Mortgage rates look sweet in Manatee, Sarasota

Three of the top 10 counties in potential mortgage approval rates in Florida are on the Gulf Coast, according to a new survey from SmartAsset.

A financial data analysis firm, SmartAsset looked at four factors in its report: overall borrowing costs, ease of securing a mortgage, cheap property taxes and cheap annual mortgage payments. SmartAsset then averaged those rankings to find the ones with lowest average rankings, and that was the best place for mortgage approvals.

In Florida, the number one county for likely mortgage approval is Sumter, home of the state's largest master-planned community, The Villages. Sumter has a 74.71 loan funding rate index, according to the report. Manatee County is fourth on the list, with a 63.65 rate index; Sarasota County is seventh with a 62.58 rate index; and Lee County is eighth, with a 62.30 rate index.

New York City-based SmartAsset compiled its index using data from the Mortgage Bankers Association, the U.S Census Bureau 2012 American Community Survey, Bankrate and government websites.