Bradford County, Florida: A Local Guide for Home Buyers and Homeowners

Starke

Starke is the county seat and was incorporated in 1870. Downtown’s Call Street Historic District has local restaurants, antique shops and the Florida Twin Theatre, which opened in 1941.

Starke’s population roughly doubled between 1940 and 1950, as US 301 and the building of Camp Blanding during World War II drove growth.

Old Bradford County Courthouse

The Romanesque courthouse in Starke was built in 1902 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It now houses Santa Fe College’s Andrews Center.

Lawtey

Lawtey was incorporated in 1905 and sits about 7 miles north of Starke on US 301, about 18 miles south of I-10 at Baldwin. Raiford Wildlife Management Area spreads out along CR 125 near town, with the New River running through it.

Hampton

Hampton was incorporated in 1925, after earlier lives as the Town of Crossroads (1870) and the Town of Hampton (1882). It sits about 144 feet above sea level, and Hampton Lake has public access at the west end of SW 101st Street.

Brooker

Brooker lies about 17 miles west of Starke on State Road 235. It began as Ward City in 1838, incorporated in 1952 and took its name from the old Brooker Bridge over the Santa Fe River, and an offshoot of the river runs through town.

Melrose (Bradford side)

Melrose sits on Santa Fe Lake, with public access at 42500 NE State Road 26, and the town is shared with Alachua, Clay and Putnam counties. The Tax Collector has a branch office here at 3979 SE 8th Ave.; check the office’s website for its hours before you drive over.

Bradford County SHIP Purchase Assistance

Bradford County runs SHIP purchase assistance with state housing money under a local housing assistance plan it files with Florida Housing. The help comes as a 0% deferred loan that’s forgiven a little each year you keep living in the home, and it’s for income-qualified first-time buyers who haven’t owned a home in the past 3 years. The plan caps the purchase price, requires an approved lender, and has you finish homebuyer counseling through the Bradford County SHIP office before closing.

The same plan funds owner-occupied rehab and accessibility repairs, also as deferred loans forgiven over time, which is worth knowing once you own.

Bradford’s SHIP award amounts and price cap are set in the plan and can be revised, and the money is budgeted a year at a time. Before you write an offer on a house in Starke or Lawtey, we call the county SHIP office to learn what it’s paying and whether it’s taking purchase files. Call 888-601-8344 and we’ll ring the SHIP office on your behalf.

County housing plan (PDF)

Escambia County HFA bond program

The Escambia County Housing Finance Authority runs a homeownership program that lists Bradford among its participating counties. Its down payment assistance is a 0%, 30-year deferred, non-amortizing second mortgage, so there’s no monthly payment on it, and income and price limits are set county by county. You reach it through a participating lender, and the authority’s own line is (800) 388-1970.

An authority based in another county can change which counties it serves and what it pays. We confirm Bradford is still on the Escambia list and that the bond money is open for your purchase price before you sign a contract. Call 888-601-8344 and we’ll check it.

Program guidelines (PDF)

Florida Hometown Heroes (statewide)

Hometown Heroes is Florida Housing’s program for buyers who work full time for a Florida-based employer in health care, K-12 schools, first response, public safety, the courts or licensed child care. Military rules are wider: active-duty members qualify with any employer, and veterans, Reserve and National Guard members qualify with full-time work for any Florida-based employer, in Starke or anywhere else in the state. It pairs a 30-year fixed first mortgage with a 0% down payment and closing cost second that carries no monthly payment and is repaid when you sell, refinance or pay off the home, or stop living in it. It isn’t forgiven.

It’s for a home you’ll live in, you take a homebuyer education course first (online counts), and you apply through a participating lender or broker, never with Florida Housing directly. A buyer can use Florida Housing assistance once in a lifetime, so it ought to go on the right Bradford house with the right loan behind it. Income limits, purchase limits and funding move during the year; call 888-601-8344 before you tour and we’ll check them for your Bradford address.

