Title insurance and closings in Jacksonville
The short answer
Bayit Title LLC is a Florida title company closing in Jacksonville, Duval County, from our office in Coral Springs. We search and examine title, issue the policy, hold the escrow and run the closing for residential and commercial property, with signings in our office, wherever the signer is in Jacksonville, or by remote online notarization. In Duval County the owner’s policy is customarily paid for by the seller, though the contract controls. The premium is promulgated statewide; the deed stamp rate and the recording office are Duval County’s.
What title insurance costs on a Jacksonville purchase
Florida title insurance premiums are set by the Office of Insurance Regulation under Fla. Stat. § 627.782, so the premium on a Jacksonville policy is the same figure it would be anywhere in the state. On a $500,000 purchase the owner’s policy is $2,575; where the reissue conditions in the rule are met it is $1,530; and the rule sets $25 as the least a lender’s policy issued at the same time for the same or a lesser amount can be. That $25 is a minimum, not a price: Bayit Title charges $125 to issue the policy alongside the owner’s, and that is the figure the estimate prints. Where the loan is larger than the owner’s amount, the coverage above it adds the difference between the original rate at the loan amount and at the owner’s amount.
The Florida title insurance calculator prints the whole schedule with the rule beside it, and the closing cost calculator prices a specific Jacksonville address off the Duval County property appraiser’s record.
Who pays for the owner’s policy in Jacksonville?
Custom in Duval County, and so in Jacksonville, is that the seller pays for the owner’s policy. Custom is not law: the purchase contract decides it, and in a negotiated deal either side can end up paying. Read the contract before assuming which line it falls on.
That is the custom as published by Weston Title & Escrow; Barnes Walker; Kelley, Grant & Tanis; a 2021 county chart by TAG Lending Group, attributed to a survey by The Fund, read on September 20, 2026. It is a report of what is usual, not a rule, and not a promise about your contract.
Documentary stamp tax on a Jacksonville sale
The deed is taxed by the state at the rate that applies in Duval County. This is the rate in 66 of the 67 counties; Miami-Dade is the exception.
- Documentary stamp tax on the deed
- 70¢ per $100 of consideration, or part of $100 Charged on each part of $100, so the figure rounds up, not down. Fla. Stat. § 201.02(1)(a)
On a $500,000 Jacksonville sale that is $3,500 in deed stamps. A $400,000 mortgage carries $1,400 in mortgage stamps and $800 in intangible tax, and a cash purchase carries neither. Which side pays each is decided by the purchase contract.
Where a Jacksonville deed is recorded
Jacksonville is in Duval County, so the deed and mortgage are recorded with the Duval County Clerk of the Circuit Court, not with the city. Recording is charged by the page at a rate the statute sets for every clerk in Florida:
- Recording, first page
- $10.00 $5.00 service charge, plus $1.00 to the Public Records Modernization Trust Fund, plus $4.00. Fla. Stat. § 28.24(13)(a), (d)1., (e)
- Recording, each page after the first
- $8.50 $4.00 service charge, plus 50¢ to the trust fund, plus $4.00. Fla. Stat. § 28.24(13)(b), (d)2., (e)
- Indexing, per name over four
- $1.00 Reached by a deed with several grantors, or by a mortgage naming a trust. Fla. Stat. § 28.24(13)(c)
On turnaround, the Duval County Clerk of the Circuit Court publishes this:
The filer is solely responsible for ensuring the timeliness of a recording for any legal purpose. While the Clerk processes all documents as soon as possible in the order they are received, the Clerk cannot guarantee same or next-day recording for documents received by mail or through eRecording.
That is the office’s published statement, not a time we can promise. On a file where the recording date matters, ask us what the office is actually doing that week.
The municipal lien search in Jacksonville
A title search reads the county’s official records. It does not show what the City of Jacksonville knows about the property: open or expired permits, code enforcement cases, unpaid utility balances and special assessments. Those are found by a separate municipal lien search directed to the city itself, and we order one on every file. What it turns up goes to you in writing, with what clearing it would take, as soon as it comes back.
How a signing happens in Jacksonville
A Jacksonville signer can come to our office in Coral Springs, or we send a notary to them — a kitchen table, an office, wherever they are. Remote online notarization is the third way, for a signer who is not in Jacksonville on the day. The closer who prepared the file is reachable during the signing whichever way it happens.
Premium read from Fla. Admin. Code R. 69O-186.003 on September 14, 2026. Taxes and recording charges read from the statutes on September 14, 2026 and linked line by line above. Tell us if a figure here does not match what you are quoted and we will check it against the source again.