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

Bristol

Bristol was settled in 1859 and incorporated on June 19, 1958. It sits on a bluff roughly 150 feet above the Apalachicola River, with SR 20 running about 4 miles west to Blountstown and about 44 miles east to Tallahassee, and SR 12 heading 18 miles northeast to Greensboro.

The courthouse at 10818 NW SR 20 houses the Property Appraiser and Tax Collector, the school district office is at 12926 NW County Road 12, and the Apalachicola National Forest keeps a ranger district office in town.

Hosford

Hosford sits where SR 20 meets SR 65. It started as Coe’s Mill in 1859 and was renamed for state senator Robert Flournoy Hosford, who helped bring the railroad to the county. In 1914, county voters picked Bristol over Hosford for the county seat, 226 to 123.

Georgia-Pacific operates a mill in Hosford, and Talquin Electric Cooperative runs a district office at 20557 Northeast Cooperative Way.

Lake Mystic

Lake Mystic is a census-designated place, which means no town hall: the county in Bristol handles its roads, permits and services.

Sumatra

Sumatra straddles the Franklin and Liberty county line. On a house out this way, confirm which county the parcel sits in before you file homestead or call about taxes.

Liberty County SHIP and buyers

Liberty County’s SHIP plan decides each cycle whether any money goes to down payment or purchase help, and the county’s plan has leaned toward owner-occupied repair programs instead.

Because the Economic and Community Development Department rewrites that plan every few years, a purchase strategy can appear or drop out. Before you count on county money for a Bristol or Hosford home, call 888-601-8344 and we’ll check whether the Liberty plan in force pays anything toward a purchase and whether it’s open.

Liberty County SHIP plan

Liberty County SHIP repairs for owners

Liberty County’s SHIP plan helps very low, low and moderate income owners with rehabilitation through a 0% deferred loan that’s forgiven after a set number of years. Emergency repairs cover roof leaks, plumbing failures, electrical hazards, ramps and septic repair or replacement. After a declared disaster, the county can pay for interim repairs, roofs, structural work, wells and accessibility ramps. These loans come due if the home loses homestead status.

Each repair program runs on whatever money that cycle’s plan holds, so what’s open changes. If a repair is standing between you and a refinance, call or text us at 954-816-8820 and we’ll ask the courthouse which ones are taking applications, or price a cash-out refinance to cover the work.

Liberty County SHIP plan

Florida Hometown Heroes (statewide)

Hometown Heroes is a Florida Housing purchase loan built in two pieces: a 30-year fixed first mortgage, and a 0% second for the down payment and closing costs with no monthly payment. The second isn’t forgiven. You repay it if you sell, refinance, pay off the first or stop living in the home.

One buyer must work full time for an eligible Florida-based employer in health care, K-12 schools, first response, public safety, the courts or licensed child care, so a Liberty County School District employee qualifies. Service members on active duty qualify through any employer, and veterans and members of the Reserve or National Guard qualify through any full-time Florida-based job. Remote and part-time employment don’t count, and neither does a job offer letter.

Florida Housing help can be used once in a lifetime, so it pays to get the right home and the right lender. Funds are reserved loan by loan, so text or call 954-816-8820 before you make an offer and we’ll confirm Hometown Heroes can fund your Liberty County closing and that your income and price qualify.

Official program page

FL Assist, HLP and HFA Advantage PLUS (statewide)

FL Assist is the no-payment option: 0% money toward the down payment and closing costs, repaid only when you sell, refinance, transfer or move out, behind a Florida Housing first mortgage (FHA, VA, USDA or Conventional). If you’d rather have a small fixed payment, the HLP second spreads it over 30 years. HFA Advantage PLUS goes with a Freddie Mac Conventional first, and its second is forgiven over 5 years while you keep living in the home.

Florida Housing doesn’t lend directly to buyers; it all runs through participating lenders and brokers. Which one suits a house in Bristol or Hosford depends on the program rules when you apply, so call 888-601-8344 and we’ll match the right second to your income and the home.

Official program page

Schools

Public schools are run by the Liberty County School District, with its office at 12926 NW County Road 12 in Bristol, (850) 643-2275. The district can tell you which schools serve a given address.

Getting around

No interstate or U.S. highway crosses Liberty County. SR 20 is the east-west road, linking Bristol to Blountstown about 4 miles west and to Tallahassee about 44 miles east. SR 65 runs north-south through Hosford, and SR 12 and SR 267 fill in the rest.

Torreya State Park

Torreya State Park, at 2576 N.W. Torreya Park Road in Bristol, sits on high bluffs over the Apalachicola River and is named for the rare Torreya tree that grows only on those bluffs. The park covers 13,735 acres and was one of Florida’s original state parks developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps.

The Gregory House was built in 1849 at Ocheesee Landing across the river, then taken apart in 1935 and rebuilt inside the park, where it’s open for guided tours. Hiking trails, campsites and a yurt you can reserve round it out.

Apalachicola National Forest

The Apalachicola is Florida’s largest national forest, and of the four counties it covers (Liberty, Wakulla, Leon and Franklin), Liberty holds the most forest land. A ranger district office is in Bristol. Camel Lake and Wright Lake are its recreation areas, and Fort Gadsden Historical Site and the Leon Sinks caverns and sinkholes are inside its boundary.

Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve

The Nature Conservancy’s 6,430-acre preserve near Bristol has the self-guided Garden of Eden Trail, 3.75 miles round trip; give it at least 3 hours. Alum Bluff rises 135 feet above the river, which the Conservancy calls the largest natural geologic exposure in Florida, and the steephead ravines here occur in only a few places in the world.

Call the preserve at 850-643-2756 before you go to make sure the trail is open.

The Florida torreya

The Conservancy calls the Florida torreya the second rarest conifer in North America. It’s named for botanist John Torrey and grows only on the Apalachicola River bluffs.

Veterans Memorial Park railroad

In Bristol, Veterans Memorial Park runs a 2-foot narrow-gauge railroad with several locomotives, including a coal-fired steam engine.

Buying a home

Most of our Liberty County buyers go FHA: 3.5% down, flexible credit guidelines, and it pairs with Florida Housing’s down payment seconds. Eligible veterans and service members can use VA with no money down, and we also write Conventional loans, Hometown Heroes, DSCR loans for rentals and FHA 100% financing.

AAA Capital Funding has been a licensed Florida mortgage broker since 1997 and lends statewide in all 67 Florida counties, from Bristol and Hosford to Miami. We shop your loan with multiple wholesale lenders and tell you what you qualify for before you start looking at houses.

Refinancing the home you have

Refinance to lower your monthly payment, take cash out for a new roof or a new septic system, pay off higher-interest debt, or buy out another owner’s share of the home.

Call 888-601-8344 and we’ll put the new payment, the cash in hand and the closing costs on one page for your Liberty County home, so you can see the whole trade before you commit.