Steps to Selling a Home in Miami

In a steady Miami market, the opening 21 days on the MLS shape everything that follows. List even 5% above value and showings stack up while offers never arrive. After that the listing stalls, and leverage shrinks as the days on market climb. A seller at day 60 usually holds a weaker hand than on day 1, and often accepts less than a well-priced launch would have brought. A comparative market analysis prepared by an agent active in this market is the price input worth trusting. It's built on real closed sales, then adjusted for finishes and condition, the unit's line and floor, how permanent the view is, and the health of the HOA's finances. Estimates from Zillow and Redfin work as a quick sanity check, yet they routinely miss the building- and unit-level details that drive Miami prices. The county's tax-roll value isn't market value either, since the Save Our Homes cap keeps it low. Use both for context only, except for this: subtract the assessed value from market value and you see the Save Our Homes benefit you've accumulated. That benefit is portable only when the home you buy next is a Florida homestead as well. Price just below the price brackets buyers filter by. At $1,995,000, your home appears in every "under $2M" filter, and most buyers searching around $2.1M will still see it. At $2,025,000, anyone filtering for "under $2M" never finds it. The same logic holds at the higher thresholds of $5M, $7.5M and $10M. Luxury and ultra-luxury homes play by different rules. Above $3M, contracts arrive much more slowly than in the market overall, often after three months or more. At this level, a quiet pre-launch test of the price with HNW buyers and co-brokers often does better than on-market exposure by itself.

Seasons do matter in Miami, though less than in northern markets. Demand peaks from January through April, when snowbirds spend their Florida months here, foreign buyers schedule their trips and fiscal-year-end money gets put to work. A second window runs from May into early summer, often with fewer competing listings, which helps a well-priced home. August and September, with vacations and hurricane season, are the slowest months, and a home listed then usually draws attention more slowly. On top of the seasons come larger forces. Rates set how many buyers finance, and they weigh more under $2M than in luxury, where cash purchases are typical. Nationwide, 48% of foreign buyers pay cash, and a similar share of domestic luxury buyers pay cash too. When rates fall by just 50 basis points, financed demand in Miami picks up within weeks. Personal circumstances usually matter more than season or rates. If you're relocating, starting a job, going through a life event or planning around capital gains, your sell-by date comes first. Waiting for the ideal market often ends up costing more than accepting today's. Do the math honestly: the realistic price over the next 90 days versus the cost of holding on for six months. For most sellers, the numbers say to move once the decision is made instead of chasing a theory about perfect timing.

On most Miami resales, few seller moves pay off as well as a pre-listing inspection. At a minimum, get a whole-house inspection, a licensed roofer's assessment of the roof and a wind mitigation report, and if the home is over 25 years old, add a four-point report covering the roof, HVAC, plumbing and electrical. Selling a condo in a building close to or past 30 years? Include its latest milestone inspection in your disclosures, along with the building's Structural Integrity Reserve Study (SIRS) report. Miami buyers in 2026 inspect harder than at any point in the past decade. A problem they discover during their inspection period nearly always costs you more than fixing it ahead of time. The reasons are simple. You're negotiating against a deadline. Meanwhile, the buyer's agent is motivated to push for more than the real repair cost. Fix what affects insurability first: a roof older than 15 years, any water intrusion, and electrical panels that have been recalled. Next come the flaws buyers notice on a showing, such as stucco cracks, water stains and outdated GFCI outlets. Then catch up on neglected upkeep the buyer's inspector would write up as deferred maintenance. Some things are better disclosed than fixed: an aging HVAC unit that runs fine, thin cosmetic lines in the foundation, and items whose finish a buyer may prefer to choose. Where that line falls depends on your price tier and on what competing listings offer. Disclosure is not optional. The 1985 Florida Supreme Court decision in Johnson v. Davis says you must tell the buyer about facts you know of that materially affect value and aren't easy to see. Signing an as-is contract doesn't erase that obligation. Florida statutes add specific written disclosures: radon per Florida Statute 404.056, flood history per Florida Statute 689.302 and, under Florida Statute 689.261, a property tax summary. On top of state law, federal rules require a lead-based paint disclosure on most homes built before 1978. Add two more tasks before launch. Run a municipal open-permit search ahead of the buyer's side, because open or expired permits show up during title and lien checks and can hold up the closing; resolve them before listing. Then order the CLUE report, which lists insurance claims on the property. It's available only to the seller, and the buyer's insurer will pull it anyway, so review it first.

