What Paperwork Should You Gather Before Selling a Home on Fort Myers Beach?

Start with six things: the home's permit record, its elevation certificate, your current flood and homeowners insurance policies, your records of storm damage and repairs, any substantial damage letter from after the storms, and the written flood disclosure Florida now requires from sellers. Add the association's document package if you are selling a condo, and your rental records if the home has been rented. With that folder ready before the first showing, you can answer the questions buyers on the island ask first, and the contract is far less likely to stall during the inspection period.

I am Kris Asquith, Broker Associate at Premiere Plus Realty, and I work with buyers and sellers on Fort Myers Beach and in eight other Southwest Florida markets. On a barrier island that has been through Hurricane Ian and the 2024 storms, the paperwork behind a home often decides how smoothly it sells, so this is where I start with every seller here.

Because almost every buyer looking on the island knows what the storms did to it. Before they fall for the view, they want to know what happened to this particular home, what was repaired, whether the work was permitted and inspected, whether the home meets today's flood rules, and what insurance will cost them. Their lender, their insurance agent, their inspector and their title company each need part of that answer too.

A seller who can hand over a document for each question, rather than a memory, saves days at every step. A seller who cannot will usually see the same questions come back as inspection requests, insurance delays or a lower offer.

Ask the Town of Fort Myers Beach for the full permit history on your address and read it before a buyer does. Some homes with a Fort Myers Beach mailing address sit across the bridge on the mainland, outside Town limits, and for those the record is held by Lee County instead. Either way, look for three things.

• Open or expired permits. A permit that was opened and never closed with a final inspection is one of the most common problems a buyer's permit search finds. Closing one out takes time, so find it before you choose a list date.
• Storm repair permits and their final inspections. Drywall, electrical, air conditioning, roofing, windows and doors replaced after a storm usually needed permits. The finals are what show a buyer the work was done and checked.
• Work on the dock, seawall or lift. If you rebuilt any of it, keep those permits and any contractor warranties with the rest. My article on rebuilding a dock or seawall on Fort Myers Beach explains which approvals that work involves.

If some work was done without a permit, tell me early. There is usually a way to deal with it, and that path is much easier to plan before the home is on the market than in the middle of a contract.

Keep every letter. After a major flood, communities in the federal flood insurance program review damaged buildings, and when the cost of repairs reaches half of a building's market value, the building is generally treated as substantially damaged and has to be brought up to current flood rules, which can mean elevating or rebuilding it. The same test applies to large improvements later.

A buyer will want to know what was decided about your home, how the decision was resolved, and whether any appeal or new valuation was filed. That history also affects how much they can spend improving the home after closing, so it shapes what they are willing to pay. If you received a letter and are not sure where things stand, ask the Town for its current file on your address before you list.

These come up on nearly every sale on the island.

• The elevation certificate. It records the elevation of the lowest floor against the flood standard for that spot. Insurers and the Town both rely on it. If you raised, rebuilt or substantially renovated the home, make sure the certificate describes the house as it stands today. If you have none, ask the Town whether one is on file, or hire a licensed surveyor.
• Your current flood policy. A policy through the National Flood Insurance Program can usually be assigned to the buyer at closing, which can keep coverage in place without a gap. Have the declarations page ready and ask your insurance agent how assignment works for your policy.
• Your homeowners or wind policy and a recent wind mitigation report. Buyers want quotes in the first days of the contract, and the report records features insurers price on, such as how the roof is attached and whether the openings are protected. My article on wind mitigation inspections on Fort Myers Beach walks through the form.
• Records for the roof and major systems. Invoices and permits for the roof, electrical panel, plumbing and air conditioning tell an insurer and an inspector how old each one is.

Florida has long required sellers to disclose known facts that materially affect a home's value and are not readily observable to a buyer. On top of that, section 689.302 of the Florida Statutes requires the seller of residential property to give the buyer a written flood disclosure at or before the time the contract is signed. It asks about flooding you know damaged the property while you owned it, flood insurance claims you filed, and help you received from any source to repair flood damage.

Gather your claim records, repair invoices and any assistance letters before you complete the form, and answer each question with what you actually know. A flood that was disclosed, repaired with permits and documented is far easier to sell than a clean form that a buyer's permit search later contradicts. My article on Florida's flood disclosure law goes through the form question by question. If you are unsure how to answer something, ask a real estate attorney before you sign it.

More than most sellers expect. Florida condominium law entitles a buyer to a set of association documents, and the list has grown in recent years. Along with the declaration, bylaws, rules, budget and the frequently asked questions sheet, it now includes the milestone inspection summary where the law requires one, and the association's most recent structural integrity reserve study, or a statement that none has been completed. A buyer can cancel within a set window after receiving the package, so a complete set delivered quickly protects your sale.

Ask your association manager for the full package as soon as you decide to sell, along with recent board minutes and any notice of a special assessment, because buyers ask about both. My article on milestone inspections for Fort Myers Beach condos explains what buyers will be reading in those reports.

Then the rental records belong in the folder too. If the home has been rented for short stays, gather your state license from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation where one applies, any registration you hold with the Town, and your tourist development tax and sales tax account records. Add a list of bookings already made for the coming season, with the deposits held for each.

A buyer who plans to rent will ask what the home can legally do before anything else. Tell me early whether you expect the buyer to honor existing bookings, because that has to be written into the contract and the deposits have to be accounted for at closing.

Two items. First, your most recent property tax bill, so a buyer can see the current taxes and understand they will be reassessed after the sale. Second, if the home is your homestead and you plan to buy another home in Florida, ask the Lee County Property Appraiser about portability, which can let you carry some of your accumulated tax savings to the next homestead if you apply on time. My article on the homestead exemption on Fort Myers Beach explains how the exemption works from the buyer's side. Your tax adviser can tell you how the sale itself affects you.

Before you choose a list date. Permit searches and close-outs, a new elevation certificate, a substantial damage file request and an association's document package all take time, and none of them move faster once a buyer is waiting. I start this list in my first conversation with a seller, as part of how I sell a home, so the paperwork is ready before the photographs are.

My page on selling your home on Fort Myers Beach covers pricing, timing and marketing on the island. If you are thinking about selling and want to know what your own folder is missing, get in touch or call (239) 300-1427, and we can go through it item by item.

This article is a general overview and is not legal, tax or insurance advice about any particular property. Confirm the specifics with a real estate attorney, your title company, your insurance agent, your tax adviser and the Town of Fort Myers Beach.