Who pays for the owner’s policy in Panama City?
The seller customarily pays for the owner’s policy in Panama City.
That is the custom in Bay County, and so in Panama City. 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.
Who chooses the title company. The seller customarily chooses the closing agent, the title company, in Bay County, and so in Panama City. That is a custom of its own: the side that pays for the owner’s policy usually brings the closing agent, and the contract can put either on either side.
That is the custom as we see it on our own files, confirmed on November 3, 2026. It is a report of what is usual, not a rule, and not a promise about your contract.
How the custom runs in the other counties is on who pays for title insurance in Florida, and what each side can insist on is on who chooses the title company.
What title insurance costs on a Panama City purchase
The same as anywhere in Florida — the premium is promulgated.
- Owner’s policy, $500,000
- $2,575
- Original rate, R. 69O-186.003(1)(a)
- At the reissue rate
- $1,530
- Where the prior title was insured and conditions are met
- Lender’s policy alongside
- $125
- Our charge; the rule’s minimum is $25
The Office of Insurance Regulation sets it by rule under Fla. Stat. § 627.782, so the premium on a Panama City policy is the figure it would be anywhere in the state. The Florida title insurance calculator, set to Bay County, works the premium out, Florida title insurance rates prints the schedule in full with the rule beside it, and the closing cost calculator for a Panama City address prices a specific one off the Bay County property appraiser’s record.
More detail on what title insurance costs
The reissue rate applies where the owner’s or the seller’s own title was insured and the rule’s conditions are met. The rule sets $25 as the least a lender’s policy issued at the same time 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.
Read from Fla. Admin. Code R. 69O-186.003 on September 14, 2026. The rule was last amended January 27, 2002. Tell us if a figure here does not match what you are quoted and we will check it against the rule again.
Documentary stamp tax on a Panama City sale
Taxed by the state, at the rate that applies in Bay County.
This is the rate in 66 of the 67 counties; Miami-Dade is the exception. The stamps are charged on each part of $100, so they round up. Which side pays each is decided by the purchase contract.
A cash purchase carries neither mortgage tax. The Florida doc stamp tax calculator, set to Bay County, works it out for a specific price and loan.
More detail on documentary stamp tax
Deed stamps. 70¢ per $100 of consideration, or part of $100. Charged on each part of $100, so the figure rounds up, not down.
Mortgage stamps. 35¢ per $100 of the amount secured, or part of $100. The $2,450 cap in § 201.08(1)(a) is on the tax on a note or other written obligation to pay money. There is no cap on the tax on a mortgage recorded against Florida property.
Intangible tax. 2 mills on each dollar secured — $2 per $1,000. One time, on the obligation the mortgage secures.
Each figure was read from the statute that sets it on September 14, 2026 and is linked to its section. Which county ch. 83-220 describes comes from the Department of Revenue’s documentary stamp tax guidance. Rates change by act of the Legislature — if one of these no longer matches what you are being charged, tell us and we will correct it.
Where a Panama City deed is recorded
Panama City is in Bay County, so the deed records with the Bay County Clerk of Court & Comptroller, not with the city.
- First page
- $10.00
- Then $8.50 a page
- A 3-page deed
- $27
- Same at every office
- A 25-page mortgage
- $214
- Same at every office
Charged by the page, at a rate the statute sets for every office in Florida — Fla. Stat. § 28.24(13).
This office does not publish a statement about how long recording takes, so we do not print one. On a file with a tight timeline, ask us what the office is doing that week.
More detail on recording
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)
The office’s own fee schedule covers the other things it does — certified copies, searches, its own e-recording arrangements — and a third-party e-recording vendor may add a fee of its own, which is not the office’s charge and not this.
Read from the statute on September 14, 2026. If a charge here no longer matches what you are being charged, tell us and we will correct it.
The municipal lien search in Panama City
A title search reads Bay County’s records. What the City of Panama City knows takes a search of its own.
None of these is in the official records. They 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.
Where the City of Panama City publishes it: lien search, code enforcement and permit records.