Staging is not interior decorating. Its job is to let a buyer picture living there within the first ten seconds, in rooms that feel bright, open and aspirational rather than like someone else's life. Light staging, with linens, plants, art and a few accent pieces arranged in vignettes, typically runs $2,000–$8,000 in Miami. Renting full furniture for a vacant home, or for an owner-occupied home with dated pieces, costs $8,000–$25,000+ depending on size and price tier. In luxury, full rental can shorten the time on market and lift the final price. That's a judgment call for each home, and nobody can promise the return. Take out the personal, keep the warmth. Family photos, religious symbols and personal collections come down. Clean surfaces, deliberate lighting and a few lifestyle touches stay. Some moves are specific to Florida. Open every blind: natural light is the feature Miami listings mention more than any other. Set up the lanai or pool deck as a real living area. If the home flows from inside to outside, set the outdoor table for dinner to show it off. Small fixes punch above their weight. Inside, fresh neutral paint, updated cabinet pulls and newer bath faucets do a lot. Outside, pressure-wash the driveway, walkways and pool deck, trim the landscaping, mulch the beds and scrub the pool tile. These are modest costs, and closing won't fully repay any of them. Leave them undone, though, and they're the details that stick with buyers who walked away without offering.

Over 90% of Miami buyers browse online before they step inside. The first six thumbnails on the MLS determine whether a showing request follows. For a $1M+ listing, cheap photography isn't a saving: it shows up as a final price 1-3% lower. Any Miami listing at $750K or more needs a baseline package. A professional photographer runs $500–$2,500, depending on how long the shoot takes and the price tier. Wide-angle interiors, exteriors shot at the right hour for the property's orientation, and a sequence that leads with the strongest image instead of the front facade are standard. Twilight photos add $500–$1,500, and they pay off with lit landscaping, a pool or a view of the water. Use a drone for waterfront property, big lots and homes whose setting sells them, such as building amenities, the neighborhood or how near the water is. For listings above $1M, video is no longer optional. A complete listing reel costs $2,000–$8,000, and it's what buyers from outside the market, especially international ones, actually decide on before they book a flight. Vertical cuts of the same clips for Instagram and TikTok reach people who are scrolling rather than searching. A 3D walkthrough or virtual tour is now expected as a matter of course. Leave it out and buyers take that as a signal to push for a discount. At $3M+, a dedicated property website with the media, the area story and the floor plans converts serious buyers and wins over the agents who bring them.

Some repairs pay for themselves by closing, and many never do. Miami buyers reward certain fixes and ignore others, especially in 2026, when insurance, condo finances and condition get most of their attention. The best returns come from small jobs. Paint the interior and the front door a neutral color, replace dated light and bath fixtures, and update the cabinet hardware. Pressure-wash every exterior surface, lay fresh mulch, clean the pool tile and surface, and repair the screens. Weather seals that have plainly failed should go too. Each of these high-ROI jobs costs under $2,000 and changes how a buyer first sees the home. Medium-ROI fixes cost more, and they pay back roughly dollar for dollar. Replacing a roof that's 20+ years old makes sense when you're competing against updated comps. An HVAC system past 12 years is another candidate, since insurers and inspectors both flag it. New window screens and seals, plus patching small stucco cracks on the most visible walls, round out the list. Beyond recovering their cost, these jobs remove objections that would cost you more at the negotiating table. Low-ROI projects rarely earn back what they cost: a complete kitchen or bath remodel just before listing, expensive built-ins, resurfacing a pool that only needs cleaning, and finishes chosen on taste, like loud colors, custom tile or high-end materials that have dated. Give the buyer a closing credit and leave the choice to them. Roofs need their own note. Under Florida law, an insurer can't deny coverage based only on roof age if an authorized inspector certifies at least five years of remaining life. With an older roof, the report keeps your buyer from ending up on a Citizens policy. If you can't replace the roof, build the cost the buyer will absorb into your price.