Official program page

FL Assist and HFA Preferred (statewide)

FL Assist is a Florida Housing down payment and closing cost second mortgage at 0%, deferred with no monthly payment, and repaid when you sell, refinance, transfer the home or move out. It rides behind a Florida Housing first mortgage: FHA, VA, USDA, or the Conventional HFA Preferred and HFA Advantage loans. For a Bradford buyer going Conventional, HFA Advantage PLUS sets a second behind a Freddie Mac first and forgives it over 5 years of living in the house.

To Florida Housing, a buyer in Starke or Lawtey is first-time after 3 years without owning a primary residence, and a veteran with a DD-214 can skip that test. Which second makes the most sense depends on the loan underneath it, so call 888-601-8344 and we’ll lay the Florida Housing options side by side on a house in Hampton, Brooker or Starke.

Official program page

Schools and colleges

The Bradford County School District runs the public schools; start with the district website for enrollment.

Santa Fe College’s Andrews Center, in the old courthouse in Starke, serves Bradford and Union counties.

Getting around

US 301 runs through the center of Starke, 26 miles north to Baldwin and I-10 and 25 miles southwest to Gainesville by way of SR 24. Starke is also on State Road 100. There’s no interstate in the county; I-75 is the nearest, to the west.

State Road 235 runs through Brooker, SR 26 passes Santa Fe Lake near Melrose, and CR 125 heads up toward the Raiford WMA near Lawtey. CSX’s Wildwood Subdivision is the main rail line through the county.

Santa Fe Swamp Wildlife Management Area

Santa Fe Swamp covers about 7,272 acres off SE 11th Avenue near SR 100 in Starke. It’s open year-round for fishing, wildlife viewing, horseback riding, hiking and biking, with seasonal primitive-weapons hunting.

Raiford Wildlife Management Area

Raiford WMA covers about 9,141 acres along CR 125 near Lawtey in northwest Bradford. The New River runs through the middle and Olustee Creek through the east side.

Lake access

Lake Sampson and Lake Rowell share a public access at 14300 SW 75th Avenue in Starke. Santa Fe Lake’s access is at 42500 NE State Road 26 in Melrose, and Little Lake Santa Fe’s is at 3858 SE 20th Avenue, Keystone Heights.

Palatka-Lake Butler State Trail

The Palatka-Lake Butler State Trail follows a nearly 47-mile former Norfolk-Southern rail corridor across Putnam, Clay, Bradford and Union counties. Florida State Parks builds it in segments, so check the trail page to see which stretches are paved before you ride.

Downtown Starke

The Florida Twin Theatre on Call Street opened in 1941 and is one of the oldest movie theaters in north Florida. The Eugene L. Matthews Historical Museum, also in Starke, is devoted to Bradford County history.

Brooker and the Santa Fe River

Brooker began as Ward City in 1838 and later took its name from the old Brooker Bridge over the Santa Fe River. An offshoot of the river runs through town, about 17 miles west of Starke on State Road 235.

Buying a home

FHA is the loan most of our Bradford County buyers use, with 3.5% down and flexible credit guidelines, and it pairs with the SHIP, HFA and statewide programs above. For veterans, a VA loan can mean no down payment at all, and we also write Conventional loans, Hometown Heroes and FHA 100% financing.

We’ve been a licensed Florida mortgage broker since 1997, and we lend in all 67 Florida counties statewide, Bradford among them, so a move from Starke to anywhere else in Florida stays with the same broker. We shop multiple wholesale lenders for your loan and tell you what you qualify for before you tour houses in Starke, Lawtey or Hampton.

Refinancing the home you have

A refinance can lower your monthly payment, take cash out for a new roof or a remodel, pay off higher-interest debt, or buy someone else off the title. It puts your equity to work.

Call 888-601-8344 and we’ll lay out the new payment, the cash in hand and the closing costs side by side.