Broward County
Broward, from the courthouse to the closing.
Every city from Hallandale Beach to Coral Springs, four ways to work with us, and 5+ years at the Broward auctions — where the tax deed sale is a different office, a different website and a different deadline from the foreclosure sale.
How a Broward auction actually runs
Broward is not Miami-Dade with different street names — but the difference is not where people think. The 5% deposit is Florida law and identical in both counties. What actually changes here is the tax deed sale.
- Tax deeds are a different office and a different website
- Foreclosure sales run through the Clerk. Tax deed sales are run by the county's Records, Taxes and Treasury Division, on a separate platform, with its own registration and its own deposit account. Two logins, not one. In Miami-Dade a single office runs both sales under one rule set — so if you have bid there, your habits do not transfer.
- The tax deed deposit is ACH only, and the cut-off is Thursday afternoon
- No wire, no cash at a counter. For tax deeds Broward wants an electronic check lodged by the Thursday afternoon deadline. Miss it and you are watching, not bidding — and unlike a foreclosure deposit you cannot fix it by turning up with a cashier's check.
- The tax deed balance is due at 11:00 AM, an hour earlier than you expect
- Foreclosure balances follow the usual midday clock. Broward's tax deed balance is due at 11:00 AM. It is a one-hour difference that has cost people the property and the deposit, because they planned around the number they knew.
- Default on a tax deed here and you are out for a year
- Failing to complete a tax deed purchase can deactivate the bidding account for a year — a materially heavier penalty than the equivalent foreclosure sanction. Bid the ceiling you can actually fund.
- The 5% deposit is not a Broward quirk
- The 5% is Florida statute and applies statewide. The day-before cut-off is not — the statute says "at the time of the sale", and each Clerk decides whether to demand the money in advance. Miami-Dade happens to land on the same 3:00 PM deadline, which is why the rule gets mistaken for a local quirk. And that deadline governs deposits made in person: a wire can take one to two business days to clear, so "the afternoon before" is dangerous advice if you are wiring.
- Canals, seawalls and newer stock
- A lot of Broward's waterfront sits on canals, and a seawall at the end of its life is a five-figure problem that appears in no listing photo. We check the seawall and the age of the roof before we set a ceiling.
Two offices, two rule sets: the Clerk runs foreclosure sales, Records, Taxes and Treasury runs tax deeds. Both change their procedures, so confirm the current deposit amounts and cut-offs with the relevant office before you bid — and call us if you would rather not do it alone.
What changes at County Line Road
Two counties, forty minutes apart, running the same statute in materially different ways. Most of what people repeat as local knowledge is actually Florida law and identical in both — so the rows marked 'same in both' matter as much as the ones that differ.
| Verified September 2026. | Miami-Dade | Broward |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs foreclosure sales | Clerk of the Court & Comptroller | Clerk of Courts, 17th Circuit |
| Who runs tax deed sales | The same Clerk, through its Tax Deed Unit | Records, Taxes & Treasury — a county division, not the Clerk |
| Auction platforms | One office and one rule set covering both sales | Two sites, two agencies — foreclosures and tax deeds are separate logins |
| Foreclosure sale time | 9:00 AM ET, Mon–Wed | 10:00 AM ET, Tue–Fri |
| Tax deed sale time | Thursdays, 2:00 PM ET | Roughly monthly, Mondays 9:00 AM ET |
| Foreclosure deposit | 5% of your anticipated high bid | 5% of your anticipated high bid |
| Deposit deadline | 3:00 PM ET the day before, in person or by wire | 3:00 PM ET the previous business day — and money orders are accepted here |
| Foreclosure balance due | 12:00 PM ET the next business day | 12:00 PM ET next business day, or whatever the judgment says |
| Tax deed deposit | $200 or 5%, whichever is greater — in person or by wire | $200 or 5% — ACH only, by 4:30 PM ET the Thursday before |
| Tax deed balance due | Within 24 hours | 11:00 AM ET the next business day |
| Deed documentary stamps | $0.60 per $100, plus a $0.45 surtax unless it is a single-family home or one condo unit | $0.70 per $100, flat, no surtax |
| Who takes the deed tax | The Clerk — one office takes everything | The Clerk takes the bid, the county takes the deed tax — two offices |
| Penalty for not paying | Barred for two auction dates; a Certificate of Incomplete Sale issues | Two auction dates for foreclosures — but a tax deed default deactivates the account for a year |
| In-person sales | Not offered | Still possible where the final judgment requires it |
| Court registry fee | 3% of the first $500, then 1.5% of each further $100 | 3% of the first $500, then 1.5% of each further $100 |
Sourced from the Miami-Dade Clerk, the Broward Clerk, Broward's Records, Taxes and Treasury Division, the auction platforms and Florida Statutes §§ 45.031, 45.035, 28.24 and 201.031. Procedure is set by each county and changes — confirm the current rules with the relevant office before you bid.
