Buying a House in Sunrise

What each bedroom count costs

On Zillow's bedroom indexes, Sunrise runs about $472,189 for three bedrooms, $570,385 for four and $652,128 for five or more. The step from three to four bedrooms is close to $100,000. The step from four to five is smaller, about $82,000, because five-bedroom houses are a small share of the market and many of them are older homes with additions rather than newer large builds.

The two-bedroom figure, about $183,214, is almost all condos, so ignore it if you need a house. Zillow's upper third of the market begins near $525,566. A four-bedroom house in a newer western subdivision usually lands in that band, while an older three-bedroom closer to University Drive often sits below it.

Older houses in the middle, newer ones out west

Census puts the Sunrise median year built at 1983, and 37.0% of housing units are single-family detached. The central and eastern parts of the city have a lot of 1970s and 1980s block houses, often on streets without a gate or a large HOA. Toward the west, near the Sawgrass Expressway, subdivisions are newer and more often gated, with lakes, HOA rules and amenities.

Each era has its own checklist. With an older house, the costs sit in the house itself: roof, plumbing, electrical, windows. With a newer house in a planned community, more of the cost sits in the HOA: monthly dues, rules about paint, fences and roofs, and sometimes a special district assessment that appears on the property tax bill. Ask for both the HOA budget and the tax bill before you make an offer.

Gated lake communities also tend to have rules about what you can put in the backyard, from pool cages to sheds, and some require HOA approval for a roof replacement or new windows. Read the architectural guidelines before you plan any project, and ask whether the community has had any recent disputes over approvals.

Roof, windows and the insurance quote

Home insurance has become one of the largest costs of owning in Broward, and the quote depends heavily on a few features. Get an insurance quote during your inspection period, using the actual inspection reports, before you are committed to the house.

• Roof age and type. Insurers price a roof near the end of its life harshly or decline it. Check the permit date, not the seller's memory of it.
• Wind mitigation report. Hip roof shape, roof-to-wall straps or clips and impact protection on all openings each lower the premium.
• 4-point inspection. Houses from the 1970s and 1980s usually need one for roof, electrical, plumbing and HVAC.
• Flood zone. Sunrise is inland and away from storm surge, but much of Broward is flat and low. Look up the FEMA zone for the address and check how the street and lot drain.

Cash to close on a typical Sunrise house

Take a $471,801 house with 20% down. The down payment is about $94,360 and the loan about $377,441. Florida note stamps at $0.35 per $100 come to about $1,321, and intangible tax at 0.2% of the loan about $755. Deed stamps, about $3,303 on that price, are usually the seller's cost. In Broward the buyer often pays for the owner's title policy, which is a state-set rate.

On top of that: the lender's title policy, lender fees, survey, inspections, prepaid interest, and an escrow deposit for taxes and insurance. If the HOA charges a capital contribution or transfer fee on a sale, it appears here too. When I run these numbers for a client, the first year of insurance and the HOA contribution are the two items most often left out of the estimate.

Homestead and the tax reset

Broward reassesses a house at market value for the year after you buy it. A long-time owner's bill may reflect years of Save Our Homes caps, so your bill can be much higher than theirs on the same house. If you make the house your permanent residence, file for homestead. In 2026 it takes up to $51,411 off assessed value, and future increases in assessed value are capped at 3% or CPI. Without homestead, the cap on non-school levies is 10%.

Only 3.9% of Sunrise homes are seasonal by Census count, so most buyers here are homestead buyers. Amendment 3, on the Nov 3, 2026 ballot, proposes changes to homestead and non-homestead rules. It needs 60% to pass, and the outcome isn't known as of this writing.

How Sunrise compares with neighbors

On Zillow's all-homes figures, Sunrise at $360,778 sits below Plantation at $492,003, Davie at $515,457, Coral Springs at $521,975 and Weston at $718,627. Tamarac at $291,266 and Lauderhill at $211,924 are lower. The comparison flatters Sunrise a little, since its all-homes number includes a large condo stock, but even on houses alone, the $471,801 figure is below what similar homes cost in Weston or Coral Springs.

Five-year growth of 23.4% across all Sunrise homes is in line with much of Broward. The past year has been flat to slightly down for houses, which gives buyers more room to ask for repairs or credits than they had a few years ago. A shortlist split by era, older non-HOA versus newer gated, is a practical way to start.