- Code liens
- Fines and costs in a code case are ordered at a final hearing once the violation is corrected. If they go unpaid for 30 days, the City can place a lien on any other real or personal property the violator owns. Source: Code liens
- City abatement
- A magistrate’s order gives the owner a deadline to bring the property into compliance. If it passes, the order lets the City correct the violation itself. Source: City abatement
- Magistrate hearings
- Code cases go before a special magistrate at City Hall, at 9 a.m. on the fourth Thursday of most months. Most are demolitions of unsafe structures, lot cleanups, abandoned or junked vehicles, signs and protected trees cut without a permit. Source: Magistrate hearings
- Expired permits
- A permit becomes invalid if work does not start within 6 months of issue, or stops for 6 months once started. An extension or renewal has to be asked for in writing, with justifiable cause, and carries a fee. Source: Expired permits
- Zoning letters
- A zoning verification letter from the City costs $50.00, and a permitted use verification letter $100.00. Source: Zoning letters
- Fee scams
- Planning and Zoning fees are paid once, with the application. The City warns of fraudulent emails posing as its staff, and says it does not send last-minute invoices or payment links. Source: Fee scams
- Closing a water account
- Water, sewer and garbage are City services. An account closes the same day if the request comes in before noon, and the next business day after noon. An unrefunded deposit is applied to the final bill and any balance refunded. Source: Closing a water account
- Utility deposits
- A utility deposit depends on the meter size and on whether the service is inside or outside the city limits. A residential deposit comes back after 24 consecutive months with no delinquency or disconnection. Source: Utility deposits
- Unpaid water bills
- A water bill is due within 15 days of its date. An account still unpaid 10 days after a shutoff is closed, and service then takes the full past due amount and a new deposit. Source: Unpaid water bills
- Before buying
- The City asks anyone buying property to check first with its Planning Department, at 850-872-3025, what building there will take under the City’s Floodplain Ordinance. Source: Before buying
- Flood zone lookup
- Each property in the City has a public flood profile, searchable by address, showing its flood zone, base flood elevation, design flood elevation and compliance warnings. Elevation certificates can be searched there too. Source: Flood zone lookup
- Flood insurance
- Panama City has been in the National Flood Insurance Program since 1992. A flood policy usually has a 30-day waiting period before it takes effect. Source: Flood insurance
- Home buyouts
- Through a voluntary program, the City buys homes damaged by Hurricane Sally in areas that flood repeatedly. Each one is demolished and the land kept permanently for open space or stormwater. Source: Home buyouts
Each line restates what the page linked beside it said when it was read, on November 6, 2026: the City’s own page, a portal it links to, or its code. Offices change these pages without notice; on a file where one of them matters, ask us and we will check it again.
What an open permit does to a closing: What happens if there's an open permit on the property before closing?
How a signing happens in Panama City
Wherever the signer is in Panama City, or online.
We send a notary to a Panama City signer — a kitchen table, an office, wherever they are. Remote online notarization is the third way, for a signer who is not in Panama City on the day. The closer who prepared the file is reachable during the signing whichever way it happens.
Wherever the signer is
We send a notary to the signer, including outside office hours.
About mobile notary signings →Remote online
Signed online with a Florida-commissioned online notary.
How remote online notarization works →
Each kind of file has a page of its own: home purchases and sales, refinances and commercial title. Everything we handle is on title, escrow and closing services in Florida.
Title problems on a Panama City purchase
What tends to hold up a closing anywhere in Florida, and what it takes to clear.
- Someone recorded a lis pendens over a money dispute. Does it stop the closing?
- The contract isn't the standard form. What does that change at closing?
- The contract was cancelled and both sides want the deposit. What does the title agent do?
- The HOA says approval takes 30 days and we close in two weeks. Now what?
- The seller is overseas. How do they sign a Florida closing?
- The survey shows a driveway, but the title work says no legal access. What's the difference?
- There's a judgment against the seller. What happens to the closing?
- We're buying from a bankruptcy estate. What does the title work need?
- What happens if there's an open permit on the property before closing?