Before You List: A Florida Seller Pre-Sale Checklist

Selling a home in Florida is not a two-week sprint. The sellers who net the most money and close on time started organizing 90 days before they put a sign in the yard. The ones who scramble in the final week are the ones negotiating credits because the inspector found unpermitted work — or worse, finding out at closing that their AC is flagged.

This checklist is organized by when each task should happen, not by category. If you want strategic advice on pricing, timing, or agent selection, see the companion post on seller tips. This one is the task list with calendar.

3 Months Out: Documentation and Deferred Issues

This is the phase most sellers skip entirely. It is also the phase where you have the most leverage to fix problems on your timeline — before they become buyer negotiation tools.

• Pull your permit history. Contact your county building department or search the county permit portal online. Hillsborough, Pinellas, Orange, and most Florida counties have searchable permit databases. Look for permits that were opened but never finaled — these are the ones that come up in title searches and spook buyers. A finaled permit means an inspector signed off. An open permit means someone did work and never got the final inspection.
• Order a preliminary title search. Your title company can run this before you list. It will surface liens (HOA, county, contractor), open permits, and any encumbrances on the property you may not know about. Much cheaper to clear these now than to discover them at closing.
• Locate your insurance documentation. Florida insurers increasingly require a 4-point inspection (roof, electrical, plumbing, HVAC) on homes over 25 years old before they will write or renew a policy. Your buyer will need coverage before they can close. If you already have a clean 4-point on file and your systems are in good shape, keep it — it speeds up the buyer side.
• Get the roof age on paper. If your roof is 15 years or older, insurance companies will flag it. Some carriers will not write a policy at all on roofs over 20 years, even if the roof is in decent shape. Knowing your exact install date — and whether the roof is asphalt shingle, tile, or metal — lets you price accordingly and head off insurance objections.
• Service the AC and document it. Florida AC systems work harder than anywhere else in the country. A unit that is 10 years old has 5 good years left, maybe. Schedule a full service with a licensed HVAC contractor, ask for a written service report, and keep the receipt. When the buyer's inspector shows up, that paper trail matters.
• Check irrigation zone by zone. Run every zone and watch for broken heads, dry patches, and controller errors. Buyers in Florida expect functional irrigation. A broken zone found at inspection is a small cost to fix now and a negotiating point if left alone.
• Gather pest control records. Florida requires sellers to disclose known pest damage and treatment history. Pull your last two years of pest control reports. If you have had a drywood termite tenting or subterranean termite treatment, locate the warranty paperwork — warranties transfer to buyers and are a selling point.

6 Weeks Out: Repairs, Disclosures, and Staging

Six weeks out is when the work shifts from documentation to preparation. You should have a clear picture of your home's condition by now. This phase is about making decisions — what you will fix, what you will price around, and what the buyer needs to know in writing.

• Fill out the FAR/BAR Seller's Property Disclosure. Florida uses the Florida Association of Realtors / Florida Bar joint disclosure form (the 'Seller's Property Disclosure — Residential'). This is the form buyers receive before they make an offer, and sellers are required to disclose all known material defects. Fill this out now, not the night before. Question 26 asks specifically about sinkholes, settling, and earth movement. Questions on flooding, insurance claims, and roof condition are all here. Do not guess — answer based on what you actually know.
• Schedule hurricane shutter inspection and operability test. If the home has accordion, panel, or roll-down shutters, test every single one. Stuck or missing hardware is a wind mitigation issue, and Florida buyers ask about hurricane protection early. A working shutter system can meaningfully lower a buyer's insurance quote — that is a tangible selling point.
• Address inspector-likely findings now. Common Florida flags: water intrusion at sliding glass door tracks, re-nailing requirements under older shingles (pre-2002 code), GFCI receptacles near water sources, missing drip edge on roof, and corroded copper pipes in older concrete block homes. A $150 plumber visit now prevents a $2,500 buyer credit later.
• Deep clean and declutter. This includes garage, attic access, and every closet. Buyers open everything. An organized attic with clear blown insulation depth is not glamorous but it is memorable. A garage that fits two cars reads larger than one that stores the last decade of decision-deferral.
• Paint where it counts. Interior: neutral base throughout (if you have not done it yet, do it now — it photographs better and reduces concession demands). Exterior: pay attention to fascia and soffits — in Florida's sun and humidity, these go chalky and peeling first. A coat of paint on the exterior trim is one of the highest-ROI pre-sale investments in this market.
• Photograph interior and exterior for insurance records. Before you start moving furniture or touching walls, document everything on video. Walk every room, open every cabinet, film the mechanical systems in the garage. If something breaks during the transaction period or an insurance claim arises, your documentation matters.

