The building comes late in this process and the brochure comes last. Almost every expensive mistake in this market comes from reversing that order.
This page covers the process. Which building suits you is a separate question. Contact the desk at Miami Dossier for the current position on any building we cover.
One. Decide what you are buying and why. A home you will live in, a place you will use two months a year and an allocation you may never occupy are three different purchases that lead to three different buildings.
Two. Understand what preconstruction commits you to. You agree a price and a specific unit now, pay in stages against construction milestones, and take delivery when the building is finished, commonly two to four years later. Most preconstruction contracts carry no financing contingency.
Three. Settle how you will hold it, before you sign. For a US buyer this is usually simple. For anyone else it is not, and it is much cheaper to decide beforehand.
Four. Move the money properly. Wires are the single largest category of loss we see in this market.
Five. Then choose the building.
Deposits commonly total between roughly 30 and 50 per cent of the price before closing, paid at milestones over the construction period. Under Florida law the first 10 per cent must sit in independent escrow. Amounts above that may be used for construction, which is legal and is precisely why the developer’s delivery record is not a branding question.
What you are shown is a rendering and a floor plan. Finishes, layouts, common areas and completion dates can move within the limits the contract sets, and those limits are worth reading carefully.
Delivery dates slip. Not always, not catastrophically, but often enough that the honest planning assumption is later than the stated date.
The purchase agreement. Deposit schedule with trigger dates, what happens if the timeline moves, and what you forfeit if you walk. Read by an attorney, inside the 15 day window Florida provides after you receive the condominium documents.
The condominium documents. Rental rules, pet rules, alteration rights, what is unit and what is common element.
The operating budget. What the monthly figure covers and what is billed separately.
The developer’s prior record. What they built, when it was scheduled, when it actually delivered.
The monthly figure is the cost you will feel. The purchase price is a one time number and the maintenance, insurance, reserves and assessments are the ongoing one, and in Miami they are not small.
Bringing your own representation usually costs you nothing, because the developer typically pays a co-broke commission whether or not you have someone. Arriving unrepresented rarely saves money.
The 15 day cancellation window is a real protection and it is short. Have counsel identified before you are inside it.
You do not need to be in Miami. Contracts are signed remotely and closings are done by power of attorney routinely, though most buyers visit at least once before committing a material deposit.
Purpose, structure, deposit capacity and delivery horizon all narrow the field before a single floor plan is worth looking at. Contact the desk at Miami Dossier and we will work through that order with you rather than starting from a rendering.
We hold no listings and we are not the developer. Contact the desk at Miami Dossier and we will tell you what applies to your situation, what does not, and where we would not proceed. For a first purchase that usually means the sequence before the shortlist. Where a question is legal, tax or structuring, we introduce you to advisers who handle that properly rather than answering it ourselves.