The Florida closing timeline: every FAR/BAR deadline that decides your closing date

An agent who closes in Georgia and then takes a deal in Florida discovers the difference on day three, usually the hard way. The forms are different, the closing is run by a different professional, and, most surprising of all, the days are counted by a different rule. This is the Florida timeline, deadline by deadline, on the FAR/BAR contract.

Almost every residential resale in Florida is written on a Florida Realtors/Florida Bar form, known as FAR/BAR. It comes in two versions: the standard contract, where the seller has repair obligations up to negotiated caps, and the AS IS version, where the buyer instead gets a clean right to cancel during the inspection period. In much of Florida the AS IS version is the common choice, and it is the one described here. Every period below is a blank the parties fill in, so the numbers are the ones we see most often, not rules of law. Read your contract.

The rule that catches Georgia agents first: how days are counted

Georgia's GAR contract and Florida's FAR/BAR do not count days the same way. In the current FAR/BAR forms, short periods are counted in business days rather than straight calendar days, and a deadline that lands on a Saturday, Sunday or national legal holiday moves to the following business day. Georgia has its own rule and a due diligence period that ends at 11:59 pm.

Carrying one state's habit into the other is the single most common mistake we see in a first Florida file. Before you promise a client a date, read the time-computation Standard in the version of the form in front of you, and count on a calendar.

1. Effective Date

Everything counts from the Effective Date: the day the last party signs and that acceptance is delivered. Confirm it in writing the same day to buyer, seller, both agents, the lender and the closing agent. If two agents disagree on this date, every deadline below is in dispute.

2. The initial escrow deposit

The contract sets a short window after the Effective Date for the buyer to deliver the initial deposit, commonly a few days, and often names a second, larger deposit due later. Unlike Georgia, where the deposit usually sits with the closing attorney or the listing broker, in Florida it typically sits with the title company or a broker's escrow account, and Florida brokers operate under detailed state escrow rules. Get the wire confirmation and circulate it.

3. The Inspection Period (AS IS)

This is Florida's equivalent of Georgia's due diligence period, and it works the same way in spirit: during the period the buyer may cancel for any reason and recover the deposit. The form carries a default length if the blank is left empty, so check what your contract actually says rather than assuming. Book the general inspection in the first 48 hours, and in Florida add the specialty inspections that matter here: roof age and condition, four-point for older homes, wind mitigation, and, near the water, a flood determination.

4. Loan Approval Period

The financing section sets a date by which the buyer must obtain loan approval, commonly around 30 days from the Effective Date. In current FAR/BAR versions the appraisal is folded into the loan approval mechanics rather than living in a separate exhibit, which is a real structural difference from Georgia's separate financing and appraisal exhibits. Ask the lender for the appraisal order date on day one.

5. Title evidence and the buyer's examination window

The contract names who pays for and delivers title evidence, which is often a county-by-county custom, and then gives the buyer a window to examine it and raise defects. In Florida the closing is normally run by a title company or an attorney, not necessarily an attorney as in Georgia. Order the title work at the Effective Date.

6. Survey

If the buyer orders a survey, the contract sets when survey objections must be raised. Encroachments and fence lines are the usual findings, and they take time to cure.

7. Condominium and HOA documents

This is where Florida deals slip. Florida law gives buyers statutory rights tied to the delivery of association documents: for condominiums under Chapter 718 of the Florida Statutes, and for homeowners' associations under Chapter 720, with cancellation rights that run from the day the buyer receives the required documents. Management companies are slow. Order estoppels and disclosure packages at the Effective Date, not in the last week, and note the date the buyer actually received them, because that is the date the clock runs from.

8. Insurance, which in Florida is a deadline

Homeowner's insurance in Florida is not a formality. Older homes need a four-point inspection; a wind mitigation report can change the premium substantially; a property in a flood zone needs a separate flood policy the lender will require before closing. A buyer who starts shopping insurance in week three can lose the closing date to underwriting, not to the seller.

9. Permits and municipal liens

A permit pulled years ago and never closed out is a Florida classic. The closing agent orders a municipal lien search and a permit search; open or expired permits have to be resolved before the deed records, and resolving them means the county, which means weeks, not days.

10. Closing Disclosure and the closing date

For financed purchases the federal TRID rule applies in Florida exactly as in Georgia: the buyer must receive the Closing Disclosure at least three business days before consummation, and certain changes restart that period. Confirm the date the buyer received it, not the date the lender sent it.

11. Walk-through and wire instructions

The final walk-through is scheduled close to closing. Wire instructions are verified by telephone, calling a number you already had, never a number taken from an email. Wire fraud in real estate closings is a documented and continuing problem.

How we run a Florida file

At THE LAB RE a Florida transaction gets its own calendar with Florida's counting rule, association documents ordered on the Effective Date, and the insurance conversation started in the first week. We coordinate on both forms, GAR and FAR/BAR, and the first thing we do on any file is identify which form and which version we are working on before a single date goes on the calendar. If you sell in both states, the side-by-side comparison of GAR and FAR/BAR is the companion to this article.

Questions agents ask

Is the AS IS contract worse for the buyer? Not usually. It trades a repair obligation for a clean right to cancel during the inspection period.

Does my Georgia license work in Florida? No. Florida licenses separately and its mutual recognition arrangements change. Check with the Florida Real Estate Commission before you take a listing across the line.

Who chooses the closing agent? Often a county custom that the contract records, along with who pays for the owner's title policy. Ask early, because it also determines who controls the timeline.

This article is general information for real estate professionals, not legal advice. Florida contract forms: floridarealtors.org. Florida Statutes chapters 718 and 720: leg.state.fl.us. TRID timing: consumerfinance.gov.