The FHA Flip Rule in Florida: Buying a Recently Resold Home
The FHA flip rule Florida buyers hit blocks financing on homes resold within 90 days. Here is how it works and how to work around it.
Educational content only. This article is for informational purposes and does not constitute financial, legal, or lending advice. Loan programs, rates, and eligibility requirements change frequently. Consult a licensed mortgage professional before making any borrowing decision. Mortgage Capital | NMLS# 1859012 | Licensed in Florida.
The FHA flip rule restricts financing on a property that has changed hands recently.
It catches buyers who have found a renovated home and cannot understand why the loan will not fund. Our FHA page covers the programme.
The 90-day rule
FHA will not insure a loan on a property resold within 90 days of the seller acquiring it.
The clock runs from the date the seller took title to the date you sign the contract.
This is an absolute bar, not a documentation hurdle. No lender can waive it.
It exists to stop the property-flipping fraud that was common before the rule.
The 91 to 180 day window
Between 91 and 180 days, financing is possible with extra scrutiny.
If the resale price is more than 100% above what the seller paid, a second appraisal is required.
You cannot be charged for that second appraisal.
The lender may also require documentation of the improvements justifying the increase.
Why this matters in Florida
Florida has an active fix-and-flip market, particularly in South Florida and along the Treasure Coast.
A renovated home listed four months after purchase is a common situation, not an unusual one.
Buyers using FHA financing routinely discover the rule after making an offer.
Ask when the seller acquired the property before you write.
The exemptions
Properties acquired by inheritance.
Sales by government agencies, including HUD-owned homes.
Sales by nonprofits approved to purchase HUD-owned property.
Relocation company sales, and property acquired through a divorce or legal settlement.
How to work around it
Wait until day 91. If the property has been listed a while, the date may pass before closing anyway.
Use conventional financing instead, which has no equivalent rule.
Use a DSCR loan if you are buying as an investor rather than to occupy.
Some non-QM lenders have no flip restriction at all.
Checking the date
Property records are public in Florida and searchable through the county clerk or property appraiser.
Look for the most recent deed and its recording date.
Your agent can pull it in minutes, and the title company will confirm it.
Do this before the offer, not during underwriting.
What appraisers look at on a flip
Whether the improvements genuinely support the price increase.
Permit records for the work done, which is where many Florida flips fall down.
Unpermitted renovations are common and can stop the loan regardless of the flip rule.
Ask for permit history alongside the acquisition date.
If you are the seller
An investor reselling inside 90 days cuts out every FHA buyer, which is a large share of the market.
Holding to day 91 widens your buyer pool considerably.
Documenting improvements with permits and invoices smooths the 91 to 180 day window.
Both are worth planning into the project timeline.
Conventional has its own scrutiny
There is no conventional flip rule, but appraisers still examine rapid resales.
A large price increase without documented improvements draws questions.
Unpermitted work is the common failure, and it is common on Florida flips.
Ask for permits alongside the acquisition date whichever loan you use.
What this means for buyers
If you have found a renovated home, ask two questions before offering.
When did the seller acquire it, and were the improvements permitted?
Both are public record and take minutes to check.
Discovering either in underwriting costs you weeks and sometimes the house.
If you are financing an investment purchase
DSCR loans carry no flip restriction, which is why investors use them on quick resales.
Hard money has none either.
The restriction is specific to FHA and to owner-occupant financing.
A quick check before you offer
Pull the deed date from the county property appraiser. It takes minutes.
Ask the listing agent when the seller bought it.
If the two do not match, trust the record.
What happens if you find out late
Your financing contingency should protect your deposit.
Switching to conventional mid-file is possible but restarts parts of the process.
It usually adds two to three weeks, and the seller may not wait.
Why the rule exists
Before it, the same house could change hands three times in a month at rising prices.
Each sale used FHA financing, and the last buyer was left owing far more than the home was worth.
The 90-day bar ended that pattern.
It catches honest transactions too, which is the cost of a bright-line rule.
Renovated homes are not automatically flips
A seller who owned the property for two years and renovated it is unaffected.
The rule turns purely on the acquisition date, not on whether work was done.
So a genuine long-term owner selling a refreshed home poses no problem.
It is the rapid resale that triggers it.
The short version
Check the seller's acquisition date before you offer. Inside 90 days, FHA cannot fund it at all.
Conventional has no such rule, so ask us to price it instead.
Where to start
Check the seller's acquisition date before you make an offer.
If it is inside 90 days, ask us to price conventional on the same file.
HUD publishes the rule at hud.gov.
Start with a pre-approval.