Buying or Refinancing a Home in Fort Lauderdale

Name: AAA Capital Funding Mortgage Services
Brand: AAA Capital Funding, Inc.
Rating: 5.0 (150 reviews)

Our office sits on North Federal Highway, a few minutes from the New River, so Fort Lauderdale is the city we know street by street. About 189,000 people live inside the city limits, and a little over half of them own the home they live in.

What’s different about buying or refinancing here comes down to the city’s own down payment program and its inspection rule, the tax bill items that surprise new owners, the flood history every buyer should know, and the neighborhoods where houses still come up for sale.

Every source for this page is listed at the bottom.

CountyBroward
PopulationAbout 189,000
City buyer programHousing Purchase Assistance
FHA limit, 1 unit$667,000 in 2026
Oldest neighborhoodSailboat Bend
Hospital districtNorth Broward
Homestead filingBroward County Property Appraiser
Historic districtsSailboat Bend and two more

City down payment program
Neighborhoods
Your tax bill
Flooding and insurance
Loans we close here
Questions

Fort Lauderdale’s own down payment program

Fort Lauderdale runs a Housing Purchase Assistance Program through its Housing and Community Development office, paid for with state SHIP money. It’s separate from anything Broward County offers, and it only applies to homes inside Fort Lauderdale city limits.

The help comes as a second mortgage at 0% interest with no monthly payment. If you live in the home for 15 years, the whole thing is forgiven. Sell it, rent it out or refinance it out from under the program before then and the balance comes due. It can go toward the down payment, closing costs or paying down the price.

You have to be a first-time buyer, which here means you haven’t owned a primary home in the last three years.
Household income has to fall inside the city’s limits, which change every spring with HUD’s numbers.
You put in a minimum contribution of your own and finish a HUD-approved homebuyer class before you apply.
The house must pass a City of Fort Lauderdale inspection before closing, on top of your own licensed home inspection with a termite and roof check.
Applications go through approved nonprofit agencies, first qualified, first served.

The program runs only while the city has money set aside for it. Call us before you sign a contract and we’ll check whether it’s available and how its timing lines up with your closing date.

The house has to pass that city inspection before closing, so we build time for it, and for any repairs it calls for, into the contract up front. Our FHA program pairs cleanly with this kind of second mortgage, and so does Hometown Heroes if you work in a qualifying job and the state has the program funded. Broward County’s own programs are covered on our Broward County guide.

Fort Lauderdale neighborhoods where houses change hands

A big share of what sells in Fort Lauderdale is condos. Single-family houses cluster in a handful of older neighborhoods, each with its own personality.

Sailboat Bend

Sailboat Bend is the oldest neighborhood in the city and its largest local historic district, with more than 550 buildings from the early 1900s through the 1950s. Most are small one-story bungalows and Mission or Mediterranean Revival homes, with larger houses along the New River.

Victoria Park

Alfred Kuhn platted it in 1925 and named it for his daughter. The streets curve and cut diagonally around Lake Stranahan, between Federal Highway, Broward Boulevard and Sunrise Boulevard.

Rio Vista

Rio Vista holds more than 1,000 homes between Federal Highway and the Intracoastal, south of the New River. Building started in the 1920s land boom and picked back up after World War II, so you’ll see both eras on the same block.

Poinsettia Heights

Poinsettia Heights has about 1,030 single-family homes, mostly from the 1950s and 1960s, built after the war as middle-income housing for returning servicemen. Single-family zoning keeps townhomes and condos out of the interior streets.

Lauderdale Manors

Construction began in February 1950, and the first houses on NW 11th Street sold for about $7,000. The neighborhood grew through the mid-1950s with concrete block homes.

Imperial Point

Haft-Gaines started building here in October 1960. Its 1,470 homes were sold as an all-electric GE “Medallion” community and made the pages of Life Magazine. Imperial Point Hospital anchors the area today.

If you’re buying in Sailboat Bend or another historic district, exterior changes like new windows, a new roof style or an addition go through the city’s Certificate of Appropriateness review. That doesn’t affect the loan, but it affects your renovation plans, so know it before you buy a house you intend to change.

What shows up on a Fort Lauderdale tax bill

Your November tax bill has two halves. The first is the millage, the tax rate applied to your assessed value. The second is a set of flat charges that every house pays no matter what it’s worth, and new owners often don’t see those coming.

Fire assessment: every home pays a flat charge that funds Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue, and the city sets it each budget year.
Stormwater assessment: there’s another per-home charge, plus a second stormwater line based on how much traffic your property generates. The city resets it each budget year.
North Broward Hospital District: Fort Lauderdale sits in the north district, and its tax rate runs far higher than the South Broward district’s in places like Pembroke Pines. You’ll see the gap on every bill.

