Free tool · Miami-Dade & Broward
The most you can bid and still make money.
Work backwards from what the house is worth fixed, not forwards from what it looks cheap at. Then add the fees the county takes on top of your winning bid — which is where most first-time bidders get caught.
After-repair value: what this house sells for once the work is done. Comparable sales, not hope.
You cannot go inside before you bid, so estimate high. The roof and the seawall are the two that ruin deals here.
Your maximum bid
$268,500
Bid one dollar more than this and the deal stops working. Write it down before the sale and do not move it.
How that number is built
- Value once repaired
- $450,000
- Repairs
- − $60,000
- Holding, closing and selling costs
- − $54,000
- Your margin
- − $67,500
- Maximum bid
- $268,500
What you owe on top of the bid
These are not optional and they are not in the bid. The registry fee alone is about 1.5% of whatever you win at.
- Court registry fee
- $4,035
- Deed documentary stamps
- $1,611
- Recording the deed
- $19
- Fees on top
- $5,665
- Total cash to complete
- $274,165
Why work backwards
- Start at the end, not the beginning
- The only number that matters is what the house sells for repaired. Everything else is subtracted from it. Bidders who start from the opening bid and ask 'is this cheap?' are answering the wrong question.
- Estimate repairs high, because you cannot go inside
- No Florida auction property comes with an interior inspection. You are pricing from the outside, the permit history and the comparable sales. Assume the parts you cannot see are worse than the parts you can.
- Take your margin out before you bid, not after
- A margin you plan to find later is not a margin. Subtract it in the calculation so the maximum bid already contains it, and the number you write down is the number you stop at.
- Add the county's cut
- The registry fee, the deed tax and recording all land on top of the winning bid. On a $300,000 bid that is several thousand dollars, and the deed tax is not even the same in the two counties.
What this does not include
- Liens or judgments that survive the sale — a title search is the only way to know
- Unpaid property taxes and any code enforcement liens
- Condo or HOA dues the association can pursue you for
- The cost of getting an occupant out, which is a legal process and takes time
- Insurance, which you need from the day the title changes and is not cheap on the coast
Questions
Straight answers.
Still unsure? Ask us directly in the form above. A real person reads every one.
How much should I bid at a foreclosure auction?
Work backwards. Take what the house will sell for once repaired, subtract your repair estimate, subtract holding and selling costs, then subtract the profit you need for taking the risk. What remains is your ceiling. Then remember the county adds the registry fee, the deed tax and recording on top of whatever you win at — so the cash you need is more than your bid.
What is the 70% rule, and does it work in South Florida?
The rule of thumb is to bid no more than 70% of after-repair value minus repairs. It is a useful sanity check and a poor decision tool here, because it hides the two things that actually vary in Miami-Dade and Broward: insurance on the coast and the real condition of a house you were never allowed to enter. Use the full calculation and keep the rule as a second opinion.
What fees do I pay on top of the winning bid?
A court registry fee of 3% on the first $500 and 1.5% on each further $100 — roughly 1.5% of the whole bid. Documentary stamp tax on the deed, which is $0.70 per $100 in Broward but $0.60 in Miami-Dade, plus a $0.45 surtax there unless the property is a single-family home or one condo unit. And the recording fee. None of it is in your bid.
Does the deposit count towards the price?
Yes — the 5% deposit is applied to what you owe. What it does not do is cover the fees, and in Miami-Dade money sitting in your deposit account cannot be used for the final payment at all. Plan the balance as a separate transfer.
What if I win and cannot pay?
You lose the deposit and the sale is cancelled. In Miami-Dade a Certificate of Incomplete Sale issues and the deposit pays to re-advertise. Broward will bar you for two auction dates on the foreclosure side — and on a tax deed default, deactivate your bidding account for a year. Bid a ceiling you can actually fund.
Can I inspect the property before bidding?
No. There is no interior inspection at a Florida foreclosure auction and the occupant has no obligation to let you in. That is the whole reason repairs go in as an estimate rather than a quote, and why estimating high is not pessimism but arithmetic.
Talk to a person, not a portal
Want us to check your number?
Send us the address you are looking at. We will price the repairs from the outside, pull the title and tell you the ceiling we would set — before the sale, not after.
- Start at the end, not the beginning
- Estimate repairs high, because you cannot go inside
- Take your margin out before you bid, not after