Florida AS-IS Contract Deadlines, Explained
The Florida “AS-IS” Residential Contract runs on dates. Miss one and you can lose a deposit, a contingency, or a client’s trust. This is a plain-language walk through the deadlines that matter most — and a note that many of them have default periods that kick in when the blank is left empty.
This is general education for agents, not legal advice. When a contract question has real money or rights riding on it, point your client to their attorney.
The Effective Date sets the clock
Almost every deadline counts from the Effective Date — the day the last party signs and that acceptance is communicated. Get this wrong and every downstream date is wrong too. It’s the single most important date to nail on day one.
The deadlines to watch
- Escrow (initial deposit). The initial deposit is typically due within a set number of days after the Effective Date. If that blank is left empty, the standard AS-IS default is 3 days.
- Inspection Period. The buyer’s window to inspect and cancel. The AS-IS default when left blank is 15 days — and it counts calendar days, so weekends and holidays are in play.
- Loan Application. On a financed deal, the buyer generally must apply within a set number of days; the common default is 5 days.
- Loan Approval Period. The financing contingency window — default 30 days if not otherwise specified.
- Title. Title evidence and the buyer’s window to review and object are date-driven too; timelines vary with how the contract is filled out.
- Closing Date. The target settlement date. Note it’s a target — extensions, delays, and addenda happen, which is exactly why the whole timeline needs active management rather than set-and-forget.
Cash deals skip a few
If it’s a cash purchase, the financing dates (loan application, loan approval) simply don’t apply — those blanks stay empty. It’s a small thing that trips up new agents who try to force a financing timeline onto a cash contract.
Why the defaults are dangerous
The defaults exist to protect the deal when a blank is left empty — but they’re easy to forget. An agent who assumes “we didn’t write a number, so there’s no deadline” can be caught off guard when a 3-day deposit clock or a 15-day inspection clock was running the whole time. Knowing the fallbacks is what keeps a quiet blank from becoming a loud problem.
Where a coordinator fits
This is the exact work a transaction coordinator takes off your plate. At MRFL, every one of these dates is pulled from the contract, calculated with the right defaults, and calendared within 24 hours — with reminders before each one. You get the timeline; you don’t have to be the timeline.
Got a contract you’d rather not date-check yourself? Send it over and I’ll build the timeline for you.