Areas we serve
Miami-Dade & Broward.
We work every city in Broward, including:
Broward16 cities
- Fort Lauderdale
- Hollywood
- Hallandale Beach
- Dania Beach
- Pompano Beach
- Lauderdale-by-the-Sea
- Lighthouse Point
- Deerfield Beach
- Wilton Manors
- Coral Springs
- Plantation
- Weston
- Davie
- Cooper City
- Pembroke Pines
- Miramar
Including Las Olas, Victoria Park, Rio Vista, Harbor Beach, Hollywood Lakes, Coral Ridge.
Questions
Straight answers.
Still unsure? Ask us directly in the form above. A real person reads every one.
What deposit do I need for a Broward foreclosure auction?
Five percent of your anticipated high bid, with in-person deposits due by 3:00 PM the day before. The 5% is Florida statute; the deadline is the Clerk’s own choice, and Miami-Dade happens to use the same one — so the deposit is not where the two counties differ. If you are wiring rather than paying at the counter, start one to two business days earlier, because the funds must clear before you can bid. The tax deed sale is: it runs through a different office, on a different website, and takes an electronic check rather than a wire or a cashier's check. Confirm the current amounts and cut-offs before each sale.
Can I inspect a Broward auction property first?
No. There is no interior inspection and the occupant does not have to let you in. We price the likely repairs from the exterior, the permit history and comparable sales, then set a maximum bid that survives being wrong.
Who runs tax deed sales in Broward?
The county's Records, Taxes and Treasury Division — not the Clerk, who runs the mortgage foreclosure sales, and not the Tax Collector, which is the office people usually guess. It is a separate platform with its own registration, its own deposit account and an earlier balance deadline. The two sales are frequently confused and carry different title risk, so we tell you which process a property is in before you commit money.
Is a canal-front Broward house a bad auction buy?
Not inherently — but the seawall is the thing to look at. A seawall near the end of its life is a large, unavoidable cost that appears in no photograph, and it is one of the most common ways a Broward auction 'bargain' stops being one. We check it before setting a ceiling.
Which Broward cities do you cover?
All of them. Most of our work runs through Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pompano Beach and Hallandale Beach along the coast, and inland through Plantation, Davie, Weston, Coral Springs, Pembroke Pines and Miramar.
How is Broward different from Miami-Dade for a buyer?
Not in the way most people say. The 5% deposit and the day-before cut-off are identical, because they are statute. What genuinely differs is the tax deed sale — Broward runs it through Records, Taxes and Treasury on its own website with an electronic-check deposit and an 11:00 AM balance deadline, while Miami-Dade runs both sales on one platform through the Clerk. Broward also pays Florida's standard documentary stamp rate, where Miami-Dade is the one county in the state with a different one. Physically, Broward brings more canal frontage and seawalls; Miami-Dade brings bay and beach flood zones and older condo stock.
Talk to a person, not a portal
Working in Broward? Start with a real number.
Tell us what you are trying to do in this county and a person who works it every day will come back to you.
- Bid at the county auction
- Sell a Broward home
- Buy in Broward