The MLS is the floor, not the strategy. An MLS-and-syndication listing on the Miami MLS, with nobody doing more than waiting for calls, leaves exposure and money behind. A complete plan layers four channels. The base is the MLS plus the major portals: Zillow, Realtor.com, Redfin and Trulia. There, a tuned photo order, correct amenity tags and a polished description do the heavy lifting. Paid ads on Meta and Google come next, run within the rules for housing ads. Housing is a restricted ad category, so targeting by age, gender, ZIP code or narrow interests is off the table; reach comes from search intent and wide placement rather than from choosing who sees the ad. Next is the network: a preview for brokers only, outreach to agents whose active buyers fit the home, and a coming-soon period before launch, all reaching buyers who come through relationships. At $3M+, luxury portals join the mix, namely Robb Report, Mansion Global and JamesEdition, while LuxuryEstate and Properstar are gaining ground for global reach. For a $1M+ listing, a dedicated property website earns its keep. Everything lives at a single URL: the media, floor plans, the neighborhood story and a contact CTA, and the site signals the price tier at a glance. Leads come in directly instead of through a portal. Agents and the seller also get a clean link to pass along. Write the exposure plan before launch, then review it at day 14 and at day 30. Move budget away from channels that aren't pulling. When buyers are viewing the home without converting, the problem is rarely exposure; look at price, presentation or both.

Florida captures 20% of all foreign-buyer activity in the country and has topped every state for over 15 consecutive years, and Miami sits at the center of it. About 60% of Florida's international buyers pay entirely in cash. That means quicker closings, fewer financing contingencies and a different kind of competition than in a market driven by mortgages. Overseas buyers must be able to find the listing and respond to it in several languages. This is where language skills on the selling side pay off. A listing presented in English and Russian opens channels that English-only marketing can't reach. Translated copy on the big international portals, JamesEdition, LuxuryEstate and Properstar, widens that reach. Conversations with buyers overseas happen on WhatsApp, Telegram and WeChat. How fast emails get answered and how time zones are handled separate professional listings from amateur ones. Showings for international buyers begin with a virtual walkthrough, scheduled in the buyer's own time zone. Send documents ahead of the trip so your home makes the shortlist of three or four properties they'll see over a 48-hour visit. Spell out FIRPTA and SB 264 expectations at the start so nobody wastes time. When the marketing works, overseas buyers tend to arrive ready to buy; when it doesn't, a home that looked great online becomes a wasted trip.

In Miami, showing logistics have grown more sophisticated in recent years. ShowingTime is the default scheduler on most listings. In luxury and ultra-luxury, accompanied showings are the norm, and a lockbox is used only with agents the listing side trusts. A clear showing window with fair notice brings the most traffic and keeps your daily life intact. Every showing needs a ready home. Lights go on in each room, blinds open for daylight, and the temperature stays comfortable, because Miami visitors notice the AC setting the moment they walk in. Keep pets out of view, and add fresh flowers or a subtle scent with soft music in the background. Animals and personal belongings distract buyers from picturing the home as their own. Doing this every day is tiring, but it's also the biggest thing you contribute while the home is on the market. At day 14, the showing feedback ought to point somewhere clear. Many showings with no offers generally means price or condition. A low showing count points to an exposure problem or the wrong price bracket. In both cases, meet for a candid review at the two-week mark covering what buyers are saying, how competing listings have shifted and what a price change of 2-3% would do. A review like this catches a listing before it goes stale. If needed, repeat the review at the 30-, 45- and 60-day marks.

