree with it; when they conflict, the FEMA map is the one your lender and insurer use.
Check the exact parcel, not the ZIP code: flood-zone boundaries cut through streets, and two houses side by side can sit in different zones.
The seller's accumulated Save Our Homes cap (3 percent or CPI, whichever is lower) resets on sale and the new owner is assessed at full market value; up to $500,000 of benefit is portable only to the same owner's new Florida homestead, not to an unrelated buyer.
Section 689.302, effective for contracts on or after October 1, 2024 and amended effective October 1, 2025, requires the flood disclosure at or before contract execution and now asks about any flooding the seller knows damaged the property during ownership, even without an insurance claim.
What the Florida disclosure does and does not cover, section by section, and the questions it never answers.
Read the guideHow to run an address through the official Florida registry, and how to read what comes back.
Read the guideRecords live at the county level — assessor, recorder, permits. Pick the county for its records checklist.
Sourced registry counts and FBI-reported county crime for 927 ZIP codes in Florida — the registry figure is each ZIP’s own; the crime record is its county’s, labeled as such. Every figure dated.
Every CurbFacts report pulls the public records behind an address — flood determination, registry, tax reset, price history, permits, and what's planned nearby — and shows its sources.
Check any address — free preview