Buying a Home or Condo in Miami

Weak negotiating rarely does the most damage; buying the wrong property does. That's why clarity has to come before the first showing. Without it, you can tour thirty homes, and you'll still be undecided. Start by separating must-haves from nice-to-haves. Must-haves don't move: a minimum number of bedrooms, distance to work, a price ceiling. That ceiling must also cover taxes, insurance and HOA dues, not only the mortgage. Everything else is a nice-to-have, and those you can trade. Before anything else, decide how you'll use the property: as your primary residence, a seasonal home or an investment. Nearly every later step depends on that answer. Make it your primary residence and you can claim Florida's Homestead Exemption. It reduces your assessed value by $25,000 for every property tax, and the non-school levies come down by a further inflation-adjusted amount ($26,411 for 2026). You also qualify for the Save Our Homes cap, which limits yearly growth in your assessment to the lower of 3% or the yearly change in the Consumer Price Index; for 2026, that cap is 2.7%. Together, they save real money every year on a $700,000+ purchase. A seasonal home or an investment gets neither break, so your tax bill and insurance picture change. Financing shifts too. Lenders price loans for owner-occupied homes differently from investment loans. Expect to rent nightly or weekly? Settle that before you buy, not after. In Miami condo towers, short-term rentals are usually off the table, and any of three separate rulebooks can veto them. Test your wish list against the market before you tour. If what you want costs more than your budget reaches today, a good agent tells you so plainly and then helps you adjust either the list or the number. Have that conversation at the start, not after thirty showings.

A pre-approval is not a pre-qualification. Pre-qualifying takes a five-minute call and gives you a rough estimate. A pre-approval means the lender has verified your income, assets and credit, and the letter it issues carries weight with listing agents weighing competing offers. Desirable homes here still go fast. Show up without one and you start behind. A U.S. borrower's lender will want W-2s, a recent pay stub, bank statements covering the last two months and tax returns for the past two years. Self-employed borrowers also hand over business returns for the past two years and a P&L covering the current year to date. Foreign-national buyers bring a different file: a passport, about two years of statements from a bank abroad, a reference letter issued by your bank at home and, often, an IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). The IRS estimates roughly seven weeks to issue an ITIN, and nine to eleven weeks when you're outside the U.S. or filing in tax season. Start early. Loans for foreign nationals require 25–35% down in most cases and carry higher rates than a standard conforming mortgage. In Florida, about six in ten international buyers sidestep all of this by paying cash. That also shortens the closing window: instead of 45–60 days, expect 15–30 days. Want a ballpark before talking to a lender? This site's Mortgage Calculator and Affordability Calculator give you a working range in seconds. Then line up a lender before you see a single home, preferably one who has closed loans for international borrowers.

Expect a Miami real estate transaction to involve more professionals than you'd guess, and each one's quality counts for more here than in a simpler market. Your buyer's agent manages the transaction, which includes finding the property and structuring the offer, keeping the timelines on track, managing inspections and advocating for you whenever a contingency comes up. Buyers reach Miami from dozens of countries. Know-how in cross-border transactions, in several languages and in foreign-national lending is therefore a genuine edge rather than a slogan. Bring in a real estate attorney too, particularly when the purchase is made by a foreign national or through an entity. Under Florida law, you don't need an attorney at closing. Still, once international complications, title review and contract negotiation are in play, one becomes essential. You'll also need a CPA fluent in Florida tax rules and international tax treaties, who works through your Homestead analysis, sets up estimated tax payments and maps out FIRPTA for the day you sell, which is critical for a foreign owner. Round out the core team with a lender, plus a licensed insurance broker and a licensed inspector. In South Florida, property, flood and wind coverage are three separate insurance items. Choosing the cheapest attorney, inspector or CPA is rarely the right move. Their fees barely register next to the price of the home; the mistakes they make or miss can cost far more.

In August 2026, the single-family median in Miami-Dade was about $680,000, while the condo median was closer to $408,000. No single county number describes both. Speed differs as well: Miami-Dade data for August 2026 shows single-family homes reaching contract in roughly 40 days, against roughly 66 for condos. At the top end, homes take longer still. Across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach combined, 361 South Florida homes priced above $10 million changed hands in 2025, and that tier follows a logic of its own. Averages for the county mask big differences between submarkets. In Brickell and Downtown Miami, a notable amount of high-rise condo supply has been added, and those units get absorbed at a different pace than homes in Coral Gables. There, single-family stock is structurally scarce, and prices reflect the tree canopy and a streetscape that architectural review keeps consistent. Demand in Coconut Grove forms its own small pocket, tied to its arts scene and waterfront living. In Sunny Isles and Bal Harbour, most of what's for sale sits in oceanfront towers. Competing offers there play out differently than in Kendall or Doral. Absorption is the speed at which inventory gets bought, and it tells you more than the asking price does. When supply would sell out in less than three months, the seller has the upper hand. Past six months, the advantage shifts to you. Placing your target neighborhood on that scale before you make an offer is basic homework. Plenty of buyers skip it. No state draws a bigger share of foreign buying in the U.S. than Florida, and it has held that lead for well over a decade. When you make an offer, that means you may be bidding against buyers from abroad as well as locals.