Price leads every offer. Still, it's only a single variable among seven that settle which offer actually comes out ahead. These are the seven, in order: 1. Price. 2. Earnest money deposit, where 5–10% is the Miami norm, and a bigger deposit signals a firmer commitment. 3. Financing, whether cash, conventional or foreign-national, and, if financed, the lender's reputation. 4. Contingencies (inspection, financing, appraisal) and the way each is written. 5. The closing timeline, set against whether you have to move quickly or can stay longer. 6. Post-occupancy terms, such as a rent-back, personal property left behind or furnishings included. 7. Seriousness: the quality of proof of funds, the depth of the lender pre-approval, tight contingencies and the tone of the offer. A $1,950,000 cash offer plus a 14-day inspection window and a 21-day closing often wins over a financed $2,000,000 offer with an appraisal contingency, a 45-day closing and a 30-day financing contingency. Certainty is worth a premium, especially when a loan can collapse after the contract is signed and before closing. Weigh each offer on your net proceeds, the time you're exposed and the risk it never closes. Backup offers protect your leverage. With a recorded backup in place, a wobbling deal doesn't send you back to marketing the home from scratch. Multiple offers call for discipline and a process disclosed to every party. You want buyers competing, not buyers walking away offended.

Treat a counteroffer as a tool, not a war. You're aiming for terms both sides can live with, without giving up your price floor or your schedule. In Florida, keep every negotiation between the agents. Texting the buyer directly nearly always creates problems and rarely solves any. In Miami, most contracts are renegotiated once the inspection comes back. Findings from the buyer's inspector become, in the hands of the buyer's agent, a request for repairs, for a credit or for a price cut. You can make the repairs, give a credit at closing, refuse and let the contingency run, or meet in the middle. The right answer depends on how big the ask is relative to the other buyers you could find. Giving a $5,000 credit on a $700,000 sale so the contract holds almost always beats putting the home back on the market. On the same sale, a $50,000 credit calls for an honest analysis. With a financed buyer, the appraisal can derail the deal. A valuation under the contract price lets the buyer exit through the appraisal contingency. If the buyer stays, either you cut the price, they add cash or you share the difference. Appraisals before listing aren't the norm. In a soft submarket, though, a pre-listing appraisal can anchor your price. Selling as a foreign owner, you face a FIRPTA holdback of 15% of the gross price, reduced only on sales of up to $1M where the buyer will occupy the home. The holdback is built into the closing wire, so map it out with a CPA from the start. Money held by the IRS can take months to come back while your return is processed.

All in, Florida sellers pay roughly 6.5–7.5% of the price, including commissions. On a typical $1M sale in Miami, commission runs around 5.5%, split as ~2.7% to the listing side and ~2.8% to the buyer's side, and both have been open to negotiation since the NAR settlement of August 2024. Documentary stamp tax on the deed in Miami-Dade is $0.60 per $100. A county surtax of $0.45 per $100 applies only to deeds on property other than a single-family residence, and the county treats a condo unit as a single-family residence. So on a house or condo, the stamps total 0.6% of the price; on vacant land or a multifamily building, for example, they reach 1.05%. Closing and settlement fees, recording, prorated taxes, the HOA estoppel and smaller items add ~0.5–1%. Title insurance costs about 0.5% of the price. Who pays it follows local custom: the buyer in Miami-Dade and Broward, the seller in Palm Beach. The NAR settlement changed the way buyer-side commission is presented and negotiated. In 2026, the majority of Miami sellers still decide to cover the buyer's side because it helps them market the home. Listings that offer nothing there get fewer showings and go under contract more slowly. What changed is that the offer is now spelled out, negotiable and disclosed, instead of being baked in by default. When the seller is foreign, FIRPTA withholds 15% of the gross price. The rate drops to 10% if the price is $1,000,000 or less and an individual buyer signs a statement saying they or their family intend to live in the home on at least half the days it's in use during each of the first two years. If that same condition is met, nothing is withheld at $300,000 or below. A company as the buyer always means 15%. The withholding isn't an added tax but a deposit against your future U.S. tax liability, and you reclaim what's due back by filing a U.S. tax return. Plan it together with a CPA experienced in foreign-seller files. Wire fraud is the largest danger on closing day. Before any proceeds are wired, verify the instructions by phone, always on a number you've confirmed independently. Before you list, run your net through the FL Seller Closing Cost Calculator and the Home Sale Proceeds Calculator on this site.