The city’s tax rate is only one line on the bill. We work the full escrow, flat fees included, into your payment before you make an offer, so your estimate already accounts for them.

Once you close, file for homestead with the Broward County Property Appraiser by March 1 of the following year. Homestead caps how fast your assessed value can rise and takes a large chunk off the taxable value. For most owners it’s the biggest tax break on the bill.

Flooding, insurance and the April 2023 storm

On April 12, 2023, 25.91 inches of rain fell at the airport in a single day, the most Fort Lauderdale has ever recorded in a day. If you’re buying here, it’s worth knowing how a house came through that day.

Before you make an offer, ask two questions. First, what flood zone is the house in? The city’s Floodplain Group gives free flood zone determinations, and its GIS flood map is free to look up. Second, did the house flood in 2023? A seller’s disclosure and a careful look at drywall, flooring and the permit history usually tell the story.

The city reports a Class 7 rating in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance premiums for city residents, with a bigger discount inside the high-risk zones. If the house is in a high-risk zone, your lender will require flood insurance on an FHA, VA or Conventional loan, and we price that policy into your payment early.

Buying or refinancing in Fort Lauderdale with AAA Capital Funding

Buying with little down

FHA, Conventional and VA each handle a small down payment differently, and we close all three here. Our FHA program takes 3.5% down with a 580 or higher credit score, and seller credits can cover a big share of closing costs. Pair it with a down payment assistance second through our FHA 100% option and you can buy with nothing down. With stronger credit, a Conventional loan can start at 3% down for a first-time buyer. Eligible veterans can use a VA loan with no down payment at all.

Refinancing or pulling cash out

A lot of Fort Lauderdale owners have built serious equity. A cash-out refinance can pay for a roof, impact windows or flood repairs, or wipe out high-interest debt. On the phone we’ll walk through the new payment and escrow with you.

Self-employed buyers

Plenty of Fort Lauderdale buyers are self-employed. If your tax returns don’t show what you really earn, a bank statement loan qualifies you on the deposits you actually make.

Conventional and the rest

We close Conventional loans from 3% down, Hometown Heroes, 203(k) renovation loans for the older houses in Sailboat Bend and Lauderdale Manors, and DSCR loans for investors buying rentals.

We’ve been licensed in Florida since 1997, and we close loans in all 67 Florida counties, but Fort Lauderdale is home. Call 888-601-8344 or text 954-816-8820 and we’ll price out your purchase or refinance today.

Buying in Broward? Ask about our Homebuyers Outreach Program. It can put a credit toward your closing costs, and most Fort Lauderdale buyers never hear about it until after they’ve signed. Find out what it’s worth before you make an offer.

Fort Lauderdale questions we hear a lot

Can I use the Fort Lauderdale purchase program with an FHA loan?

Yes, the city’s assistance sits behind your first mortgage as a second loan, and FHA allows that kind of government second. We’ll line up the first mortgage, the city’s approval and the city inspection so they all land on the same closing date.

Does a house in Fort Lauderdale need a city inspection to sell?

The city inspection we deal with on most files is the one tied to the city’s purchase assistance, and we’ll confirm what applies to the house you’re buying. You’ll want your own licensed home inspection either way.

Is Fort Lauderdale or Hollywood cheaper on property taxes?

It depends on the house, but one structural difference is the hospital district. Fort Lauderdale is in the North Broward Hospital District, which levies a much higher rate than the South Broward district in the southern part of the county. The city tax rates and the flat fire and stormwater fees differ too, so we compare the full tax bill on any two houses you’re weighing.

How do I find out if a Fort Lauderdale house is in a flood zone?

Look it up on the city’s free GIS flood zone map or ask the city’s Floodplain Group for a free determination. We also pull the flood zone when we order your appraisal, and we’ll tell you before you’re committed whether flood insurance is required.

Can I buy in Fort Lauderdale if I’m self-employed?

You can. If your returns show a lower income than you actually make after write-offs, a bank statement loan uses 12 or 24 months of deposits instead. Full-documentation FHA and Conventional loans work for self-employed buyers too, usually with two years of returns.

Sources for this page

AAA Capital Funding, Inc. NMLS #374739. Jason J. Sarji, NMLS #374700. Licensed Florida mortgage broker serving Fort Lauderdale and all 67 Florida counties since 1997. Equal Housing Opportunity.

You work with the same person from start to finish, in every county in Florida.

We've been closing Florida loans since 1997, in all 67 counties. If you want to know what's possible in Fort Lauderdale, call 888-601-8344 or text 954-816-8820. One call, under ten minutes. No application needed to start.

Get Started Call 888-601-8344 Text 954-816-8820

AAA Capital Funding, Inc. · NMLS #374739 · Jason J. Sarji, NMLS #374700