Seeing thirty homes without a framework is procrastination dressed up as due diligence. Decisive buyers usually tour far fewer. They did the groundwork before the first showing. Visit each home in two passes. On the first, check the fundamentals. Does the location work in person, not just on a map? Does the layout suit how you live? How do the building and its street feel at that hour? A clear no on any of these sends you to the next property. If every answer is yes, come back at a different hour. A home that needs work calls for an inspector or contractor on the return trip. In Florida, a few physical items deserve a hard look on every home, whatever the price. An HVAC system older than 10–12 years is near the end of its life in South Florida heat, and replacing it is expensive. Roofs matter even more. Their age and material weigh heavily on what insurance costs and whether a carrier will write it. When a roof turns 15, an insurer may ask for an inspection and may decline to cover it unless at least five years of useful life remain. Windows and doors rated for impact change your premium and how well the home holds up in a hurricane. Ask for any earlier four-point inspection reports. Look for cracks in the stucco, which can signal movement, and for water stains on ceilings and walls, then check the condition of the pool equipment. For a condo, ask for the HOA board minutes from the last two years along with the reserve fund study. The post-Surfside laws have left older buildings facing sizable special assessments, so reading those documents is now routine diligence, not an afterthought. Questions for the listing agent, every time: What's prompting the sale? How long has the home been listed in its current condition? Did any earlier offers collapse?

After the tours, you'll likely have three to five homes worth a serious look, and this is where a spreadsheet beats instinct. Lay out what each one costs to own, because the list price tells you very little about the check you'll write every month. For every home on that list, build the full monthly cost. Start with mortgage principal and interest. Then estimate property tax from your own price times the county millage rate, never from what the seller pays now. Layer in homeowner's insurance, flood coverage when the property is in a flood zone or close to one, HOA dues, and a reserve for maintenance. For Miami-Dade in 2026, insurance is the line that deserves the closest look. Years of lawsuits and weather losses forced Florida's insurance market to restructure, and premiums have climbed substantially, especially near the coast, in homes without impact windows and with older roofs. Getting a bindable insurance quote ahead of your offer is no longer optional. Your affordability math needs it. Why not budget from the seller's tax bill? Because it won't be yours. After a sale, the assessed value is reset to full market value as of the next January 1 after you close. The seller's Save Our Homes cap doesn't pass to you, and their homestead exemption stays behind. The property tax disclosure summary in your contract (Florida Statute 689.261) warns about exactly this. So the estimate runs off your purchase price and the county millage rate, meaning the tax charged per $1,000 of assessed value. With a condo, read the HOA's finances the way you'd read a company's balance sheet. SB 4-D in Florida, along with later laws, requires milestone inspections and minimum reserve funding in buildings of three stories or more. Associations that put off funding reserves are now cycling through special assessments. The reserve study, the latest audit and the board minutes show you where a building really stands. Weighing homes of different sizes and layouts? With the site's Price-Per-Sqft Calculator, a few clicks put them all on equal per-square-foot terms.

Price gets the attention, but the offer document holds plenty of other levers. Where you set each one decides if you win and what the terms look like. Earnest money in Miami usually comes to 5–10% of the price. An amount near the top of that range tells the seller you're serious and able to pay. Near the bottom, it limits what you stand to lose if a contingency is triggered. Those contingencies, for financing, inspection and appraisal, are your legal exits. When the market is balanced, there's nothing unusual or unwise about holding on to all of them. When a particular home sits in a seller's market, you might shorten or waive some. Do that only once you fully understand the property's condition, and never by default. Price and deposit aside, sellers care about timing. Offering the closing date they prefer, or a rent-back so they can stay on for a while after closing, can set you apart without adding a dollar. Light fixtures, appliances and furniture can all go on the table. Seller credits toward closing costs lower the cash you bring to closing; sellers may agree to them in return for a slightly higher price. With an escalation clause, you name a top price and let your offer climb by itself to stay ahead of any rival bid. That can work well when several buyers truly are competing, but the seller also learns exactly how high you'll go, and that knowledge weakens your position at the table. Save it for the situations that call for it. A buyer's agent's rapport with the listing agent carries real weight. The listing agent controls what you learn about competing offers, so good relationships mean better information. Sometimes they also mean an early call about a home before it reaches the MLS.

