What Do I Need to Refinance My Home in Florida?
What do I need to refinance my home Florida owners ask. Here is the full document list, the equity and credit requirements, and what slows files down.
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.
What do I need to refinance my home Florida owners want to know before they start. The list is shorter than a purchase, and one item matters more here than anywhere else.
That item is your insurance declaration page. Our refinance hub covers the loan options.
Income documents
Two years of W-2s or tax returns, and thirty days of recent pay stubs.
Self-employed owners need two years of returns, both personal and business.
Retirees need award letters for social security or pension income, plus recent statements.
Streamline refinances often skip income entirely, which is their main advantage.
Asset documents
Two months of statements for accounts you will use for closing costs or reserves.
All pages, including blank ones. Underwriters check the page count.
Retirement and brokerage statements if you are relying on them for reserves.
Large recent deposits need a written explanation and a paper trail.
Property documents
Your current mortgage statement and a payoff quote from the servicer.
Your homeowners insurance declaration page, current and paid.
The most recent property tax bill.
For a condo, the association's contact details and often its financials.
How much equity you need
Rate-and-term conventional generally wants 3% to 5% equity, sometimes less.
Cash-out conventional caps at 80% loan-to-value on a primary residence.
VA cash-out reaches higher, up to 100% by VA rule.
Streamlines often need no appraisal at all, so equity is not tested. Check yours on the LTV calculator.
Credit requirements
Conventional generally starts at 620, with better pricing above 680.
FHA and VA streamlines often skip the credit review entirely.
Cash-out pricing is more credit-sensitive than rate-and-term.
See our credit score hub for what each band reaches.
The Florida item that decides most files
Insurance. Premiums have risen enough that some owners now fail debt-to-income on a refinance they would have cleared in 2022.
Get a current quote and your declaration page before you apply, not during underwriting.
If your policy is mid-renewal, the file waits.
This is the single most common late surprise in a Florida refinance.
What condo owners need extra
Association financials, the reserve study and milestone inspection status.
Confirmation of any levied or pending special assessment.
The master insurance policy declaration.
Associations have statutory time to respond, so request these the day you apply.
What slows files down
Missing pages from bank statements, which is the most common single cause.
Unexplained deposits.
Insurance documents arriving late.
Appraisal scheduling in busy periods, and association paperwork on condos.
What it costs
Lender fees, appraisal, title work and recording.
Florida documentary stamp tax on the new note and intangible tax on the mortgage.
On a $350,000 refinance those two state taxes alone run roughly $1,900.
Add them to your break-even before deciding. Run it on the refinance calculator.
If you are self-employed
Two years of personal and business returns, plus a year-to-date profit and loss in some cases.
A CPA letter or business licence confirming the business exists and your ownership share.
If your returns understate real income, a bank statement loan may qualify you for more.
Bring twenty-four months of statements so we can run both.
For investment property
Leases for each unit and proof of the security deposits.
A rent roll if you own several properties.
Expect a lower loan-to-value ceiling and reserves on top.
A DSCR refinance skips the income documentation entirely.
A realistic timeline
Thirty to forty-five days on a standard refinance.
Two to three weeks on an FHA or VA streamline with no appraisal.
Longer on condos and non-QM files.
Returning document requests the same day is the single biggest thing you control.
Documents that expire
Bank statements are good for about 45 to 60 days.
Pay stubs last 30. Credit reports last 90 to 120.
A file that drags will need refreshed documents, which restarts small parts of the process.
That is another argument for returning requests quickly.
If you were declined before
A decline usually turns on one variable, not the whole file.
A thin appraisal, an insurance premium or a single debt can each do it.
Ask for the reason in writing, address that one thing, and reapply.
We shop a panel, so a file one lender declines often places elsewhere.
The three that matter most
Your current mortgage statement, a payoff quote and your insurance declaration page.
Those three answer whether a refinance makes sense before anything else is gathered.
Send them first and the rest can follow.
A checklist to work from
Mortgage statement, payoff quote, insurance declaration page.
Two years of W-2s or returns, thirty days of pay stubs.
Two months of full bank statements for every account you will use.
Most recent property tax bill, and association details if you own a condo.
Start here
Send the three documents above and we will tell you within a day whether the numbers work.
If they do not, we will say so rather than write the loan.
Where to start
Send the mortgage statement, payoff quote and insurance declaration page first.
Those three tell us within a day whether the refinance clears its own costs.
The CFPB guide to refinancing covers the disclosures you should receive.
Start with a pre-approval.