The practical questions on Rivage that the brochure does not answer: which line, which floor, what the deposit schedule looks like, what the carrying cost will be, and what to read with your attorney. From the desk at Miami Dossier.
Written by the desk at Miami Dossier for buyers who are past the brochure and into the decision. The desk works in English, Spanish and Portuguese and does not represent the developer. All notes from the desk.
By the time a buyer asks the desk at Miami Dossier about Rivage, they have usually seen the renderings and know the names. What they need is the next layer: the decisions that the brochure does not make for them. These are the ones that come up most, with our read on each.
The three typical lines are not three sizes of the same home. Residence A, the south corner at ~4,810 square feet, is organised around a ~28 by 52 foot great room and suits a household that entertains. Residence B, the north corner at ~4,358, has the same programme in a tighter plan and is often the sharper entry into the building for that reason. Residence C, the centre line at ~3,290, is the smallest home but carries the largest terraces on the typical floors, ~585 square feet, and for a buyer who lives outdoors that trade is worth understanding rather than dismissing.
The desk at Miami Dossier has done a line-by-line floor plan analysis of all three. Ask for it before you decide, not after.
The typical lines run from floor 2 or 3 to floor 17. In a 25-storey building on the ocean, the view changes less floor by floor than buyers expect above the first several levels, while the price usually changes steadily. The questions worth asking are where the neighbouring buildings sit in the sightline to the north and south, what the bay-side view does at each height, and whether the tree canopy from Enea's gardens is a feature or an obstruction at the lower floors. We have the answers for specific floors.
Rivage, like every Miami preconstruction building, has a staged deposit schedule set by the developer. The desk at Miami Dossier holds the current one and sends it on request. Read it alongside our general note on what a normal Miami deposit schedule looks like, and read the escrow clause with your attorney: under Florida law the first 10% is held in escrow and deposits above that can be released to the developer for construction if the contract allows.
Your situation is specific. Tell the desk in one message and we will say what applies to you, what does not, and who to speak with.
A building of ~56 homes with oceanfront pools, a spa, a screening room, marina services and house cars has a substantial common budget spread over a small number of owners. Monthly assessments at Rivage will be meaningful and should be part of the decision from the start. Ask for the current estimated budget and the assessment for the specific residence you are considering. We hold this and will send it; we do not publish it because it changes.
Bal Harbour and buildings of this kind tend to restrict short-term rentals. Confirm the condominium documents' position on leasing, minimum terms and any owner-occupancy expectation before you commit, especially if part-time use with rental in between is part of the plan.
Related Group has delivered more towers in South Florida than any other developer, and the desk at Miami Dossier holds the delivery history: what was announced, when it was estimated, when it delivered. Two Roads is the partner. Ask us for the record and read the completion and extension clauses of the contract with counsel, because what happens if a building is late depends entirely on the contract you sign.
Whether to hold a Rivage residence in your own name or through an entity turns on privacy, liability and, for a foreign buyer, U.S. estate tax exposure. This decision is made at contract and is expensive to unwind. It belongs with your own U.S. counsel, and the desk at Miami Dossier can introduce lawyers who work with buyers from your country.
The purchase agreement in full, and in particular the deposit and escrow clause, the estimated completion date and extension rights, any outside date, the assignment clause, and the condominium documents on leasing and assessments. We are not lawyers and we say so. We can tell you what other buyers have asked about and which clauses have mattered in practice.
Sometimes the answer is another building. A buyer who does not need the shoreline, or who wants a larger amenity community, or who is sensitive to carrying cost, may be better served elsewhere and we will say so. Rivage is exceptional for what it is: the last oceanfront parcel in Bal Harbour at estate density. Whether that is what you are buying is the conversation. Ask the desk at Miami Dossier. We answer directly.
Your situation is specific. Tell the desk in one message and we will say what applies to you, what does not, and who to speak with.
Most of the people who ask the desk at Miami Dossier about Rivage Bal Harbour are not only choosing a building. They are moving to Miami from New York, California, London, Bogotá, Mexico City or São Paulo, or adding a Miami position to a portfolio held elsewhere, and the building question sits inside a larger one: how to buy new construction in Miami, how to hold it, and what changes when you do.
The desk keeps short notes on the parts that come up every week: how buying preconstruction in Miami actually works, what a normal deposit schedule looks like, whether you need to be in Miami to buy, whether a foreign buyer can get a mortgage, what taxes a foreign buyer pays on a Miami condo, and the Florida state income tax question for anyone relocating from a high-tax state. For buyers arriving from a specific market there are notes for Bogotá, Mexico City and London, and a broader one on why so many wealthy families are moving to Miami.
Read the ones that apply, then bring the rest to the desk at Miami Dossier. It usually takes one conversation to see how Rivage Bal Harbour fits the move, or whether another building fits it better.
This note is general information for people considering Miami, written by a real estate desk, not by a law or accounting firm. Nothing here is legal, tax, immigration or investment advice, and it is not a substitute for advice on your own circumstances. Rules change, treaties differ by country, and the right answer for one family is the wrong answer for another.
Speak with your own attorney and CPA before you commit to anything. If you do not have one who works with international buyers in Florida, the desk is glad to recommend an attorney, a CPA or an adviser suited to your situation, and to sit in the first conversation so that nothing is lost in translation.
Structure, financing, currency, timing, the right building and the right line: the desk works through these questions with international buyers every week, and the answer is nearly always that it can be done, in order, without surprises. If Miami is on your mind, as a home or as an allocation, we would be glad to share what we are seeing, privately, and to start with the question this note did not answer.
Nobody chooses Rivage Bal Harbour in isolation. The desk at Miami Dossier weighs it against The St Regis Residences Sunny Isles Beach, against Aman Residences Miami Beach and against Six Fisher Island, and sets it against the established stock and the neighbouring areas on the Bal Harbour and Surfside cluster. If the question underneath yours is really how a through-floor plan changes a home, start there instead.