Once both sides sign, Florida buyers typically get 7–15 days to inspect the home and walk away if the results are bad. No other part of the contract protects you as much, so schedule inspectors right away and make full use of that time. A general inspection covers the HVAC along with the plumbing and wiring. The inspector also checks the roof and the structure. In South Florida, that report is only the opening piece. A complete set also needs a licensed roofer's inspection of the roof, plus a four-point inspection of the roof, electrical, plumbing and HVAC. For a home older than 25–30 years, many insurers require that four-point before binding a policy. A wind mitigation inspection belongs in the set too. Its report documents the features that lower hurricane risk and can noticeably reduce your premium. Visible water staining or any history of flooding justifies mold testing. If there's a pool, the pool and spa get a separate inspection. Every report will list problems. No home is perfect, so the real question is which findings expose you to serious cost and which are ordinary deferred maintenance. Water actively getting in, work done without permits, roof failure and structural defects belong in the first group. Cosmetic wear, minor HVAC service and aging caulk belong in the second. With an agent and an attorney, you translate those findings into what to ask for: a credit from the seller, money held in escrow for repairs, or a price reduction. When the problems are serious enough, the inspection contingency lets you walk away cleanly. Buying with a loan means an appraisal. Should the value come back lower than the contract price, you have three options: get the seller to drop the price, cover the shortfall yourself, or cancel through the appraisal contingency. Choose your move ahead of time, while the appraisal still hasn't been ordered. Condo buyers often mix up three different documents. The milestone inspection under Florida Statute 553.899 covers residential condo and co-op buildings with three habitable stories or more. It's first due 30 years after the certificate of occupancy and every 10 years from then on. Miami-Dade and Broward run their own recertification programs, with local triggers that can arrive earlier. In most cases the local recertification is coordinated with the state milestone, so it doesn't mean an extra inspection on top. The building department that oversees the property can confirm when it actually falls due. The structural integrity reserve study required by Florida Statute 718.112 is a separate requirement altogether, and it's possible to be up to date on one and late on the other. Under Florida Statute 718.503, a seller isn't obliged to give you the complete engineering report, the board's meeting minutes or the master insurance policy. Request all three anyway, knowing the seller can refuse. Roughly half the condo resales in Miami-Dade close in cash, and with no lender vetting the building in those deals, the review is yours to do.

In Miami-Dade, plan on roughly 15–30 days to close an all-cash deal, about 30–45 days for a domestic buyer with financing and about 45–60 days when a foreign national is financing. If a date drives your move, like the end of a lease, a new job or a flight, put that date in the contract terms right away instead of scrambling at the end. Buyer closing costs in Florida typically land at 2–5% of the price. The biggest pieces are lender fees and points, plus title insurance. An owner's title policy runs roughly 0.5% of the price under Florida's promulgated rates, and the contract decides who covers it. The lender's title policy is a separate document, issued alongside the owner's for a nominal fee. Documentary stamp tax on the mortgage is another large item: $0.35 for every $100 borrowed. Hiring an attorney adds that fee as well. For a $1,000,000 purchase with a 20% down payment, the overall total usually lands at $20,000–$40,000, depending on your lender, title company and attorney. For an estimate built on your own numbers, run the Florida-specific Closing Cost Calculator on this site. Wire scams are a real danger in these deals. Buyers have lost millions to spoofed emails that carry bogus wiring instructions. Before every transfer, call to confirm the details, using a phone number you've verified yourself. Do this again even if the same title company has received your wires before. Two items deserve a question to your closing team. If there's a National Flood Insurance Program policy on the home, ask the title company and your insurer whether it can be assigned to you at closing. When the NFIP policy is assigned, the seller's earned discount stays with it; a new policy is priced at current rates in most cases and may lose that discount. Congress sets the NFIP's authorization and has extended it repeatedly in short increments, so new policies may become unavailable for a stretch. Confirm where the program stands with your buyer's agent before you count on this. The other item: with a foreign-person seller, FIRPTA makes you the withholding agent, and the FAQ below explains what that role involves. During your final week before closing, make sure the homeowner's insurance binder has been issued, arrange the utility transfers, have your mail forwarded and confirm the closing-day walkthrough appointment. Once you own the home and it's your primary residence, apply for the Homestead Exemption no later than March 1 of the next year. Set yourself up with the HOA if there is one, and change the security system codes. Then start your hurricane checklist. In South Florida, you must have a supply kit and a storm plan ready.