---
title: "What a Florida As-Is Contract Actually Promises You (and What It Doesn't)"
description: "What a Florida as-is real estate contract promises: the seller fixes nothing, the buyer inspects and can cancel for a full deposit refund. Read the deadlines."
published: "2026-06-29"
canonical: "https://blog.saltharborrealestate.com/blog/florida-as-is-real-estate-contract"
author: "Everitt Gill"
---

A Florida as-is real estate contract, most often the Florida Realtors/Florida Bar "AS IS" Residential Contract for Sale and Purchase, is one in which the seller makes no repairs and the buyer takes the property in its current condition. In exchange, the buyer gets a set inspection period to examine the house and, if they don't like what they find, to cancel and get the full deposit back. Seller fixes nothing. Buyer gets to look hard and walk away clean. That is the whole bargain, and most of the trouble starts when somebody forgets one half of it.

The form is the default around here, not the exception. A large share of resales on Amelia Island and through Fernandina are written on the as-is version regardless of whether the house is a gem or a project. People hear "as is" and picture a roof full of possums and a buyer with no recourse. The paper says otherwise, in the same sentence it says the seller won't pick up a hammer.

## What does an as-is real estate contract mean in Florida?

It means the seller sells the house in the shape it's in and is not on the hook to repair, replace, or credit for anything the inspection turns up. If the water heater is on its last legs, that is now a fact the buyer is buying along with the kitchen. What it does not mean is that the buyer is buying blind or signing away every right they have. Two things survive the words "as is."

The first is disclosure. A Florida seller must still tell a buyer about known defects that aren't readily observable and that materially affect the property's value. The Florida Supreme Court settled that in *Johnson v. Davis* back in 1985, and "as is" does not paint over it. A seller who knows the slab cracked and the back bedroom floods every August can't shrug and point at the contract. Knowing about a problem and saying nothing is a different animal from selling a house honestly in its current condition.

The second is the inspection, which is the part people skip right past, usually because they're busy celebrating that they won the house.

## How long is the inspection period for an as-is contract in Florida?

The inspection period on the AS IS form is whatever number the parties write into the blank, and around Nassau County it is commonly 10 to 15 days. The clock starts on the contract's effective date and counts calendar days, not business days. To cancel, the buyer must deliver written notice before that period ends. Miss it by an afternoon and the right to walk for any reason is gone.

During that window the buyer can hire whatever inspectors they please and crawl through the whole place. On an older home near the water you want more than the standard once-over. A lot of the housing stock in the older parts of Fernandina predates the building codes that came in after the bad storm seasons, and the salt air does its slow work on anything metal. A WDO inspection for termites is close to mandatory here. So is a real look at the roof, because an insurer will want a four-point and a wind-mitigation report before they write a policy, and what those reports say can change the deal more than the inspection itself.

Here is the part that bites. Written notice, on time, or the as-is contract quietly turns into a plain obligation to close, deposit and all. Not the day after. Not "I called and left a message." The clock doesn't care that you were busy.

## Can a buyer back out of an as-is contract?

Yes. During the inspection period a buyer can cancel for any reason or no reason at all, and the deposit comes back. The standard form does not even make them explain themselves. Find a problem, change your mind, decide the place gives you a funny feeling. Inside that window the exit is free and clean.

After the window closes, the easy exits are gone. The buyer is committed to the price and the condition they agreed to, and walking away usually means walking away from the deposit too. A few escape hatches stay open, financing and appraisal contingencies chief among them, and those run on their own separate clocks. But the broad, no-questions right to bail lives inside the inspection period and nowhere else. Treat that window like the only friend you have, because for a stretch there, it is.

This is where I watch the most money change hands by accident. Somebody waives or shortens the inspection period to make their offer look stronger in a multiple-offer fight, wins the house, and then learns what they bought. A three-day window on a 1950s cottage near the marsh is a different gamble than a three-day window on new construction in Yulee. Strong offer, weak parachute.

## Is an as-is sale a red flag?

No. The worry behind that question is mostly a misunderstanding. Plenty of sound homes owned by honest people are sold as is, for one plain reason: the seller would rather not get into a back-and-forth over a fifty-dollar repair after the inspection. The form tells you who is expected to fix things. It does not tell you the house is hiding something. The inspection tells you that, which is exactly why the form hands you the inspection in the same breath.

A seller saying "as is" is saying "I'm not your handyman, look all you want." That is not a man covering his tracks. That is a man who doesn't want to argue about caulk.

Where I would raise an eyebrow is when "as is" comes bundled with pressure to skip the inspection, or a window so short you couldn't get a qualified inspector out in time, or a seller who won't answer a plain question about the roof's age. The contract type is fine. The rush is what should make you slow down.

Here is how the two halves of the bargain line up:

| | Inside the inspection period | After the inspection period |
|---|---|---|
| Seller's repair duty | None | None |
| Buyer can cancel | Yes, any reason or none | Only via a remaining contingency (financing, appraisal) |
| Deposit if buyer walks | Returned in full | Usually forfeited |
| What protects the buyer | The inspection and written notice | The contingencies that haven't expired yet |

## Why flood and insurance belong in the inspection window

The words "as is" do not create or erase a single fact about flood and water, and on the coast that is the cost that sinks deals. Whether a property sits in a FEMA flood zone, what the elevation certificate says, whether it has taken on water before, what the insurance has run historically, none of that changes because the contract says as is. It is all knowable, and the inspection period is when you go and know it.

A house can be in fine structural shape and still cost a small fortune to insure, and that figure has ended more deals on this island than termites ever did. Ask early. The answer doesn't change, but how much it costs you to learn it does. If you're sitting with an as-is contract and squinting at the blanks, the move is unglamorous: read the number in the inspection blank, mark it on a calendar in ink, line up your inspectors before you sign instead of after, and get the insurance question answered while you still have a clean way out. At Salt Harbor Real Estate we walk buyers through that calendar before the ink is dry, because the deposit you save is usually larger than any repair you were worried about.

An as-is contract is not a trap and it is not a free pass. It is a fair deal with a deadline, and the only people it bites are the ones who treat the deadline like it isn't there.