2 Weeks Out: Listing Preparation

The pre-list week is logistics. By now, the house is in condition and you know what you are disclosing. The final two weeks are about execution.

• Professional photography — schedule and prep the home. Clear countertops completely. Remove personal photos and any decor that reads as very specific to your taste. Exterior shots work best in morning or late-afternoon light in Florida — the midday sun is harsh and washes out color.
• Review your comparable sales with your agent. What sold in the last 90 days within half a mile at a similar size and condition? Price based on those data points, not what you need to net. Overpricing costs more time than the original discount would have.
• Confirm HOA documents are ready to transfer. If the property is in an HOA, your buyer's lender and/or buyer will request the resale package — HOA financials, meeting minutes, rules and regulations. In Florida, the buyer has three days to cancel after receiving HOA documents. Know what is in yours before the buyer does.
• Confirm utilities will stay on through closing. Do not cancel electric or water service during the listing. Appraisers and home inspectors need working utilities. A home that goes dark the week before closing creates unnecessary obstacles.
• Give neighbors a heads-up on showing activity. Optional — but courteous and practical. In dense neighborhoods like South Tampa bungalow streets or St. Pete's 1920s grid, nosy neighbors are a sales asset. They talk you up. They also notice cars parked in front of houses and can answer 'what are those people like?' from a potential buyer's perspective.

Day of First Showing: Walk-Through Protocol

Day-of checklist. Do this every time, not just for the first showing.

1. Open all blinds and turn on all interior lights, including closet lights. Bright sells. Dark does not.
2. Set the AC to 74–76°F. Florida buyers walk in from 90-degree parking lots. A cool house is a hospitable house — and a working AC that does not struggle to hold temperature says something about the system's condition.
3. Remove pets and their evidence. Food bowls, litter boxes, dog beds. Even buyers who love animals cannot fully evaluate a space when it smells like one.
4. Clear the garage so both bays are accessible. Buyers want to park a mental car in the garage and walk the storage. Let them.
5. Leave the seller's property disclosure and permit history on the kitchen counter. Transparency at day-of is a trust signal. It also removes one question from every agent's call-back list.
6. Walk the yard before every showing: pick up debris, move the trash cans, check that the mailbox is not stuffed with three weeks of mail.

What This Checklist Does Not Cover

This is the task list. The strategic decisions — when to list, how to price, whether to accept the first offer, how to handle multiple offer situations, and whether to use buyer-agent compensation as a marketing tool post-NAR settlement — those live in the companion post on seller tips. If you are selling in Tampa Bay or Central Florida and want a specific read on current market conditions and pricing strategy, see that post or reach out directly.

One item worth calling out separately: the permit history audit. In 2024 and 2025, unpermitted additions (screened enclosures, room conversions, carport-to-garage conversions) caused more deal implosions in Hillsborough and Pinellas County than any other single issue I tracked. Title companies catch open permits at closing when it is expensive and urgent. Catch them at the 90-day mark when you have time to get retroactive permits or decide how to price around it.

“The permit audit is the single most overlooked step in Florida pre-sale prep. An open permit found at closing is a crisis. The same permit found 90 days out is a $500 contractor conversation.”

For a detailed look at what you will pay at the closing table — doc stamps, title insurance, commission, proration — see the Florida Seller Closing Cost Breakdown post. That one walks through every line item on the settlement statement so you can estimate your net before you price.