Should You Carry the Note When Selling in Miami?
Can I offer seller financing on my Miami home?
Yes. If you own your home free and clear, or close to it, you can sell with a seller-held mortgage (a "carryback"): the buyer pays you a down payment, signs a note, and you record a mortgage on the property. Florida adds note stamps and intangible tax, and federal lending rules can apply if the buyer will live in the house. It can widen your buyer pool at a $2 million to $3 million price point, but it makes you a lender with real default risk.
By Lynley Ciorobea | October 20, 2026
If you own your Miami house free and clear, you can be the bank. Almost nobody does it, and for most sellers that's the right call.
Still, the idea comes up more often than you'd think. The conventional 30-year rate was sitting around 7.4% in mid-October, the highest since November 2023, according to Trading Economics. A buyer putting 30% down on a $3 million house in Pinecrest or Coral Gables is still looking at a jumbo loan, an appraisal, and an underwriter who may not love how their income is documented. Business owners, people relocating from abroad, and anyone whose wealth sits in a company instead of a W-2 can be perfectly good for the money and still stall at the bank.
A seller note skips all of that. It also hands you a risk the bank would otherwise carry.
What the deal looks like
Take a hypothetical $3,000,000 sale. The buyer puts down $900,000 (30%), and you carry $2,100,000 at 7.5%, interest only, with a five-year balloon. That's $157,500 a year, or $13,125 a month, coming to you. Seller-financed luxury deals tend to require 20% to 35% down and run five to ten years, and the rate is whatever the two of you negotiate.
Title still transfers at closing. You hold a recorded mortgage and a promissory note instead of a check for the balance.
Closing costs shift in ways that surprise people. You still pay the deed stamps, which at 0.6% would be 18,000onthissale.Thebuyercustomarilypaysthestampsonthenote(0.35 per $100, capped at $2,450 on loans above 700,000)andtheintangibletaxonthemortgage(0.20 per $100, no cap), which would be $4,200 here. Customary means negotiable, so settle it in writing.
Two things go wrong in practice. The first is a buyer who stops paying. Florida is a judicial foreclosure state, so getting the house back takes a lawsuit, time, and legal fees, and you get it back in whatever condition the buyer left it. The second is a buyer who stops insuring. In Miami, a lapsed windstorm or flood policy on the collateral behind your $2.1 million note is not a paperwork problem. Require insurance naming you as mortgagee, and consider a third-party servicer that escrows taxes and insurance and tracks every payment.
If you still owe money on the house, your lender's due-on-sale clause usually ends the conversation. Carrybacks work best when the seller has little or no mortgage to pay off.
The rules and the tax
If the buyer will live in the home, federal lending rules can treat you like a mortgage lender. There are exemptions for individuals, estates, and trusts who finance only a small number of homes a year, but they come with strings on the loan terms, including limits on balloon payments. My five-year balloon example might not survive an owner-occupied deal. A second-home or investor buyer is a different analysis. Have a Florida real estate attorney structure it before you sign anything.
The tax picture can be a reason to do this. An installment sale lets you recognize gain as you receive payments instead of all in the year of sale, reported on IRS Form 6252, and the interest you collect is taxed as ordinary income. Whether the home-sale exclusion already covers most of your gain changes the math completely, so that's a conversation for your CPA before you chase the deferral.
Compare the note against a clean offer too. The same net-proceeds thinking from cash offer vs. financed offer applies: a note is only worth taking if the price or the buyer is meaningfully better than what you'd get without it. And vet the buyer harder than you would for a cash deal. The checks in proof of funds on a Miami cash offer (Sunbiz for the entity, the Clerk's records for liens and judgments) are the starting point, not the finish.
Before you say yes to any note, ask for three years of tax returns and, if the buyer is an LLC, a personal guarantee. If they hesitate, you have your answer. If you're weighing a carryback on a house in Pinecrest, Coral Gables, or South Miami, I'll run both versions of your net with you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is seller financing legal in Florida?
Yes. A seller can take back a promissory note and mortgage at closing. If the buyer will occupy the home, federal ability-to-repay and loan originator rules may apply unless you qualify for an exemption, so have a Florida real estate attorney draft the documents.
Who pays documentary stamps and intangible tax on a seller-financed note in Florida?
The buyer-borrower customarily pays the note stamps ($0.35 per $100, capped at 2,450perdocument)andtheintangibletaxonthemortgage(0.20 per $100, no cap). The seller customarily pays the deed stamps, which are 0.6% of the price in Miami-Dade. These are customs, not requirements, so the contract should say who pays.
What happens if the buyer stops paying?
You would need to foreclose through the courts, because Florida is a judicial foreclosure state. That takes time and legal fees, which is why a large down payment, required insurance, and a servicer matter before closing.
Can seller financing spread out my capital gains tax?
Often, yes. The installment sale method lets you report gain as payments arrive, using IRS Form 6252, though interest is taxed as ordinary income. Whether it helps depends on your basis and the home-sale exclusion, so confirm with your CPA. This is general information, not legal or tax advice.
About Lynley Ciorobea
Lynley Ciorobea is a Miami-born real estate professional known for helping homeowners successfully prepare, position, and sell their homes across Coral Gables, South Miami, Pinecrest, Palmetto Bay, and the surrounding southern Miami neighborhoods. Since 2007, she has built her business around thoughtful strategy, strong negotiation, and a marketing-first approach designed to help listings stand out in an ever-evolving market. A true local, Lynley grew up in Pinecrest and graduated from Palmer Trinity School before attending Duke University, where she earned a BA in Psychology. As the founder of the Lynley Residential Group, Lynley remains personally involved in every listing she represents. With more than $250 million in career transactions and more than 70 5-star Google reviews, she brings a local perspective that goes far beyond surface-level market knowledge.
If you are thinking through a pre-sale exterior plan for your own house, I am happy to walk you through the order of operations. Reach out anytime at lynleyresidential.com.